We interrupt this vacation…

Posted on August 29, 2022 by liv2rv

We are back to work! In Alaska! When we were planning this trip, Dan and I had always talked about getting an end of season job while we were in Alaska. We have been full-time RVing for 9 years now, and this was the first summer that we were “taking off.” Around mid-July, we started discussing what we were going to do after visiting Fairbanks, our last stop in Alaska.

I contacted our friends Tom and Ellen that are working in Skagway, and they put us in contact with the general manager of the company that they are working for. (You may remember we did a quick side trip to Skagway to see them, the town and the stores they work at.) We spoke with the general manager of the five family owned stores about the possibility of finishing out the season, and she was thrilled to have us come and work for them, as they had high school and college students that would be leaving in August.

So we are now working full-time for the Corrington Ivory Company. They have five gift stores in Skagway. Every day up to three cruise ships come in to port in the morning, and depart early evening. Passenger totals for the three ships can be up to 9,000 people. So we are keeping busy!

I was hoping to have more time to get caught up on the blogs, but there is only one cell tower in town for Verizon, and it gets heavy use when the ships are in port. Some days it feels like we are back to “dial up” service! I will keep plugging away though.

We will go back to “tourist mode” after September 22, and travel back down through Canada. This winter we will again be in Yuma, Arizona, so we still have another 3,000 miles to travel when we leave Skagway.

If you are considering traveling to Alaska, but are concerned about the costs, getting an end of season job is a great way to offset the expense. And there are plenty of jobs. Everyone is looking for help, especially end of season when school starts back up. We saw plenty of openings in all the cities we traveled through.

We will be paid $13.00 an hour, with a $2.00 per hour end of season bonus. Plus, we receive a free campsite, with full hook-ups, including 50 amp service. It will be nice to have money coming in, instead of going out for a change! Alaska does not have a state income tax, so we will not need to file a state tax form in the spring.

Karen and Al came down to visit Skagway for the day, and then we said our good-byes. They are making their way back to Florida (another 5,000 miles!) with stops along the way. We had a wonderful summer traveling with them, as you will see in my future blog posts.

Quote of the day: “If you don’t want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won’t have to work.” – Ogden Nash

Back to work for the Winter

Posted on November 24, 2019 by liv2rv

Life is pretty good in Yuma, Arizona, the sunniest place in the United States! The park we are working at, Westwind RV and Golf Resort, is slowly filling up, as the Canadian and American snowbirds make their way south. We are about half full, and should be close to capacity in January. It has been a lot of fun catching up with the many friends and co-workers we met last year, that have returned again for another season. In addition, our friends Tom, Ellen and Bob have joined us this year at Westwind to work. They all seem to be enjoying their jobs, and the warm, but not humid, weather.

This year, we have new jobs, which we are both enjoying. Last season I had a paid (minimum wage) job in the office, three days a week, and Dan worked three days on the golf course, which covered our site rent, and all utilities. This year, we are working in the Golf Pro Shop, two 10-hour days a week. We really enjoy working just two days, Friday and Saturday. Here’s a few pictures the inside of the Pro Shop.

It’s small, but we have a great view of the first hole out the window that you see above on the right.

Our view

We have seen many “interesting” shots off the first tee!! Here are some views of the course, which is a nine-hole Par 3.

This is the first hole straight ahead, with #3 on the left, and #9 fairway on the right. One of Dan’s duties is to fish out all the balls in the pond (and there are many!).

In exchange for our two 10-hour days, we receive our site for free, all utilities, and a $640 voucher each month which can be used at the onsite restaurant, golf shop, and concert tickets. Our duties are taking tee times, selling merchandise (clothing, hats, gloves, golf balls), and keeping the patio area outside the Pro Shop clean. It’s as easy as it sounds! I don’t miss working in the office, but I do miss working with Lori and Roy. We were able to get together for dinner, and talk about future work camping opportunities and places to explore. We both have a lot more travel adventures in our future!

Another bonus of coming back to Yuma is getting together with friends Dave and Marilyn, that own a house here. We have had several get togethers, and met up for the Howling at the Moon on November 12. It was Tom, Ellen and Bob’s first experience, and they all seemed to enjoy the strange little gathering in the desert.

Howling at the Moon

Bob, Jim, Carol, Marilyn (Dave behind in blue shirt)

Ellen, Tom and Dan as sun was setting behind

The sunsets in Arizona are always full of color

And then it was time to start “howling!” If you are ever in the Yuma area, and it’s a full-moon, you need to partake in this free festival!

We hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. It looks like most of the country is going to be hit with some storms, so stay safe!

Quote for the Day: “Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.” – Herodotus

Winter work camping is done!!

Posted on April 27, 2019 by liv2rv

We have finished up our 6 months of work camping at Westwind RV and Golf Resort in Yuma, Arizona! It was our longest work camping job that we have done since we started our journey in 2013. And we’re going to do it again (for 1 more year) this fall! This season, Dan and I both worked 3 days a week, Thursday – Saturday. Dan worked 24 hours each week, on the golf course. In exchange, we received our full hook-up site, including all utilities, for free. I worked in the office, for minimum wage (currently $11.00/hour in Arizona) averaging about 28 hours/week.

In total, I made approximately $8,000 for the 6 months of work (I haven’t received my last paycheck yet, so I don’t have the exact gross pay figures). Our expenses were minimal, as we did not have to pay anything for 6 months of rent/utilities. Laundry was not included, and we spent $225.00 at the on-site laundry facility in the park. We probably could have found a cheaper laundromat, but the convenience of walking to the facility outweighed the expense. But the real benefits of being in one spot for so long is all the wonderful people that you meet. Dan enjoyed working with the full-time year round staff on the golf course and in the maintenance department. I had great co-workers that made the job fun (shout out to Lori and Roy!!), and a very patient office manager, Kathy. We never seemed to stop learning…

This fall, Dan will only be working 16 hours/week, 3 days a week. In exchange, we will receive our site for free, but will have to pay for electric/utilities. He requested this, because he often finished up his work by lunch, and had to spend the afternoon making “busy work.” Being a former math teacher, he ran the numbers, and it wasn’t worth working 32 extra hours per month to cover electric/utilities. It amounted to getting paid just over $4/hour. I will be back in the office, and the minimum wage in Arizona is set to increase to $12/hour next January. So that’s a nice perk, as most winter jobs do not pay.

In addition to having a positive experience at Westwind, we decided to come back for several other reasons. We are planning on going to Alaska in 2020, but not to work, just to play tourist. Having an income over the winter season will help to offset the loss of income in the summer. Also, we really enjoyed getting together with our friends Dave and Marilyn. It was a pleasant surprise when we found out they had moved to the Yuma area and next season our friends Tom and Ellen will be joining us as well. Tom will work in Guest Services (helping to park RV’s, read electric meters, and whatever else is needed) and Ellen will be in the mail room. In exchange for their hours, they will receive their site for free, including utilities, and a voucher which they can use at the onsite restaurant, golf shop, and concert tickets (only the office is a paid position).

It took 6 months, but I finally saw my first rattlesnake and roadrunner at the end of March, while playing golf with Dan, Roy and Lyle (who is from Canada and rented a park model a few doors from us).

DSC05867 (1)

A zoomed in view, as it was much smaller (thankfully) than I expected!

DSC05867 (2)

Needless to say, you must keep the ball in the fairway!

It was hard to get a photo of the roadrunner, so this is a bit blurry. They move fast, and are not as big as I imagined (must have been all those cartoon road runners I watched growing up….beep beep!) And yes, they can fly, but usually just run around.

DSC05876 (1)

I’m not sure what I prefer, dealing with alligators while golfing in Florida, or rattlesnakes in Arizona. I think I’ll stick with the safest alternative, Max. He doesn’t bite!

What’s next?

We have a month to wander around until we start our summer job, back at Luton’s Teton Cabins. We spent a week near Phoenix at Peublo El Mirage Golf and RV resort (very nice), just relaxing, and are now near Sedona for a few days. We have met up with Tom and Ellen and Steve and Kathy who are all on their way to West Yellowstone for their summer work camping jobs. I will have a new post about the Sedona area in the not too distant future.

I’m not sure what the name of this cactus is, but it was in full bloom at the RV park in El Mirage. We were told it only blooms for one day each year. Since we were leaving the park the next morning, I was not able to go back and verify if the flowers were still in bloom. It was beautiful though!

Quote for the day: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

Welcome to Yuma!

Posted on October 15, 2018 by liv2rv

We have arrived in Yuma, Arizona for the winter, after an uneventful drive down south from Moran, Wyoming. Uneventful, that is, after we got the brake lights and turn signals working on the 5th wheel trailer. We were all hitched up, ready to leave Luton’s Teton Cabins, our summer job, when I went behind the 5th wheel to check the lights. I waited and waited for Dan to turn on the blinkers and hit the brakes, and he was waiting for me to raise my arms to left him know everything was working. The lights would turn on, and the trailer brakes worked, but that was it. Ugh…..

Al and Karen were hitched up and ready to leave, and came over to help us out, but they had a long drive and we encouraged them to get moving. Brad, our boss came over to help us out. He went home to get his pick-up truck, and came back and we plugged the 5th wheel into hs 7 pin hitch. Everything worked, which made us very happy, because we now knew the issue was with our truck, and not with the 5th wheel. After doing some ‘google’ searches (what did we do before ‘google’?!), we narrowed the problem down to two 25 amp fuses in the engine compartment. It was hard to get at, but we swapped one good fuse with one of the bad ones, and that took care of the brake lights/turn signal issue.

We are not really sure what caused both fuses to blow. Dan did help out another couple working here that was having problems with their travel trailer, and had plugged their trailer into our truck. We think that whatever problems they were having with their wiring, caused the fuses to blow.

So we were happy, and got on the road….and then the ‘check engine’ light came on! The good fuse that we pulled was for the urea heater, which has to do with the DEF fluid. We figured that was why the light came on, so we didn’t worry about it, as we were only planning on driving about 200 miles that day to Fort Hall, Idaho.

We had no additional issues with the truck or trailer on our drive, and opted for the more scenic US Highway 93 down through Nevada, instead of I-15 through Utah. We were surprised by all the snow on top of the mountains in Nevada.

We spent several nights in small little towns in Nevada, and then decided to stop in Needles, California for two nights, as we finally hit some warmer weather and sunshine. Needles contains some of the old Route 66 roads that you can still drive on.

Fortunately, we did not need to stop for gas during our brief stay in California!

Laughlin, Nevada is about 25 miles north of Needles, so we drove up to check out the casinos for a few hours. Many of the casinos will allow you to boondock in their parking lots for several nights. No big wins for us 😦

We continued on to Yuma, and are all set up for the winter at Westwind RV and Golf Resort. We start our jobs this Thursday, and will be working Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. I’ll have more on our jobs after we start, and have more details of what things are like here. So far the weather has been excellent!! Warm, but not humid.

There is a US Marine air base nearby, and we frequently get fly overs by an assortment of planes and helicopters.

The park is a mix of park models and RV spots for rent by the day, week, month or season. Right now, things are quiet, and the park, which has 1057 spaces, is mostly empty. Last year they were at 94% capacity throughout January, February and March. We are looking forward to a very busy season!

DSC05489 (2)

Yuma is known for clear skies, but we have had several cloudy days, which resulted in a spectacular sunset, as seen from our spot.

We have no idea what our time here will bring, but we are really looking forward to our new adventures. Take care!

Quote for the day: “Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” – Wayne Dyer

Wildflowers, wildlife and wild scenery

Posted on July 8, 2017 by liv2rv

Busy, busy, busy is how the last few weeks have been at Luton’s Teton Cabins. The cabins have been at full occupancy through the 4th of July. We have a day or two reprieve until they fill back up again. The families have now taken over the cabins, with a few couples in the smaller cabins. Some cabins look like a tornado has gone through, with stuff everywhere! We have to be careful where we step when making the beds. We have met some wonderful guests from around the country, and a few international tourists as well. Our group of 9 work campers has been doing a great job, and our guests have left many wonderful reviews.

We did receive one puzzling note from a guest that checked out this week. They stated the cabin was great, but were disappointed by the mosquitoes. They felt for the amount of money that they paid to rent the cabin, we should have done something about them (the owners did spray their fields, but the cabins sit on 100 aces). The more I thought about this guests note, the more amused I became. I didn’t realize that mosquitoes should only bite people who stay in budget motels! Mosquitoes don’t discriminate. They go after everyone!

The Tetons received over 600 inches of snow this winter (normal snowfall is 400 inches). Between the snow melt and the spring rains, it has created a bumper crop of mosquitoes this year. But it has also rejuvenated the wildflowers. We have gone on several hikes so far, and I always take time to stop and photograph the flowers. I’m not really sure what they are, and just refer to them as yellow, purple, and blue flowers!

We have seen plenty of elk, buffalo and moose. I am still in search of the elusive porcupine. I was talking with one park ranger, and she gave me some areas to try, after 6 pm. Once the mosquitoes settle down in a few weeks, I plan on heading out on some trails in the evening to look for a porcupine.

On one of our hikes, we did see a bear, but it quickly ran off when it spotted us. The only other animals that we found were long deceased. It’s the circle of life…

someone’s dinner

Even though it’s July, there is still plenty of snow on the mountains this year. It just makes for a peaceful setting.
DSC04411 (1)

DSC04453 (1)

Always nice to watch the sunset from the cabins.

P1000084 (2)

Quote for the day: “Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.” – Victor Kiam

Just plugging along

Posted on June 12, 2017 by liv2rv

We have been pretty busy at work so far this season at Luton’s Teton Cabins. It took about a week to complete spring cleaning all the cabins and the lodge. Every log gets wiped down with a damp rag, and then oiled with Old English Wood Oil. It is a tedious process, but the wood looks fantastic when we are done. Many guests this year have commented on how nice the cabins look, and they are surprised to find out they are over 25 years old. Brad and Joanne, the owners, are very particular about cleaning, and it shows. We have already received several 5 star reviews on Trip Advisor this year, and the season is just getting started!

We have a fantastic group of work campers this year, which really makes for a pleasant work environment. And, based on our first pot luck, they are all good cooks as well! Karen and Al are back again along with Jodi and Ken who worked here a few years ago. Joining our experienced crew this year are Shawn, Erin and Melissa.

Dan, Joanne, Karen, Brad, Shawn, Erin, Jodi, Ken, Melissa and Al (standing)

We have managed to get out and do a few things on our days off, when the weather has been co-operating. We had a few days of snow early in the season and it’s forecast again for tomorrow – ugh!!! We have also had some wind, rain, hail and flood warnings. This year the Tetons received over 600 inches of snow, and the snow melt has caused the rivers to be near flood stage. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the road to the cabins does not get closed.

Snow Day!

We went up to Yellowstone National Park with Karen and Al for a day. There was a lot of snow in the park.

P1000101 P1000094 With all the snow, we knew the waterfalls would be spectacular, and we were not disappointed! It was a bit windy out, as you can tell by Dan’s hair!

And no visit to Yellowstone would be complete without getting caught up in a buffalo jam!

And to top off the day, we met up with Tom and Ellen at the Old Faithful Cafeteria for dinner. They are working out in West Yellowstone again. It was great catching up with them, and we plan to get together later in the summer.

And to continue with our crazy weather, last night it was raining to the East, which resulted in one of the nicest rainbows I have seen. Melissa and I went out to take some pictures, and half of our guests were standing outside taking pictures as well. No rain…no rainbows! Thanks Melissa for the photo!

We are looking forward to a great summer and expect to be busy as the cabins are near capcity all summer. Hopefully the crazy weather will settle down soon so we can get out and explore the area more on our days off. We should have more time to explore since I won’t be sidelined by a broken foot like last year.
Quote for the day: “In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside 24 hours.” – Mark Twain

Summer work wrap-up

Posted on October 12, 2016 by liv2rv

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.

img_0878-1 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

Visitors and Fires

Posted on August 23, 2016 by liv2rv

For the past 6 weeks, fires have been burning all around us, but have not had much impact on us. Things changed yesterday, after 20-25 mph winds started in the afternoon. A small fire that was burning in a remote area of Grand Teton National Park jumped across Jackson Lake and spread over 5 miles. The main highway from GTNP to Yellowstone National Park is now closed. They had an emergency evacuation of Flagg Ranch and Lizard Creek Campground this morning. The fire is about 20 miles from our location, and it is not headed our way. However, with another afternoon of high winds expected, who knows what will happen. I think the most popular website in the state of Wyoming right now is Incident Information. You can click on that if you want to keep up with the fires in the area.

Work continues, but at a little slower pace this week. This is a “transition time”, as we switch over from families with school-age children, to couples and families with toddlers. By September 1st, we are back to full occupancy, for almost the entire month. So we are enjoying our ‘calm before the storm’ which hopefully won’t involve any fire related issues!

FAMILY VISITS!

Our door is always open for visits from friends and family, and we have had two visits this month. Our nieces, Carmen and Jasmine, were passing through on the way to Tacoma, Washington, and stayed overnight. Jasmine, who graduated from Pharmacy School in May, has accepted a pharmacy position in Tacoma, Washington, and they were moving her stuff out west. Makena was excited to have visitors!

Carmen and Jasmine

After they left, Dan’s sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Doug drove out from Wisconsin to visit with us for a few days. On their way out, they stopped in Custer, SD and met up with our friends Phil and Rudee at Crazy Horse, as well as visiting Mount Rushmore. We were able to switch days with another couple at work, so we had three full days to play tourist. We forgot how exhausting it is to be a tourist! We were able to cram as much as we could in a very limited time. There is just too much to see and do in three days.

Can you see Yellowstone in one day? No, but you can see a few of the highlights if you pack a lunch and plan on a long day visiting. We discovered an Elk happily licking the salty grass right inside the West Thumb geyser basin. It is always fun to see wildlife up close.

We have heard there has been an unusually high number of broken toilet seats in the park this year, due to visitors from countries not familiar with our bathroom protocol. So I was a bit amused to find this diagram in a porta-pottie in the park.

After our stop at the West Thumb Geyser Basin, we headed towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, to see the Upper and Lower Falls.

Upper Falls of Yellowstone

The Lower Falls were just as spectacular!

Dan, Linda and Doug at Lower Falls

After a quick picnic lunch, we headed over to the Midway Geyser Basin, home to the most beautiful geyser in the world, (in my opinion), the Grand Prismatic Geyser.

DSC03836 (2)

DSC_0851 (1)

And no visit would be complete without a stop at Old Faithful!

Old Faithful

We spent another day touring the Grand Tetons, seeing wildlife, and then we drove down to Jackson. We walked around the town square and stopped in at the Famous Cowboy Bar for a cold beverage.

DSC03822 (1) Since all the barstools are saddles, Doug opted to recreate the cowboy on the bar’s roof!

ride’em Doug!

Doug and Linda discovered when you are out West, anything goes for a vehicle. You never know what will be parked outside on the street.

DSC03825 (1)

Although the time went by way to fast, we did enjoy having Carmen and Jasmine, as well as Doug and Linda stop in for a visit. Our door, wherever it may be parked, is always open!

Quote for the day: “Isn’t it amazing how much stuff we get done the day before vacation?” – Zig Ziglar

Meanwhile, back at the cabins

Posted on July 13, 2016 by liv2rv

It’s hard to believe that we have been here two months. Time has really flown by! Being in such a peaceful setting, with very pleasant weather, is good for the soul. Since school has let out, the 14 cabins have been at 100% occupancy almost every night. Work has been very busy, but we have managed to get out and do some fun activities.

My particular job duties have changed slightly, as I am now in the office 3 days a week, and 2 days in housekeeping. These new duties started before I broke a bone in my foot, not as a result of the injury. The office work is a split shift, from 8am – 12pm, and then back again from 3pm – 7pm. However, from 12 – 3pm, I still am responsible for answering the telephone, assisting guests that have locked themselves out of their cabin (seems to happen at least once a week), or guests arriving before the 3pm check-in time. When the owners, Brad and Joanne, put in the 5 RV sites behind the cabins for the work campers, they also put in telephone lines. So I have a regular land line telephone in the RV to answer calls from 12 – 3pm. Because of the unusual hours, I now get a flat daily rate of pay, instead of an hourly rate.

The office person is also responsible for cleaning the main lodge, daily cleaning of the BBQ grills, assisting housekeeping on busy days, watering flowers, and emptying the quarters from the coin-operated washer and dryers. The job keeps me busy, and I really enjoy interacting with the guests when they check in, and helping them plan their trips to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

To give an overview about what this work camping job entails, I will refer you to a post that Karen wrote in June of 2014, her first summer here at Luton’s Teton Cabins, in which she went into great detail on the job duties. click here to read the post. Needless to say, the cabins are immaculate! I have cleaned more ovens this summer, than I have in my entire life!

Chuckwagon Dinner

We have a good crew of work campers, and the nine of us all went to the Bar J Chuckwagon dinner and show one night. Brad and Joanne, upon hearing that we were all going out together, surprised us by paying for everyone’s tickets. We all had a great time at the Chuckwagon show. We had been to two chuckwagon’s in the Black Hills of South Dakota, but this one was far and away the best one we have been to. The show and the food were awesome!

our work camping crew

On the way down to Jackson, we were amused to spot this sign by the road…!

too late!

Those of you that have been following the blog for a while know that we like to visit craft breweries (always good to support the local businesses!), so we made a trip down to the Snake River Brewery in Jackson on our day off. It is Wyoming’s oldest brewery (started in 1994), and they have a not very catchy slogan “our river runs through your liver”.

cheers!

We did the sampler tasting of their beers, and deemed them to be “okay”. On the way back “home”, we stopped by Mormon Row in the park to view the structures that still remain from the early settlers to this area. Location, location, location!

DSC_0570 (1)

DSC_0567 (1)

Quote for the day: “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius

Work Camping at Luton’s Cabins

Posted on June 1, 2016 by liv2rv

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.

DSC03590 (1)

DSC03587 (1)

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

Living and working around the country in a RV

Tag Archives: workamping