.....And The Money Ran Short While On The Road

I have given you tips and advise about starting out as a full time Rv'er. Now what do you do if the money gets a bit tight or you just decide that moving every day really isn't what you want; but you don't want to plant your feet in one place for long either. A solution to this is either volunteering in a campground or maybe getting paid for working while on the road.

There is such a wide variety of jobs for full time rv'ers; such as:

• Transporting rigs from factory to dealership/owners ( special drivers licence is usually required)
• Working in an amusement park like Dolly Parton theme Parks
• Camp hosting in a state or national park
• Doing trail maintenance
• Contracting with the Corps of Engineer as either a gate attendant and/or cleaner
• Working at a wildlife refugee
• Or maybe putting your talent that you worked all your life on to good use.
• Some Wal-Mart stores will may hire on a temporary basis. Usually around Christmas you can find a temp job at other stores as well.
• Selling Christmas Trees around the holiday
• Selling fireworks

There is no limit on what you can or cannot do while traveling on the road. Brian and I have been workamping since beginning full time rving nine years ago. We tell people that we are touring the United States at a turtles pace. This way we are sure not to miss a whole lot.

There is a great magazine out called Workampers News".It is specially designed for those of us that love to travel and yet want to work. It's a bimonthly magazine and very reasonable. The magazine is located out of AR and family own. The magazine breaks it down by state/region. Those that are looking for seasonal help will post it in this magazine. Each one will give a brief description on what the job entails. It also lets you know if you are working just for your site plus electric and/or for salary.

Working in an Amusement Park is usually seasonally and has a wide variety of jobs. I know that Dolly Parton Theme Parks are always recruiting and looking for workampers. Not done this yet ourselves, but have met folks that have. I'm not quite sure but I don't think they provide you a place for your rig, but generally has private parks nearby that gives you discount if you are an employee of the theme parks. You are paid salary while working and hours vary greatly. You can work 20 hours or 40 hours per week. You can do anything from planting flowers to cooking in the kitchen; all depends where your talent lies.

They will either hire just you or maybe your significant other. They do try to work with the two of on scheduling, but sometimes may not always work the way you want it to. I understand that the perks are great and theme parks are a good working team.

Transporting other Rigs from one location to another is a huge responsibility. You may be required to have a special driver licence and/or insurance. You get paid good money for it, but they usually don't provide you a place to park your own rig. Some can be short distants, while others can be long hauls. We met one couple that did this for a company. As long as the rig was hooked to their truck, all expense was paid including meals and motels. They left thier own rig in a private park where it was secured.

Camping hosting in State park or National Forestry varies from state to state. Most generally you got your site with electric free while you worked so many hours per week. Depending on which one, they all require different job description.

Some may pay a stipen for you working in their booth while assisting other campers. In one state park, you worked the booth, collecting the money for so many hours per week and you got your site, electric and fire wood free.

Brian and I have worked a few state parks in Texas where we did anything from selling fire wood, to cleaning the trails of leaves, raking sites of leaves, cleaning firerings to working the office in the evenings.

Most generally they ask that you sign up for at least 30 days; but can work more than the 30 days if they need you. The best advise I can give is if you find a state park that you like or a national forestry; contact them personally either by phone or even in person. Find out if they are even looking for volunteers and what is required to become a volunteer in their parks. Many times you will have to fill out a simple application and mail it to their main headquarters.

Private Parks need help during their peak season. Although they may not pay the greastest, you always need to take into consideration on what your site would cost you on a monthly basis along with your electric and/or propane. Private Parks may also include perks; depending on what they have.

Brian and I worked our first summer out at a private park in MN. It was a family own and had loads of activities. We did everything from mowing, trimming, minor building, pool cleaning, running the store, running bumper boats. All the perks that they had was always free to us and to any of our guest. We worked for 20 hours each, anything after that we got paid salary.

I'm not sure what the going rate is now. But usually anything between 20-25 hours per person is what some parks will ask in exchange for your site, electric and some may even include propane & laundry plus any perks they may have.

If you find a park that interest you, don't hesitate to call them and ask lots of questions. It don't even hurt to get their terms in writing. Unfortunately there may be one or two private parks out there that want you to do it all, but not pay you what you are worth. But for majority of private parks I can almost assure you that you will have a great working relationship and what better place to meet great people?

Working with the Corps of Engineer is a little bit of a different story. Most will get confused between volunteers and contractors. Both gate attendants & cleaners must be registered with Dunns & Bradstreet as a business and then register with the CCR (Central Contracting Registration). You bid on these jobs and each one varies widely from project lakes to the next. Some may require that you do both running of the entrance booth and do the cleaning of the park (bathrooms, campsites, beach area, boat launch/day-use) while others just require that you either do the booth or just the cleaning. If running the entrance booth you are also required to be bonded as well.

Contracting for the Corps of Enginneer is a little more complex and I will get into details of that in another Hub, but for now it gives you a general idea of what they require.

Now, some projects work their smaller campgrounds with just volunteers, and the Corp takes care of the bonding and all else that is require for you to be able to handle the money for them.

Volunteers also work other areas for the C.O.E. Some lakes may have a visitor center where volunteers work the front desk answering questions or selling items. Maybe a flower garden or trail maintenance is the thing for you. Some volunteers may sit on site and be a camp host to answer questions or assist when the attendants are busy or not around.

Again the best suggestion I can give you there is contact the Project Lake Office of the area you are interested in and find out if they have a volunteer program and what is required of a volunteer.

Another type of volunteer job is sitting on site for big oil rig companies. They own huge land that they like someone to sit on site while work is being done. Usually you could sit there for 6 months or longer. The downfall to this particular situation is does require at least two people and one ALWAYS must stay on site. So no going out to eat together or site seeing together. The pay is fairly good.

Working Christmas tree stands or fireworks is another type of job that usually requires that you stay on site wherever these items are being sold. You may end up in a parking lot at a local mal strip or along the road. The pay is okay for usually only for about a month or so.

Working a wildlife refugee could be an interesting thing to do if you are an advit bird watcher or animal lover.  Usually there is no pay and they may not have a place on site for you to park, but usually they will pay for your stay at a private park.

So now there is no need to be penniless while on the road.  There is always just about something for a full time rv'er to find.  You may take you doing a little research.  I mentioned workampers news as finding a great place to work.  I might also suggest keeping handy a book of private parks.  Woodall is a great book that locates both private parks, some Corps of Engineer parks and State & National Parks.

We have met people that are nurses, physical therapist and even some engineer techs that travel all over the United States and will work for short period of times at  where ever their profession may take them. 

We hope you enjoy traveling and workamping!!!  More and more folks are doing this-maybe we will meet someday....