A New Brand Of Workcamping

We are dipping our toe in the waters of work camping for a private RV park this winter. In our first three full years we have stayed in private resort style parks different times, but never traded hours for a site with them. We have only work camped for federal and state parks. We took this job, knowing it would be an entirely different experience and come with a different set of expectations on both sides of the equation.

We have historically taken some down time in between jobs at the beginning of the winter season at private parks. Last winter, after leaving the situation at the NPS in Georgia we spent the entire winter in a private park. We always meet great people, make new friends and take advantage the amenities and activities. Two things have happened during our short stents. We (mostly me) long for the natural area and wilderness of the parks when we are in the concrete jungles. On the other hand, just about the time we really start to connect with new friends and get into a routine of activities, it is time to ‘go to work’.

We came to Llano Grande this year on the recommendation of friends who have come here for years. Having never volunteered for a private park, we also knew we would either love it or hate it. Private parks are a little less forgiving about missing hours than government owned parks. Case in point, Thanksgiving. The state and federal parks we have worked for observed holidays and are closed those days. If your normal workday falls on a holiday, you get a buy. With these private parks, holidays are just another day. The activities still go on. If the department you work for is closed that doesn’t mean anything accept you have to make up your hours for being off that day. They look at your comped site differently. They are giving up a certain number of $$ by not renting it. If you are going to stay there free of charge, they expect a certain number of hours in trade. They don’t care if it’s Christmas Day. Raining and 42 degrees out? Too bad, no rain days like at the gov’t parks. It’s all about the numbers and the revenue. I remember when we were at Goliad State Park two seasons ago and Champ had to have his appendix removed. The first words out of the park superintendent’s mouth were, “don’t worry about your hours, just tell us what you need, we’ll get your work covered until you can come back”.  That would never happen here. It’s not a bad thing, just a different set of expectations.

We have been here for a month now, and our conversation over coffee this morning was an affirmation to each other, we are happy in this particular park. For me, the fact that it is adjacent to Estero Llano Grande State Park and the RGV Birding Center gives me walking access to some of the best birding in the country. If I need to be in the woods, all I need to do, is walk 10 minutes west on the levee and voila', I am in my element. One morning this past week I was sitting on the patio having my herbal tea about 6:30 a.m. and a young Bobcat strolled through our site on his way home to bed.  No wilderness withdrawal for me here.

State Park Entrance from the levee

View of our site from the Levee

 Our street is populated with several other couples who are work camping here and we are beginning to socialize and form a nice circle of new friends. I am in the reservation office Mondays and Tuesday mornings. It is a beehive of activity and I get to meet new arrivals and get to know the regulars who meander in and out. Champ is working for maintenance the same days and so far, is mostly running the street sweeper. Not a bad gig for him. The park employees are really nice to work for and the park in general has the friendly community that most snow bird parks enjoy. I have learned a new game called Pegs and Jokers, that I go play on Sunday nights and have started going to a yoga class on Monday and Wednesdays at 5 after my work-day ends. There is an activity most anytime of each day to keep just about anyone as busy as they want to be. Friday afternoon happy hours provide live music and some of the best Fish and Chips around along with the social aspect of a party.

Champ on the job

Friday HH at the Event Center

Me on the job

Sunset from my patio

It is safe to say, we are satisfied with our first private park gig. We love our summer job too, but this is a nice change of pace while we wait for the weather up north be get over it’s winter-time frozen tantrum.

Until Next Time…

Budgeting for the Full Time RV Lifestyle

Twice, this summer I had someone ask me to blog about budgeting for full time living. That’s a pretty loaded question. When we were in pre-launch mode, I read several blogs and a couple of books that had sample budgets. There are a few constants, but mostly a myriad of variables. As I have thought about this subject I have come up with a list of constants. The variables depend on how you want to travel and your income stream realities.

Constant #1 Whatever your travel style, count on at least $150.00 a day for each day you are on the road. That is assuming that you, more or less, adhere to the standard old peoples 300 miles a day. It doesn’t matter whether you are pulling a trailer or driving a coach. We have done both and daily gas expense runs $100-$120 depending on how far we drive. The rest of the daily average is up to how you camp that night. Are you boondocking at the Cracker Barrel or Flying J, Or, are you in a Corps Park using your 50% off senior discount, or a private RV Park with all the perks. Your accommodations when you pull off the road on a given day depend on how long you plan to stay. If you are on the road every week or so and paying daily rates for sites you’d better have a tidy income stream or nest egg to fund your whimsy.

Constant #2-Site rates. Camping rates are all over the place.  Decide how you want to travel and put a pencil to it. Daily rates average about $45.00 per night. Weekly rates around $450.00 and monthly rates $500-$900 depending on the region and time of year. It is far more expensive on the East and West Coasts or near to a major attraction.  If you work camp, like we do this is negligible most of the time. We trade hours of work for a site 10-11 months out of the year. I do however, plan relentlessly when we are on the road to get the best bang for my buck. My least favorite place to stay is a roadside private park. It’s highway robbery if you ask me. But, sometimes security has to come at a price. We stayed in a park associated with a casino outside of St. Louis one night for the security. Peace of mind cost $50.00 to camp for 13 hours on an asphalt parking lot with FHU, ouch.  Be very honest with yourself and do your research. There are camping clubs you can join, for a fee of course, that allow cheap or free stays in participating campgrounds. Still others, like Good Sam’s offer a discount on daily rates. If you are over 62 you can get a lifetime pass for Federally Managed Campgrounds like the Corps of Engineers that allows a 50% discount making daily rates around $12. Planning is the key here. Plan your route and research your site options when planning your stops.

Constant #3-Insurance. Insurance on your rig and vehicle is about the same no matter your travel style. Full-time coverage for your RV is considerably more costly than normal full coverage. If you have a mail service, the insurance companies are onto you and will charge accordingly. About 3X more if you admit you are full time.  If you use an address of a relative and domicile in that state enough months of the year to establish residency you can skirt around the full-time coverage issue. This is a very delicate issue for full timers. Insurance companies, and banks for that matter get a little squeamish when they know their collateral, or insured property is galivanting around the country doing super dangerous things like driving, or setting up under a tree or being exposed to a thunderstorm instead of being in some indoor storage not being used most of the year. If you sense sarcasm, you are spot on.

Constant #4- Groceries. Food is about the same. Eating out and eating at home don’t change much. The only variance is the cost of groceries in different regions. Whatever you are spending now on food and eating out is likely to stay about the same. When you are simply on vacation, you naturally eat out more and spend a fortune getting fat. But, after a few months of being full-time that novelty wears off and most go on a diet and settle back into their old eating out/ dining in habits.

Constant #5- Phones, TV and Internet. There are two ways to go about it. You either have satellite TV that you take with you and cell phone service with data plans. Or, you stream your TV and have unlimited data to support your phone and TV habits. Either way you can count on about $200.00 per month.

Utilities are tricky. Again, the difference is are you work camping or paying? Monthly rates at private parks include water and sewer but, will meter the electric so count on an extra $80- $100 a month. Water and sewer are off the table but will be reflected in the higher daily and weekly rates if you travel that way. If you workcamp, electric, water and sewer are covered. Depending on where you work, cable and internet may be included as well. Chose your work camping gigs wisely.

It comes down to deciding how you want to travel. Are you on a mission to see the lower 48 or beyond and stop at every museum, and commercial attraction along the way? Or, are you like us with all your kids in one place and migrate north and south to avoid extreme weather and work camp most of the year? I have had people tell me they are full time but then in the next breath tell me they still own at least one home. Sorry, you don’t qualify. If you still own property and pay to maintain it, you are not part of this club. You are what the marketing surveyors call and avid traveler.   

How do you put a pencil to this?  I’ll be honest, it takes some work and a high level of self-awareness about your spending habits. In our case, we have been in the habit of using the same credit card for day to day spending and paying them off each month, for years. The points are nice. The credit card companies offer some very valuable analysis tools. My check blanks are so old, the calendar on my check book register only goes to 2009.   Before we launched, I used these tools to analyze our spending habits over several years and weeded out the spending that was irrelevant to our full-time lifestyle. If you pay for everything with a debit card, or worse yet cash, this can be more labor intensive, but the work is necessary to have a clear idea of your spending habits. Truth is, you will not change your habits much by going full time. If you are in the habit of dropping $15.00 a day at convenience stores for cigarettes and snacks that won’t likely change. Examine your daily routine and habits closely and be honest with yourself.

I escrow $200.00 per month to a designated savings account just for repairs on the rig and car. Over three years that has served us well. Although, this past summer was unusual, and I had to pilfer the savings account. I make it up with random part-time jobs when we are nesting somewhere for several months. Low unemployment rates make finding a job really easy.

I’d like to be able to lay out a sample budget, like others have. The truth is those are canned budgets that don’t mean much to the average person. Budgets are a highly individual endeavor.  If you want to know if you can afford to be full time it takes some work.

1.      Decide how you want to be full time.  As tourists? Or as Work Campers?

2.      Consider your disposable income. Live within your means, just like always.

3.      The longer you stay on one place the cheaper your daily cost of a site

4.      Boondocking isn’t for everyone. Actually, it’s not for very many of us.

5.      If you have skills to offer, work camping can make this life very affordable, no matter your monthly income.

6.      Consider, if this is a long-term commitment or something you intend to do for a pre-determined period of time. Hint, I have talked to many people who say they started out with a two-year plan and have been on the road now, over 10 years. This minimalistic lifestyle is as addicting as nicotine to most of us.

In three years, we have met two types of people. Those who have sold everything, traveled, lived high and are about broke, or headed there fast, when we meet them. And those who went into this with a crystal-clear picture of their financial situation, no matter what it is, and lived within those means. The one thing I have learned is, you don’t have to be wealthy, nor do you have to own everything outright, to have a rich experience being full time. We meet people on all economic planes who are enjoying a meaningful, well lived full-time life. The bottom line is do your homework and figure out your own budget.

Until Next Time…

Nesting

We have set up our winter nest and are off to a good start
for the season. Like birds we are not only fall and spring migrators, we (meaning
I) have a strong need to nest in the places we put down our jacks. One never
knows what lies ahead when taking a new work camping gig. Last year we had a
terrible and ultimately short-lived experience with the National Parks Service.
 This year we have found ourselves in a
nice park with satisfying jobs. Good thing because we traveled 1600 miles to be
here.



We started our work this past Monday and are loving the 12
hour each work weeks. I am in the reservation office checking people in. This
gig has given me the chance to learn the reservation software used at many
parks. As with all work camping jobs, I am learning a few new tricks I never
thought I needed to know, like reprogramming the fobs that open the entry
gates. Champ is working for the maintenance department which so far has
included power washing and running the street sweeper. Upon learning that he
has a background in equipment operation, it sounds like he will spend a good
deal of his day and a half each week running one of several pieces of equipment
they use.

Our Winter Nest

Many people ask me if I travel with all my plants. The answer is ‘yes’.  Most of them go with me year-round. It’s a bit of a task and they get stressed a bit. I tried something new this year. Before we left, it trimmed all my herbs back and dried them to use. Instead of tossing them I left the root ball in the pots and packed them away in a compartment. To my surprise, one of the lettuces sprouted in the dark warm compartment on the way down and is now showing leaves. The others are growing nicely in the warm climate. Two other hanging pots have been sown with other lettuces and spinach to grow in the mild winter climate. The tropical plants all faired well and are thriving. Accept the Poinsettia, who road in the front seat of the towed car each day. The problem wasn’t the heat, they are native to jungles. The problem was the sun streaming in the window all day. The leaves are a bit burnt. But it is sprouting new leaves and I’ve cut away the damaged foliage. It is lounging in a corner of the motorhome recuperating and with any luck I can get it to bloom by Christmas.

• 

  Herbs Coming Back to Life

  
  

  

  Lettuce Sprouting

The deck is back up; the cats are enjoying their small field
behind the site. We have washed and waxed the rig over the course of a couple
of days. All the yard ornaments are out and the Iowa shaped sign with our name,
that we made this past summer, and the flagpole mark the entrance to our
driveway. We will have an empty pad next to us that will be shared space for us
and the people who will occupy the park model next to us beginning mid-December.
I have been out birding twice so far and am looking forward to spending a lot
of my leisure time on the trails nearby and in the State Park next door.  Not a bad gig for the next 5 months.

Curved Bill Thrasher

Lizard Catching some rays

• 

  Black Throated Green Warbler
  

  
  

Pelicans Landing

I came with the intention of finding a part time job again
this winter to build savings back up after the repairs to the car and new tires
for the motorhome. It took me three days. I landed a sweet part time job as a
bookkeeper for a local pharmacy. It is owned by a delightful Hispanic couple
and I am the only person in the place who does not speak Spanish. Lucky for me
they are all bilingual. It is the perfect environment to use my mind instead of
my back and work on my remedial Spanish language skills. As we settle into our
winter routine, we are happy to be in South Texas and look forward to seeing
all of the friends we have in the area as well as three couples we met in
Florida last winter, who will be in the Valley for part of the winter.


In between missing the kids and working our hours we are bound to a fun filled winter here. Who knows? Maybe this will end up being a return gig. Time will tell.




Until next time….

And... We're off!

The journey south has been completed and we attended Volunteer Orientation, along around 80 other work campers this morning. This year’s trip south was memorable. I have tried to qualify it in a single word and can’t come up with one. We seemed to alternate serene, lazy days with trying sometimes dangerous days. We had a great time visiting new places and meeting up with people we have met along the way over the past three years. Even though the motor home suffered some damage we are thankful that our bodies arrived intact.

From the beginning I have kept a list of campgrounds we have visited and would return to as well as places recommended by others who have stayed and loved. I even have specific sites on some of them. We took the advice of people we met from Ardmore, OK a couple of years ago and stayed at Murray Lake. We even got to spend an afternoon with them while we were there!  We will definitely go back there when we pass through in the future. We also added Sandpiper RV Park in Galveston to our list of places to recommend or return to.

Dawn walk on the beach at Sandpiper RV Park in Galveston

We are settled in our site here in the area of the park inhabited mostly by volunteers. We aren’t completely segregated but are enjoying being in the same general area. A co-volunteer from Saylorville coincidentally ended up here this winter and is about 5 sites away from us. We have unpacked the yard ornaments, put up the flag and Iowa sign with our names. A couple of happy hours and several standing around talking with new neighbors for an hour or more are under our belts.

We have our work schedules and a general idea of our duties. Champ will be working for maintenance doing light work keeping the park nice and completing work orders for general repairs. I will be working in park's front office. Each of us will work 12 hours a week in trade for the site and utilities. This time it includes secure Internet via a modem assigned to us and a nice line up of cable channels. We are both confident we will be happy working here. As the season goes on it will be intersting to differentiate the experience of working for a private park versus a COE or State Park.

Yesterday, on the spur of the moment I took off on a birding adventure with our friends John and Cathy who spend their winters in the area. They were in persuit of a rare bird that had been sited at Estero Llano Grande State Park just a couple of miles from here. We did not see the elusive bird, but I saw five species I have never seen and got advice on where to see many others. It was a nice teaser to whet my birding appetite for the season. I can’t wait to get out with other experienced birders in the birding group here at the RV Park. Of course there will be many more outings with John and Cathy. The birding whim turned into dinner out at a local Taqueria that is now on our list of places to take others to this winter.

Female Vermilion Flycatcher Photo by: John Harrington

It is safe to say, after an eventful trip we have had a nice
welcome to The Valley. Let the winter begin!

When It Rains Inside

“Travel Safe!” It is a common as the thespian “Break a leg.”  Those of us who travel know the very real dangers of being on the road. Most of the time it is uneventful. Sometimes, we experience a close call and it seems at least once a year we see an RV tipped over in the ditch or wadded up in an accident. Contents scattered all over the ditch and the RV crumpled up like a used paper fast food sack. It is a sobering reminder that you can’t be too careful while travelling.

Our trip south this year has been one of those trips that makes one wonder what will happen next. On our first day on the road we were enduring 40 mph sustained cross winds on I-80 on our way to the York NE exit where we would turn south directly into the wind on our way to Lindsborg Kansas. We are no strangers to pulling in high winds, having spent most of our lives in the Midwest. Driving along we heard a loud dull thud directly behind the driver’s seat and near the ceiling. We both decided that a canned good in the pantry fell over and slammed against the wall. Then, another louder thud and the lens for the fluorescent tube lights, along with both tubes came crashing down from the kitchen ceiling located directly behind the driving area. “What the hell?” we both said in unison. Champ looked out the side mirror and saw the entire slide out awning mechanism flapping in the wind slamming against the motorhome. The rolled-up awning had succumbed to the strong cross wind. The force of the wind had broken the locking mechanism on the awning framework, unrolled the awning turning it into a 22-foot long kite and then ripped the whole mechanism free. The only thing attaching it at all was the canvas. Not good. We were three miles from the next exit and left no choice but to pull over and deal with it on the side of the interstate. Champ who was a tower crane operator has absolutely no fear of heights and didn’t hesitate to grab a utility knife and climb up onto the roof, right there on the side of the road. Wind was howling, trucks were speeding by creating even more turbulence and I stood on the ground watching, with my heart beating out of my chest at the thought of him getting blown off the top of the motor home. He was pragmatic, I was terrified. In a few minutes Champ had the awning cut loose and stood out of the way while the wind slammed it down into the ditch. Once he was back on the ground and my heart was out of my throat, we stood there looking at the mangled framework and canvas and trying to figure out how to haul it. It wasn’t salvageable. We took a picture of it for the insurance company and against both our grains left it in the ditch, having no way to haul it.

What is left of our livingroom slide awning

Two days later after having a wonderful weekend in Lindsborg with family at the Swedish Festival we road out a terrible thunderstorm in Oklahoma with 70 mph winds and driving rain. As I laid in bed around 11 that night wondering if the rig would tip over, I thought I heard water dripping…. inside. That is never a good thing. I got up and went out to the living room and saw water dripping from an overhead cabinet. ‘Oh, crap.” I opened the top hinged cabinet door and water ran out at me. With no awning over the slide out the weak areas of the seal and caulking were totally exposed and obviously not working. We mopped up the puddles, put a fan on it, pulled in the slide out and went to bed. The next morning Champ inspected the locking mechanism box and re-caulked it. Then, last night in Galveston, another similar storm. The sound of water dripping inside at 2am when I stirred awake. This time it was dripping in front of the refrigerator. When I turned on the light the whole bulkhead of the slide was sagging with the weight of water that had leaked in. “What a trip” I thought to myself. We are having a great time for the most part but this whole slide-out awning thing is trying us both. The slide out came back in and is still in this afternoon while we wait for the 24-hour rain event to blow out to sea.

Enjoying a quiet moment at Lake Murray OK

This is the part where I must continually remind myself that we really do love this life, despite the challenges. Leaking slide outs are one of the worst things to deal with. They can cause long term damage in the form of rot and mold if not identified and fixed quickly. I laid awake in bed early Friday morning trying to see the good side. The leak isn’t over the bed. That is a very good thing. The slide out affected can be brought in without cutting off access to anything. We are living in about 80 sq. ft. less space today but at least we can get to everything. I share this RV life with someone who can fix virtually anything. We aren’t at the mercy of RV repair places of having to put it in a shop. He’ll get it fixed; he always does. Most importantly, neither one of us has been injured, despite a couple of dangerous situations.

With the slide in, Champ was able to inspect the top from the inside and found that the metal corner strip covering the long edge of the slide had no caulk at all only screws. I suppose with an awning protecting it, Winnebago decided caulk there was a place they could cut a corner. Water was flowing freely through the seam as it pooled on top of the unprotected slide out.  All we need is a couple of dry warm days to caulk the seam and let it dry. We have dealt with several annoying leaks over the years. It is something of a cat and mouse game with the water. You identify a weakness in the seam, fix it and wait to see if the water finds another way in. Then, you fix that place and so on, until the water has nowhere to go but off the top of the slide and onto the ground where it belongs.

As I walked with Champ through Home Depot to buy more caulk for the repair, feeling a bit dejected, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw 6 five-gallon buckets clustered together in the aisle catching rainwater from their own leaky roof. It reminded me RV’s are a pain in the ass sometimes but so are houses. It isn’t the fault of the lifestyle that we are having such crappy luck this trip anymore that it is a houses fault that it gets damaged my wind and leaks like a sieve till it is fully repaired. We have the ability and know how to get it fixed. It’s having the patience to deal with it while we are on the road that is difficult this week. The sun will shine everyday once we get through today, a good stroke of luck in a very trying journey this fall. The insurance company will send an adjuster to assess the overall damage once we are settled in south Texas.

Lawnmowers and Christmas trees in the same aisle at Home Depot

In the end, I must remind myself that it is nice to spend
the winter months in a place that sells lawn mowers and Christmas trees next to
each other in the home improvement stores. Not a snow blower in sight! We will
be on the road twice more between now and Tuesday and with any luck traveling
safely.

Until next time…

Tailwinds of Time Passing

A strange thing happened. I awoke this morning trying to grasp the notion that our six months in Iowa went by like a rambling active dream in a fitful night’s sleep. April 20^th, the day we arrived at Saylorville last spring feels like both yesterday and a short lifetime ago. The 2019 summer season at home saw many joyous events.

Our first day back we went to the zoo with kids and
grandkids. The pace of events picked up as we held our annual Mother’s Day
Breakfast with all our kids and grandkids, celebrated the spring birthdays. We
started our work for the park and settled into our routine. Our oldest
grandson’s wedding was in mid June then the heat of July settled over us. As we
savored the summer, we didn’t notice the tail wind of time passing that was
picking up behind us.

Holidays and more birthdays came and went. Friends visited us here at Volunteer Village. I was able to spend time with family I had not had contact with for years and my heart was happy. There were others we fully intended to see but, it didn't. Grand kids were present each week several times most weeks. The grass that, earlier in the season, demanded mowing every few days was starting to go dormant in the heat and I worked on other projects around the lake in between researching and writing items for the newsletters. I had regular play dates with my best friend and that subtle tail wind pushed on my back, but I didn’t notice.

We celebrated my daughter’s 30^th milestone
birthday and several other summer birthdays. We worked our shifts at the State
Fair for the lake and the heat of summer kept us suspended in the joy of being
home.

Then, all a sudden it happened. Four times pulling out of our site to join our old camping group, three village potlucks, three lake sponsored volunteer events and uncounted spontaneous village community campfires were a memory along-side the 8 weeks I worked for my friend and our 720 volunteer hours  at the lake. When I look back on the lightning fast season it’s like watching a movie reel of the big events punctuated by clips of scenes from Little League games, being at the park with grandkids, being at our kids houses, outings with friends. The memory of this past summer is like watching a time lapsed video of a flower sprouting, growing, blooming and drying down in the span of 10 seconds.

• 

  Hunter is very glad to see Grandpa!

• 

  Riding the train at the zoo

• 

  Fielding a line drive

• 

  New baby in the family!

• 

  Isaac birdwatching with me

• 

  Got Mulch?

• 

  Building her new nest

• 

  Workout as he tests monkey bars

• 

  Sydney's Birthday in April

• 

  Nora with me on a photo shoot

• 

  The Happy Couple

• 

  Nora and Isaac almost 5 years old already

• 

  Sailboat heading out of the marina at sunset

• 

  Water Break Time

• 

  On path driving just ahead of the storm

• 

  Powerwashing Bridge 5

• 

  Judy standing on the stump from the giant Oak that fell at the VC

• 

  Prairie Flowers scavenger hunt with the boys

• 

  Areal view of the fair from the sky glider

• 

  Nora and Grandpa park time

• 

  Staying cool on a hot day

• 

  Camping like old times

• 

  John setting up the scope to watch shorebirds

• 

  Craft time on a cool morning

• 

  Campfire time

• 

  Kelsy and I
  

• 

  Two of my favorite gentlemen Will and Don

• 

  Fall dinner

• 

  Parking lot rides

• 

  Walking with Aubry on the trail

• 

  The gang at Steve's

• 

  Goodnight Saylorville

I woke up this morning, knowing the week will buzz by with preparations to move our life 1600 miles south to escape winter. Tasks and last of the season visits will fill the next 4 days. We are both fighting the yearly fall battle with the sadness of leaving loved ones behind and anticipation of adventure that our trip south holds. We will have our first experience working for a private resort this year. We'll visit new places and meet new people. We will reunite with friends we have made on the road and spend next weekend with relatives at a festival on our first stop south. With a heavy shroud of the familiar mixture of angst and excitement we will pull up the jacks and bring in the slides in 4 days and a wake up. We notice that tail wind at our backs now, because it is cold.  As we drive away, we will wonder to ourselves, maybe even out loud.  “Where the hell did the summer go?”

Until next time…