It’s Only Camping!

As a teen, I had dreamed of making it to California. I thought it was the land of cool people, surfing, tree huggers, and forward-thinking people. Now don’t get me wrong, California is so beautiful. We went from being in the desert during the winter, to finding a working camping job in NOCAL for the summer. I was super excited to see that area and be less than a mile away from the beach. The thought of eating fresh seafood when I want, and fresh salmon being sold on the side of the street.

I was excited to be working with some like-minded people who were living the same lifestyle, and looking to potentially make friends. The thought never occurred to me that things would turn out the way they did.

Our journey to NOCAL

We left on a Tuesday and started making our way north, Brian had planned out the route from a really neat place from us to camp for the night. The general store we parked at had a wine tasting and an In and Out burger place in the same center. we browsed the store enjoyed the wine then had dinner before resting for the next part of the drive the next day. We drove past some of the most beautiful farms with so many fruit or nut trees and small towns. My dream of seeing such beauty was coming true.

When we interviewed for the position they told us that driving up Highway 1 would be a little slower due to the curves, hair pins, and twisty road. Once we reached Highway 1 we didn’t expect it to be quite like it was. I don’t think you can prepare anyone mentally, even though you tell someone doesn’t mean it actually registers until you are experiencing it firsthand. The scene of the ocean and the cliffs was breathtaking, and the back end of the camper looking like it was going off the road was also, breathtaking.

The drive was longer than we thought, it took an hour in a half to drive forty miles which seems crazy but maintaining a lower speed was important. Once we reached the campground we were greeted by the staff manager and his wife. While Brian and the manager were getting us parked I was entertained by the wife. She was giving me the rundown of their lives and probably gave me too much information I really didn’t need at the time.

I just figured whatever. At some point, this lady informs me she doesn’t do stuck-up. I thought, I don’t know why she decided to say that but moving on to getting my kitty cats in the camper and getting it set up for the next five months.

Let the Work Camping Begin

We arrived two weeks before the campground would open. The famous words spoken were “It’s just camping”. I thought it would be a laid-back environment and it would be somewhat easy work. So over the next two weeks worked to learn the system and how to handle the reservations. The training they offered was good training and went over the system very thoroughly. Up until this point, we are still getting used to being in the redwoods and getting to know the other people we would be working with. I know that I can be a little awkward especially when getting to know someone and things don’t seem to flow.

So we met the two general managers of the campground who actually had some ownership of the campground. But it wasn’t clear exactly who they were, it wasn’t not even talked about, but later on is when I learned that there was an older couple who owned it. So this younger couple actually managed the campground and hired this man who had worked camped a couple of years with them ( the guy who greeted us upon arrival).

My first impression of him was he seemed laid back and just generally nice and his wife was a little bitchy. Figured since we are the same age she might be entering that next stage of life since I too am in that phase. But the next couple of weeks I had no idea what would transpire. In the beginning, I felt something was definitely different, and couldn’t put my finger on it.

Full Swing Work Camping Disaster

The work was easy and the people coming to camp were nice once the park opened up. It really didn’t feel like work and the only weird thing was working with this individual who seemed unhappy with her life. I tried to connect with her several times on different levels but would only turn her telling me she didn’t care what other people thought. I worked the most with her and she just didn’t seem happy. One day a person who was camping came up to the office and asked me if they could move into another spot. I looked and it was available so I moved him into that spot.

Now from the office, there is no way of seeing the actual spot or knowing which one this man wanted to move into. I only know what he asked for. So the next day I came into work and the staff manager came in and told me that I had moved this guy into the wrong spot and the computer showed something different. I was so confused, then he turned to me and said that when his wife would come in she would play bad cop. Still confused I thought ok, If I made a mistake at least let me know next time.

This crazy lady came in and decided she was going to raise her voice at me and inform me of how wrong I was. I thought is this really happening? I stood there in shock for a moment, then just let it roll. I ended up a couple of days later asking the higher-up who exactly is my boss. She informed me that she was not my boss but the husband was. Before I knew it the husband was now micro-managing me and raised his voice at me a couple of times. The last straw was him talking to me very harshly like in front of another co-worker.

The Lies of Work Camping

It became a mess, Brian decided he would take it into his own hands and speak to Mr. higher up. Mr. Higher Up came to talk to me and ask what was going on. I explained to him, he agreed that it was a bit much but also started blaming me for talking to other work campers about what had happened, which I had spoken to one person about it. Told me they thought she and I would be good friends due to us being the same age. Told him “You guessed that shit wrong!”. Just because you are the same age as someone doesn’t mean you are going to be besties.

Then it became he said she said, then he approached Brian the next day and offered to change my schedule so I wouldn’t have to work with her, I told Brian to ask him to send the schedule over so we could see if it would work for us or not and to make the decision to leave. So Brian did and then the next thing we know, they are bringing a red folder to our campsite.

They said it was best we parted ways and then started saying things that were not necessarily true, gave us forty-eight hours to leave the campground. The thing that bugged me the most was how they handled the situation.

All Work Camping Jobs aren’t Equal

I think for me the work camping lifestyle that best fits is a small two-couple band, We haven’t tried that yet but it just seems less like a problem. Working opposite shifts would be ideal. Not really having to put up with anyone else’s drama. Even working in a firework store, beet harvest, or the oil field. You can read more about our different experiences here.

Now Onto The Good Part of Work Camping

While in Northern California we did experience some delicious seafood. Bodega Bay has some of the most flavorful oysters around. We ate some fresh fish at the Fishetarian and hung out by the water one day when we went into Santa Rosa to grocery shop. That was one of the main things we had to travel almost two hours to buy groceries at a decent price.

With the sea lions hanging out at the docs looking for their own fish, it made for a great time. A sunny day with the wind blowing in May made for a great post-birthday lunch. I loved watching the sea lions swim in and out of the bay, their barks are so loud. While watching them bully each other off the planks.

Bodega Bay also is famous for the filming of The Birds an Alfred Hitchcock movie. There is a coffee house located in the area along with several shops. The town isn’t very big but should be an on-the-list destination.

Some of Our Memorable Moments Camping in NOCAL

Hiking the Russian Gulch State Park in Mendocino County, was a six-mile hike up the side of the mountain with a beautiful view of the ocean. With a campground in the state park. The area is remote and a great getaway from everyone. There is a beach not too far from here where we witnessed plenty of people dry camping.

The Sea Ranch Chapel is a non-denominational sanctuary for prayer, meditation, and spiritual renewal. Spent my forty-ninth birthday praying and meditating here. The stained glass is beautiful along with the perfect woodwork that offers peace and serenity. It is open at any time of the time.

During my time in the area, I visited it a couple of times. There is a creek that runs alongside and has a hiking trail off to the right. When I was getting ready to leave after my quiet time I spotted a wild turkey coming up the open field. I watched him move gracefully and tried to get a picture of him but he moved too quickly.

During Andrew’s visit I took him to the chapel as well, said he felt so peaceful and found it astonishing.

During our time in Gualala, there were banana slugs everywhere. Had no idea they existed until we or what they were until we had one at our campsite. They would be on the camper window, on the side of the camper. Fun fact they eat dog poop, often times when I used the porta potty next to the office they would be inside.  The Pacific banana slug is the second-largest species of terrestrial slug in the world, growing up to 25 centimeters (9.8 in) long. The kids camping loved counting just how many they found.

The sunsets on the Pacific coast were pretty amazing, with several areas for viewing. On some of our days off, we would hang out at the local beaches, most you have to take a trail down to the beach due to elevation being forty-something. The ocean water was pretty cold. Every once in a while we would spot a water fountain in the ocean from a whale traveling north after being in the south and giving birth.

The redwoods are beautiful trees and provide so much shade while holding moisture, the amount of humidity the camper held we weren’t ready for. We had to run the dehumidifier often in the camper.

In the picture to the left, you’ll notice a  fairy ring was formed once the mother tree died. The owners named their Fairy Ring,  Cathedral Tree, We had several requests from visitors just wanting to come into the park to see it. This adorable couple came up one day wanting to exchange their vows are the tree, they were able to for a fee of seventy-seven dollars, the fee for a campsite.

The post Eye-opening Work Camping Experience first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Going west has always been my dream of mine as a young teenager!

Growing up my uncle was a truck driver and always had loads going west from Georgia. I would always ask my stepmom if I could ride along, her answer was always no. My desire to see the west coast has always lived in me. Now as an adult and living in an RV, it’s amazing that we can experience the areas and really see things that people on vacations don’t get to experience.

Our journey traveling west.

Last September we made our way to Montana to work in the beet harvest. While we were there, we started looking for workamper positions and came across a SOCAL one that looked pretty promising. It would be working two days a week for our spot, which we thought was great and we would be able to work gigs while there. So we started our journey after the beet harvest was complete.

Typically we drive three hundred miles daily when traveling, the miles from Culbertson, Mt would be about 1200 miles or so. We made it a fun drive, and stopped at some pretty amazing places along the way. The first place we stopped in was Billings, MT, where we parked in a Cracker Barrel parking lot and stayed two nights. This was our first time staying at the restaurant and really enjoyed the quietness of it.

Each morning we woke up there were new people that had stayed the night as well. From there we made our way the Cody, WY. We drove around Cody for a while looking for a place to stay for the night with hopes of free camping. We want to make it back there during the summer.

Cody has nightly rodeos during the summer and the town looks like such a place to hand out. Since all the campgrounds were closed for the winter and the city wasn’t big enough for us to stay the night in, we found a BLM about 15 miles out of the city.

BLM in the West is an amazing place to stay.

So we made out way there, BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management. BLM allows for up to two weeks where you can stay for free. We found one with wild mustangs. Staying the night near the wild mustangs in the distance was very magical, just to see them move about and graze in their own environment.  The next morning we were getting ready to head out, they were within feet of the camper just watching us.

Our next stop was Thermopolis, Wy where we spent four days. The park we stayed in wasn’t anything fancy but the mineral hot springs were just what we needed. It was nice to soak it up. The town was small and quaint. We did a load of laundry in town at the laundry mat. They have a beautiful state park where the bison roam freely, and at night they put them in a gated area. They also have a mineral pool that you can experience for thirty minutes.

We really enjoyed the downtime and sights, one morning while we were there we woke up to snow on the ground. We actually went into the spring pool while there was snow. After departing there we into Colorado for a night of parking at Walmart. While driving into Colorado it started to snow a little and we both were a little concerned because we aren’t experienced driving in a lot of snow.

However, the road was not bad at all. This was also our first overnight in a Walmart. The town was quiet and when we went to bed the snow kept coming down by morning there was some still on the ground. That morning we headed to our next destination which was Moab, UT.

We found another BLM to stay at for several days, we visited Arches for a hike and star gazing. The hiking in the park is pretty incredible, and we saw so much while there. At night you can see the milky way with such dark skies. We went to Moab, the city is very hippieish and I loved the town. While we were dry camping at the BLM, we showered at a local gas station that had showers for $7 for five-minute showers which were a nice size. We wanted to get more hiking in plus see more parks but our black tank was full, and we decided to move on to the next town.

We found a gas station that had a dump station and free water so we filled up fresh water with empty tanks and continued on our journey. Now we understand how people are able to stay off the grid and not worry about paying park fees. I just wish the East offered the same type of environment, guess they can’t due to the population.

We drove to a city between Moab and Zion so we stopped for a couple of nights in Parowan, UT. We stayed a couple of nights at the county fairgrounds and hiked the mountain right at the fairgrounds. We ventured up to Brian Head, which is a ski resort. The ride up the mountain was beautiful and part of the road was closed due to snow that had fallen, keep in mind this was at the end of October. The ski resort was not open just yet from there not being enough snow. Brian and I had never seen a ski resort up close and look forward to staying at one in the future.

Utah is the best place for hiking and dry camping. I loved the scenery everywhere we went. When we hiked at Zion we were able to hike the narrows and it was absolutely amazing. We rented the cold water gear, and even though we had it on the water was still ice cold.

Zion has several places to rent wet pants, shoes, and socks from. The amount people at Zion during the month of October was pretty impressive. The busy season for that area runs from springtime till late fall. The nights were in the forties, and the days ran around the high fifties. The best time to go, from our understanding, is late October just because it is right after the busy season. The amount of RV’s dry camping on BLM land was a good deal. We saw all types of campers from schoolies to van life, some travel trailers, and just a little of fifth wheels.

We did some research on dry camping and the app we used showed some places, when we got to the outskirts of Vegas there wasn’t. We happened to find a mountain off the beaten path and stayed the night on our way to DHS. The mountain was beautiful and so cold because we gained elevation.  We tried calling a couple of RV parks to see if we could stay a couple of nights but it was their busy season so that was a no-go. The next day we headed into Cali, we stopped at an interesting gas station that reminded us of Buc-ee’s.

Hiking in the Desert

So while we were in the desert we went to the 1000 Palms trail which was pretty interesting, being used to hiking in the mountains. The sand and no trees weren’t my thing but we did like it to change things up. We also drove through Joshua Tree and found the trees so beautiful! The park was somewhat busy, plus we saw several vans that were camping with no utilities. One of our workamper friends went for several nights at the park. They ended up with a critter in the camper at night. They loved the quiet night, with the star gazing being the main attraction.

West Winds has Kansas Beat

We made it into DHS (Desert Hot Springs) just outside of Palm Springs. We set up for the winter in Sands RV and Golf Resort. We headed down the street for a bite to eat at Dillions Burgers and Beer, it was a dive bar. A small intimate place with karaoke going on. It was a good environment after a day of travel and the food was just average.

During our time at Sands, Brian worked two days a week to pay for our spot and we worked gig apps. The resort is nice, it’s a 55+ community with a hot tub, heated pool, workout room, game room, and tons of activity. The park had several workampers there working during the winter and loads of snowbirds that come in yearly. Most of the people had been going for years.

I had no idea that there were so many casinos in Cali. We celebrated the New Year in a casino not too far away and at dinner beforehand at In-N-Out Burger. The next several months we got to know the area and saw some sights. Got some hiking done in the desert at Thousand Palms Trail. The next time we are in the area we are wanting to take the aerial tramway. The tram has hiking and a restaurant at the top of the mountain.

Santa Ana winds are terrible in the area, we had a couple of wind storms while there. There was a night when winds got to 70 mph. The camper was a rocking baby! If you don’t know about the Santa Ana winds occur when air from a region of high pressure over the dry, desert region of the southwestern U.S. flows westward towards low pressure located off the California coast.  Boy, I tell you what, we were ready to be done with the winds after five months.

We enjoyed getting out in Palm Springs’s downtown area where palm trees meet mountains. The city has sidewalks that we strolled down and checked out shops, dispensaries, and restaurants. I totally loved seeing the statue of Marilyn Monroe and the cake that she popped out of to sing happy birthday to the president. Palm Springs is a really beautiful place with gorgeous homes and mountains in the background. One of my favorite roads to turn down had the best view of the perfect mountain with palm springs.

Now let’s talk about cannabis, there are a lot of dispensaries and the number of billboards was a little surprising. After we had been to Colorado and witnessed the dispensaries we didn’t think another state would top that. However, here in Cali, it is such a different vibe and place. The way the dispensaries offer information to those purchasing the product and the health benefits of it is impressive. While we were in DHS Brian started working for a dispensary as a delivery driver.  So the knowledge he gained is great for us.

During the winter we saw snow-capped mountains, and the next city over had about an inch of snow.  We had gone to work and came across the snow with the elevation of 4,000, we didn’t expect there to be snow in the area, especially in the southwest of Cali.

Next Stop Summertime

We are currently in NOCAL for the summertime in Gualala River Redwood Park. This is our home for the next several months. We both are working in the park along with five other couples. The park is gorgeous filled with redwoods and ferns located on the Gualala River and one mile from the beach. It’s a small coastal town just north of San Fransico.

Stay tuned for how we  are workamping is going in NOCAL.

The post We Must Go to the Wild West, Young One! first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

How in the world do you live in a camper and travel?

The above question we get all the time. We will be revealing remote work and how it helped us move across America.

When we first moved into our fifth wheel and decided we wanted to move about the US we made the decision not to really share how we made money. For the longest time, Brian’s mom would ask “How do you two keep making money?” We had friends ask us as well, but we didn’t really want to share the secret because we really didn’t know how long it would last.

Keep in mind Brian quit his HD job and started remote work full-time, which he really never has been self-employed. It was a big leap for him to take into the unknown. I’ve spoken with friends and they thought I moved my in-home parties to online, when I told them what we were doing they were a little shocked.

Covid and Remote Work

When covid hit and the world shut down, I had to figure something out. In-home parties just weren’t cutting it plus we were in the mode of selling our belongings and looking for our camper at the time. We were focused on the new lifestyle we were getting ready to embark on. We went from a 1200 square foot house to staying with a friend’s room,  to living in a maybe 350 square foot camper.

A friend of mine had found one of the remote work apps and told me “I am making really good money while people are too scared to leave their homes.” I figured I would give it a try. Found the app signed up for the same one got approved and started shopping and delivering to people.

Remote Work while Making Money

I was making pretty good money and decided to tell Brian it was time to hit the road. He came up with a date after we saw how much money we could make. We had anywhere between three to four apps running at a time. I loved shopping for others and delivering their groceries when we would get a unicorn it was a great day. Unicorns paid upwards of fifty or more dollars due to people being grateful for you the shoppers so they didn’t have to leave home.

When gas prices were good we would run hot food for a dollar a mile or more. I remember we were in Kentucky, it was Halloween 2020. An order came over to deliver pizza to someone and it ended up paying seventy dollars. It was great when those came across (unicorns). Now that gas prices have gone up a lot, we do at least a dollar fifty a mile or more. We were making anywhere between six to eight hundred a week per person at times.

Remote Work and Its Life Span

When we were in Texas last year we started to see a shift in tips and how slow it had gotten. We went from making a hundred and fifty a day down to maybe ninety on good days. For two years it carried us from the east coast to the midwest. When we would choose our next destination we would look at the bigger towns and do homework on the area and it would be a crap shoot until we rolled into the RV park and never really knew what we were driving into.

When we were in Colorado I ran into a lady who shared a website and told me about workamping. She explained most of them paid per hour and you got your spot for free for working with them. We had heard about it in Alabama and never really looked into it. We had no idea where to start. It’s nice that we now have both options for making money.

Beware that these remote work services for no reason will cancel you out without reason. One said it could not recognize me from the photo I took of myself and removed me from the platform. I am in groups on social media and some people have had the same experience. Most of the people using these platforms are lazy and tip poorly. You just never know what you’ll run across while working the apps.

There are people who will turn around after you hand them their food and report you for not delivering it. There are people who want to get as much free stuff as possible so they don’t mind ruining your life to get all the free groceries are hot food possible. It is a sick world that we live in and these companies would much rather keep those people than you. The workers are a rotating door. With that in mind just know that it is a risk you are taking.

Remote work really helped us see a lot of the US while getting familiar with the areas we have stayed in. We are super grateful to have utilized the system as we did, it is just a crying shame our economy is hurting right now.

Sharing the Information with Others

We met some really nice people along the way. We always run across those who work from home or are retired but no one who has done remote work as we have. It is interesting the different people and the work they do. There is how we went through two years of making money and moving across the US, there are so many ways to make money and travel you just have to be willing to find your niche to do it.

Be sure to follow our other blogs here.

The post 5. Ways Remote Work Gave Us Guts to Keep Going first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Out of sight out of mind.

Living in today’s world can be a challenge to keep friendships afloat. While I am not sure if it is modern society or is it that we just allow friendships to fade away. While living in an RV can be very isolating if not careful we try to maintain our friendships new and old. Making phone calls to follow up with our friends back home and people that we have met along the way has been a challenge. We all have somewhat busy lives but it amazes me just how busy my friends think I am daily.

Making time is everything.

So living in an RV is essentially the same as living in a house or apartment, the difference is we decided when to move and where we want to be for a time period. I have so many people who think we live such a busy life. Well, we do if working and seeing local sites are busy. I don’t know how to explain it any better to friends when they say I don’t know when to call or check in on you. Well, it would be the same if I were down the street. The only difference is I am not down the street.

I will come to visit you while you are on the road.

So before we hit the road and were in the process of selling most of our belongings we heard from some friends “I will come to visit you if you make it to bluh bluh”. So I have to say I have had two people other than my son and his girlfriend come to visit us depending on where we are. Two of my friends from Georgia met up with us. One was in Arizona and the other was in Texas and California.

Friendship Goes the Distance

When we were in San Antonio, TX my bestie Jill came in for a week. Jill drives a special need bus and had the week off for the holiday plus her birthday. We spent her birthday at the riverwalk and enjoyed a karaoke bar. It was so nice to see her and have a friendly face around, we loved doing some shopping at a local flea market. One day we went to Fredericksburg and tasted wine while enjoying the small town and its holiday decorations.

Let’s see Sedona!

Another friend Kathy wanted to spend her birthday in Sedona this past April. So I took a road trip to Sedona and we spent the week together. Very beautiful city with lots to see and hike. We went to a drum circle when it was a full moon night. Hiked the Grand Canyon, had a tour of the vortex, had our auras read, and ate delicious food.  We even rode around at night to do some star gazing while doing so we came across a javelina crossing the road. It is nice to experience things with my husband but nice to have a lasting friendship for girl talk.

Cruising for Thanksgiving

Jill this year was thrilled to be spending her birthday on a cruise this year. She flew into Desert Hot Springs and the next morning we hit the road to LA. We boarded the ship and set sail. We stopped at Catalina Island for the day where we saw the island and found out Bison live on it.

The next morning we woke up in Ensenada, Mexico. We went on a bus ride to see the blow hole and did some shopping for delicious Mexican food. The blow hole is something everyone should see, the one in Mexico is one of the largest of three in the world. We also purchased some meds for cheap while we were there. We spent Thanksgiving day also Jill’s birthday relaxing, gambling, and drinking. We went to a couple of shows while on the cruise as well. I think traveling for the holidays is the best way to spend them.

Can’t wait to see what this year’s friendship trip will be! 

The post Kickass Friendships with Amazing People first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Hey Honey, Wonna Harvest Sugar Beets?

During the spring of 2023 we started looking for work camper positions to take on while traveling, we figured it would be an easy way to make money. I came across the sugar beet harvest and figured what a fun way to make money and see Montana since that was the state Brian wanted to see. So I asked him do you want to work the beet harvest? He was a little hesitant at first but once we read up on it more, we decided to apply.

We had our interview in May over the phone with Teri and waited to hear back about the start date. We told family and friends about it and everyone thought we were going to be performing back braking tasks. They imagined a felid full of beets and we would be bent over pulling them out of the ground. Nope, that wasn’t it at all.

We got the date of when to arrive in Culbertson, Montana for the orientation which would be several days after our arrival.  We were told we would be parked next to a casino. In my mind, it would be a big casino with a huge piece of land. We were told we would be working twelve-hour days and we need to stock up on food for two weeks.

We also were told it could potentially snow while we were there so we needed clothing that would keep us warm due to working outside. We were full of excitement to think we would be heading to Montana at the end of September, we had four months before we would leave on the journey northward.

The journey from South Texas to Sugar Beets Land

When planning our route we looked at how many miles it would take us to get there and how far we would drive daily. We researched where would be stopping to stay the night and how many free camping spots we could find. When we left the drilling rig we had made reservations to stay in  Fredericksburg for three weeks then headed to Seabee park Abilene tx.

Seabee park was nice with free campsites and gorgeous sunsets and sunrises. We arrived early enough in the day that we had the perfect spot with a lake view. It was private, we left the cats out while we were sitting outside. As the day went on we saw more campers pulling into the park. People would park in various places even down by the water in the dirt areas. The next day we hit the road and headed to Big Texan RV Park.

We stayed four days at Big Texan RV Park where they also have their own restaurant. We stayed here as well when we headed to south Texas. We like this RV park and enjoyed the time while there this time around. We took a day and went to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Such a great place to visit and hike the landscape is just amazing. We also went to Cadilac Ranch which was pretty interesting!

The next stop was Kansas, we stayed at a farmer’s house for two days with boodockers welcome. We love Kansas, the sunsets are just beautiful and the people are really nice. While we were out sightseeing we stopped by Dodge City and Garden City. We also stopped at the local casino, and I had no idea just how many casinos there are throughout the country.

The next night we stayed at Pals Brewing Company in Nebraska. What a fun little place to check out if you are in the area. Brian loved their in-house beer. We stayed in a field next to the parking lot which was very quiet. We had a handful of neighbors the next morning when we woke up. We love using Harvest Host to try breweries, wineries, and museums.  The next day we headed out to Kingsley Dam Resort in Nebraska. We loved watching the sunset over the lake.

The next day we headed to South Dakota and stayed two days in someone’s backyard with boondockers welcome.  Where they had horses in the field next to us. The sky was very beautiful at night. We were just outside Rapid City, so we decided to visit Sturgis and took a tour of the motorcycle museum.

Hello Sugar Beet Country

We arrived in Miles City, Montana for the night at stayed at Tongue River Vineyard & Winery, also a Harvest Host. We loved the spot we had right next to the grapes. Once set up for the night we went into town to walk around and went into the oldest bar in Montana. Historic Montana Bar is rustic with a rich history. The bartender handed us a brochure about it, around during Prohibition, and sold sodas. A bullet hole is still in the wall from a gentleman checking his gun before walking out. They have several heads of cattle on the back wall, one of the longhorns he landed in Montana during a cattle drive from Texas in the early 1900’s.

We stopped in a local thrift store to see about snow gear for the job. The above picture was taken at the town square where they have a pond that also serves as a pole during summer months. Now if that isn’t something to see. People were extremely nice, even saw a young man wearing boot spurs.

Sugar Beats in Culbertson, Montana

We arrived in a very small town of fewer than eight hundred people and it took some time to locate the casino. It wasn’t as grand as I thought it would be, it was a small casino with a bar and restaurant attached inside. In Montana, no more than twenty machines are allowed in a spot other than on Indian Reservations. So we located the lot we were staying in and there were two other campers.

It was arrive and choose your spot, no welcoming person or assigned spots. The next day we went into Sidney to do our orientation and met some people we would be working with. Paperwork was easy and the information video was ok, they hire around a thousand people each year to work the harvest.

Let the Sugar Beet Drop

Thursday came and we went to the yard to learn about the machines we would be using and meet the supervisor. We were all geared up to start working on Saturday but we got a lot of rain. Something that is interesting is if there is too much rain, wind, or the temperature of the beets that rises above 50 degrees the beets can not be harvested. So we waited to start working because the rain had flooded the yard and for the trucks to deliver it needs to be well drained.

There are two crews that work twelve-hour shifts, and one farmer works his trucks 24 hours a day until the harvesting is complete. We were part of the day crew and stayed a mile away from the yard which we could see from our camper. The first couple of days working the weather was nice, we watched the sun rise and set each day while working. At each piler, there are five to six people working it.

So the dump trucks pull in and drive up to the piler, conveyer belt pulls the beets through and loads them onto the boom. The person working the sugar beets piler also works the boom to make sure that the beets don’t pile too high on either side. There are two people who are up in the controller station, one person gathers the samples for the lab, and two people are usually walking around gathering the beets that might fall around the trucks or even the beet pile.

One day we got sent home early due to the sugar beet temperature rising above fifty degrees, and two days it was too windy, working in the elements isn’t necessarily easy but it was worth it. Once we got to know the job and what was expected and the people we worked with were nice enough. Every year they bring in several work campers for Montana, Wyoming, and Minnesota.

In the above picture, you will see a dump truck in the right corner unloading the beets, Pat in the left picture showing us how to collect a sample, and the right bottom is sugar beets that cracked open. They are white on the inside, there are red and golden sugar beets that are rare, and the workers that have been working the harvest get super excited when spotted. There is a pile of dirty ones and all of a sudden you see red or golden.

Some of the workers took some of the rare sugar beets and cooked them to eat. They said it tasted a little sweeter than the regular beets. The size of most of the sugar beets was human-head-sized, some were smaller but not really the size of the beets you buy in the store.  Some of the sugar beets would get stuck in the sample shot and we would have to get a stick to poke around and remove them. The amount of sugar beets harvested yearly is a high number.

The truckers have been working for years with the farmers and know the supervisor we worked with, his name is Pat. Pat is a local to the area and owned a farm several years ago, he is an easy-to-work-with person. The trucks usually would talk for about forty minutes or so from the time they left the yard. The truckers all predict how long the harvest will last and hang out at the casino in town to have a beer.

The work was pretty easy and a great workout. We worked two weeks straight and when the work is complete you have forty-eight hours to leave. God willing we will be back in Montana for the harvest this year. If you think this is something you might want to give a try contact us and we will get you to the right people!

The post Sugar Beets Harvesting is Fascinating first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Pros and Cons of Campsites

When we first started out living in our fifth wheel we really didn’t know what to expect. Our first RV park was a little pricey and we didn’t know any better, it ran eight hundred a month with electricity and water included. No one tells you just how much RV parks run and just how pricy they can be. We stayed in one in Virginia and it cost twelve hundred a month, if we had stayed longer and signed a year contract it would have been six hundred a month. When we reached Kansas that one ran us just under four hundred.

Some spots can be very spacious and some are not. When we pulled into Florida the sites were so tight that it wasn’t easy pulling into, pulling in is the worst park but pulling out isn’t that bad.

Con of owning an RV

Why in the world don’t they have a driving course you need to take? Doesn’t every vehicle need a training course of some sort? My biggest concern is most people buy RV’s and have never driven one. We didn’t have experience at all, watching Brian back up would give me such anxiety and still does at different times depending on where we are.

My friend who drove eighteen-wheelers offered to help us out with some tips and tricks. That has cut down on some of our issues.  Watching these people just drive down the road and have no idea is very concerning. Everyone should how someone teach them the right way to back in, change lanes, and know to k-turn when in need.

Con of tire blowing

Blowouts on the RV aren’t easy to navigate especially on the interstate.  Now imagine you are hauling a 40ft camper behind you, if a tire blows you’ll never know. Some say to buy the tire monitoring system for the camper, however, those things aren’t always accurate due to it being Bluetooth connected. We had one and it would give false readings all the time. You need to know where to use the jack when raising the RV for a tire change.

So the iron bars run parallel on your camper. For the jack to be placed. not the stabilizers or legs.  People don’t usually tell you about the process, we found out from having a leg break on us in Kentucky.

Notice from the picture there is a piece of wood between the jack and the camper. That is so you don’t bend anything. you can safely jack the camper up or down anywhere on the camper using the iron bar.

Pros of living in an RV

We enjoy staying a couple of months in each spot and it allows us to get to know the area and see places we normally wouldn’t. A friend of mine told me when we first started out “you know people take vacations to see places.” Well here is my take on that, you aren’t there long enough to see everything or get a feel of how people are in the area. Locals in every town are different, most of them can’t even tell you the places to experience or sights that should be seen. Sometimes the best places to go are the local places and not the tourist ones.

Staying for an extended amount of time you get to witness the weather and see if it is somewhere you’d want to go again or not. Peak season in every place is different.

We have made some friendships along the way that we would have never had the opportunity to if living in a house. The downside is we miss our family and friends we have back home. We facetime and talk to them as often as possible but being in person is so different.

Biggest Con of all

In the RV community, people don’t really get in the middle of how you run your rig, this is a plus. The downside is that no one offers up advice or suggestions if you’re doing it wrong. Most of the time being new to the lifestyle people don’t just offer up advice unless you are talking with them about something particular.

I have often wondered why that is but I guess after almost three years I can now get it…maybe. Thank goodness for Youtube University, it has been helpful when figuring things out.

Things break often

So driving our house down the road and sometimes there will be something that worked and once parked now doesn’t. During our second week in the camper, the sink decided to leak, had no idea where it was coming from. Well, we just changed the faucet but not knowing everything is plastic such as pipes. We have had three legs break, the vent fan in the kitchen, and a water leak where water comes in.

You need to be handy when fixing stuff that way you don’t always need to call a tech. The other thing is getting new tires right off the bat. We have G-rated tires on the camper now. G-rated tires are a good ply and top-of-the-line. If you speak with people who have been RVing for a long time they will share that bit of information.

Pros for Black Tank Cleaning

If you go looking for the information you’ll find it but it isn’t really something anyone offers up. So the black tank almost works like a septic tank. So there are order eliminators out there but that isn’t really going to solve a problem you might have just as a poop pyramid. So the problem some people have and aren’t aware of is you need to add 4-5 gallons of water into the black tank after emptying it before adding the solution.  Recently I learned about a product that adds good bacteria into the black tank, it helps break down the solids into liquid.

The product is called RV digest. The pro tip they have several products from getting rid of a poop pyramid to just keeping the bacteria in good standing. Also, the black tank needs to be flushed every time you empty it would be great but we know that isn’t always the case.

When we release the black tank knob we wait until it is completely empty and then close it. We release the grey water after cleaning out the hose so that way no added smell. Now the one thing I have seen online is people are bad about leaving the black tank open which is a no-no. That can cause a smell, a dry tank that leads to a poop pyramid, and creators climbing into the tank and into the camper.

Happy Camping to you all! If you have anything to add please do so, we love to hear some of your pros and cons.

Be sure to follow our journey

The post Pros and Cons the Naked Truth first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Boondocking RV Experiences

While we were deciding to take this journey of RV life or beach life, Brian had done some reading about how people love boondocking. I was apprehensive of the unknown territory. While moving into an RV doesn’t seem so stressful, it can be. I left the information up to him to learn and know if that was something for us to do.

After we had moved into our fifth wheel and done a little traveling, Brian had come up with Harvest Host as one of the memberships we should join. We love the places we have stayed while having the memberships. Side note: if you’d like 15% off just click here. There will be a blog soon about the places we have stayed.

Boondocking RV Experience #1

Experience #1 would be one for the books and a life lesson for all thinking about living in an RV. Learn how to add fresh water to your fresh water tank. We were not 100% certain how to do this and when we got to Ocracoke it was late and we had no idea where the file up station was. We learned later it was across the street but didn’t help get water into our tanks.  So we lived out of a bucket for the duration of our trip.

So before you head out on a journey I would practice adding water to the freshwater tank and also have it just in case.

Boondocking RV Experience #2

Our second boondocking RV experience was at a farm in Kentucky. We arrived at the farm with electric hookups, got set up for the night, and took the camper off the truck. Lesson learned about parking on incline unlevel ground.

The next morning we enjoyed our coffee and watched the sunrise while enjoying our scenery. We started packing up for the next city we were headed to and bam! It happened, the first driver leg broke on us. We tried everything to get it on top of the truck. Remember we are still new to RV life we haven’t even made it a year yet. We contacted a repair guy and he didn’t know what to do. So Brian tried to get the tractor to left it on to the truck. Well, that was a no-go and didn’t work. He called around and finally found someone to come out the next day.

The repair man showed him how to use a jack to raise it when there is an issue. The part that broke in the leg is the joint where the motor and leg come together. We have an auto leveler which is nice but it also is very tricky with them. If the ground isn’t 100% level it will mess up. We had it fixed in Alamaba once we were there.

Generator or Solar for Boondocking

We purchased the above generator for our boondocking needs, this generator has been a lifesaver. We turn it off at night if we have several people around us. We need it more so for our refrigerator. Looking at our camper we don’t have an inverter, so if we went the solar panel way we would need to install an inverter.

We have met several people who have installed solar panels, one lady told me that we would still need the generator because the batteries will need charging from time to time.

Places We have Boondocked

We recently learned about BLM properties which I love. We have boondocked at several of them. The most important thing make sure you have enough water in your freshwater tank. We know the limit on our black and grey tanks. We use very limited water when washing dishes so that our water lasts longer. Most of the land is in very rural areas which makes star gazing amazing. We love our memberships with Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Host.

Check back regularly to see more of our experiences.

The post 10 Doomed Boondocking RV Experiences first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Wine Country in Texas is a must-visit!

If you love vineyards and good-tasting wine, visit Hill Country TX. We had no idea there were over 100 wineries to choose from. In every state we have been in we have experienced some good wines. I know most people want to visit Napa Valley,  you can now add Hill Country as a must-visit destination.

Fredericksburg is only an hour and a half from Austin and an hour from San Antonio. If you make it a week-long stay you can see a couple of bigger cities.

The Vineyards of Fredericksburg is the campground we are staying at and they have wagons you can rent to stay in. There are a group of five covered wagons as you come into the park, every one of them has a/c, and each has its own picnic table plus there is a grill if you wanted to cook out. There is also a swimming pool and hot tub within the park. The property next door has deer grazing morning and dusk with a beautiful sunrise just above the hill where the office is located.

With Texas coming in as the fifth-largest wine producer in the country, Fredericksburg is a quaint town with plenty to see. You head east on 290 for vineyards galore. Some of the grapes are brought in from West Texas but 80% of grapes are grown here in Fredericksburg. The little German town has plenty of great sausages to try. At night the town comes alive with a karaoke bar, metal bar,  and several live music on the patio bars/restaurants.

We met the kiddos at 290 Wine Castle for a tasting and beautiful view. The tasting was extremely nice with our own tasting room overlooking the downstairs bar. If you become a member you can taste in the dungeon or rooftop, they have a hotel that is right beside which seemed nice. Just down the street, there is Fat Ass which offers flavored wines the ambiance of the grape fields is super inviting. They offer live music on the side patio for a spectacular experience.

 One of our neighbors here at the campground recommended it and also spoke highly of  Slate Theory winery. Also, said that Slate Theory built a cave that remains sixty-five degrees all year round. From the photos, it looks beautiful and classy.

So far all vineyard tastings have averaged about $25 per tasting. It usually is kept per category with the occasional slushy. Most vineyards want you to become a member. If we had a physical address I would. They can ship it to you most anywhere in the US. Of course, they have different perks that come with memberships.

With rolling hills and greenery with plenty of wildlife to see, I haven’t been disappointed with the sizes of the trees. When we reached TX my complaint was the trees are like shrubs. We are looking forward to checking out the chocolate tasting room. They have a fabulous sauce, pickles and other tasting house in town. There is a local bat cave we will be visit as well: Old Tunnel State Park, where the bats fly out the cave at dusk.

If you are a Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson fan, Luckenbach, Tx is just around the corner with a dance hall. If you want to fully experience Texas you must hit a dance hall. I am not a big country fan but dancing at the dance halls is so much fun. Two stepping with like dancing never disappoints.

We love being on this journey and sharing our experiences with everyone who comes across our blog.

The post #2 Wine Sensational Destination first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Never Tell Mom I Work in Oilfield, She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse!

Never Tell Mom I Work in Oilfield, She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse, this is really a thing in the oilfield. I had never heard of the term until our friend Mike shared it with us; being he is a welder. Over the course of three months, we have learned about: the v-door, running casing, cement, the rig floor, and more.

The above picture is of Brian and me in front of our camper several feet away from the drilling rig at our second location. Back in May, we decided to pivot just a little and take the job of gate security at an oilfield. We had no idea where we were going or anything about the industry. We set out on an adventure to South Texas to see what it was all about. Well, we are about 1 hour from the border of Mexico, in the land of Ranches.

Equipment for our Stay in the Oilfield

We arrived on a Saturday at the gate guard yard, where Eddie met us to get us set up for the night. Sunday at 6 am we were headed to our destination with no time limit scheduled. We arrived at a ranch just off I-35, Eddie got out and opened a pretty large gate to let us through. We drove about 3 miles give or take to where we would be set up. Once arriving we got the camper set up and learned about our position in checking everyone in. We were to take photos of the front and back of the tag of vehicles and get their names plus the company.

The shifts are 12-hour increments, or whatever you work out with your traveling partner. We tried several shifts, and the one we found best was to share an 8-hour shift so that we could be together and it not be too much for one person. Someone has to always be available, so one of us would run errands, while the other hung tight.

We have lights on all sides of the camper, the one behind us is just in case illegals come walking up and not scare the dickens out of us. I’ve been asked several times “have you seen any illegals yet?” Not so far, there is a train track not too far from us so we hear the train passing. This job in itself is pretty boring. There are days we have had a good amount of movement but for the most part, not a whole lot.

Protecting from the Hot Sun in the Oilfield

We took reflectix, and put it on the outside of our windows so that we could keep the sun out and with hopes of keeping it cool. For the most part in this 100° heat, it did help.

Some days after our arrival I am minding my business, I grabbed the ladder and headed toward the back windows. As I opened it up a loud MOOOOOOOOO, scared the mess out of me. Yelling for Brian to grab a phone to take a picture of the cows, since they were less than 100 yards away. While being out here we have seen tarantulas and javelinas, plus a unicorn goat.

Oilfield Roughnecks

Meeting the different workers as they came for their two-week hitch has been insightful. The drilling rig is moved from location to location, and broken down for transport. When they drill two wells in each location the feet on the rig are hydraulic and they walk it over so they can start drilling.

The derricks where control the piping that is being loaded onto the rig, the v-door is the loading casing for it to be then loaded, the dog house is where the driller sits, the rig floor is where all floor hands are, the mud guys are on the back side, and the solids control, and then there are directional guys.

Directional guys guide the driller on where to drill and give coordinates. This last well is 26,000 feet just over 5 miles. Once they reach the destination in the drilling it is called TD. Then the casing guys show up, the casing is then run into the well to stabilize the ground for no shifting once it is in the ground, cement shows up.

Cement is pretty neat to hear how it is, they push it through the casing and it goes up the sides on the outside of the cashing. The final step is the one-man band that shows up to seal it off.

Small Towns with Very Little to Do

The small towns around us are just that, one, in particular, got hit pretty badly by Covid. One gentleman told me that west and south Texas use to have about 80 rigs running at any given time now it’s nowhere near it. The current administration shutting down the pipelines has put so many people out of work, the guys working on these rigs had been unemployed for some time.

Oilfields are full of crude oil they are drilling for and will be stored for future use. Almost all these men out here are not happy with the current administration getting oil from other countries, they said the amount of oil here on our own soil would last us for a very long time.

The nearest big city is Laredo which takes about 45 minutes from here. That is where all the major stores are, I have often referred to it as the outing.

Continue to follow our journey here, moving north for another unique job.

Blister Bug or Spider?

On the last week of our stay, I went out to check one of the workers in. While chatting with them I saw a bee and then felt a sting. The sting was very hurtful and was probably the worst I have felt. I put some ice on it and some miracle oil on it hoping that it would get better. It started getting tight and felt like it was swollen but again I figured it was just from the sting. The next day it progressively got worse and the redness started spreading down my arm plus the blisters were multiplying.

I ended up having to into Loredo to the urgent care doctor. They gave me a shot of antibiotics and two pill forms as well.

The post 115° Horrifying Heat for 92 Days while on the Oilfield first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia

Natural high at 12,005 elevation.

Rocky Mountain National Forest Park was such a natural high and requires an appointment before 3 pm. We arrived around 11 am when the guard asked “do you have an appointment?”. We both looked at each other and said “no”. Newbies here! We don’t always do research to find out the particulars about a park or place we want to visit. I am the guilty one!

So we decided to go check out the visitor center just outside the park. It is a gift shop, park information, and restaurant all in one. The items they offered inside the gift shop were unique and perfect for gift giving. I found the most amazing large coffee mug, black n blue in color, mountain scenery all the way around it with a huge deer on the top of the mountain.

We decided to eat in Estes Park for lunch and walk around while waiting for the time to get into the park. We stopped into a Mexican restaurant that overlooked the mountain city. The scenery is amazing there, with it being a Saturday afternoon there were plenty of browsers and shoppers. The number of candy shops was plentiful, every second store was a shop. The city is something to see for sure.

In the evening there are Elk that walk down the street and in September it is mating season and you can catch the male chasing the female. In the center of Estes Park, there is a park with picnic tables and parking where at dusk you can witness the elk coming down the road and stopping at this location to hang out. One of our neighbors at the RV park told us how they witnessed it. So I insisted we had to go back to see it.

Well, 3 pm came around and we were at the gate to get in. The nice guard told us that we were there for the perfect setting of seeing Elk. I got all giddy and couldn’t wait for my natural high to take place. We drove into the park, and the person I am; “look they are going this way we have to follow them”. Well, we started down this single-lane road there shortly after we started up a mountain.

The scenery is gorgeous and I kept an eye out for the elk. We stopped at a waterfall followed so steps down to check it out, there were several cars there as well. The rock steps down were a little steep but the water was beautiful coming down the mountain. We got back in the car and continued to drive up the mountain where Brian thought it would be funny to drive on the edge. Yeah, I didn’t find it too funny but yolo baby! I fell in love with the trees in Colorado. They are larger than life and just amazingly beautiful!

We made it to what we thought was the top of the mountain, we see a few cars pulled over. We pull over as well and see a herd of elk just grazing away down in the valley. I had a pair of binoculars in my hiking pack and they were probably 20 or so below us. They were so peaceful to watch and they didn’t know or care we were watching.

The alpine visitor center was very busy at the top. The stairs going up to the top were giant and blocked off on the sides to prevent you from wandering the mountain. The view from 12,005 feet was breathtaking and it was 55 degrees at the top, brrrr. Both of us were breathing heavily by the time we got to the top of the mountain. Neither of us had been to that altitude and it is breathtaking.

Once we got down that side of the mountain we saw on the map that there were several lakes and hiking trails to walk. As we pulled in there was a Moose grazing close by the parking lot, a man was standing near her and she just kept eating. Here is one of the many lakes in the park, there is an area with 5 or 6 lakes within hiking distance. We got there a little bit later in the day and witnessed the sun setting.  There was a bench next to the pond and we enjoyed some silence for some time.  It was dusk before we got back to the car.

If you are thinking of visiting the park here is the link.

Colorado has so much to offer in its natural beauty. Loveland is where we stayed for two weeks, while we were there we hiked the devil’s backbone and just really soaked in God’s glory. It is one of those states where you need several months to see everything and to experience life as a local.

Also, check out the other natural spots we have visited.

The post Get a Natural High at 12,005 Elevation! first appeared on Dennis Holler and written by Lydia