In my mind, summer is almost here, even though the Rockies appear to be stuck in winter. And without any real summer plans on our agenda, Jim and I are thinking about a return to workamping. Are we crazy? Possibly. But that’s never stopped us before.
Summer Plans Already?
After a short but sweet Texas visit, we hauled ass away from tornado alley and right into the cold, windy New Mexico climate. Once we arrived, we weren’t surprised to wake up to frost on the rig. After all it’s only March and at the 8,000-foot elevation line where the Center of the Universe sits, warmer weather is a long way off.
The purpose of our earlier-than-usual Rockies arrival is to get acclimated to high altitude running. Our May 5th Colorado Marathon is just weeks away. Yikes!
Camping free in Pie Town suited the purpose. Not to mention all that pie credit we cashed in, and the Pie Lady’s wonderful friendship was the best part.
We are so focused on this upcoming race, that thinking about a future destination makes our heads hurt. All we know for certain is that we both want a relatively uneventful summer. So when we were approached with the idea of returning to workamping at Vickers Ranch, it sounded appealing.
Is Workamping Worth It? Usually, Yes!
Although working at this small family business is anything but predictable, we enjoy getting away from technology and surrounding ourselves with the basics of life:
Being around good people
Doing hard work with your own two hands
and free, full hookups surrounded by paradise.
Not all workamping jobs have been this good to us. In fact, as laborious as the work can be on the ranch and as exhausting as it gets when we try to balance workamping and entrepreneurship, we mostly enjoy the effort.
For us, workamping alongside a family like the Vickers reminds us that there are ways to earn a living outside of the Internet. And that some things are more important than search engine optimization and Google ranking.
We are so grateful for being able to help our Tripawds community. But sometimes taking a step back is exactly what we need to look at our calling with fresh eyes.
Hang onto those precious gems.
Once you find a workamping job that fits your personality and abilities, hang onto that gig. Workamping opportunities are everywhere, but the right ones are precious gems. Some days, the gig at Vickers Ranch shines like a diamond to us, other days it’s cubic zirconia. But overall, nothing in our workamping history has been this much fun or memorable.
This summer, there just might be more of it on the road ahead.
“some things are more important than search engine optimization and Google ranking”
Yup! I need a career change myself — anything but web design!
Speaking of which, are you aware that when the “Website” field is left blank, that it automatically links to the following?:
https://www.website.com/
(I typed “blank” this time to see what happens)
Ah yeah thanks Cinn. Jim says if you leave it blank that nothing is supposed to happen, but if you type anything in there it does. Technology. Ugh.
As for the four season rig…dual pane is an optional add-on. What manufacturers mean by four season, usually, is that the tanks are insulated and rig has overall better insulation. That’s mostly it I think.
And yeah it was a crazy spring this year, no good weather anywhere other than probably down by the Salton Sea and even some were complaining it was too cool!
Hopefully this summer will be nice. I saw the Weather.com report and the middle of the country is supposed to be unseasonably cool, which will be great when everywhere else is sweltering.
I thought you left Vicker’s with a bad taste. Maybe i am mistaken or time heals old wounds. BTW, we seem to be following you. Will leave San Antonio next week for Kerrville (non-stop, 63 mi) to get RV work done while staying a Shriener’s Park (RV space 2).. Then off to AZ via Pie Town!!!
Hi JR! Oh gosh no, we love Vickers. There’s only been maybe one workamping experience we absolutely would not return to, but the ranch is a keeper. I hope you enjoy Kerrville and Pie Town, they are two of our favorite places. Keep in touch, we should meet up on the road sometime!