We’re in the process of wrapping up our second week of updating the guest guide for Keystone State Park in Oklahoma. It’s been overall enjoyable staying here. It’s not been crowded, except for a couple of days on the weekends, and the weather while hot, has been made bearable by a near constant breeze and the natural beauty of the park and Keystone Lake.
This is our third park guest guide update and it gets a little easier with each one. Bonnie’s taken to it quickly and enjoys the challenge. I’ve been a little slower to adapt and while I like the challenge as well, I’m not particularly happy with the general locations we’ve been directed to. However, the truth is much of that is within our long term control and so I’m going to try and be a bit more flexible in the short term.
We finish this job this coming Friday, which marks four straight weeks of working — Bonnie and I both agree that’s too much without a break. We’ll leave here on Sunday, August 9th, to enjoy two weeks off before our next job near Omaha, NE.
We decided since we’re this far west we’d go a little further. We’ll do two longer days of travel, with a day in-between, and arrive in the Colorado Springs on August 12th where we’ll stay for six days until starting back east towards Omaha.
After Omaha we drop southeast to Memphis and then back to do a park in North Carolina. That should take us almost to Thanksgiving. Man, time’s flying by!
I wondered if that traveling job was going to be more like work than adventure. So do you get to have the pick of your destinations with more “seniority?”
The real task seems to be finding the balance between job, adventure and retirement. A lot of it is mental attitude. The neat thing is the process is helping us define what we really like and need in our lives at this point and that was one of the things this whole adventure is about.
As far as picking locations…we work as independent contractors so we can reject any location they assign to us…we already have rejected one. We can also surrender a location after working it at least one time simply by filling out a surrender form and turning in our job history documents. But working locations/parks multiple years is a good way to make more money so again it’s about balance. Luckily for us the money is not the main consideration.
I like that, Earl: “We finish this job this coming Friday, which marks four straight weeks of working — Bonnie and I both agree that’s too much without a break. “. You’ll get no disagreement out of me. I keep trying to convince my employer of the same thing! :D
If you are of a mind, I’m very curious to know what you are doing, exactly. What’s involved in updating a park guide? Are there photos involved? How about post, man?
LOL…Paul, feel free to have your employer give me a call and I’ll explain why working four weeks in a row is totally unacceptable! I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time off immediately following our conversation! :-) To be honest we are still finding the balance point and it’s all new to us. While this job provides interesting work and some financial compensation we still need and want to have the adventure and excitement we were looking for in this mobile life. I think there can be both.
Good idea about what the job entails. I’ll get busy on a post. Stay tuned and thanks.
It does look like a neat park to stay and I just love the clouds in each image. You are doing what many people only dream of trying. The reality of full time RVing includes a few unpleasant moments as well as the exciting adventures. It seems most full timers I have followed find more positives than negatives. Hope I get to see you guys while your in Colorado!
Yes, it is a nice park, Monte. We’ve enjoyed being here. Thanks and of course you are right. For us, we’re finding there’s definitely more positives then negatives in both the lifestyle and the new job. We’ll have to make getting together happen while we’re in Colorado! :-)
Man! I wish that I could join in that little reunion. It’s been awhile since the three of us have been together. :) Maybe I can catch up with you when you stop by NC!
That would be great, Paul!
I am looking forward to the post about your retirement job—even though I won’t understand the tech parts.
Your pictures are as beautiful as always. As long as your work doesn’t interfere with your photography, I am happy. ;-)
Hi Anita, So glad to hear from you and I hope you’re doing well now. You were missed!! I also hope you’re nowhere near any of those wildfires we keep hearing about out there.
I’m working on that job explanation post that Paul asked about and I don’t believe there’s going to be any real technical parts…the core job is pretty straight forward and simple. Has to be if I’m doing it! ;-)
Even with a totally different lifestyle I find photography still plays a significant role for me…tho perhaps a sightly different role then before.
Should be a lot cooler in Colorado Springs, especially if you head over to Pike’s Peak. Plus you’ve got Garden of the Gods right there. At least you’ll get a taste of some red rocks. But the good stuff is so close – Utah is the next state over!
If you head up I-25 to get to Nebraska, be careful. In my opinion, it’s one of the nastier interstates. Lots of people going way too fast, I think. Or will you stick to secondary roads?
I’m hoping it’s cooler in Colorado Springs, Paul…I’ve had my fill of this heat. I know we’re going to be so close to some beautiful areas but we’re putting in some long drives (at least for us) to even make it to Colorado and we’ve still got five parks to take care of.
We probably will use I-25 when we start heading back. We’ll just have to be very watchful and careful…but I’ll check about a secondary route.