Jim and I are anxious to move into the new year as we shove 2014 out the door with a swift kick in the ass. The last few months have been more hellacious than ever thanks to nail-biters like incredibly expensive mechanical issues with our truck (hopefully resolved now), a three-legged dog with separation anxiety so bad it cost us a $5,000 emergency surgery and a double-blessing workload so heavy that it almost killed us. It’s been one financial whopper after another that can make you want to slide back into the charge card lifestyle. But we won’t.
To make matters more interesting, we decided to stop saying “never say never” and took a winter workamping job at a RV park in Southern California. Although we’re staying in the kind of concrete camping place that we try to avoid, overall the gig is what anyone would want in a workamping arrangement. We are just 1.5 hours away from my folks (an easy commute by L.A. standards), and although the work can be hard, the super cool park owner is only asking us to work two days a week in exchange for free rent and fun perks like a great fitness center and retro sauna. Our fellow workampers are also really nice.
As far as workamping jobs go, few get any better than this. Getting free rent while we rebuild our savings? Can’t ask for more than that.
I miss the freedom of lazy boondocking in the desert, but since we don’t yet have a solar system for the new rig, going off-grid is out of the question. Run a generator? Pffsh!
To all of this drama we say, So long 2014! You haven’t been the best year we’ve had, but we are trying hard to be thankful for all of the learning experiences you’ve hurled our way. We will take those gifts with gratitude and use our newfound knowledge to make 2015 the best, most financially successful and personally fulfilling year ever.
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you have a great New Year’s Eve! We too had a rough 2014 and are anxiously looking forward to 2015 and the promise it holds. I really wanted to thank you for your posts. My husband Barry and I are tentatively hitting the road next June. Right now we are frantically trying to downsize an acres worth of “stuff” while getting all the details in line, both personally and professionally so that we can travel full time. Your posts provide me with a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel!
Perhaps our paths will cross sometime. Happy travels to you in 2015.
Kim that is so nice of you to write, thanks! It’s nice to know you are finding some insight in our posts. Hope this last one wasn’t too dark. Yes, let’s give 2014 a kick in the butt goodbye! Whatever questions you have feel free to contact me. I also write about fulltiming for RV Life Magazine, so stop by there for more scenes from the road. Good luck to you in your planning and getting out there, it’s a blast! Hope to meet you as well. Happy 2015!!!