Two weeks of work have flown by, which is always a good thing! I must admit, it is nice to be back to work, and our bank account and my Fitbit are happy as well. For the next four months, we will be working at Luton’s Teton Cabins, located just east of Grand Teton National Park. This is the view we see every day from work!
Grand Teton Range
Our job for the summer is cleaning and maintaining the 14 cabins on the property. There are 3 other couples, and one single that we are working with. We have a nice group of work campers for the summer. Now cleaning cabins may not sound like the most glamorous job, but these cabins are so well maintained, that cleaning them is a breeze. Brad and JoAnn Luton, the owners, have done an excellent job of maintaining these cabins over the years. They actually built each cabin back in the early 1990’s, and have a tried and true method of keeping them looking brand new. It’s easy to clean something that is already clean.
With our job, we work as a 4-5 person crew in cleaning each cabin. There are three levels of service that we do: Makeup, sheet change and check out. Everyone rotates through the various jobs on each cabin: bathroom, vanity, supplies, makeup beds or sheet changes, dusting/oiling, windows, vacuum, floor and final check. The first two weeks, we have not been at 100% occupancy, which has helped as everyone is still learning the jobs, and what is expected. By this weekend, we should be full (schools are letting out!), and we will get into a good routine.
We start work at 9:00am, so we need to leave our RV by 8:59am, as we have a 1 minute walk to the time clock! Although it’s been in the 30’s in the morning, most guests have left for the day, so we can get started on the cabins right away. Because we have not been at full capacity, we have only been working 4-6 hours each day. Since this is a very physical job, we are happy to have the shorter days to start with. But that will change by this weekend!
Here are a few photos of the cabins.
PERKS
In addition to getting paid for all hours worked (and Wyoming has no state income tax), we have a 50 amp full hook-up site for free. There are five sites behind the cabins, strictly for the work campers. This is our site.
And the view out the back of the site is very nice as well. It is a very peaceful, serene place (and it’s all free!)
view behind our site
Other perks include free use of the on-site laundry room, including the use of the industrial washer/dryer, which is great for super large loads and comforters. We generally average about $30/month on laundry, so this is a nice little savings.
Since the closest major city with a grocery store, Jackson, is 30 miles away, the Luton’s have also provided a freezer and an extra refrigerator for use by the work campers to store extra food. There are a couple of convenience stores that are within a few miles, but they only carry a limited supply of groceries.
All of the cabins have full kitchens, and many guest will leave food behind when they leave (since many people fly to this area). All that food gets put into another refrigerator, and we all take turns picking over the leftover items. So far there has been bacon, ice cream, pizza, butter, cheese, yogurt, bread and more to pick from. And, some of our guests have left tips as well. The money goes into a tip jar to be evenly split up among the nine of us throughout the summer.
We were also told we would have free, fast Wi-Fi this summer as well. We were very surprised at just how fast it has been. This was a speed test that Dan did the other day. It was the fastest we have ever registered.
There are several walking trails on the 100 acre property (Makena will have more to say about them in a future blog). We have also been into the park a few times, and plan to spend a lot more time exploring the park this summer. The Tetons, unlike Yellowstone, is a bicycle friendly park, so we plan on exploring by foot and bicycle this summer.
Quote for the day: “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” – Ann Landers
Liv2RV 
That place sounds like a great place to worklamp. My wife and I are planing to get started on our adventure next year. We will be following you guys for and example on how to get it done. Thanks.
Thanks for following along Jim! That year will go by fast. Let us know if you have any questions!
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Wow that sounds like s great job. We are at the Red Barn Campground again for 3 months and than back to TX. Don’t think we are heading your way this summer but look forward to meeting up with you again somewhere sometime.
Iris & George
Glad you two made it back to SD. Hopefully this means more time to spoil the grandkids! Have a great summer!
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Thanks for the blog u guys. Sounds like another summer of hard work, but also cool stuff to see . have funl , and watch out for poisonous snakes !
Jer
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Snakes?! We hope not! Our goal is moose and bears for the summer…at a distance, of course!
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Great blog entry, thanks for sharing your workamping experiences with us. We are currently in Massachusetts at our FIRST workamping experience at a KOA also doing housekeeping for 18 deluxe cabins, similar to Luton’s, and 22 rustic cabins, no linens provided, no bathroom.s
I love Luton’s method of having a team of cleaners. We have a total of 4 people currently doing all cabins, all laundry, the two bathhouses etc and it is physically exhausting. BUT I would not trade the experience at all and I enjoy the physical tiredness at the end of each day.
We get paid for every hour worked and we have a reduced, $150 a month, full hookup site with w/e/s/cable/wifi.
We wanted to be in New England this summer to spend time with my 87 year old mom who lives 12 miles away. No regrets in leaving corporate America behind and starting our full time lifestyle. Next summer we plan on heading out west to South Dakota, Rapid City area, to ride the hills again like we did in 1999 before we are too old to do so.
We are Florida residents, we own a lot in Silver Springs, FL so we can recoup in the winter months should we chose.
Enjoy your summer!
Thanks Susan! We hope you have a great summer! How wonderful that you will have the entire summer to spend time with your mom. That is one of the perks of this lifestyle! New England is definitely an area that we would love to explore for the summer. And the Black Hills of SD is a fabulous place to spend for the summer!
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What a beautiful setting, Jonell! The Tetons are one of Diana’s and my favorite places. Sounds like a great gig!
Jim
Thanks Jim and Diane! We hope you have another great summer in Michigan.
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We’re loving it here in Custer so far. So much to do, we will find it hard to get it all done by summer’s end! We had a lot to get done to get the campground open, but now it’s just manning the office. 40 hours per week at $8.55/hr plus our sight is a great deal 🙂 Luton’s looks like a beautiful place for your off time!
We are so glad George is getter stronger every day! Yes, the Black Hills has so much to do, that work gets in the way!
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We know how beautiful your summer home is! I look forward to spending some time in the Tetons one day. You also have great neighbors!
Loving the Black Hills. The job is somewhat of a challenge since we have to stand all day. Steve and I are both working in the Welcome Center. I did my first step on today. I think It will be fun.
Have fun!!!!!
Glad you made it safe and sound! We’re still in Florida, still waiting on repairs. That slow work ethic in action!!! Hopefully out of here mid July. Lol lol see you in the Fall! X