Arriving In Texas….
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| ROCKPORT,TX. |
We were so excited to be off and heading for our first REAL adventure… we had spent months in South Dakota looking at pictures of the Coastal Bend Area and now we were finally on our way. The trip went great. For the first time since we could remember we were able to be a family, so the trip actually went pretty quick as we spent most of it talking and playing catch up. If others would have heard us, one would have thought we had all been in different places far away from each other than actually all under one roof.
The late afternoon that we pulled into our destination (October 28th, 2009) was amazing, the water, the sand, the palm trees…Breathtaking!!! As we turn on the road to take us to our campground that we had reservations at for the time we were going to spend there, we were more than surprised when we pulled in….NOT what it looked line online. It looked like something you would see shown on “My Redneck Vacation”, or better yet a great resort gone bad after a hurricane…barely put back together to operate, the bathrooms were nasty, the laundry room was anything but adequate and our site (which was suppose to have a patio) was small and had a pallet or two thrown on the ground for the patio so you wouldn’t walk through the mud that surrounded the site. We were simply amazed!!!
So as we sat there thinking ” What Next?” We did what any sane person would do…we went to the Hampton Inn and Suites for 2 nights to find a plan B. Next we were directed to the best Mexican food restaurant, and later followed it all by a few drinks and the hot tub. We ended up finding a spot right on one of the bays, It was an end site with a huge concrete patio. We would spend the evenings outside watching our favorite friends down on the boat ramp and fishing pier.
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| PELICANS |
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| SNOW EGRET |
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| BLUE HERON |
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| ROSEATE SPOONBILL |
Alot of the days would be spent at the beach (Pictured Above) just walking ankle deep in the water or laying in the sand watching the waves, it was so relaxing. During this time we decided since we had time off that it would be perfect for all of us to take a trip to Florida and to take the kids to Disney World.
So we left shortly after deciding this and headed to Florida for 12 days. We loved it…all of us had so much fun together as a family, we had a great Hotel room, it really was the best time we had together for quite some time. We all went on almost every ride, visited 4 of the Parks ( Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios) the kids got autographs from a bunch of the characters, and pictures taken with them, and of course we bought the Mouse Ears and T-Shirts.
We were gone around the Thanksgiving Holiday so we ended up eating Thanksgiving Dinner at a restaurant in Alabama on our way back home to Texas. We also stopped in Pensacola, Fl., ahhh the beaches were so georgous, the sand was so clean and white. We found a ton of shells there, that added to the kids collection. By the time we made it back home we were ready to do nothing for awhile and that is what we did!
We had been keeping an an eye on the work camping jobs that would come available to try and find our next assignment. It seemed difficult at times because we would see something that would peak our interests and we would call, then when they found out we had 2 children it would all go downhill. But we kept looking, finally one day we found a job to manage a KOA campground and it wasn’t to far from where we were staying. Jim called and they set up an interview and we went to try to get the job.
The interview went excellent and they were more than happy to accept us and the kids. Later that night the owner called and told us they would love to have us on board with them, so we started planning a date to get moved out there. We were introduced at the Christmas Dinner for the Park as the new Managers…some took it very well (long-term Residents) others not so well (Workampers that were already there), so getting trained and learning everything was a challenge at times. After a 3 month commitment was completed we were given the privilege to have living quarters other than our camper.
There were 2 houses on the property, The Owners & The Managers. It was a double wide, 3 bedroom, 2 bath. It had a laundry room and a formal dining room plus the normal dining room, it also had a breakfast nook. But most important it had a “Garden Tub”, something that one does miss when they live in a camper and as everyone knows, a candlelit shower is just not as relaxing!!!
Along with learning all the new things with the job and such I also quickly learned that Texas has some HUGE bugs…I was introduced to “The Palmetto Bug”, one can call it what they want but it is a roach and they are the size of a house cat…nasty things that love, love, love to be anywhere near water. Even the cleanest person and house seems to have a few of them visit periodically. Now anyone that really knows me and my fear of roaches should know I did not take this lightly and I may as well have just had a whole house of them considering that is how I acted when I would see one in the bathroom every now and then..YUCK!!!!!!!
Some of the advantages of living in a camper is they normally do not come for a visit to an R.V., they are more houseguest bugs, than camping bugs!!! As we got fully settled into our job position and our house we were asked if we would be willing to fly to Montana to the KOA University for a week to go to school to learn every aspect of running a KOA, normally this is a schooling that owners and some managers take.
Although hesitant to leave my children with our bosses while we were gone, we figured this was agreat opportunity to learn the ins and out of running a campground. Considering our campground we were running was huge (47 Acres, and 46 cabins, and over 120 RV sites, plus a pool, boat dock, rec hall, and activities we figured we could stand to learn a few things. Our whole trip was paid for …plane tickets, Hotel Room, Meals. So it was kind of a vacation, at least in the evenings anyway since all day we were in classes.
We spent our week there and flew back home only to find out that the owners would be leaving soon to go to their summer home up North, and during this time that Jim’s Mom was in the hospital in Arizona and had been diagnosed with Cancer in the brain. All of our workampers had reached their commitment time and left, so we were running this property on a string, there was 1 office person, 1 outside person, 1 lawn person (That would only show up if he wasn’t drunk) and us. Very stressful and we were being ran ragged.
One day shortly after all of this we get a phone call from Mom’s new husband telling us that we should try to make plans to get to Arizona as soon as possible as they were pretty sure Mom wasn’t going to make it very much longer. We told our bosses and packed and left almost immediately. We drove all night to get to Casa Grande, Az.
We were there for a week with Mom still hanging in there, she was still coherent when we got there and knew something was going on when we showed up, considering we were so far away and there since she was sick. We had a good visit with her, and said our goodbyes figuring they were going to be our last, and she went to sleep and was basically in a coma for the rest of the time, fading in and out some, but asleep most of the time. We had no choice but to pray for a miracle and head back home.
The day we got home after only having 4 hours of sleep our bosses call demanding that we come run the office for the evening shift. Both mentally and physically exhausted, and very frustrated we went to work. The next day or so as we are standing outside the office door, they drive by and honk…we of course are assuming they are going to lunch…NOPE, they call the next day and inform us they are up North at their house and will be back in a couple months, that we can call them if needed, but otherwise run the place and do what is needed. WOW…did this all really just happen??? Sure did. By this time Jim and I are exhaused, understaffed, and overworked.
Also we have decided that if either one of us EVER had the idea to manage anything other than getting up in the morning, that each of us fully had permission to slap the other one silly. With coming to this conclusion, and making this around the third mistake as far as work camping jobs go, and determined to travel and be a family that sees each other, we put in our 1 month notice, and closed not only the chapter but the book on management jobs from there on out.
Still wanting to work and travel we took a job in New Mexico, that was a short commitment, but was just a normal job at a campground. Simple duties such as registering guests, yardwork, and some light cleaning….most important of all, we were not on call after our shift was done. We were actually going to have some time to spend sightseeing!!!
~ Gourmet Gypsy A.K.A: Tanya
