|
|
Where do you want to go today?
Click Here!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| by Arline Chandler |
|
Workampers Make It Their Job to Help Others Have a Good Time
|
Steve Allen, (no relation to the show biz name) remembers stories of his sister’s first home in a tent. The son of a logger, his family had moved into a trailer near the lumberjack town of Grangeville, Idaho, by the time he was born. As a school-age child, he moved into his first house.
His mother and stepfather later introduced Steve and his siblings to camping with a hard-sided travel trailer. However, the kids slept outside in tents until Steve left home to join the U.S. Navy. He met his future wife, Kathy, also an enlistee, as they worked in the Navy’s Combat Systems ratings. After convincing her that his intentions were honorable, Steve introduced Kathy to camping — at first in a lean-to.
For Steve, camping came as natural as falling in love. Through the early years of married life, the Allens and their two sons experienced the great outdoors—floods and bugs, as well as sunsets and campfires—in tents, a pop-up camper, and ultimately, a 30-foot unit with bunk beds. Today, with their sons grown and on their own, Steve and Kathy live and travel full-time in their spacious fifth-wheel trailer.
After 23 years of service, Steve, a U.S. Navy Master Chief, retired from his duties as a naval training coordinator. In the secular world, Kathy resigned her job as an office administrator. They helped new owners move into their house and drove straight away to their first year of full-time travel.
Knowing that at their young age, they needed more interactions with people and a sense of productivity, the Allens decided to find jobs.
|
A new acquaintance in a campground introduced them to Workamper News. Looking ahead to a three-month fall tour of New England and the East Coast, the Allens decided that Pennsylvania, or perhaps, New York, would be a good launching point. They sent out three resumés for summer jobs, and received three offers. A canoe and campground livery in New York, won their vote.
Essentially a livery for canoes, kayaks, and rafts, the job advertisement read: Looking for ambitious campers for all phases of operations from management to reservations, maintenance, deli, store, security, janitorial, bus drivers with CDL, river trip operations. While the Allen’s primary job description entailed relieving the managers by registering guests for the campgrounds and river trips, Steve managed to cover all aspects of the company’s operations during their four-month stay.
While Steve gains energy from people, giving it back in fast talk and excited vibes, Kathy’s calming personality often diffused complicated on-the-job situations. Long lines of folks, waiting to get on the river or be checked out at the campground store, only challenged Kathy to take a deep breath and say, “We can get through this.” An enthusiast for the Workamping lifestyle, Steve shuns no job. He even boasts, “There is money in unplugging toilets!”
Arriving at the canoe livery job in April to get the place shipshape for early guests, Steve turned on the water and checked out the campground’s toilets. He heard a clinking, and after several plunges to activate the waterflow, nickels and dimes floated into the bowl. More clinking and more hard plunges, and he collected a total of sixty-five cents. Steve bragged to a co-worker that he had discovered change on his job, but the man was less than impressed when Steve revealed the source. Beyond the restroom cleaning duty, Steve drove the company’s vans, transporting up to 150 guests to the river in one day. He hauled equipment, repaired equipment, and gave a spiel on safety for folks trying out the river’s currents in a kayak.
“Some people are pretty green when it comes to handling watercraft,” Steve adds. “Basically, I had to teach some how to use a kayak.”
He worked in the campground store as a door security person. Often, campers, new to the experience, asked him to set up their site. Many invited Steve and Kathy to join them for dinner at their campsite.
On weekends, Steve donned an apron and cooked short orders on a grill or deep-fried breakfast sandwiches. “Cracking and cooking up eggs was one thing I learned long before I went into the Navy,” he says. At the slightest hint of audience interest, Steve whipped out his banjo and entertained guests with a rollicky ragtime tune. Perhaps he merely denies kinship to the famous showman, who bears his name! During their four-month stay in New York, the Allens parked with full hook-ups next to one of the company’s many offices that serve as bases for the river traffic.
“For the most part, during the week, we had solitude,” she continues, describing their summer work. “But on weekends, we’d wake up to a meadow of tent to tent campers covering the overflow area.” Following a busy, yet productive, season, Steve and Kathy broke camp for new adventures. They timed their travels to coincide with thousands of hot air balloons taking to the skies at the Adirondack Balloon Festival in Lake George, New York.
In the two years of their full-timing lifestyle, Kathy has discovered that bartering their volunteer services for tickets and perks to certain events helps out with travel expenses. For example, at several bluegrass festivals, she contacted the coordinators and worked out hours of service equivalent to their entrance and camping fees. Following an autumn trip that stretched from Vermont to Florida, the Allens worked in the Workamper News Job Fair booths at the Tampa RV Super Show. With summer jobs lined up in Idaho, Steve comes full circle to the roots of his camping spirit.
Steve and Kathy bring positive mental attitudes and good people skills to the Workamping arena. They both express gratification in helping other people run their businesses.
“I like nothing more than seeing someone smile and enjoy their vacations,” Steve sums up. “Kathy and I believe we can make a difference by helping other people have a good time.”
|
|
|
 BACK to Workamper Journal |
|
