What's Next? Finding work on the road! 11/12/19

It’s 7:40 PM on a Tuesday in November. I’m currently parked in a gas station parking lot in Riley, Oregon. Thankfully this gas station has RV hookups and a convenient store. The nice lady who owns the property also lives on the property and her name is Pat. Riley, OR consist of a gas station, convenient store, 6 RV spots, and a vacant building. So, it’s pretty safe to say I am in the middle of no where. It’s also freezing and it gets dark at 4:30 PM.

You may be wondering how I ended up here. Well, I will tell you. I drove myself here. I’ve been driving since Sunday morning. I have driven 993+ miles in 3 days from Sedona, AZ to Riley, OR. Tomorrow I will drive my last 250 miles to Salem, OR. Then…my driving days may be over for a few months. Let me back up a couple of days and catch you up on everything. I know I’ve really sucked at keeping my blog updated with what is happening but sometimes I just lack the discipline to write. It takes me to get to a low point or to run out of other things to do before I’ll actually sit down and get everything out. So here I am, bored in the big city of Riley, with nothing to do but look at Chibi + Charlie and write.

One day after I set up camp in Sedona I got a phone call from a RV park. Which was very exciting. I had a lot going on that week. I had just dropped Dad off in Las Vegas after he spent 31 days with me. View previous blog on my feelings of our first 6 days together. Of course, my feelings from he first week to the last week changed. And I bawled like a baby when I had to drop him off. I’ll be honest I didn’t want him to leave. I didn’t want him to leave because I was afraid to travel alone again and because I had adjusted to liking him travel with me. It gave me a sense of purpose and security. And just like that, 31 days flew by, and he was gone. So, I decided to follow a new friend to Sedona. So, I had the anxiety of meeting up with this new friend again, then meeting like ‘new’ new people, and trying to figure out our boon docking etiquette relationships. The second day of my Sedona visit is when the phone call happened. Someone had actually read my resume and ‘bio’ I had sent them and responded! This made me feel so good. I started applying for jobs in Mid October. I guess I started applying for jobs because I knew winter was coming and I wanted to head Southwest…but I had been everywhere in the Southwest so I needed a purpose to go back. I also had felt lazy and unproductive because I hadn’t ‘worked’ all year. So, I got an itch and just started applying. All of the jobs I applied for were in Arizona, New Mexico, & California. Ah, there were two jobs in Florida…The Keys. I did apply to those for the hell of it. I mean, come on, its the Keys! You would have all visited me there! For the entire month of October I didn’t hear back from anyone. In my search I found that most RV parks wanted couples or 55+. Well, if it is not clear already, I was applying for campground jobs or campground host jobs. Typically you work 20+ hours a week and you receive a free RV spot and hookups. Then, if you work over your allotted hours you are paid cash. Every state and RV park is a little different but that describes the majority. RV parks want couples because they only take up one spot and can do twice the amount of work. So, after not hearing anything for two weeks I admit that I panicked and I felt rejected. So I started applying for jobs all over, even stuff I knew I didn’t want or qualify for just see if I could get lucky. I’m not sure why I panicked so bad because I have until February to figure it out. But, I thought I’d get a head start and then maybe something would happen by February. So, that is how a RV park in Oregon got my information. I had started applying to Idaho, Texas, Nevada, & Oregon. As soon as the lady said her name I knew exactly what RV park she was calling from. It was the only Oregon job I applied for and the title was, ‘Perfect Office Job for Single Traveler.’ Well of course in my desperation for acceptance and reassurance I would apply for this.

Long story long, we had a great conversation! She was very intrigued by my bio and my purpose for the year. It made me feel good that she had taken the time to read everything I sent her, she considered my inexperience and youth carefully, and still went to bat for me with the owners of the RV park. It sounded like the owners wanted a seasoned vet in the ‘camping world’ but she managed the park and she wanted to try someone new and fresh. Someone that wanted to work. So, the job is in Salem, OR. They supposedly have ‘mild’ winters. Salem is an hour from the coast and an hour from Portland. The RV park is located in ‘wine country’ and its a luxury park…ooo la la. The job is 16 hours a week which is 3 days a week, probably the weekends. My RV spot and all utilities are paid for and there is a potential for growth, a longer commitment, and cash money. Perfect! The thing is…Salem is 1,300 miles from Sedona. Salem is also usually 30 degrees colder than Sedona/Phoenix and she couldn’t 100% promise me the job until she and the owners met me in person. I get it, it’s a big chance to higher someone that you haven’t met in person but it was also a big chance for me to spend gas money on 1,300 miles.

My gut immediately told me to go. For one I felt good that she was so invested in me. I also was proud that I have created a goal to get a job and here I was 3 weeks later and I finally got a call. Part of me was afraid that this may be the only opportunity that I get. (which I know is silly) But, my brain told me to slow down because here I was boon docking in Sedona, AZ with FRIENDS. Which was also one of my goals, build connections and a community! And I was starting to really do that, I didn’t want to leave all the people I had just met in Arizona after I had worked so hard all year to find people like them. I could just hang out with them for a few more weeks and follow them from spot to spot until I found a job in Arizona or a warmer state. After going back and forth with my delimma it was time to call friends and family and get some advice. I am so lucky to have such a huge network of people that support me. Can you guess which way they all leaned?

Well, if you were paying attention in the beginning you would have guessed that they all encouraged me to go for the job. Even my boon docking friends! I made sure to enjoy the next 2 days in Sedona and then on Sunday I took off for Oregon! I drove 350+ miles on Sunday, 330 miles on Monday, and now 306 miles on Tuesday. Originally I was going to dry camp all the way to Oregon but quickly realized that wasn’t the best idea. I hit cold weather on Monday night which dropped to 24 degrees. Being hooked up to electric helped keep the water from freezing in the pipes and it was nice to have a hot shower, lights, a way to charge my phone, and a place to dump my tanks.

After my uneventful night in Riley I will drive 250 miles tomorrow into Salem, find a RV park to clean up in, contact the park I will be working in, and schedule a meet up! If all goes well I will have an update for you after Thursday! Maybe the next time you hear from me I will be an employee and tenant of Premier RV Resorts of Salem!