Work Camping and How We Found our Jobs

[Poppy & Nana]

Originally Posted by JohnB

I was showing my DW (Cindy) your pics and we came upon this one. I said look at this one, it’s like right out of a TV show…

Then she said, the 1st thought that came to her mind was Old Forge NY. We went to the ADK M & G this year we arrived early. So that night we went into town for something to eat. We are sitting in the Subway on main street here come 5 deer across the street like they own the place and start munching on the flower gardens what is left of them….

John

Cindy, thanks for remembering our little piece of heaven and to think we're (Old Forge) being compared to Yellowstone....WOW

Pat & Cindy - Glad things worked out for you, there is nothing like being trapped in a "non-productive job". Been there done that....once you own your own business and know how to make a living ($$$$) and then work for the government ....it just can't happen.....but think of it in the reserve - you work for the government and then have to go into the real world and work Lots of Luck!

Your pics are beautiful and they brought back many happy memories of being out west.

[emam]

Norm, a fellow RVer that we've met and hold dear to our hearts once told us something we repeat often...."Our homes have wheels under them for a reason, we can bring them anywhere we like. If we dont like where we are, by-golly just roll yer' house somewhere else!"

John, That animal is a Elk, one big sucker if I may add. His rack is six feet tall just to put it in prespective.

The reason for putting in random photos was I felt bad for explaining a bad part of Yellowstone, but we get so many emails with people asking about our experience with others saying that's what they want to do once they retire, I thought maybe I could point them in the right direction to begin with.

I thought the photos would offset the negatives

Glad to be back. I've been pretty crazy busy the last few months, but we're getting ready to settle down for the winter, so I thought I'd see what all our Sunline Fans have been doing

Galaxiedriver - I was amazed the government allows the contract companies to be run the way they are. I have a back ground working in the Hospitality business and if any business was run with the type of customer service these two were run with, they'd fail within the first few months.

We were told "To not worry so much about our service to the customers, most are from out of the country, and this is their only trip where they'll be here, just do your best to get them in and get them out!!!"

OMG!! Coming from a bar owner, one that was trained in a 5 star 5 diamond resort in Palm Beach, it goes against everything that I've been taught from the age of 18. I cant give bad service, its just not in me.

[henryj]

Hi Pat and Cindy,

Good to hear from you again and see more great pictures. Still think I need to get one of those lenses! Seriously though, I read in CR that the difference in picture quality between DSLR's and point and shoots has never been greater. It sounds like they're just putting too many pixels on the sensors of those little cameras--kind of like the hp race or GHz race in computers. I love my Panasonic super zoom, but am psyching myself up to go SLR again.

Glad to hear you did find a good spot in Yellowstone. We've never eaten in an NP restaurant--we have an RV but have been in a lot of bookstores with nice people. The campground in Crater Lake is also managed by one of these lame companies--worst and slowest experience I ever had just to sign up for a site while they keyed in a zillion keystrokes to keep corporate happy. Not surprised at all you found the system stifling.

Henry

[emam]

Hey Henry, its hard to compare the picture quality from P&S to DSLR these days. But I'd say you'll be much happier with the DSLR because of how much faster it will focus and allow you to take the actual picture.

It drives me insane when I have to use a P&S because I cant stand pushing the shutter button and being able to count the seconds till it actually takes the picture.

Thanks for the compliments on the photos. Glad to share them with others

Pat

[sunnyseagull]

Hi Pat and Cindy love reading your posts and looking at your photos they are so moving. I was just wondering if you all will be anywhere near Buttonwood in June so that could attend the M&G ? Dan

[frank]

Nice to see you two back on the board again.

The pictures are just beautiful. One of these days we will be able to head west!

- Frank

[emam]

Well, there has been a huge change of events in our traveling lives as we ran out of cash to continue to stay on the road, so we're going to be settling down for the winter in North-West Florida.

Cindy and I will be running a little Motel/RV Campground and Tiki Bar for the next few years.

We hope to be able to still take the summer months off to do some traveling, so Buttonwood might just be on our agenda for next summer.

As soon as we get settled in, I'll let everyone know, but it probably wont be till the 1st of the year before we have everything ready to go.

We're actually leaving San Diego this morning (Black Friday) for the East Coast, so the next few weeks will be logging a bunch of miles on the Sunline going from the Pacific Ocean to the opposite side of the Untied States

Great to be back on the board, and looking forward to seeing all of you in the coming months

[murc]

Pat + Cindy,
The wife and I talk alot about doing the exact same thing. The one question I have is what do you do for health insurance? It is the number one thing that is holding us back


Win the day!
Mike

[emam]

Hey Mike, I guess I'm missing something, but I'm not sure why Health Care would be holding me back if I wanted to travel fulltime? Unless I had some chronic thing that kept me to the doctors.

For Cindy and I, I honestly think we went to the doctors more when we lived in a stick home strictly because we were more stationary.

Moving full time, we tend to follow the nice weather. We are active non-stop, walking, riding bikes or paddling daily, and except for the one time Cindy had to go to the emergency room because of a nasty case of Poison Oak she got while hiking, we've yet to need a doctor or medical treatment in the 3 years on the road.

We have a type of insurance that is called Disaster Insurance where we pay $140 per month, but we have a $2500 deductable. Once that deductable is met, the insurance picks up 100%.

We had this type of insurance even when we lived in our normal home and worked daily jobs. We've both just stayed true to the rule, live healthy, stay healthy and you rarely need medical treatment.

If you do need to go see a doctor, its usually for something big time, and that $2500 deductable adds up within the first few visits if it was for a major surgery or anything like that.

[Tweety]

There are alot of people in their 50's working for employer provided health insurance. The older you are the more expensive it is, and from what I'm told if you have a preexisting condition it's even more problematic. You can check on ehealthinsurance.com to get an idea of prices.
Nice job on the new website Pat. I love the colors of the hotel...has that tropical funky look. Congrats on the new adventure!

[emam]

Thanks Pam!! We're excited and looking forward to our 1st season as tropical Motel/Campground managers

[Ron & Alice]

Hi Pat & Cindy,
I already posted this elsewhere, but hopefully we will get to stop by sometime in Feb. Can't wait!

[emam]

Looking forward to meeting some fellow Cannucks! My mothers side of the family is all French-Canadian, so we can talk polar bears, eskimos and toast Molson's....LOL