Adventure of a Lifetime: Work Camping

Greetings Friends and Family

Guess who got jobs in South Dakota!? That's right, Laurie and I got work camping jobs in Keystone, SD. We signed the contract today and begin April 25. Our last day of work will be November 4. We will be working 32-40 hours a week at $8 an hour and we'll have the same days off together to go exploring. The best part is: we get VIP passes to over 80 attractions in the Black Hills and Badlands region (Mt Rushmore tours, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, Big Thunder Gold Mine). And that's only a small sample! Plus, we get a free RV spot with full hookup. I will be working the front desk at the Super 8 Motel and Laurie will be working in the Gutzon Borglum Historical Center and Gift Shop. If you've never heard of Gutzon Borglum; he was the sculptor who carved Mount Rushmore. Our first work camping gig! We are so excited! South Dakota, here we come!

So, we are paid up here, at Country Pines RV Park, to the 14th of April, which means we'll have ten days before we have to be at our new job site. Therefore, we will be able to meander and do a little exploring along the way. Our route will be taking us through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, before we get to South Dakota. I am in charge of finding us cheap places to camp (yes, even after the last fiasco). So, I am consulting my Passport America campground list (which has 50% discount campgrounds) and a cool website called freecamping.net. This is a website where people post places they have camped for free or cheap (all 50 states). I am looking forward to going where I've never been and seeing new places. Laurie wants to make a stop in Enid, Oklahoma because that's where her dad was born. She also wanted to stop in Dodge City, Kansas, but apparently nothing is open until Memorial Day weekend.

On to other things:

Yesterday we went to Shreveport, Louisiana and took a river boat tour on Spirit of the Red with Captain Sandy Jackson. Laurie's sister in law, Rhonda, and Laurie's nephew, Wyatt, were visiting from Oregon and went with us. 'Captain' Wyatt even got to steer the boat all the way up the river. The Louisiana Boardwalk, which is a big shopping mall, is right on the river. As soon as Wyatt saw the 'Hooters' restaurant, he couldn't think of anything else, so of course we had to go to 'Hooters' for lunch. Afterwards he was probably wishing we hadn't because his mom, Rhonda, had to ask the waitress to pose for a picture with Wyatt, much to his dismay.