Colorado to California - Changes to our Workamper Lifestyle!

We have been on a whirlwind of changes!

It has been a while since I have blogged as we have been extremely busy with lots of changes happening! I even thought of possibly dropping the blog as there is so much else going on right now, but in the end I really enjoy sharing our travels and adventures and I am going to try to keep this up as much as I can!
 
We have some friends that started managing a campground in Desert Hot Springs, California and we were lucky enough to get jobs there! We met Ralph and Lori on a workamping job about two years ago and we all just hit it off. We have the same work ethic, same drive to make the most out of life, and the same yearning to have fun! So when they offered us jobs to come work with them, it was a great opportunity we just couldn't pass up! We have never been workamping in California so this was a great chance to do some exploring!

We had a great summer working again in Estes Park, Colorado. We actually worked at the place we had worked our very first workamping job - Rockmount Cottages. We cleaned their beautiful cabins 6 days a week. It was physical work but we were done with the cleaning most days by about 1 so there is lots of time to explore the amazing Rocky Mountains! I would highly recommend working in Estes Park and at Rockmount Cottages! And the hiking is amazing!

We left Estes Park on September 27th after kind of a rocky start to our morning. As we were going through town some very kind gentleman flagged us down and told us one of our tires on the 5th wheel had a bulge in it. We pulled over and sure enough one of the tires on the inside had a fairly large bulge. Thank God  he saw it and told us! I'm not sure what would have happened if that tire had blown out going down the mountain! We have never had to use our spare tire in the past 4 years since we have been on the road. But this summer as we were parked, we heard a big pop at the back of the camper and our spare blew out! We had it covered but I suppose the heat and aging got to it and it blew. We debated about whether we really needed to spend the money to replace it - I'm sure glad we did!

After changing the tire things went smoothly after that but we were very careful, as we always do, at every stop checking tires, etc.  We continued on our journey south from Estes Park on Highway 36 to Interstate 25 and went south all the way through Denver and to Santa Fe the first night. It is a beautiful drive with lots of mountain views along the way, trees, and purple flowers along the roadside.  We saw quite a few vehicles pulling balloons going to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival!


We stopped outside of Santa Fe at Rancheros Campground for the night. This was a very nice campground and friendly staff for about $45 for the night. The office/store had some food, souvenirs, t-shirts, etc and was nice and clean. The roads were a little tight but we managed to fit into the last site available. We went into Santa Fe to get gas and view the sites for a bit before it got dark.  Santa Fe is definitely on my bucket list of places to explore more!

We continued on the next day through Albuquerque and on to Interstate 40. We stopped at Sky City Travel on Exit 102 for gas and bathroom break. It seemed like a clean place and there was a Casino, Hotel and RV Park there also. Seems like it would be a good place to stop for the night if  you ever find  yourself passing through. Then onto Flagstaff, Arizona. It is such a pretty town with all the pine trees and hills. We also enjoyed seeing Williams, Arizona. Doug thought it reminded him of the Rockies with the Aspens changing colors and the trees. We made it to Kingman, Arizona for the night and stayed at Sunrise RV Park. It was good enough for the night and the fee was about $42.  Looked like quite a few permanent residents there.

We were excited the next morning to head out on the last leg of our trip and took Highway 95 down through Lake Havasu and Quartzite. Lake Havasu is as beautiful and spectacular as I had hoped it would be! We were also very impressed with Parker. Looks like there are a lot of great campgrounds in the area right on the water - added to Bucket List!

Quartzite was an interesting place! We only stopped for gas but you could see lots of campgrounds at very reasonable prices. I would love to go back during the height of the winter season to see all the snowbirds!

We made it to Desert Hot Springs, California about 2 in the afternoon and were so excited to see our friends smiling faces!  We got the quick run down of the place and headed to our site! It is called Hidden Sands Golf and Racquet Club. There are park models here as well as RVs along with a 9 hole golf course, swimming pool, hot tubs, and lots of activities. All of the sites are surrounded by Oleander bushes so it is very private. Love the palm trees! It is very scenic with two mountain ranges all around us! It is in the desert so there will be some adjustment to the heat - but it is a dry heat - and yes it does make a difference not to have the humidity!

We are working full-time jobs here instead of workamping jobs and plan on staying a while to settle into the area and save up a little money!  It took us a while to adjust to the weather, the time change, and working 40 hours a week but we seem to have gotten into a pretty good groove and are anxious to get out and explore the area! There are lots of hiking in the mountains all around us and Palm Springs is only about 12 miles away with lots of shopping, great restaurants and of course the great vintage vibe!

I look forward to sharing all of our adventures here in Southern California! Happy Trails!


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