RV Road Trip Budget Expense Report, November 2008

When we began our sabbatical, I had no idea that we’d be still be on the road six months past our original “year off” scenario. But thanks to crafty money saving tactics like workamping and free campgrounds, we’ve been able to stretch our finances and live frugally enough to keep us on the road until at least May of ’09. We are presently under budget …

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Workamping for Small Businesses: Are You a Good Fit?

Workamping job duties Vickers Ranch COWorkamping is great; work a few hours a week in exchange for no rent and other perks like free laundry. Sometimes you even get a small salary too. But if you’re a fulltimer who’s thinking about applying for workamping jobs in order to save money, there are some important things to consider before sending out your resume.

What kind of work environment are you most comfortable in?

Are you someone who craves structure? Do you work best when you act as one integral cog in a large corporate machine? Are you more comfortable when working within a well-defined job description? If the answer to all of these is “Yes”, then perhaps you should focus your search on large organizations, like State and National Parks.

Because workamping job descriptions can sound identical from place to place, but how those jobs are managed from the top down can make all the difference in the world when it comes to your happiness, and that of your co-workers’.

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Complete our survey for free Fodors book!


Fodor's Essential USA Road Trips Travel GuideThe fine folks at Fodor’s have sent us a few copies of their new Essential USA road trip travel guide. And you might just get one of them!

Simply complete our blog survey below to help us make LiveWorkDream better for you. Random winners will be chosen from all who reply to receive a free copy of this great guide to the most spectacular cities, natural wonders, and road trips in the USA.

We’ve been meaning to do this survey since our first state of the blog address. But so many questions … what a pain, for us and you! This new Essential USA travel guide from Fodor’s is the perfect incentive. We have a few copies we need to get rid of – and not that many readers – so your chances of winning are pretty good!

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Lessons Learned (Vol. 42)

digital trailer brake controller installationIf you’re going to spend just a couple thousand dollars – or the rest of your life – in a travel trailer, do yourself a favor and invest the extra money on a decent electronic brake controller. You might just save yourself from a complete brake system overhaul.

We discovered the hard way that a good digital controller can make all the difference in the world, compared to the cheap pendulum based controllers most RV dealers will install upon purchase of a trailer and hitch. Why they don’t try to upsell unsuspecting fulltimers – like they do with the special toilet paper, levels, wheel chocks, fridge fans and all the other “necessities” – is simply beyond me. But buyer beware, a good brake controller is well worth the money!

After we replaced the brakes on our truck, and discovered we had cooked them, I adjusted our trailer brakes tighter thinking they might be worn out. The opposite was true … we hadn’t been using them!

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Beware of Nazi Park Rangers

colorado park ranger calls for backup to issue citationDid we happen to mention how we nearly got arrested in Denver? Twice.

We were pretty preoccupied after leaving Denver, and while René is still trying to put the incidents behind her, It’s about time I share our encounter with the cops and a certain authoritative state park ranger.

First off, we headed out after setting up our home for the week and quickly got pulled over by a Colorado state trooper. Needless to say René was totally freaking out. But luckily, this brush with the law was just that. René was doing nothing wrong, we were only guilty of being Californicators.

The officer walked up and immediately explained how he read the expiration tag on our California license plate wrong. He proceeded to run Rene’s license anyway. Thankfully she has no warrants, and we were on our way. OK, so no big deal. That was the next day back at Cherry Creek State Park.

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Spacesaving Hobbies for the RV Lifestyle

Baking bread in my RV magic chef ovenBack in the day when we lived the conventional life, I had some pretty conventional hobbies. Sewing, baking, scrapbooking, you name it.

Out of all the stuff we’ve put in storage, about the only things I miss are ny scrapbooking and stamp stuff, my gardening tools, and my cookware, like my bread machine.

I wish our RV was bigger so I could’ve brought some of these things along. Even if I could, where would I draw the line? You bring one stamp, you bring ’em all!

To satisfy my urge creative urges, I’ve managed to find ways to do some of these things in our RV.

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Crossing Towns Off The List: Missoula, Montana

Sixteen months into our road trip journey, we feel comfortable making some conclusions about our future.

  1. We like our vagabondish lifestyle far too much to give it up anytime soon.
  2. Continuing to pay rent on our storage unit is a waste of money.
  3. We want a home base. Even a small cabin on some acreage will do. Somewhere we don’t have to pay rent. A spot of land that we can go back to in-between our seasonal workamper jobs.
  4. Our goal is to close escrow on something, somewhere, before March, 2009.

With this in mind, our travels are taking on more of a sense of urgency these days.

Missoula Montana RV Park Jim and Mary'sWe’ve been wandering around the Northwest, taking serious looks at places we’ve been curious about. Based on what I’ve heard about Missoula, Montana, it always sounded like a great fit for us, and consistently makes “Best Small Towns” lists. Recently, we visited to learn more for ourselves.

We stayed at this RV park just outside of town. A great park, with a great name; Jim’s parents were also “Jim and Mary.” The days were getting cold, so we only spent a few days there, looking around, talking to economic development people, and getting a feel for the area. We were so busy I hardly took any photos. Here’s what we learned.

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