Hit the Road and Earn: The Ultimate Guide to the Top Work Camping Job Websites

Work Camping at a 5-Star Luxury Resort

This job was at a 5-star luxury RV resort. The resort ALL the luxury amenities: pickleball courts, pool, hot tub, bar & grill at the pool, billiard room, ballroom, library, and card room! The bathhouses were unlike anything we’ve ever seen on our work camping journey! We worked there for 6 weeks. Matt worked on the groundskeeping crew doing trash and brush pickup, weeding, cutting palm fronds, and overall keeping the resort grounds looking immaculate. They had an outside company that did all of the mowing and trimming. I (Laurie) worked in the office assisting the residents and guests with their needs, took phone calls and made reservations, pulled reports, and my favorite part, the mail room! We received 50-100 packages a day plus large containers full of letters and magazines. 

Corporate vs Privately-Owned Campgrounds/Resorts

Prior to this job, we were oblivious to the fact that there are some major differences between corporate and privately-owned campgrounds and resorts which means the work camper experience can also be very different. Everyone’s desires will be different, and just because it didn’t work for us doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. We don’t believe all corporately-owned campgrounds are bad to work for. This was just based on our experience. Here are some comparisons of our experience with corporate vs privately owned. These are not the reasons we left at all, just differences we’ve observed and our preferences.

Clocking In/Out

We understand that this is a way of tracking time and holding people accountable. This might sound silly, but we wish we didn’t have to live in a time clock world. The corporate job gave us a half hour, unpaid lunch which gave us about 10 minutes to eat since it took us 10 minutes to get there and back.

Contrast that experience with a job with no time clock that trusts their employees to arrive on time and gives them a 1-hour, paid lunch. This likely won’t bother a lot of people, but we workamp to have a more relaxed lifestyle. We appreciate when owners or managers demonstrate trust in this way.

Dress Code

Every place is different, but our corporate experience took the cake on this one. Business casual was the dress code. I purchased a couple of items since I didn’t have any. We workamp to have a more relaxed lifestyle. I never thought I’d have to dress up for an office again! We have worked at a privately-owned campground with no uniforms or dress code. We have also worked at a privately-owned campground that charged us a small fee for uniform shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets. There was also an employee dress code in place for modesty which we greatly appreciated. It would have been nice to have uniform shirts at the corporate job so I could avoid purchasing clothes.

Micromanagement

This is more based on management style. We have heard stories from other workampers who have experienced this at privately-owned campgrounds, but this has only happened to us in the corporate situation. Matt is the hardest worker you’ll ever meet, but he was monitored by the minute here by upper management, not even his direct manager. Again, this wasn’t even our reason for leaving, but it is definitely a huge difference we have observed between the two working environments. At the private campgrounds, we have been entrusted with a job and have not been micromanaged or monitored. If issues have occurred, they have been handled in a healthy way.

Pay

We were working at a 5-star luxury resort that paid their workers how they treated them…poorly (still have to say it, not the reason we left). I was working in the office around 28-30 hours a week, and 25 of my hours each week went to pay for our site. That was A LOT of money for a site. Keep reading for more info on this one because it is pretty crazy what ended up happening when we met with the manager and gave our resignation.

This was the lowest-paying job we have accepted which is kind of crazy since again, it was a 5-star luxury resort. Contrast this with the privately-owned campgrounds we have worked at – we have been paid a higher wage and at one of them, received a very generous bonus. That campground was by far our favorite experience but it wasn’t because of the money. It was because we were respected for who we are as people and treated as equals. We’re not saying all corporate employers don’t pay well, and we have certainly seen private campgrounds pay very low wages or request site rent. This is just something to pay attention to when weighing your options.

Is it Okay to Quit a Work Camping Job?

This can be controversial. Here’s how we see it. In 9-5 life, there are times when a job isn’t a good fit for either you or the employer. We asked ourselves why is work camping any different? Sure, it is a much shorter term of employment, but as we’ve said before, we workamp for a more relaxed lifestyle. We mentioned at the beginning of this article that we thought we could make it through anything for 4-6 months. There were things at this job that we simply weren’t willing to compromise on as far as our ethics, so we made the decision that was right for us.

Based on the general manager’s reaction to our resignation, he would have a different answer to the question, “Is it okay to quit a work camping job?” He was stern with us that we had made a commitment and had signed a contract. We told him we understood where he was coming from but that this wasn’t a good fit for us so we were standing firm on our decision.

How to Quit a Work Camping Job

We can’t say this enough. Please, please be professional when you need to resign from a work camping job. We gave a week’s notice but would have preferred to give 2 weeks. Another job was waiting for us, and they were pretty desperate for us to get there. We were honest and explained that we wanted to handle everything professionally and leave on good terms. We feel so strongly about this. Please don’t give work campers a bad name by packing up and leaving in the middle of the night. Be the person who is brave enough to face the situation head on and have the hard conversation.

How We Resigned from Our Work Camping Job

Our meeting with the general manager was awkward, hard, and uncomfortable, but we were so proud of ourselves for having the courage to handle it the way we did. We each had separate moments of panic and uncertainty about what to say or do during the conversation, especially when the manager got a little heated, but we were able to tag team it and cover for each other like the best teams do!

The meeting that day did not end on good terms. Things were tense in the office for the following week. There were a few awkward conversations initiated by my office manager, but we maintained our determination to exit on good terms if we had any say in it. Matt’s outdoor team was totally cool with him the entire time. Here’s the best part. On our last day, we were told the doors would always be open to us if we ever wanted to return, that they would love to have us back because of our work ethic, skills, and knowledge. They revealed the greatest secret, that they didn’t think we would stick around. They didn’t expect us to honor our word.

You Won’t Believe This…

Remember when I said earlier to keep reading because it was crazy what ended up happening when we met with the manager? As I mentioned, 25 of my 30 hours a week from my check were going toward our site rent. The total was over $1,200!!! We’ve never even had a mortgage payment that high! During our meeting, he asked us if he waived our site deduction, would we be willing to stay? To say we were shocked is an understatement. To think that I had been working for free (or as they would say, working for our site) when it was something he COULD have given us at no cost (meaning over $1,200 more in income which would have helped us so much) was actually infuriating and made our choice to leave even easier. It affirmed our decision which was centered on our ethics.

Was it the Right Choice to Leave our Workamping Job?

We can say with absolute certainty that we made the right decision to quit that work camping job. We don’t quit easily. We are loyal and keep our word. We value doing the hard thing, but when it compromises our ethics, we draw the line.

We are in our second season working for the new resort, and it couldn’t be a better fit. We have the most amazing manager, fabulous coworkers, a flexible schedule, wages that are such a blessing, and our site is nestled between the most wonderful neighbors anyone could ask for. This place feels like home, and I am so grateful. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS! Follow what you know you need as a couple!!! If you want to get started with work camping but aren’t sure where to begin, we have a comprehensive post to help guide you called The Beginner’s Guide to Workamping. We also have a growing workamping playlist on our YouTube channel. We’d love to see you over there, too! We are here to help if you have any questions!

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Are you trying to find the perfect travel trailer but feel overwhelmed with all of the options out there? We felt the same way! When we purchased our first 28′ travel trailer in 2020, we thought we knew exactly what we needed and wanted and were confident with our purchase. What we DIDN’T know at the time was that we would be LIVING in it 13 months later!!! It was our home on the road for 8 months, and we needed that time to learn what was important to us in a rig as new full-time RVers. We recently purchased a new home on wheels, and we’re excited to share it with you! This is a review of our 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2670MK travel trailer!

Grand Design Imagine 2670MK Travel Trailer Review At A Glance

Grand Design Imagine 2670MK Travel Trailer Pros

Grand Design Imagine 2670MK Travel Trailer Cons

Why should you listen to us?

When we were researching RVs, we repeatedly heard variations of, “Your first RV will not be your forever RV.” We had a hard time believing that because we really felt we had found the perfect travel trailer for us. We loved our 2020 Forest River 28′ Wildwood X-Lite 24RLXL travel trailer and did several road trips the first year we had it. One of our favorite trips was to Florida in January 2021 for 10 days to celebrate our 10-year anniversary (we’re simple like that!). If someone would have told us that it would become our HOME just 3 months later, we would’ve said they were crazy!

We lived full time in the Wildwood for 8 months before we purchased our 2022 Grand Design. The Wildwood was a good starter travel trailer. It taught us a lot about our needs and desires as new full-time RVers, and we will highlight many of them throughout this post. We are excited to give you a full review of our 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2670MK travel trailer!

Grand Design Imagine 2670MK Travel Trailer Specs

• UVW: 6,845 lbs
• Hitch Weight 690 lbs
• GVWR: 8,495 lbs
• Length: 32’3″
• Height: 11’2″
• Fresh Water Capacity: 52 gallons
• Grey Water Capacity: 82 gallons
• Waste Water Capacity: 45 gallons

Exterior Features

The exterior features abound on this travel trailer! Here are our top 5 favorites!

1. Ample drop frame, front pass-thru storage with motion sensor entry and pass-thru lighting. In our Wildwood, the front pass-thru storage was also our under-the-bed storage so this separate, additional storage in the Grand Design is something we are very thankful for!
2. Walk-on roof with 165W roof-mounted solar panel that powers your refrigerator while driving
3. Outdoor kitchen with griddle and small refrigerator: We love that we can have water and snacks in this little fridge on travel days since we can’t access the kitchen when the slides are in.
4. SolidStep Entry: The lever adjustment vs the pin on the extendable legs of these steps is a much appreciated step up for us (no pun intended!)!
5. Four-season protection package that includes a heated and enclosed underbelly with suspended tanks, a designated heat duct to the subfloor (so nice to wake up to warm floors!), a double-insulated roof and front cap, and so much more! We didn’t have this on our first rig, and we ended up in unexpected weather situations with frozen lines and tanks! This should be a priority if you think there’s even the slightest possibility you may become a full-time RVer!

Kitchen Features

The kitchen in our former rig was very small, and storage was also an issue since we didn’t have much of it. We had 2 small drawers in the entire rig, and the food storage area was limited to the cabinets above the couch. It was also inconvenient accessing totes that were kept under the dinette area that held pans and small kitchen appliances. The kitchen in our Grand Design Imagine 2670MK is AMAZING! Our list of things we love in the kitchen is long, but these are our top 5 most appreciated features!

1. Do you see all of this counter space??? We love having room to comfortably prep and serve meals!
2. The island is a dream to have! It not only looks good and adds to the coziness of the rig, but it also provides such a great additional work area with even better storage underneath! It is the perfect place for our Berkey water filtration system, too!
3. Speaking of the island, it also has a deep-seated stainless steel sink with a residential pull-down sprayer faucet. We didn’t have either of these in our former rig, and there were so many times we both said we wished we had a sprayer on our faucet. We use it all the time!
4. The amount of cabinet and drawer space is amazing! We have maximized the space so we actually have extra room right now which is such a pleasant surprise for us!
5. In addition to all of the wonderful storage in the kitchen, there is even more storage under each of the dinette seating areas!

Living Room (Can we call it that?) Features

Yes! Since these rigs are home for us, we refer to each area in the RV as we would in a sticks and bricks. We continue to compare the features in this rig to our former Wildwood X-Lite but that’s a good thing! We learned a lot from having that as our first travel trailer, and it is all important information to consider when purchasing a rig. The Wildwood had a jackknife sofa when we purchased it, and no matter how hard we tried, it was not comfortable at all for sitting or for sleeping. We found ourselves sitting in the dinette booth to relax every evening which was not exactly comfortable either. We eventually replaced the jackknife sofa with a DIY desk area that worked much better for us. The living room in our new Grand Design is perfect for the two of us, although in full transparency, if I (Laurie) could have my way, there would be another couch for guests. Since the desk area was a priority for us, we knew we had to sacrifice the additional couch. One other important thing to note is that the opposing slides, the large panoramic windows, and the radius ceiling with 81″ of headroom make this living area feel so spacious! Let’s talk about some of our favorite features of the living room!

• Thanks to the opposing slides, there is enough floor space to unroll a yoga/exercise mat and comfortably complete workouts! A bonus feature here is that the AC vent is right above this area which really helps during workouts!
• The theater seating recliners are SO comfortable, and we really enjoy the seat heaters! The center console provides the perfect amount of storage for remotes and phone charging cords.
• Who doesn’t love a televator? The 40″ high definition, LED, telescoping TV is such a great feature for us since we don’t watch a lot of TV. We utilize the space to the fullest (meaning my plant collection lives there!) when the TV is down, but we do enjoy watching an episode or two together every once in awhile!
• The 5,000 BTU fireplace can heat the entire living area when temps outside get chilly! In addition to being functional, it is also such a cozy luxury to have in an RV. There are 2 great little cabinets on each side of the fireplace that provide the perfect space for book storage or DVDs (does anyone even own DVDs anymore? We do!).
• This might not be a priority for some, but since this RV is our home, blank wall space of any size was an exciting thing. The living area has an entire wall from floor to ceiling that has provided such a fun opportunity for decorating!

Bathroom Features

Here we go comparing again! The bathroom in our Wildwood was actually bigger than what we have in the Grand Design. It had a walk-thru bath with a lot of storage which felt so spacious and also provided the opportunity to close off the door to the living area, giving you a master bed/bath feel (RV style, of course). I (Laurie) really loved that bathroom! The bathroom in the Grand Design is definitely much smaller, but the overall upgrade has absolutely been worth the tradeoff. There is one thing we aren’t crazy about with this bathroom. The sliding door does not offer total privacy like an actual hinged door would. If you’re standing on the one side of the bed, you can totally see the toilet area. This may not bother some, but we thought we would mention it so you can be aware of it. We DO have things we like about this bathroom, though, so let’s talk about those now!

• The 30″ x 36″ residential shower has a skylight, and the shower itself feel spacious.
• Good storage for a small space: The medicine cabinet provides a great amount of storage, and there is an additional cabinet above the toilet as well. There is also storage under the sink, and while it isn’t much, there’s enough room for a couple of cleaning supplies and packages of toilet paper which is perfect!
• The linen “closet” is actually what I would describe more as a linen tower or linen cubbies. I wasn’t so sure about these at first as I didn’t feel they would provide much useable storage, but they’ve actually worked really well for us. I also found plants that add life to the small bathroom and fill the cubby openings perfectly to hide what’s behind them.

Bedroom Features

We really like the bedroom in our Grand Design! We’re simple people and don’t need a big bedroom since we spend our waking hours in the living area of the rig. In our opinion, this bedroom provides the perfect amount of space. It has a 60″ x 80″ queen bed with a solid sliding bedroom door. You have enough room to get dressed and to comfortably walk around the bed. Here are a few of our favorite things!

• We are thrilled with the storage in the bedroom! We have our own mini closets on each side of the bed along with two drawers PLUS additional cabinet storage above the bed!
• There is also oversized storage under the bed with a sliding cargo tray!
• There are cubbies on each side of the bed with USB charging stations and 110v outlets!
• In addition to all of the storage mentioned above, at the foot of the bed, there is a bigger closet (half length) with 2 large drawers below it!

Why did we chose the Grand Design Imagine 2670MK?

The first time we saw the Imagine 2670MK floorplan online, we were so excited to see an RV with all of the features we dreamed of in ONE rig! We were so used to looking at the options and feeling disappointed that we would need to sacrifice features on our dream list. When we saw the 2670MK in person, it was everything we were hoping for and more! The quality of Grand Design RVs is just as their website states, head and shoulders above other brands. We know this to be true from our own experience of owning another brand. The construction of Grand Design rigs is in a class of its own! Last but certainly not least, we have not met one Grand Design owner that has been unhappy with their RV! We have heard many times that their customer service is what really sets them apart! When we read, “We strive for nothing less than customers for life,” we knew we wanted to be part of the Grand Design family, and we are so, so proud to call our 2670MK our home!

Who is the Grand Design Imagine 2670MK travel trailer right for?

• The Grand Design Imagine 2670MK travel trailer is an excellent RV for singles or couples.

Grand Design Imagine 2670MK Review Conclusion

The Grand Design Imagine 2670MK has been an excellent model for us as full-time RVers. The fabulous kitchen with ample storage, the cozy and comfortable living area, a bedroom with a queen-sized bed and closets and drawers galore, and ultimately, enough room for each of us to have our own space, means this floor plan is a perfect fit for us. We recommend finding a Grand Design dealer near you so you can see all of the options they have to offer! If you have any questions at all, we are happy to help!

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Here are just a few things you can expect to find here on Why Not Wander!

1. Everything You Need to Know About Work Camping!

We dreamed about traveling full-time…someday. We watched countless hours of videos from full-time travelers and found ourselves discouraged instead of inspired. We don’t have multiple streams of income. We don’t have remote jobs. We aren’t influencers. We aren’t retirement age with amazing pensions. We’re just an everyday, middle-class couple who dreamed of living tiny and traveling full-time “someday.” Work camping has helped make our dreams come true! It has become the way we fund our travel lifestyle, and we’re having the best time! If you’re like we were and have been dreaming about living life on the road but had no idea how you could make it work financially, we are here to tell you it IS possible! We will share the many opportunities, talk about pros and cons, ins and outs, and tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way! We love watching “a day in the life of” videos, and we will share our work camping experiences with you as we travel across the United States so you can see exactly what you’re getting into! We’ll answer your most burning questions (they’re always about cleaning bathrooms!) and show you all of the different job responsibilities you might have when you’re a work camper! And we are ALWAYS here to answer your questions. We had so many questions when we first found out about work camping, and we had no one we could ask! We will respond to every email, comment, or direct message we receive because we want to see YOU out on the road!

2. Full-Time RV Living Tips

When you’re talking about a total life change with your job, your location, your home, things can get overwhelming very quickly. We will share the best RV living tips with you that we have learned through experience from downsizing your possessions to organizing your new tiny living space. We will also share the must-have tools and RV essentials to get you on the road! You’ll love our additional list of things we thought were must-haves but ended up never being touched! Learn from our mistakes AND save money as a result! We’ll also share items that we have chosen to upgrade now that we have been on the road for a while.

3. Travel Adventures

When you decide to transition to the workamping lifestyle, you’re also signing up for adventure! You get to decide where you want to live each season and that’s pretty amazing! When we hit the road, we chose Montana as our first home! We lived 4 blocks from the north entrance to Yellowstone for an entire spring and summer, and it was one of the greatest experiences of our lives! We will share the adventures we get to experience with the workamping lifestyle and all about the areas we get to know as a result.

Conclusion

Dream BIG dreams! If you dream of living on the road full-time, work camping is a great opportunity! We are here to help you so don’t hesitate to email, comment, or direct message.

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