Category Archives: Camping Life

Association Island KOA: The Calm Before the Storm

We have been at Association Island KOA in upstate New York on Lake Ontario since the beginning of May.  While I had the best intentions of keeping you updated on our time here, it simply did not work out.

But, I do plan on the next few weeks trying to get you caught up.  I wanted to spend the time on this post to show you what a unique place Association Island is and why we have really enjoyed our season here.

The Calm

Association Island is basically owned by mother nature.  The animals, the western winds and the high waves off of Lake Ontario simply tolerate us and our quest to camp on the island.   We live here surrounded by water and beauty.

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Association Island KOA in New York!

While working our first job in Bar Harbor, we were told often about an amazing campground on an island in Lake Ontario called Association Island.  We were intrigued. Last summer, I contacted the manager there and lined up positions for this summer.   After several years in the arid west, we are going to work on a beautiful island surrounded by lots of water!

The island is reached by a narrow causeway that is approximately one mile long.  This was our first view of Association Island.  Beautiful blue waters and crisp cold air.  It was May 1, and as you can see, still winter to early spring on the island.

We were a little nervous as we are with any new adventure.  Association Island has been owned by the same family for the last 20+ years.  They had hired a new island manager about two years ago who has worked hard on enforcing rules and improving the island amenities.  There was a lot of push back from campers who had previously done whatever they wanted to do on the island, resulting in mixed reviews on the web.

But life is about the adventure, right?

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Working at Vogel State Park

This past winter, we became hosts at Vogel State Park in North Georgia.  The RV is not a fan of cold weather, so it is necessary for us to find a job in a warmer climate each winter.  Unfortunately, it is the same story for all full timers, which make winter jobs difficult to find.

Vogel State park in north Georgia
Vogel State Park

Paying winter jobs, that is.  It seems that most parks in Florida, Texas, Arizona and other warmer weather locations have decided that the influx of Full Timers every winter means free labor.  And they are not wrong about that.  There are many full timers that are happy to have a warm RV spot for so many hours of work each week.

We are not in the position to not have any money coming in yet.  My websites pay the bills, but without some sort of extra income, we start to dig into the savings.

I like to line our jobs up about 6 months in advance and during our summer job in Montana, I was doing a ton of research looking for that illusive paying winter job.  Sending out resume after resume and filling out multiple applications, only to be ignored.

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Our RV Adventures in 2018!

The year 2018 was all in all, a good one for us.  Every year, I like to take stock of the year before, looking at both the good and the bad.  As full time travelers, we get lots of questions about our life on the road.  This post might answer a few of those questions as we look back on the happenings of 2018.

We get asked a lot if we will ever settle down again in a regular home.  At this point in time, we have no plans for that.  We have absolutely no regrets.  We love our new roaming lifestyle and the fact that as we work-camp across the country, we get to actually experience each area as the locals do.

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The Sugar Beet Harvest

When we first began living full time in our RV, I did a ton of research on how to bring in extra money while on the road.  One thing that turned up was the Sugar Beet Harvest.

You see, sugar is not only made from sugar cane, but also from sugar beets.  During the month of October in the states of Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, the harvest of sugar beets for the season begins.  And they need lots of seasonal help!

Why do the Sugar Beet Harvest?

The money promised is really good.  You are generally looking at 2 to 3 weeks of work, 12 hour days with no days off once the harvest begins.  Any time over 8 hours is paid time and a half, Saturdays are time and a half, and Sundays are double time.  Basically, in a 2-3 week period, you have the potential of earning what you might make in a whole season of working at a campground.

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On the Road Again!

We left Apache Junction, Arizona on Saturday after a winter season in the warm desert sun.  We are now on our way west to Atlanta to visit family and spend some quality time with our granddaughter.

We will miss the vistas of Arizona, but it is time to move on.  Usually after a few months in one place, we get a bit antsy and need to change things up a bit.  While my job in Apache Junction was enjoyable for the most part, we met a whole lot of wonderful people and the resort was very nice, it was time for the job to end.

So here we are on the road again heading for our new adventure!

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Working and Playing in the Desert

We love Arizona and so far the winter has been typical for the state.   Very warm during the day and chilly at night.  We have not seen a drop of rain since we got here and word has it that they have actually gone over 90 days without rain.  We really can’t complain about the weather, but I’m sure the farmers aren’t too happy about it.

We took a trip this week down to Casa Grande to the Wuertz Gourd Farm last week and stocked back up on gourds.  Since we’ve been here, I’ve had some time to stock my Etsy shop and chicken gourds are my biggest seller.  Keeping them in my shop especially this time of year can be daunting.  Luckily my gourd source is right here.

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Beautiful Arizona- our winter destination

We finally made it back to Arizona!  I have to say that since we have been on the road, Arizona is one of our favorite places.  And it never fails to impress.

Since becoming full time rv’ers, we have found that many full timers establish a winter destination and return there every year.  About half the RV parks in the US close down for the winter, leaving only those in the western and southern states available.  We got into this whole thing to travel and really don’t want to be tied down to one place and so far have spent our winters in Florida and Arizona.

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Full Time RV Living- The Highs and Lows

Three days ago, we hit the road heading to our next destination, Boston/Cape Cod, MA.  It was a rainy day in Atlanta and was going to prove to be a rainy trip to our first stop in Gaffney, SC.  But we were headed out ahead of the tropical storm that would hit the gulf coast the next day.

Upon our arrival in South Carolina,  we discovered that the full wall slide will not go out. Apparently the motor has broken (for the second time in two years). This means that our roughly 400 square foot motorhome is now about half that size.  

Then I dropped an entire glass jar of pickles on the floor resulting in pickles and broken glass everywhere.  The final straw? We forgot Ralph’s insulin in Atlanta. 

We had to unhook the car (did I mention it is pouring rain?), go to Walmart for the insulin and then spend the evening trying to make my coach floor unsticky.

And to think we left this sweet thing to deal with faulty equipment, pickle juice and rainy Walmart runs.

This is our second issue with the slide mechanism on this coach.  Winnebago is aware of the problem.  Apparently the motor which operates the slide is too small for the weight of the full wall slide.  They have solution.  Which means a trip to Iowa to the Winnebago Industries facility.

So there you go.  Plans are changed instantly.  As full timers, we are getting used to the highs and lows of this lifestyle.  With that in mind, I thought I’d put together a list of those highs and lows in order to put this past experience into perspective.  I mean, at least we aren’t stranded on the side of the road, right?  (Knock on wood).

Let’s Start with the Lows

Broken Finger

living full time in a rvThis little incident that happened at our first campground of residence in Bar Harbor, ME.  Word to the wise, don’t wrap the leashes around your finger while walking the dogs.  You see, an errant squirrel can cause quite a bit of havoc.  One little 20 pound dog totally broke my finger.

Medical insurance is not what it used to be.  We are currently on Obamacare and with the latest changes and the fact that we have next to no selection for healthcare, we are limited to seeing only doctors in our home of record- Atlanta, GA.  That doesn’t help us much when we are dealing with a broken finger in Maine.

We ended up paying for this injury in full.  On the bright side, I have to say that the folks at the hospital in Ellsworth are amazingly friendly.

Bad Employment Experiences

two guns ghost town in arizona

With any job you have to expect that you are not going to get along with everyone.  There will be things you don’t particularly want to do.  There will be days that you won’t want to go to work and days where everything seems to go wrong.

More often than not, those experiences are balanced by good experiences, people that you love to work with, great employers, and beautiful places to work.

We have been lucky in the fact that in the two years that we have been on the road, we have only experienced one place that made us regret our decision to work there.  But I have to say that we learned a whole lot from that experience.

Pet Illness


Our dog Ralph has been through the ringer this past year.  In early 2016, he was diagnosed with bladder stones and diabetes.  He had surgery to remove the stones and then was put on insulin twice a day.

Learning to give him shots was pretty traumatic for both of us.  And getting his diabetes under control was a whole other issue.  It wasn’t long before he went blind.

After much thought, we opted for eye surgery to remove his cataracts.  It took months of recovery and a huge dent in our wallet, but Ralph can now see again, and his diabetes is under control.

Click here for a look at the Highs from the past two years

Taking a break in Georgia

It has been family time in Georgia for the past three months.  I cannot believe that time has passed so quickly.  When we showed up here at the end of March, there weren’t even leaves on the trees.

Now we are in mid summer.  The coach has been parked in my daughter’s driveway snug as a bug, waiting for us to take on our next adventure.  But I have to say that this adventure here has been exciting also!

I mean, just look at the nice backyard that we have gotten to enjoy this summer!

My daughter was concerned that we would have a bit of trouble getting used to living in a regular home for a few months.  So, they prepared a nice little apartment in the basement of their home for us.  We have been quite comfortable here.

traveling-sitcom-subscribe2

We have the coach right nearby if we need anything, and are able to plug the refrigerator into an outside outlet.  A perfect spot for a few months visit.

Of course, this post will be peppered with baby photos.  The main reason for our visit was our new granddaughter, Esme.  She was born on April 20.

Being grandparents has been a wonderful experience.  Esme is good-natured (with the exception of the occasional evening tantrum), and such a beautiful little girl.

We will miss her so much when we hit the road again.  Life changes sometimes make for even more life changes.  We will roll with it and be visiting Georgia much more often than we have in the past couple of years.

The great thing about our lifestyle is that we are (for the most part), free to decide where and when we will be living.

So what have we been doing these past three months besides loving on that baby?

Well, of course we needed to check out some of our local favorite places to eat.  I mean, you gotta eat, right?  There is nothing better on a hot Georgia day than a raspberry chocolate chip shake from Steak ‘N Shake.

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