Work Camping: What the RV Lifestyle Is Like, Advantages, Challenges

Among the many places Kathy White, 66, has Called Home Over the Last Decade Are Mount Rushash, New York’s Hudson Valley, South Texas, and Kentucky. The Only Constant Has Been Her 30-Foot Itasca Sunstar Motorhome.

After White’s Husband Died, she didn’t have the Money to take Vacations, but Living in Her rv while Traveling the Country and Working Seasonal Jobs A Way to Pay the Bills and Live the Life of Exploration that She Caved.

“You’re on Vacation in a Way,” She Said, Despite Working Relatively Low-Paid Jobs, Mainly Managing Activities and Administrative Tasks at Campgrounds and Parks.

White is Among Many americans Living itinerant lives and paying the Bills with Seasonal Work. SO-CALLED “WORK CAMPING” HAS POPULAR AMONG A BROAD SWATH OF AMERICANS, INCLUDING Retires volunteering in exchange for an rv hook-up, gen z influencers pursuing #vanlife, and would-ebe who need the end travel bucket list.

The Lifestyle Can Offer A Sense of Freedom, but it can be logistically challenging, and isn’t necessarily cheaper than living in “Sticks and Bricks,” As So-Called “Call Traditional Homes.

Laurie and Matt Dushane Had Long Dreamed of “Living Tiny and Being Able to Go and See This Country,” Laurie Said. SO the Michigan Couple Bought an rv in 2020 to use for short trips planned Around Matt’s work schedule as a law enforcement officer. But the rv suddenly became their primary home we have matt left his non -struggling with health Issues, Laurie Said.

“I knew that we are contingy in our current lifestyle with his income,” she said. SO the Couple Applied for Work Camping Jobs from Montana to California. Their First Seasonal Job Was Five Months Working in a Campground Just Outside Yellowstone National Park. They did administrative work, Helped Orient Visitors, and Cleaned Cabins. They quickly fell in love with the lifestyle.

“My View from the Campground Office was Electric Peak,” Said Laurie, 51. “It was just such a world of Difference” from their lives in blissfield, Michigan.

IT HASN’t Always Been Easy. They’ve had jobs Fall Through Weeks before they were supposed to start, leaving say scrambling for work at the last minute. Their rv has broken down, putting say in a hotel for Weeks. And they’ve felt too far from their adult children at Times.

“A LOT of People Argue in the Work Camping Space That You Can’t Make All Money, you don’t have health benews, all of this stuff. Well, we don’t give up,” Laurie said. “We fight as hard as we can to find what we need to make it work, no matter the area that we’re in.”

Work Camping in Retirement

MANY WORK CAMPERS ARE VOLUNTEERS WHO DO WORK IN EXCHANGE FOR A PLACE TO PARK THEIR CAMPER AND A HOOKUP.

Patty and Shane gill, who are in their 50s, are Among say. They sold their texas home and samp of their Belongings before traversing full-time by rv. They will Reach Their Five-Yaar “Nomad Anniversary” in October and Plan to MainTain This Lifestyle for at Least the Next Few Years.

When their House was Still for Sale, A Texas Campground Owner Offerd The Unpaid Work Positions in Exchange for A Free CampSite and Electricity. They’ve Since Traveled Beyond the State and Done More Unpaid Work in Exchange for a Free Site, Food, and Laundry. Patty Said They Mainly Live off Shane’s Retirement Money from the Air Force, but Social Media Earnings Also Help Cover Living Expensses.

“We Will Will Camp for a Few Months, and then we and just JUST Travel for a Few Months Work Camping,” Patty Said. “SO we just kind of a little of bot Now.” She loves work Camping lets her get to know an area and meet lots of New People.

Remote Work Opens Up New Opportunities

The Rise of Remote Work Since the Pandemic Has Also Opened Up Posiac for Camping and Traveling with Committing to Taching Relatively Low-Paid Seasonal Jobs.

Victoria Childers and Lamont Landrum Jr. Have Been Work Camping ACROSS The Country Since 2021, after they Bowht and Renovated a 1992 Tie allegro Motorhome and Sold their House in a Suburb of Detroit. Their leap into rv life was made Possible by childers’ Remote Job as a Customer Success Representative for A Software Education Company.

AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS ON THE ROAD, LANDRUM, WHO WORKED AS A HANDYMAN BACK IN DETROIT, Begin Paid Work Camping Jobs, Including Maintenance and Cleaning at Campgrounds and Helping with American Crytal’s Annual Beet Beet Harvest in Eastern North Dakota. But it helped to have childers’ steady income to buoy say.

These days, Both childers, 50, and landrum, 40, are work Seasonal work Camping Jobs Sine Childers were laid off from remote jab in february. The couple doesn’t know where they’ll ever be abford to retire, but they Said work Camping Had gioven say some freedom to live their lives to and travel places they never otherwise beuld.

“We get to stay in these amazing places that we could never afford for the tan aek, let Alone staying for months at a time,” Said childers.

SO light, they’ve live and workhed in a dosen different locations, some of which they are returning to multiple Times. In Early September, They’ll Head Back to North Dakota for their fifth consecressive beet harvest. In their free time, the couple hikes with their dogs and has gotten into off-roading in their jeep.

“I May Be Working A Job That May Not Be Exactly Happy About,” Landrum Said, But “I Usually Don’t Let That Affect What I’M AFTER WORK.”

Dave dave Hatton retired from 18 years as an elementary schoool teacher in phoenix this past spring, he launched right into his next career as a Photographer. Hatton, WHO JUST TURNED 60, Begin Exploring His Passion for Landscape Photography in the Rural Southwest During the Pandemic, and eventually realized that to do the work in an affordable way, he needed to live on location.

“I WANTED TO BE ABLE TO BE ON LOCATION FOR DAYS AT A TIME, But on the Teacher’s Salary and on a Teacher’s Pension, I knew that I was going to be abford motels my went to these locations,” he said.

So he bought a tiny trailer for $ 2,800, and now lives in it for days or weeks at a time. Hatton sells his prints at the festival across the region, and has plans to travel farother and for longer. He wants to explore Much of the West and Southwest. “I absolutely love it,” he said. But with his way WIFE WORKING AS A TACHER BACK IN PHOENIX, he doesn’t have plans to live on the road Full time.

The Work Camping Lifestyle DOESN’T COME WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT Challenges. And living in a tiny Space and Constantly Traveling Often Gets Harder in Older Age. And while MANY Work-Campers Hope to Stick to their Lifestyle into their 70s and 80s, some acknowledge they’ll Need to Slow at some point and spreads a permanent location to call home.

These days, Kathy White Said She’s Looking for One Place, or Maybe Two, to Settle Down in. But she hasn’t found “that perfect place” yet. Her requirements are hard to meet.

“IT’S GOTTA BE SOMEWHERE WARM ENOUGH IN THE WINTER BUT COOL ENOUGH IN THE SUMMER,” She Said. “There are so many more places to see.”