Posted September 22, 2025 – Narrated by Jim
First, you should know that we’re okay!
Second, the beauty of our campground hosting adventure is that we got out of it alive – but it was a close one.
After fourteen months of pain, denial, healing and stewing over what could have been, we are finally able to share our sorry work-camping story without having to post a red FOUL LANGUAGE warning at the top of the page.
We’d hoped to just keep it quiet, move on, nurse our wounds, wash our mouths out with soap and pretend it never happened. But trauma doesn’t work that way. If you don’t “go there” it will come and get you.
This is our third month in Vienna, for our 50th wedding anniversary trip. From here – 6,000 miles away from the campground – we’re finally ready to face our Waterloo.
If what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then we hope our story helps others.
To protect the innocent, we will avoid names and places. Our purpose here is not catharsis, or to blacklist or defame, but to share a cautionary tale about campground work and hope it helps our fellow RVers.
First, let’s clear the air.
One. Even though campground work didn’t pan out for us, Carmen and I value volunteer host and camp work more than ever.
Many Forever Campers (people who dwell permanently in RV households) rotate annually between two or more campgrounds.
Imagine living in The Florida Keys through winter…
Malibu in Spring…
Lake Superior in Summer…
The Blue Ridge Mountains in Autumn…
… residing in the most iconic vacation destinations during peak season in exchange for skilled part-time labor.
For many RVers, that is The Dream. But these days many campground hosts are working as a strategy to be near family members who need help or renting their house to supplement income.
Whatever their reasons, our Living in Beauty lifestyle depends on work-campers volunteering behind the scenes to help senior retirees, essential workers and digital nomads navigate unaffordable housing in America. We owe campground hosts a debt of gratitude. Many federal, state, county, city and private parks cannot operate without these unsung heroes.
Two. We never set out to campground host or work camp. We are retired and financially solid. Why tinker with a purring engine? But over the years, with campground crowding, closures and resort price inflation, sloooowly we turned and the idea seemed attractive. Then, one fateful day, “Never” evolved into “Sure, why not?”
Three: We had every expectation for a fabulous first experience – and we can assure you that it was a hot job …
But extreme heat was the easy part. In the course of two work days, three weeks apart, Carmen suffered a broken hand, loosened teeth, a hematoma on her ankle, and two head injury accidents requiring two emergency room visits, many appointments with specialists, emergency dental work, physical hand therapy for 3 months and prescription pain meds.
Holy Cow! What Happened?!
Understandably, due to the severe trauma Carmen is still working through, she is not keen to discuss it. She’s healing though she still suffers head and hand pain.
But time heals and in the good moments, like now, we look back and think through the accumulation of events that led to such a life-threatening error in judgment. We are survivors. It’s a blessing that we can look back. ☺️🙏🏼😊
Now, we’d like to pass along what we learned to our fellow RVers. We heal and we rise by helping others.
We should have done our homework before accepting the T-shirt.
Looking back, our gut instincts screamed, “NoO0Ooo!, while our flawed logic hissed, “YesSsss!” 🙉 We were in too deep before we realized how badly we’d messed up.
STOP!!! is a good word. We missed several opportunities to employ the brakes and acknowledge those little red flags you feel rising in your gut. (🚩)
For example, the moment we were offered a peachy gatehouse job and a secluded semi-developed site with full-hookups in an award-winning urban campground, we should have paused to consider why this awesome job was being offered to two seniors without any camp work experience. (🚩)
Had we acknowledged our gut feelings we would have STOPPED and taken a moment to inspect ourselves in a mirror and ask, “Do we look like ‘ambassadors’ and ‘the faces of the campground?’ Would we hire us for that job?” Maybe then, we’d have remembered that we haven’t worked real jobs in a decade. (🚩) But no, we high-fived and congratulated our old asses.
And again, when we were persuaded to sign off on our right to Worker’s Compensation Insurance, ( 🚩) we should have said, “STOP!!! (🚩) But we signed off on the park’s promise to cover any losses our insurance rejected.
We failed to interview our predecessors. We heard they are a nice, quiet old couple who retired to Texas. But, with only a few days to settle in, we spent the time completing our background checks, submitting our finger-prints, and taking pee-tests to prove that we are not criminally-degenerate drug-addicted senior citizens. (🚩) Observing the gatehouse during peak business hours would have been a better use of that time.
Our friendly supervisor met with us, described the job, assured us there would be no manual labor. He frankly expressed that it could be “very busy at times during the summer.” (🚩) He also said, “It can be hot out there (🚩) but the booth is air-conditioned,” before offering us an opportunity to back out before signing the contract. (🚩)
Here is the Gatehouse Job Description as documented by the park advertisement:
Gatehouse: Provide positive customer service relations to the general public utilizing our park; Collect fees, provide general information, and assist with communication support for staff. Schedule varies from mornings/afternoons to early evenings
Here is a more accurate description gleaned from our midsummer experience.
Gatehouse: “You’ll be standing outside in the hot sun for up to four hours at a time in well over 110 degree temps breathing noxious fumes as you conduct hundreds of cash and credit card transactions per hour for dozens of products which you must account for in detail at day’s end. If you don’t work fast and efficiently, cars will pile up (sometimes 50 at a time) Don’t feel rushed, but check-in campers for one of the 300 campsites, and don’t let fishermen pass without purchasing permits for extra poles. You’ll know. Extra poles are hard to hide in a Subaru. First, check for passes. Check to make sure the passes are up to date. Check to confirm the people with the passes are the people issued the passes. Be sure to collect the $25 fee to use the RV dump, remember the price difference between the Weekend and Weekday Splash-pad wristbands, and make sure you have enough bags of duck food. Everyone pays to park. Decades ago parking was free so you must explain to old people that parking isn’t free anymore. You may have to explain several times. They might get mad, maybe real mad. Watch those toes, there’s no curb! And keep an eye on the pedestrian path because you don’t want to be the one who lifts the traffic-barrier-arm for a distracted driver who, while stowing away their credit card, hits a toddler. Oh, and watch out for shady characters who may be armed, dangerous or drunk. But, no worries, if they hurt you we’ll catch them because everything’s on camera. Now, you two kids go out there and have fun!”
Never has a campsite cost us more
Why didn’t we see the red flags 🚩?
The campground operates under the umbrella of a government entity, perhaps we deluded ourselves with an outdated sense of civic protection.
The questions: “How many work related injuries have volunteers suffered here?; How were they compensated for their injuries?; Were they satisfied with the compensation?” should have been addressed early in the interview process.
We wanted to interact more with our fellow volunteers, but most were busy working other jobs outside the campground or focused on training us in the gatehouse details, which we quickly mastered. Most of the volunteers were cordial, some were very kind – even sharing fresh overstock from a produce stand job – and other volunteers were all about business.
Due Diligence
Even if you are already pulling that uniform t-shirt over your head, it isn’t too late. THINK it through. There is no minutia. Leave no stone unturned. If you are required to reject Worker’s Comp to volunteer in exchange for a free site that costs your employer pennies per day, in our opinion and experience, that is a 10-red-flag deal-breaker! (🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩)
As the popularity of RVing expands and the housing crisis and government cutbacks continue, we predict there will be an even greater need for this kind of information exchange for first-time camp workers.
In Conclusion
With our limited experience, we can only share only what we know.
Things to remember:
- You are important.
- Life is fragile.
- And lastly, When you contract to live on an employer’s property to work their grounds, you are provided a site for your RV. That site is not charity. The employer needs workers to live on the grounds. The site should reflect that your being there is to the employer’s advantage. The site should be clean, modern, updated and properly maintained – an incentive worthy of your labor.
Again, we don’t want to discourage, only to inform. Most camp hosts and camp-workers we meet are happy with their situation. We’re just two campers who tried it and got burned.
Maybe we’ll give it another go someday, sometime, somewhere …
CARMEN: NoO0Oooo!!!
Do you have any campground host stories you can share? Either as a camp host or your experience with camp hosts at campgrounds?
Questions to ask
From our experience and lessons learned, below we list a long stack of questions. Every one of them should be answered and documented to your satisfaction, preferably in writing. If you are not satisfied or are refused an answer, that is a red flag. (🚩)
Job Description
- What exactly is the job description and duties? (do not accept general vague descriptions like “Help when needed”) Insist on specifics!
- Will I work by myself or with others?
- Will I need to be computer literate?
- Will I be talking to folks over the phone?
- Will I be interfacing directly with the public?
- Are there maintenance skills required that I will need to learn?
- If the job involves cleaning, what exactly will need to be cleaned? Public restrooms? employee restrooms? If camp sites or common areas, what aspect of them… sweeping, leaf blowing, raking, trash pickup, fire pit cleaning, hosing down?
- Is there any heavy lifting or intense manual labor?
- Will I work inside or outside or both?
- Will I be required to supply anything for the job? computer? cell phone? tools?
- Who will be my direct supervisor?
- Will I be asked to perform duties outside of my job description?
- Will my job require the handling of cash?
- If yes, will I be in charge of my own cash register drawer?
- If we are a couple, can we perform the same duties, or if we choose, have different duties?
Days and Hours
- How many hours a week?
- Are the hours a week “per person” or “per couple”? This is very important!
- This concept is called “man-hours.”
- Do not accept that a couple working together for one hour is only counted as one hour. It should be counted as two hours toward that week’s requirement.
- Can couples work together at the same time to double their hours?
- Are there early morning hours and/or late evening hours?
- Are the hours contiguous or are there split shifts?
- How many days a week?
- Are the hours weekdays and/or weekends?
- Is the schedule the same every week or does it change?
- If it changes, how often and what advanced notice is given on the upcoming schedule?
- Are those hours per week definitive and no overtime is expected?
- How many days off in a row each week?
- How flexible is the schedule?
- If needed, can I find another volunteer to switch hours.
- Is there the concept of “On Call” or when I am off duty, I am “Off Duty”?
- If there is the concept of “On Call,” do those hours count toward the required work hours?
Work Environment
- Is the work environment calm or crazy?
- Does the work environment change during different times of year?
- How many camp sites are in the campground?
- How many visitors (guests) per day?
- How many other work campers are there?
- Can I leave the campground when not on duty?
- What is the procedure if I have a medical or family emergency and have to be gone a few hours, days or weeks?
- Is there transportation supplied to get around the campground?
- Is a uniform required? If yes, who pays for it?
- How many hosts have stayed longer after the initial contract?
- Can I talk to or email current or previous camp hosts to ask about their experience?
- Have camp hosts ever been threatened by visitors or campers?
- What accidents or injuries have happened to your camp hosts in the past?
- How were they compensated?
Camp Site
- What amenities does the campground provide at my camp site.
- What amenities does the campground provide for the whole facility?
- If there is no sewer in the campsite, is a ‘honey wagon’ service provided or will I need to move my rig to a dump station to empty gray and black tanks?
- In exchange for my hours, are all my camp site costs (water, electricity and sewer) totally included?
- If not, what costs I will incur?
- What is my campsite at the campground valued at?
- What is the daily, weekly, and monthly rate? I need this to determine the ‘pay rate’ you are offering me for camp hosting.
- Describe the camp host site you are offering me. Is it paved, dirt, grass, small, large, cramped, shaded, sunny, any privacy screens, patios, enclosures, hookups?
- More details the better! It would be nice to know is it way in the back, near amenities, near noise, near stinky trash bins, near a playground, is there any views.
- Are pets allowed in the campground?
- If yes, any breed restrictions and/or pet policies or costs?
Job Perks
- As a camp host, am I free to use all of the campground amenities at no charge?
- Is there cell internet and phone connectivity in the area? If not, do you provide free ‘high-speed’ WiFi?
- If no cell service and no free WiFi, what is the monthly cost, if offered, for WiFi?
- Do you sell stuff on site? Propane, food, supplies? If yes, do I get a discount?
The Contract
- Is there a solid start and end date?
- Is there a written contract with all the details required and offered to me?
- Can I see and spend some time reviewing the camp host contract?
- What if I want to camp host longer than the initial contract? What is the process?
- If I or my supervisor feel it is not working out, can the contract be easily terminated by either one of us?
- How many days notice?
- If I decide to quit hosting, can I stay in the campground and pay the regular fees?
- If yes, in the same site or would I have to move?
- What if I have to leave early, or any reason?
- If I have a previous commitment scheduled during my contracted time, can I have that time off?
- Am I signing as an employee or a volunteer?
- Am I covered by worker’s compensation insurance?
- If not covered, what happens if I get hurt on the job?
- What if I am hurt on the job and it is because of the campground’s negligence?
- What happens if you ask me to change job descriptions and I refuse?
- If this is a government campground, is it managed by the government or contracted out to a separate management company?
- If a separate management company, who?
Camp hosting resources
If you are looking for camp hosting opportunities, here is a listing of some of the resources we have used.
- How To Become A Campground Host
- RVTravel.com’s article – The Pros and Cons of Being a Campground Host
- Recreation.gov article on Camp Hosting
- Volunteer.gov – for National Parks
- WorkampingJobs.com
- Simply Hired
- Vista Recreation Camp Jobs
- Happy Vagabonds
- Kamper Jobs
- Indeed.com’s listing of Campground Jobs
- Facebook Group – Outdoor Jobs & Camp Hosts
- Facebook Group – Workamping in the USA
- Facebook Group – RV Hosts and Work Campers of America
- Facebook Group – Work Campers
- Facebook Group – Workampers
If you want to see the exact route we travel, click here.
*photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken and copyrighted by Living In Beauty.
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Good on you to post this. Who would imagine more due diligence than you applied would be required.
Jacqui, we were just too exciting about being first time campground hosts to ask any questions. We hope other folks do not fall into our same failure to clarify, clarify, clarify. Thanks for following. Jim
Wow sounds like a nightmare…when visiting remote places like Big Bend, Texas, I thought about doing what you did…reading your story I’m glad I didn’t.
Hoot, well, the nightmare was all our fault for acting so naive. Leasson learned. Jim
I hosted in state parks for one month. Loved the experience except once. But your questions to be asked are right on.
Happy trails to you,
Alison
Allison, we are so happy to hear you had a good experience, well except your comment… except once. 🤪 Jim
Although our experience at camp hosting wasn’t nearly as bad as yours, we lasted 2 months out of our 4-month expected stay. Fortunately, we didn’t have a signed contract and used a family emergency as an excuse to leave early. Your list of things to consider is spot on, excellent. Thanks for sharing.
Ingrid, thank you for sharing your experience. We too were able to get out of our contract easily. Our supervisor was a great guy and he understood the job just wasn’t for us. Jim
Wow, your first experience sounds like a doozy!
We have worked three different camp hosting jobs. Two of the locations were run by the same people, and they were golden and have become like family. The other had a great schedule (two days on, six days off) which was the bait. The people who ran the place could be difficult and condescending to both guests and work campers. I guess it all depends on who’s in charge!
Todd, yep it sure was!!!!! So happy to hear your campground hosting jobs have been good for you. It does depend on who’s in charge, but also that you go into the situation knowing fully what the job is and if you can handle the complexities it presents. Thanks for following LIB. Jim
OMG!! Glad you came out alive. Buen Vieja!!
Nancy, we could not agree with you more. Jim
Having seen the results of Carmen’s injuries and the strain and anguish on both of you last summer I can attest that this summary of events barely scratches the surface of what you endured. Jim I have never seen you so angry, frustrated and ready to start a war (okay a lawsuit) than during this ordeal. I must say, however, that you stuck to your agreement and you were out there dealing with the heat, the demanding patrons, the stubborn bosses and all the while worried that Miss C would be okay, determined to fulfill your obligation. I would’ve quit (but then I’m only half the man you are).
Being on the Danube is a wonderful place to reflect on the horrendous summer of ’24. (Notice I’m not mentioning any names).
Your list of things to check off will probably discourage most folks from even trying. Maybe you could highlight the most critical ones. I did not know about them refusing you workers comp. That should be at the top of the warning list.
FYI — had my first Santa gig atop the zipline at SD Zoo Safari Park. Filming an episode of the kids show Blippi.
Enjoy the beer and brats — see you soon
Jim, thank you for your comments. Yes, it was a difficult summer. Just glad we survived and have moved on. Hope to see you two soon! Jim
Jim & Sam, thank you for your support during that rough time. You two are so precious to us. xoxo
C
Whew! What an “adventure!” Glad you’re okay!
Su, thank you! Yes we came through it “okay” but a lot smarter. Jim
We do learn from our trials and tribulations! Thanks for sharing!
WOW!!! So unbelievably insightful. Thanks for the warnings. We are not full-timers, but we do like month-long trips. We live in Maryland (a house in the woods, with occasional bears), but we are currently in Napa, CA, finishing up our final wine-tasting scheduled for today, and then onto Lake Tahoe tomorrow. Honestly, we never considered becoming campground hosts, because it sounded too much like – um – well – work. Plus the possibility of having to deal with rowdy campers, screaming children, or cleaning bathrooms, was the deal breaker for me. I hope you plan on publishing this article (or a variation thereof) so this information can reach even more RVers than ever. We have met many campground hosts and they seemed to be enjoying life. BUT, they were from smaller campgrounds, usually with a beach nearby, and they seemed to go to that beach every day off. Thank you for this excellent and informative article. Anyone considering campground hosting needs to read this! And thank you for all of your great articles. We have stayed at many campgrounds and visited so many wonderful places, because we learned about them from Living in Beauty.
Mary, thank you for your kind comments. We love going on wine tasting tours. We have stayed overnight at more than 150 Harvest Host locations, most of them wineries. 🥂🍷 This was a very large campground with LOTS of activity all day long, so it was exhausting work. Glad you enjoyed this article and found it useful. Also, you made our day saying some of our campground suggestions have proven to be useful to you. Stay safe out there! Jim
Oh my! I’m so sorry to hear you had such a bad experience while camphosting. It wasn’t all peaches and cream for us, but nothing like what you guys experienced either. I hope Carmen’s trauma gets better over time. I wish I had some YL Trauma Life oil to send to you. Sending good thoughts for healing and many hugs to you!
Cyndie, so great to hear from you. We know you and Lee worked as camp hosts for many many years and found it acceptable for those years of your lives. Thank you for your kind words! Hope our paths cross again some day. Jim
Oh Carmen, I’m so sorry for your accident. I find those things happen out of the blue and it’s only after we go over and over how it happened and get teary over the ‘what might have happened’ that we realize just how lucky we were. While cruising in our sailboat back in 2007, I jumped down from our boat onto a dock in middle of nowhere in Tadoussac, Quebec and both heels of my shoes landed on a water hose that rolled and the next thing I knew I had slammed the back of my head full force on the metal gunnel of the boat. Even now, I shudder knowing how lucky I was. So sorry for your accident but so glad you were lucky to survive. Sending much good karma your way, both of you!
Mary, thank you so much for your words. Even though it has been more than a year, Carmen’s hand and head still hurt. One would think the pain would have healed, but, no, not completely, not yet. Sorry to hear about your fall on your boat. Sounds horrible. Glad you are OK. Jim
Mary, thank you so much for your concern. I always delighted to hear from you. Your story is an example of how moving parts can collide and go wrong in an instant. My dad worked the flight deck in the Navy and he has some gut-wrenching stories about how the combination of how people and fast moving heavy equipment can cause instantaneous disasters. It’s amazing that any of us are alive. So happy that we can both talk about our accidents. xoxo
Praise God y’all are okay!
Thank you!
Talk about jumping into a (seemingly) deep pool feet first and finding the hidden dangers! While you have stayed at large, small, and Harvest Host locations those have been as paid/unpaid guests. Had you talked extensively with the workers?
It definitely sounds like a Learning Experience. Now you know why you retired well and can afford to stay where and when you want without working. If you’re going to be injured, hopefully it will be worth it while having fun.
Hopefully you’ll touch base when visiting San Diego so I can learn more over a Great Beer.
Kevin, we haven’t talked to other camp hosts like we should. Not a bad idea. Thanks! Jim
Having been a Park Ranger for Oregon State Parks and worked in State and County park systems in California I can understand how you fell into the this situation. Many State Parks and Federal Parks and recreation areas have very nice accommodations for their hosts. In my experiences public parks are more concerned about keeping good hosts coming back year after year and less about working them to death.
One more question you might add to your list is, How many repeat hosts do you have?
Vicent, thank you for your comments. We added your question to our list. Thank you! Jim
Never too old for another “growing” season! Glad you were able to survive and eloquently tell the tale!!…and glad your health has endured. Chris
Chris, thank you. It was a hard tale to tell. We had to wait more than a year to tell it. Hope to see you the next time we are in town. Jim
Sorry that your camp hosting gig was so awful. The due diligence questions you posted are important and helpful to those considering camp hosting.
We recently bought a home in Sequim, WA after full timing for six years. During our travels we camp hosted in Oregon, Idaho and California state parks as volunteers . Our compensation has been a full hook up site. We camp hosted 30% of the time and are finishing a 3 month gig at an Oregon State Park. I think we lucked out as our experiences have been mostly positive.
We also were naive when we began but went in knowing there were certain tasks we wouldn’t do:
No restroom/shower cleaning
No yurt or cabin cleaning
No dealing with reservations or permits
No heavy manual labor
No enforcement of rules
Thank you for your informative and candid post. We hope Carmen heals quickly.
Take care you two.
Dan & Sandy
Dan and Sandy, THANK YOU for these comments.Glad to hear you have had possitive experiences. You listed quite a few things on your ‘will not do’ list. If you don’t mind me asking, what is left? 😊. Jim
Good question.
The jobs we have done as
campground hosts are:
Painting. ( We painted
a life jacket loaner kiosk at the boat ramp yesterday).
Camp site cleaning.
Firewood sales.
Invasive weed removal.
Mowing grass with riding mower.
Irrigating.
Light carpentry. ( A fellow host built a lending library this summer).
Rehabbing picnic tables.
Driving to Salem , OR with another host to get a new vehicle for the park.
Litter picking common areas.
Shooing free range cows out of the campground.
Answering camper’s questions.
Stocking mutt mitts at dog waste stations.
We don’t clean restrooms but have stocked TP, paper towels and liquid soap when asked.
There are interpretive hosts that work at places like the Whale Watch
Center, Lighthouses, and the Lifeboat Museum in Port Orford, OR.
Maintenance hosts do woodworking, small engine repair, painting etc.
Some hosts work in visitor centers like the one at Shore Acres in Oregon.
Thank you! Very informative. Jim
Thank you for the detailed account and questions to inquire before. No thank you! Happy you are both okay.
Jill, we agree campground hosting is not for everyone. Jim
Thanks for this post — despite the subject, an enjoyable read, as always. Our camp hosting experiences have been more positive, but yes, there are always challenges. Our favorite story was when our predecessor left without notice. Red flag? It was, until we learned she “didn’t expect spiders.” I leave the response to that silliness to others…
Hey Ruth! Carmen here. When I was doing rounds with my friend Cyndie at Dead Horse in Arizona, a camper flagged us down to complain about beetles in a tree. She wanted us to come back and exterminate them. I thought she was a nut. I should have paid more attention.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Wow, Carmen! You have a better memory than I do. Don’t remember that. But occasionaly people did ask us to do strange things. There *were* some nuts now and then, for sure! LOL
🌰🐿️🤭
Thank you for this post. It puts our present and winter workamping gigs in perspective. We are blessed– Boise area in summer and Monterey area in winter– with excellent living and working conditions.
Linda, so glad to hear you have had great experiences workamping. Boise in the summer and Monterey in the winter… excellent!!!! Jim
Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome, Jan! We we can’t please we aim to inform. Problems associated with this type of “volunteer” employment is usually swept under the rug. We’re lucky it didn’t turn out worse.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen
You saved my husband from saying, “NO!!!!”
Your list is a good one for just about any job, hourly, salary, whatever. As a babysitter, I had parents leave with sick children in my care, one barfed, and the parents were MAD at me for not cleaning up the mess. Hahaha.
Martha, LOVED your story about babysitting!!!! CLASSIC!!!!!!!!! Jim
Airstream life is always glorified in instagram moments or completely demonized in whiny posts. Its refreshing to hear your story and what you learned in a manner that is none of the above. My camp host experience was as a bartender in a resort camp. I didn’t expect it to be anything normal as far as work goes, especially since they asked me to do it knowing I had zero bartending experience. I loved most of it. I learned you can learn how to make the drinks. A lot of what I did was listen to people and their stories and make them happy. The customers were great. The people who hired me were another story. They were a husband wife team who seemed nice in the beginning. They kept changing the rules for what I was supposed to do. They kept changing the prices of the different alchohols then questioning me in front of customers to find out if I had given away free drinks. They would try to trip me up by interfering with people I was helping so I had to stay on top of where I was in a sale and what they had or hadn’t done. They would change up my start times without telling me and then be mad I didnt know. They would ask me to meet with them on my days off. The place had a history (I found out later). The owner of the resort had a relative who had been bartending (maybe a niece). She had a drinking problemand would drink on the job and give her friends free alchohol. So the owners didn’t trust anyone. I didn’t let them bother me. I made the most of it, had fun serving folks and earning some extra cash, and moved on. The fun of side gigs is you don’t stay forever. But you are absolutely right, asking a lot of questions up front is important to not run into surprises, and in my case I was lucky I did not get injured like you did. I hope you have nothing but good experiences down the road. 🙂
Elisa, your account of your camp hosting experience is the kind of helpful information that RVers need to hear from reliable sources who have nothing to gain by sharing.
Bartending at a campground sounds like fun but …
Jim wouldn’t shine at that job because he goes to bed at sunset.
Me? I’d just want to hang out with the customers.
We are so delighted to have you with us on this crazy journey.
When we started out, full-time campground life was pretty straight-forward. Ten years later, it’s another story – Not bad, just more complicated. I suppose you could say the same about housing. The beach at our old house in Southern California has been poisoned for over a year with water pollution that may not be cleaned up for years.
No matter how you choose to live, life on earth is a wild ride.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Ten years is impressive! I had an eight year run. I miss it some days, but do still car camp. 😉
Wow! We just completed four months volunteering as Campground Hosts at a FL state park. We feel fortunate that we had a very positive experience. Our duties involved campsite cleanup and prep for the next campers and cleaning two bathhouses. The worst thing we had to deal with were biting insects, mainly ants, mosquitoes, and no-see-ums.
Don, A Florida State Park AND a positive experience. It doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks for sharing. Jim
Poor y’all. I fear we aren’t cut out for for campgrounds hosting either. Michael would have trouble understanding he’s not the president of the organization with a staff to support him which I often have to remind him here at home! Your summer 2025 sounds fabulous and I hope will help with the healing recovery of summer 2024. Hugs to you both.
Judy
Hey Judy. You nailed it! Most days at the gatehouse Jim was “fixing” all of the bad management procedures, issues, equipment because efficiency is his expertise. That alone was driving him nuts. If we could have finished our contract, he would have sworn off any job other than administration or deep customer service such as tour guide or audio tour production. We had hoped to find a situation where we could share our skills. Oh well.
Hope to see you two on the road!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen
Whew! Tricky business eh? Hosting can be an anti- cakewalk…
You make the road by walking it.
Ben Macri
Ben, it can be a bit of a surprise if you don’t ask the right questions. I believe you and Ruth have had all good experiences camp hosting. I wish we could say the same. Hope we see each other soon on the road. Jim
Sorry to hear of your terrible experience. My husband and I were Volunteer Park Hosts at Big Bend National Park in 2023. We had the best experience ever. We worked the visitor center in Chisos Basin. No cleaning toilets, or picking up trash. I did a lot of research before hand. And knew cleaning up after campers or dealing with people at there sites was not what we wanted. We literally ran the visitor center 3 -4 days a week. We met so many wonderful people from all over the world. Got to see so much of the park. An experience of a lifetime. For national parks it’s volunteer.gov. Can’t speak more highly of the Park Rangers and Big Bend National Park. We were also told since we were technically government employees the Park Ambulance was available to us in case of an emergency at no charge. Thankfully we stayed safe & healthy.
Selina, thank you for your comments. We spent 14 days at Big Bend National Park and wrote a blog post about it called “Big Bend Rules.” We LOVED our visit there! We stayed in Rio Grande Village Campground. So glad to hear you had a wonderful experience. Jim
Follow your Dreams! Thank you for sharing….we need that.
Allie, wonderful to hear from you!!!!! We presume you know that Uly, Margie’s husband, passed away a few days ago. We are in grief over his passing. xoxo Carmen & Jim
I did reach out to Margie. We talked for over 1 hour. It was a (walk down memory lane) healing, comforting experience for both of us! God is good everyday!!!
Another resource for volunteer positions is volunteer.gov. We’ve volunteered at a National Park and at a Corps of Engineers Campground. In both settings the answers to the questions you learned were important to ask are answered in good government fashion. Do you have a question? You will find it in the handbook given to all who apply. For us, it was fun and rewarding to give back to the government agencies that have given us so much during our lifetime of recreating.
Also, during those two summers we observed that those who work for the USA government are dedicated to the work set before them and fulfill their calling to be public servants.
Hey Jeffery!
Thank you for this information. As I understand many Corps of Engineer parks are closing. Is that correct?
https://www.rvtravel.com/army-corps-campground-closures-volunteers-rescue/
We were volunteering for a government-owned campground operated by a private company. So, sometimes it’s tough to know the stakes.
It’s important for volunteers to know precisely with whom they are in contract.
Thank you so much for this valuable information.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Oh, yes, I should have mention that another good question is, “Is this a federal government site, and if so, is the campground management contracted out?
I saw that some COE campgrounds had shut down after the “firings,” but I’ve also noticed that some of them have reopened. We stay at COE campgrounds and in our limited experience have not encountered any closings this year.
Jim and Carmen
Jacquie and I offer you a “Host” position in our small one hookup campground. 🤣
Your fully furnished site is paved, 50 amp electric, water from our deep well pump. Hours are your choice, but no more than 2 hours each day…
Some of that time will be spent drinking excellent bourbon and smoking cigars. Some meals are furnished depending on our left over situation. 😁
Apply soon, we would like to have this position filled soon.
Larry and Jacquie
❤️ What an offer!!!!!!!!!!! Jim
Wow, what a misadventure☹️. So sorry about your injuries Carmen! I hope you are well on the mend.
Carl, great to hear from you. We still think back to meeting you on Ocracoke Island so many years ago. Wasn’t that place magical?! Thank you for your thoughts! Jim
Reading your blog was a real eye opener, and one that I needed to read. As a single, retired Business Education and Computer Science teacher, I was considering Camp Hosting or Work Camping as a possible means of stretching my travel budget. I was forced into early retirement more than ten years before I had intended to retire so have really struggled with current commercial campground rates let alone anything that bills itself as a resort. After a little over 28 years in the classroom, I realized that the number of functions that I could serve in the typical Campground Host/Campground Worker would be limited to Computer/Website/Office work and/or check-in where it would be less likely that I would be expected to spend long hours standing on arthritic knees — more than an hour standing and I am going to be of little use the balance of the day. I have both knees scheduled for replacement during the next 16 months, but am not convinced that will be a total solution.
I think that I am going to go with what my intuition suggested. Keep with my current pattern. Two trips of from two to six weeks each during each summer with planning well in advance to take advantage of the more reasonable rates offered by state, county and municipal parks.
Safe Travels, and I am looking forward to following your blog!!
Kevin
I am hard to miss on the road as I am an old renegade who continues to tow with a car. This is a photo of my 1964 Airstream Overlander Land Yacht International with my all-time favorite tow vehicle my 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible, but I had to fall back to a 1992 Buick Roadmaster Limited sedan when the Cadillac was stolen from my driveway in 2014.
Kevin, happy to hear you found this post helpful and useful. The good news is there are so many different skill sets needed in different campgrounds. There is a misconception that the only jobs are cleaning toilets. While that is a part of some camphost jobs, it certainly is not all of them. I am sure your job skill set is needed many places. I love your rig!!!!!! Stay safe out there! Jim
Kevin- what a neat setup. Mine is similar: 1965 Sovereign and 1970 Olds 98 convertible.
My husband and I volunteer for the National Park Service. We are in our third year of volunteering. We want to contribute to our National Parks which we love so much. For us, it has been a wonderful experience. We go through volunteer.gov.
Betty!!! Thank you so much for your service in the National Parks! We are huge fans! The parks need you now more than ever.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen @ LIB
I’m so sorry this happened to you, but I really commend you on posting your information list for people interested. I will definitely share with my sister in law, I know she and her husband were thinking about it. Thank you and hoping Carmen is pain free soon!
Katherine, thank you for your comments. It was a very hard post to publish, but after more than a year, we felt it was time. Jim
Very informative. So sad you got burned, but you sure added humor. We have thought about hosting or volunteering, but I’m very concerned about exactly these issues.
Debra, glad you got the humor. It took this long to have the courage to approach this with some humor. Nothing funny about our experinece, but if we don’t laugh a little… well you know, we must move on. Jim
I kept telling my husband no. After reading your experience I am grateful I did. Also congrats on your anniversary.
Jill, we agree it must be an agreement between all parties to decide to camp host. Even if it is a wonderful experience, it takes hours each week that could be used to enjoy each others company or explore the area. But, it also can be quite beneficial if the conditions are right. For us, the conditions we NOT right. Jim
I’m so sorry this happened to you guys! Cyndie and Lee Sands were campground hosts for several years and had a great time at it. With your knowledge and experience now, you will have at least helped a few folks along the way to understand how to get the most information before committing to this sort of job. Thanks for sharing your experience and what you have learned. Carmen, I pray that the trauma you went through will be totally healed with no lasting effects as you move forward. Thank you for saving those children from certain danger!
K.K.!!! How wonderful to hear from you!
We wanted to just let it ride, but not sharing what happened and what we learned made us feel dishonest. Also, we met some other camp hosts recently who told us they too had been hurt while working as camp hosts. Working in traffic in extreme heat and operating heavy equipment in a busy public place can be dangerous for anyone – especially old people. In our opinion they need to rip the entire gate out and put in safer infrastructure before someone gets killed.
Love you! Thanks for checking in!
Carmen
Of course! It’s been a joy ride following your travel blog! And by the way, happy, happy 50th anniversary to you guys! What a great experience to celebrate in Vienna!
What happened that was so difficult/hard? What are your lessons learned? So sorry that it was A BAD EXPERIENCE. WHAT WOULD/SHOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY? Your feedback could help us all in the future – when considering volunteering as a camp host. David Byrnes
David, had we asked more questions and taken the time provided to research the job we wouldn’t have accepted it. The stress and demands of 4-hours on our feet actively providing time-sensitive customer service is more demanding than we bargained for. We are 70 years old and the strain took a toll. We also were not trained properly to deal with traffic control and traffic control equipment. We didn’t feel safe. Hope this answers your questions. Jim
I visited a nearby state park and spoke to the camp hosts a few times. Intrigued by the idea of camp hosting, I wrote a letter (no email address at the park) and included my phone number. I eventually got in phone contact with the hosts and made a deal: I’d take a motorcycle ride up the coast, picking up and bringing award winning clam chowder for lunch and come up to learn about camp hosting. This couple had owned a KOA in CO and were now full tme on the road hosting. After hearing their story (ies) I came to the conclusion that I’d much rather boondock and/or find less expensive sites than work camp when I retire. As for you your story, I really like reading all of your stories and agree that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and also makes for great stories to tell. Carry on!
Brad, thank you for sharing. Glad to hear you enjoy our posts. This Airstreaming full-time travel lifestyle is an adventure. Jim
Thank you for sharing your experience. The list of questions to ask will be helpful for those of us considering volunteering.
The responses from others with positive experiences are also helpful.
I hope you both can put this experience behind you both physically and mentally.
Overall you’ve shared so many positive experiences and lessons for us all to share.
Hopefully this summer has brought you back to that positive rhythm.
All the best.
Dean M, Wisconsin
Hey Dean,
We agree. As bad news goes, this was over-the-top. We apologize for that. For the most part we’ve found that positivity begets positive experiences – and the last ten years have revealed to us what we’ve known all along – that regardless of what is happening in the world, beauty is everywhere.
With this camp hosting gig, we took a risk. We hoped it would inspire. The corporate culture there seemed promising but failed to follow-through. For example, no one from corporate ever asked about my recovery. I was severely injured on their property during work hours but no one from corporate ever spoke to me about it. Jim would answer questions from our co-workers, but no one reached out through messaging, email, group chat, knock on the door – to this day, not a word. It’s as if being hurt made me invisible.
But I’m ok now – back to kayaking, photography and bird-watching, kneading dough. I’m looking forward to sharing photos of our trip into central California!
Thank you for being with us, Dean.
Life is GOOD! Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Yikes, never wanted to try it…glad for that. Hope everyone recovers 100%!
Colleen, there always comes a time when you have to re-learn how to trust your instincts. For both of us, this was that time. Gut is good 🚩
Be well, be safe, be wise.
Safe & Happy Travels!
C&J
OMG how AWFUL, so very sorry you had to experience this. We are full-time RVers who have workamped since 2015 with only ONE bad experience…and we left, that is why our home is on wheels. The owner totally misrepresented the workamping arrangement and we were treated as slave labor….so we left. We tried several times to work things out before departing. All our other camp hosting jobs have been wonderful. We are now both in our mid 70’s and we do not need to work we choose to do so to stay active but we are seriously considering just being totally retired. The sense of entitlement today with guests is definitely not what it was when we first hit the road.
Well, Susan, we envy you. We’d so hoped that our first experience would lead to the next gig and so on – as a way to stay active. Senior people are great workers. I suspect we got the job because we know how to do business in cash – you know, give correct change 🤭.
Ugh! The entitlement thing. People who went from hotels to camping during Covid expected to be cleaned up after.
I do try to never say never. My dream job is to voice audio trail guides and scenic drives in public parks. Years ago we experienced a wonderfully educational audio drive through Cade’s Cove in Tennessee. AI will probably get that gig.
Thank you for sharing your POSITIVE camp-hosing experience!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Wouldn’t have imagined, ever… thanks for sharing…
Keep the rubber rolling…
GSED, glad you found value in this post. Jim
Oh. My. Goodness. My heart aches at what you two went through. I’m so glad that it’s in the past; but I realize how long it takes to heal from a wild experience like that – mentally, emotionally, and physically. I’m praying for rest and restoration for you. You both get golden stars 🌟 for seeing it through, and for taking the time to devise a great and thorough list to help future potential camp workers. Being otherly-minded helps the healing process. May the rest of your time in Europe be especially sweet. I’m a big fan of both of you. 💓
Thank you for understanding, Eva. It’s been a rough year or so, but our strength is returning.
When weighing “right” and “wrong” I sometimes ask, “What would Eva do?” and we arrived at this solution – to explain without divulging details that may cause someone to lose their job or housing. Truly, this was a top-down management problem with us at the very bottom. No one we personally met wronged us in any way. Our observation is that the entire situation is dangerous and only a tragedy will motivate “someone” to make the necessary corrections which will be expensive. We have no idea who that someone is, but my guess is that it’s the same someone who made the rule that campground hosts are not covered by Workman’s Compensation Insurance.
Yes, Europe is sweet. Here in Vienna we are surrounded by legions of those little fat Bernini angles, but I also have Michael Roeder’s Raphael that he painted for me.
Be well, Eva! See you soon.
Safe & Happy Travels!!!
Carmen & Jim @LIB
Good article – did it for years and sometimes it was great and other times not so much – to the point of burned. I only took vc or bookstore jobs after a couple not great experiences but the staff and their attitude toward us can make or break a job.
Gizella, thank you! Glad you thought it was a valuable article. Your experience of sometimes it is good and sometimes it is not good, seems to be fairly common. Thank you for sharing. Jim
It’s unfortunate that happened to you but accidents happen. I do agree the crosswalk seems like it’s in a bad place.
One of the first things you mention is that you were offered a job with no prior experience and that should be a red flag. The job doesn’t sound difficult and we’ve been hired for workamping jobs with no experience. So I wouldn’t say that’s a red flag.
We’ve been in a handful of positions where what we signed on for wasn’t the reality so we gave notice and left. But based on your post alone I’m personally not really seeing any red flags/alarms. Even asking all the right questions doesn’t guarantee anything. People lie or stretch the truth. And while we DO ask a lot of questions during an interview, if you seem like a problem you probably won’t get hired.
Christina, you made a good point about being hired with no experience. We only said that looking back at our experience. For a younger couple, we agree most of the job would not be as challenging. The intensity of tasks that lasted for four hours was very taxing on our 70 year old bodies. We don’t think the job description nor that job interview really explained those challenges. What you said about folks lying is brutally honest and painful to accept, but true. In our situation, we don’t think it was lying, just not fully explaining the job. We take responsibility for most of our problems. Your last comment is so spot on. On another camp host interview, things were going great, the person talking to us even liked us so much, they called their boss into the interview. Again all was going fantastic and it looked like they were starting to discuss the final details. BUT… then the big boss asked me what were my best qualities I would bring to the job. I replied I was a CFO for more than 30 years, supervised hundreds of people, improved processes to increase productivity, and generated a upbeat, happy work environment where my staff had very little, if any, turnover. He immediatly asked me about cleaning toilets. I replied that I had cleaned thousands of toilets open to the public at a restaurant in my youth and at my bookstore and live theatre performace space and I didn’t have a problem with doing that, but it would not be utilizing my best skill set. The interview ended abruptly. We got a call a few days later saying they were not going to hire us. When I pushed to know why, I was told, and this is verbatim, “You didn’t act excited enough about cleaing toilets.” WTF? Jim
I’ve cleaned thousands of toilets too but I would have presented it in a “no big deal” sort of way not with an “Oh, I love to clean toilets,” upbeat tone. In my experience, if people don’t want to clean toilets they would say so or say they weren’t interested. I suspect they were actually intimidated by your experience, and the owner didn’t like that. I did a seasonal job last winter and inspected the toilet cleaning (in addition to doing it when needed) and oftentimes certain men just didn’t do a great job. I say men because there weren’t any women working the same shift except for me. 😊
Christina, Carmen, here. You bring up some great points and accidents DO happen. Nevertheless both of my accidents were caused by the employer’s equipment which was ether misplaced and lacked proper signage for pedestrian safety. But why go through a life-disrupting legal dispute when all you want is to draw attention to the parks equipment failures, and hope someone makes changes so more volunteers and pedestrians are not hurt.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Very grateful for your perspective! Hoping that time will heal the traumas.
Vicki, glad you liked this post and found value. Yes, time is healing the traumas. Jim
Yeah waving workman’s comp….big nope.
Donna, we agree! Jim
I always enjoy your creative outlook on all of your many experiences, but this one was hilarious! In my mind’s eye, I created a visual for your creative descriptives and enjoyed it!!!
Happy 50th to you guys! May you be blessed with many more. 🎂❤️
Debbie, glad you found the humor we tried to embed in our sad story. Without the humor, our story would just be the tale of a couple of old folks who got in over their heads in a job too demanding for their age. It is why we took more than a year to wirte this post. We needed distance to be able to look back without anger, although we still have some of that. Thank you for your well wishes. Jim
So sorry to hear this!
Marybeth, it was quite an experience, but we learned alot from it and survived! Hope some day we get to see you and Rich again. Jim
We’ve done several rounds of campground hosting, always at a State Park. For the most part we’ve enjoyed it. The times that were less enjoyable were always due to other campground hosts. In each case, the other host thought that they “owned” the park, and could make up their own rules. We simply won’t host at those parks anymore if those hosts are still there.
One of the best experiences was at Henry Horton State Park in TN. They had had a host couple that had been there for five years straight. Not five seasons, but 60 months! They had pretty much settled in, with all sorts of extra stuff around their site. Then renters trashed their house, and they had to go back home to straighten out that mess. The park put us in another site because it took them two weeks to get most of their stuff cleared from the host site. We were the only hosts there for over a month. Lots of fun!
The best part was when we explained what the rules were to one of the campers. He said, “Okay, those are the Ranger’s rules. What are the real rules?” I said, “The Ranger’s. He’s the one with a gun.” End of discussion.
Will we go back to hosting? Perhaps. We were plenty busy this year with all of our travels, and next year with two family reunions and the International Rally in Minot, but we’ll see.
David, glad to hear most of your camp hosting experiences have been positive. Your Henry Horton State Park expereince sounds excellent! I love your story about the rules. Thanks for sharing. Jim