workamping

[moldmkr]

Hi everyone,

Just a few questions.

1. How many of you work while on the road?
2. Where have you worked?
3. What has been your experience?
4. What kinds of jobs have you done?
5. How much have you gotten paid?

We are in the process of getting rid of stuf in the house and putting the house on the market this spring and hitting the road this summer or fall.

Any information you have in regard to workamping would be appreciated.

[doghowz3]

Somewhat similar situation so we'll follow this thread.

Paul

[rad1945]

I don't claim to be an expert on this subject, as this is our first work kamping job.
We are presently in Magnolia, TX, managing a 43 site RV park. We have been here for 4 months.
DW works in the office and I take care of the grounds.
You might want to look at workamper,com
They have all kinds of info on workamping.

Good luck

[MovableBookLady]

Quote:

Originally posted by moldmkr: Hi everyone, Just a few questions. 1. How many of you work while on the road? Me 2. Where have you worked? At one KOA, one warehouse, one private park; contracted for 2nd KOA for summer 09 3. What has been your experience? Fine, though the warehouse was physically exhausting. 4. What kinds of jobs have you done? Mostly office/store reservation/retail. 5. How much have you gotten paid? As usual, not enough! Seriously, pay ranged from $7.25/hr to $11/hr, with some hours to pay for site. We are in the process of getting rid of stuf in the house and putting the house on the market this spring and hitting the road this summer or fall. Any information you have in regard to workamping would be appreciated.

[rvgrandma]

Our first job was on the southern Oregon coast hosting an RV park. We received our site including propane and laundry plus $650 a month.

Second job in NH where I worked the office, he managed the camp store. Partial hookup - we paid electric, cable, interent; wages for all hours worked.

Third job in Florida - lasted 3 weeks due to manager and owners very abusive.

4th job doing in WA with me doing taxes, him doing deliveries.

5th job in Nevada first as assistant managers, then managers.FHU site plus wages for all hours worked. Was terminated due to co-op politics.

We are now back in WA looking for our next job.

Since we are in need of money to live on and for bills, and need to stay within a days drive of here due to hb doctor, it is harder to find. Due to his health, we can't manage anymore either.

Go for it. Do check into workamper news and also http://www.work-for-rvers-and-campers.com/index.html Hopefully someday we can get more employers to post here too.

[Moder2]

We are on the road for work...

Derek's career brought us here, he is a computer consultant and the lifestyle allows us to "Follow the Money" if you will. It has been working fine until now, this is the longest we have been between contracts. (About a month and a half now).

I normally find some kind of work once we figure out how long and where we will be.

My work on the road has varied. I have workcamped in two different parks at 3 different times, all which worked out, but all had it's downsides too. One place was in FL (Tampa), where they paid us for all hours ($8.00 an hour) expected a 40 hr week, and gave you 10% discount on the site. There I was on the maintenance crew, and work varied from Plumbing/Electrical work to grounds keeping. The other place was an urban type park in Saint Louis, where I worked in the office, but also handled repairs and odds and ends. That one I was given a FHU site for 2 days a week, and anything extra was paid.

I have also worked for big box stores, auto parts stores, delivered cars on a Tractor/Trailer, and helped with some construction projects.

My background before we hit the road has been mostly in trucking and transportation from driving to management.

John

[moldmkr]

For those that have responded were you able to make enough money to cover your expenses.

Thank you and keep the information coming

[MovableBookLady]

I make enough working part-time part of the year to cover expenses (along with my social security). However, I don't have a big cushion and I don't need much and I'm healthy. I also have no debts.

This means I have no medical insurance except Medicare and if anything catastrophic happens, I'll be paying the rest of my life. However, this is no different from my life before RVing. I haven't had med insurance since 1997 because of the high cost.

It's all a gamble. If you're not comfortable without steady money, huge wads of money tucked away, and lots of benefits, workamping may not be for you.

And I may be dead tomorrow. In the meantime, life is good.

[Max Hubrich]

moldmkr,

You need to Go here, sign up and pay for the daily Email posting for jobs. It's not much-- maybe $30 or so for 2 years.

Many of the questions you ask will be answered. It all depends on what your willing to do. It's in real time, on a daily basis, and you can work yearly, seasonally, full time or part time. You need to have a resume ready to go with a current picture of you and your rig-- The Workamper site will guide you through an "awesome" resume process-- for a fee.

Good luck,

[Digital Boy]

In April, 2006 we sold almost everything we owned via an estate sale. One week later we closed on the sale of our home. That's when we hit the road as fulltimers.

We were both pre-62. I rolled up my financial planning practice. So, workcamping was a necessity.

We had already committed to working 3 months at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN from June thru August. (We had committed to this in '05, before going fulltime was considered). We ultimately decided to work another month At Dollywood.

I think we earned $6.75 an hour each. We worked 4 or 5 days a week. You don't work at Dollywood for the money. It's the perks that are so great.

We then joined work@koa as we planned on going to CA that winter to visit 2 kids. We worked at the KOA near Barstow for 3 months. I've never seen so much sand on the edge of the Mojave.

We spent the month of march traveling I-40 east and seeing the sights. We had to be on the eastern tip of Long Island, NY to work 6 months at a campground. We left after 5 months as the drunkard outside supervisor chewed out my wife for no good reason. We earned $10 an hour each.

We left NY for the Poconos of PA to work 2 months at a KOA. We made $10 an hour there too.

By the way, we never paid for our camp sites.

That winter we returned to our Gainesville home area and I worked at the local RV dealer. I'm working there this winter as well.

We have to be in Bar Harbor, Maine in May for a 5 month commitment.

We enjoy workcamping and exploring the areas around our assignments. We've found most of our assignments through work@koa.com and workcampernews.com.

[MikeandClaudia]

Hi MoldMkr:

Quote:

1. How many of you work while on the road?

My DW and I Volunteer at State and Federal Parks.

Quote:

2. Where have you worked?

We have worked from Kentucky to Texas to Arizona to Alaska. The reason we volunteer is that I don't like doig m FEDERAL Taxes much less 2 or 3 or 4 state Tax reports.

Quote:

3. What has been your experience?

We have worked most of the time for the past four years.

Quote:

4. What kinds of jobs have you done?

We have been park hosts, Lighthouse Interpreters, we gave tours at a 1890s era house in Montana, we ran a VERY small State Recreation in Alaska. (Had to go fishing for Salmon, cooking and eating them ) We are now trimming trees and putting together Interpretive programs.

Quote:

5. How much have you gotten paid?

We get our campsite free, plus sometimes free laundry, other perks. I don't want to do state tax returns!

[moldmkr]

Thank you everyone who has responded. I am following this thread on a daily basis, so, keep the information coming. We hope to hit the road by June this year

[JeeperJohn]

We have been full-timing and volunteering since the summer of 1999 and have volunteered for every government agency except BLM and also spent three summers with Alaska State Parks. We generally receive a full-hookup site (except in Alaska), sometimes laundry facilities and other perks as well. A few times we have received a stipend.

We generally work from 3 to 4 days a week depending on the agency's requirements and prefer staffing visitor centers and/or maintenance.

We usually pick an area of the country we want to visit, then start looking for any agencies in the area that would need volunteers.

[Lindaxtwo]

We need to work on the road as we aren't retirement age (48 and 53). We currently don't have medical insurance but that may change soon as my partner is a nurse and is working with a nursing agency to do travel nursing jobs. I will follow her and pick up whatever jobs I find. Up until now, we've worked for anything from $8/hr to $750/week salary (professional job). Have worked at two campgrounds (me doing grounds work and cleaning and partner in the office). Have also worked at Busch Gardens in Colonial Williamsburg (in addition to workamping job) for around $9.25/hour. Have also worked at Amazon.com over the holidays for $11/hour...very physical work but we loved it. Have always had our campsite free for the workamper positions. We do have some money to fall back on if need be but we try to get by on what we make and up until last couple of months that worked. We do have a truck and rig payment but we've always made enough to cover them (till recently when we've had to use our reserves). Good Luck to you...It's a great lifestyle...