Our summer work camping job at Luton’s Teton Cabins has officially come to an end, and I will do a brief wrap-up for those readers interested in work camping. For those who just like pictures, I put a few of those in as well! Our view when we arrived in May.
Grand Teton Range
Of the 9 work campers (4 couples, one single) we were the last couple left, so we had some very busy days. I was working both in the office, and housekeeping. We ended up working 8 days in a row (our choice). Brad was excited when he found out Dan had done commercial steam carpet cleaning before we were married. The carpeting in the cabins are cleaned every fall, as the cabins start to open up after the guests depart. Dan was able to get 12 of the 14 cabins done before we left. Two were still occupied into October, so Brad will take care of those after the guests depart. The cabins officially closed for the season on October 7.
At 4 1/2 months, this was the longest we have stayed at a work camping job. The time went by very quickly though, and we never had that “how many weeks to go” count down that we have at Amazon! Because of the length of our stay, it was also the most profitable job we have had. Our total combined gross for the summer was $19,159.25. This includes an unexpected bonus at the end of $500.00 each. Our pay agreement did not include an end of season bonus, so we were pleasantly surprised when we opened up our envelope and discovered 4 paychecks!
ADDITIONAL PERKS
We had a free 50 amp full-hookup site, excellent high speed internet, a few hundred dollars in tip money (tips are split 9 ways), a great location for exploring (5 miles East of the entrance to Grand Teton National Park), free laundry including the use of a large commercial washer/dryer, and probably my favorite perk was the food lottery.
When guest leave food behind (usually those that are flying), all the food is put into a refrigerator in the housekeeping garage. The work campers rotate in picking items each day from the refrigerator. We had items ranging from eggs, ketchup, mustard, beer, bottled water, salad dressing, wine, butter, coffee, olive oil and ice cream. I think we have 4 bottles of olive oil in our pantry! During the busy summer season, we had a lot of leftover items from the families. In September, when it was mostly couples, we had very little food, as most of the couples went out to dinner.
NEXT SUMMER
Our original goal when we started our full-time RV life was to always work in a new location every summer. We have decided to return to Luton’s Teton Cabins next summer, however, for several reasons. We have had a wonderful summer, and Brad and Joanne are two wonderful people to work for. They gave us a nice bump in pay for next year, as an incentive to return.
With my broken foot this summer, there were many things that we did not do, such as bicycling in the park, and hikes longer than 4 miles. So we have many things to do next summer. And Dan and Al (yes, Karen and Al are coming back for their 4th summer) can keep catching dinner, as they were quite successful fishing this summer. This picture shows six nice sized cut-throat trout which are native to this area.
We managed to eat at one of the restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Nora’s Fish Creek Inn for breakfast, with Karen and Al. I had the recommended banana bread French toast, which was excellent. We did not get to try Pinky G’s Pizza, the other featured restaurant in the area, so that is on our list for next summer.
Makena has also given her approval for returning, as she enjoyed the acres of land for her to play on.
Our view at the end of summer, with the moon over Mount Moran.
So if any of our readers has plans to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks for next summer, let us know! Just don’t try coming on or around August 21, 2017. Everything is booked solid due to a solar eclipse!
Quote for the day: “The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.” – Robert Frost
Liv2RV 
How did you break your foot? I had my left foot reconstructed in April. Let’s compare stories!
I was carrying our laundry basket down our steps, stepped on my shoes which I did not see, fell and broke the 5th metatarsal bone. What did you do, or is this from wear and tear from all the tennis and racquetball that you played in your more youthful years?!
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Looks like another great summer. How could you ever get tired of that area? See you in Florida.
Hopefully we will be in FL in December. If you are still there, we will need to do lunch!
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y’all coming to C’ville? If so, when, and where will you stay? Start date? My start date is Oct 31
We probably won’t make it this year. We are doing some work in WI right now. I will have more on it in my next post. Take care! Miss you and the SDF8 gang!
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Your blogs about the Tetons are inspiring. We need to go back to workamping next summer and this area and the work sounds wonderful. I am going to call Brad & JoAnne and talk to them about working there next summer.
Gayle
They have already hired for next summer, they only take 9 people. It is a very physical job. The year before, we worked in West Yellowstone, MT. There are a lot of jobs in that town…gift shops, RV parks, restaurants that hire and pay for your site.
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Hello Dan & Jonelle, I don’t know if you remember us, we are Steve & Suzie that worked with you at Amazon in Ky2014. We hung out with Dave, Kathy and Kat until some of you took off for Indiana LOL. We are working at Hershey Camping Resort in Hershey PA (as housekeepers of 46 cabins) sinceMarch until mid Dec. and we are coming back to work here next season as this is a great place to work for a longer period of time which will allow us to pay off our truck and be debt free so we canstart our adventures out west! We have been keeping up with your blog, which we both enjoy reading, and really like what youhave been saying about your experience at Luton’s Teton Cabins. Sorry about your foot. It sounds like a place that we would love to be a part of for the season of 2018! We visited Yellowstone and the Grand Teton’s while on vacation a few years ago and always talked aboutgoing back for a longer visit and this would provide an excellent opportunity to do so! How soon do we need to apply for the 2018 season to hopefully secure a spot for us? We will appreciate any info you can give us as we are very excited about traveling west in the near future. Thank you for all of the helpful information and the beautiful pictures that you post on your blog!Looking forward to hearing back from you. Take care…………………….Suzie & Steve Busenlehner
Oh my goodness! I just realized I have not replied to your questions! Sorry about that. Yes, now would be a good time to apply for 2018! They keep everyone’s resumes. It took us 2 years to get in, as they only take 9 people. And the current employees have preference. You can mail out a resume, and then I would recommend following it up with a phone call just to keep in touch with Brad.
Sounds like you have a good plan with being debt free. We are, and that really makes a difference….less stress!
We are not doing Amazon this year, will update the blog soon. We have been working every day, so we have not been doing much but eat, sleep and work!
Take care
Jonell
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