Another newbie Texan

Hello to all. We are in the planning stages of making the "Great Escape"?we estimate that in a year or so, we will become fulltimers. I'm very excited about the change in lifestylye, and realize that there is a lot to learn in that time. One subject that I haven't seen covered extensively is work camping. Have many of you tried it? Did you like it? Did you find the work interesting and tolerable?

Thanks, I'm sure that we'll be visiting often as we do the research.

Martha & Lyndon Johnson
(this is no joke, he is Lyndon, but goes by Lindy)

Hi Martha & Lyndon. Welcome to our forum. Some folks here workcamp, so hopefully upu'll receive some replies.

Hi Martha & Lyndy and welcome to the RV Forum!

We have workamped for 6 of the past 7 years and are currently spending the summer at the Suncrest RV Resort in Moses Lake, WA.  We are based in Florida but wanted to come West for the summer to see some of our RV Forum friends and a workamping job made it possible for us to afford the fuel for the trip.

We really enjoy workamping and have met many wonderful people, some of whom have become long term friends.  The pay isn't great (and some jobs pay nothing except your campsite) but it gives an opportunity to spend enough time in an area to get to know it well and maybe some pocket money to enjoy it with. I'd be happy to discuss it further if you have questions.

Are you currently part time RVers?  We usually do NOT recommend jumping right into full-timing because of the massive life style change as well as the need to get familiar with RVs and choose the RV that will work right for you. That is not to say that some folks haven't jumped right in and survived, but its best to test the waters a bit first. Any RV represents a set of trade-offs, forced by the space limitations.  You need to get some RV living expereince to learn what tradeoffs work best for you. Buying an expensive rig and later finding that you just can't stand some aspect of the floor plan (maybe the size of the shower or viewing angle of the tv) can really spoil your enjoyment as well as being a major financial setback. It's impossible to judge these factors without some real experience in a limited space.

Martha & Lyndon,

Welcome to the RV Forum.  We have been fulltiming since 1998.  Although we have not work camped many members ave so I am sure they will be able to answer related questions. Thanks for joining us.

Gary,

We are currently working ourselves into part timing. We have been tent campers for a very long time, so rving seems like a natural extension (since the ground seems to be getting harder). I'm working on locating rentals, the cost of some rentals are astronomical?for$200/day, I'll stay in a nice hotel. We want something not too large, and those seem more difficult to find. Anyway, i'm sure it will fall into place.

I realize work camping pay will be limited, just looking for supplementaion.

Thanks for the info.

we are presently work camping at a KOA.  We each work 10 hours to satisfy the site expense (not free) Then all hours worked over the 10 is $$. We are enjoying the work. We once work camped at a City Park with 25 sites and all I can say "get it in writing" when you are cleaning bathrooms, grounds, taking rent money and collecting fees for the dump site & sharing the time with another camp host..... we were new and got taken advantage of royally.
In Texas we worked in security and it was a min. wage, which we never saw, as it was deducted off the monthly rent. So many different aspects to work camping. We have been full time 7 years and work camping one or the other season for 6 years.  This winter we plan on work camping in Texas, which will be free site, pay and min of 11 hours per person. We are a husband and wife team with a lot of skills. 

While we have not actually worked for pay, we have volunteered one month at Ft. Stanton NM and are now at Steamboat Lake State Park CO, voluteering for the rest of the summer. Our take on it is-- We save money two ways-fuel cost and site fees (normally, we have averaged $5 a night for sites. We boondock at lot and stay at VFW posts, Moose lodgess or Eagle aeries.) Both our experiences have been pleasant. In fact, Steamboat is wondrful!
There is a website workampers.com that has tons of information and you can subscibe and get job listings nationwide. We decided that we were not going to sit around and wait to die. We have been full-time for almost a year and have seen things that I have only dreamed of. I would not change the lifestyle a bit.