Workamping

We're happily working our two half-days a week at Wine Country RV Park in the wild west. Al is focused on getting control of the underground irrigation system and stopping the frequent leaks, attending to camper requests, cleaning the pool and filling propane tanks. His work vehicle is...a golf cart! I work in the office taking reservations, checking in campers, selling wine and hoping for a balanced cash register at the close of business. The software that makes an RV Park tick is called Campground Manager. Learning new software is always a challenge...and I've not operated a cash register since the hand-crank model.

I've never seen so much wine. We talk about it, make recommendations, drink it every day and sometimes more than once a day, sip it, share it, drink it alone or with someone, drink it with meals, visit the local wineries for a glass of their best... and when we have a free afternoon, we go for a ride and stop for wine tasting. Many of the local wineries are small, family-owned businesses. You'll not buy their wine off any shelf but their own. However, the mega Columbia Crest Winery is close by. Their vineyards stretch for miles, and the grounds and buildings are beautiful.

Well, I was wrong about harmony reigning over the Workampers. Some have already left and replacements have arrived. Workampers are not necessarily the same happy, easy-going RVers we have encountered over the past year. Living and working in the close proximity of an RV Park with ones co-workers--some past, some present and some future, along with the Park managers, creates some interesting circumstances.

The Togetherness Meter waxes and wanes as our schedule requires we go our separate ways to work...and Al has friends to go on frequent hardware store excursions. Someone is always knocking on the door looking for him. What a charmer!

Local alpacas gave their wool...and I got a rug. Beautiful!!

Asparagus has hit the stores, the markets, the street corner vendors and the local Chinese restaurant. Creative cooks do amazing things with asparagus--even deep-fry it. I'd never before seen asparagus growing. It looks like a field of pencils. Apparently, cherries will be the next crop to harvest. Yummy! I can't wait.

Prosser, Washington

The high desert is such unfamiliar landscape to us. Prosser sits 700 ft. above sea level in a wide valley between the Horse Heaven Hills and the Rattlesnake Hills. The hills have no trees! There are no trees in the valley save for the few that have been planted. Tumbleweeds blow over a dry, parched landscape. That said, a lot of irrigation turns eastern WA into a lush, green agricultural mecca. Vineyards thrive...nine wineries are within walking distance of the Park and dozens of others in the immediate area. Huge, hillside orchards produce cherries, peaches, apricots, apples, plums and pears. Hops for making beer grow on sturdy, tall, wooden frames. The Yakima River meanders through downtown Prosser providing the much needed water. Wine is plentiful, reasonably priced and ever-flowing. Thrown in for fun, a chocolate-covered-cherry factory is around the corner from the Park and right on the paved, bike trail. What a great summer we're going to have!

I've been in denial; we are actually here to work. Egads, did I say work? During our year of glorious travel and never-ending freedom, we encountered many full-time RVers involved in this thing called "workamping." Loosely defined, workamping requires a few hours of work, usually at an RV park, in exchange for a full-hookup site...and some extras. We perused the Workamper.com web site, sent in our resumes, had a phone interview and wala we're hired. I think Al and the kitties have become dizzy with the traveling and conspired to spend some time stalled in one place. :)

The sun rises in Prosser, WA as it does in other places, and I'm not usually witness to it. Ok, I never witness it. You can imagine my surprise at being awakened by a blazing light at an obscene hour of the morning. I have only to lift my head slightly off the pillow to see the glorious sunrise every day!

Lilacs are blooming beside rhododendrons and beautiful dogwood trees. Trees, plants, bushes, flowers, fruit and vegetables that I associate with specific parts of the country seem to all be growing here. The word on the street is the asparagus harvest will be any day now.

There appears to be some discontent among our fellow workampers. I'm sure it will work out.