Workamping at Adventureland in Altoona, Iowa

What is Workamping? 

According to Wikipedia, the definition of Workamping is, "a portmanteau, blending "work" and "camping" is a form of tent or RV (primarily) camping involving singles, couples or families who work part-tome or full-time. " (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workamping)

I don't usually use Wikipedia as an educational resource but I did find that it gave the most basic definition of the term.

To learn more about Workamping in general, this article below is a great resource and includes even more information and clears up some misconceptions about it:


https://www.workamper.com/workamper-article/what-workamping

Enjoying the cooler temps in the morning!

Why we decided to start Workamping? 

The number one reason is that we aren't retired yet and we want to travel the United States in our camper. Most people have heard of retiree's getting an RV and spending their retirement years traveling around and like many others, we have had this envision for our retirement years.

One day, Paul was talking to someone he used to work with and learned about Workamping and it ignited a thought about how it may be something that we could do even before retiring. After all, we are not getting any younger and who knows if we would be able to have this opportunity after retirement. Paul's job was physically demanding on his body and with other changes going on in the company, it was not looking like it would be a good possibility so we figured out that Workamping could be our answer.

How we Workamp

There are many different types of Workamping jobs and our situation may be a little different than what some others are. A lot of couples go into workamping together and a lot of campgrounds look for couples to fill positions because they get a team to split the work duties and only have to provide a site for one camper. We look for jobs that don't require couples unless they are willing to work around my work schedule. I teach online full-time and this job comes first. I will not accept any type of workamping job that would interfere with my full-time job which requires me to me online Monday-Friday from basically 8 am to 5 pm throughout the school year. There are some flexible times in there but it definitely limits my availability. Our son, Josh is old enough to work but he is still in high school so as long as it doesn't interfere with his school he can participate.

We also do not want to always have to rely on Workamping in order to travel; Paul is willing to work most anywhere and there are jobs that he is more interested in and some jobs not so much. Our goal is to just do enough workamping where we won't deplete our savings. Traveling can be expensive; just going from one place to another; the cost of gas towing a camper and of course you need to have an emergency fund for those unexpected expenses. As long as we maintain the savings and emergency fund, we shouldn't have to always workamp. Our goal is to workamp part of the year and not be tied down to anything the rest of the time.

Workamping at Adventureland:

This summer we started our full-time adventure with our first Workamping experience in Altoona, Iowa at Adventureland. I think we made the perfect choice for our first workamping job and would recommend it to anyone if they want to experience this lifestyle and try workamping. The job is easy and very flexible; the managers at the park work with your schedule and you can decide how much or how little you want to work. The campground is rather large; the spaces are decent and of course full hook ups with everything you need. The site is paid for and the park is a short distance from the campground and there is even a Trolley; Molly the Trolley; that comes around if you would rather ride over on it. The camphosts that work in the office are extremely helpful and everyone is super nice.

We signed up and interviewed (phone interview) for this position and gave them a date as to when we would be available to come. Paul could have been the only one working here but I decided to give some of my time in July once I was finished with my full-time job for the summer. I was also writing curriculum and taking an AP training course so I didn't want to tie myself down too much. I told them I could work Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays so they put me on for those days from 11am to 5pm. Paul said he could work anytime so he would work basically 40 hours a week. Since Josh wasn't doing anything else and he wanted to make some money, he also agreed to work 40 hours a week as well.

We are still new on the road but have decided this is how we plan to travel:

• Workamp: mostly Paul; I will on weekends and during the month of July only We will find jobs in areas we are interested in going. 
• Monthly stays in areas to explore and play when not workamping. It is cheaper to stay monthly and it's not too much time in one place. We have what I call "gypsy blood" and love to travel and move around a lot so this time frame seems to gives us the right balance. I use Verizon for my Internet so we have to make sure we at least have a little Verizon cell signal no matter where we go; we have a weboost cell booster which will enhance the signal if needed. 
• Shorter stays traveling in between places; since I require Internet for my job and my job is M-F, traveling will be mostly on weekends and breaks during the school year. 

The benefits of workamping with Adventureland:

1.) Free full hook-up site at the campground (the campground has tons of amenities). Some places require you to have a camper or RV but here you can be in a van, a bus, even a tent! Here is a picture of the loop right across from us, as you can see a variety of campers including this tent and van combo; they were here even before us!

This is our site in loop P

2.) Free access to Adventureland Park anytime you are not working (except on weekends; but weekends are their busiest time and we always worked then)

3.) They have events and contests for the employees monthly

4.) Cheap food to eat at the commissary when working (like $2.50 for a complete meal). We did get tired of the food and started bringing a lunch; plus it was a long walk from the waterpark where we worked.

5.) Friends and Family can get into Adventureland for half-price. We just bought Shelby a season pass so she could go anytime.

6.) You get paid for all hours worked. Some workamping jobs do not give you a paid wage, just a free spot to stay or some will pay you for hours worked over a certain number of hours. For example they would require 20 hours worked which would pay for your site and then you will get paid a wage for any hours worked beyond the 20 hours. Adventureland doesn't do that, you get paid for all hours worked. There is no overtime though but for us, having a free site to stay at is very beneficial and it's not always about the money.

7.) Staying in an area gives us time to explore on days off. Altoona is right ouside of Des Moines, Iowa which has several interesting things to do and see. We are also not too far away from other places such as Nebraska and Minnesota; we spent days off exploring the area.

The challenges we found with workamping at Adventureland: 

1.) Having to be on my feet for hours. Ok, this may have been more of a challenge for me more than others because I am not used to standing for long periods of time. The only time in the past six years in which I had to stand up was during state testing; when administrating a state test to a group of students I would have to stand up for hours but not that many hours. Also, some of the testing I did was one-on-one and I was able to sit during those. My legs suffered the most during the time I was working at Adventureland; I was more than happy to only be working 3 days a week.

2.) Having to work with annoying kids. As a teacher, this shouldn't bother me and it really didn't bother me as much as it did Paul. There were only a few kids that I felt like were way too annoying to work with and it was those who tried to question or correct what the adults were doing. The adults may not have been working at Adventureland for that long but their experience in life is way beyond those kids and they really shouldn't question or challenge decisions the adults made day to day unless it was something completely wrong that they were doing unless they were in a management position (which they weren't) Others were just silly and goofed off too much instead of taking the job seriously. That wasn't as annoying and I was able to ignore them; Paul did better when he was able to work with the kids who were more mature.

3.) The heat. Coming from Mississippi, we were used to the heat and humidity so it really wasn't that bad in Iowa. They did get hot and days in the 90's where it felt like 100's but there were only a few extremely hot days; most were manageable. However, working at an amusement park you are outside and spending that much time outside did get hot. Fans and shade did help. Paul had to work the broiler making hamburgers a lot; this was a hot place to work and the table wasn't quite tall enough so his back would hurt from bending over.

4.) Lack of consistency with the lower management. Both of us have worked in professional fields over the past twenty years so we have some pretty high expectations on what management and leadership should look like but this is seasonal work and most of the lower management were younger and haven't quite mastered good leadership skills yet; not unexpected though. It's not bad though and definitely something that can be overlooked since this is seasonal; you end up learning to accept some imperfections. We will be giving feedback on this so it could improve.

Foods, Rides, Retail, Oh my! 

You can choose between Foods, Rides and Retail for Workamping. We all decided to do Foods.

Paul and I worked at the waterpark side, called Adventure Bay; Josh worked in the amusement park side.

Adventure Bay had three main food areas:
Grub Hub: This is the main place to eat in the waterpark. It serves hamburgers, chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, fries, onion rings, snacks, drinks. I would cashier there from time to time and Paul would mostly make the burgers there.

The Parrot Perch: Serves pizzas, hot dogs, nachos, snow cones, foot longs, chips, drinks and beer. I would cashier there and the main person serving the beer since I was old enough. I loved serving the nacho cheese the best and couldn't master the art of snow cone making! Paul would occasionally work there making pizzas or serving food.

The Oasis: Serves Icees, ice cream, dole whips, wraps and some odd and end little things and other drinks. This was our favorite place to work because it was the coolest and easiest. When I worked there with Paul I would always cashier and hand out food but let him make the wraps and dole whips because he did a much better job at them than I did. Paul worked the Oasis the most and when I wasn't there, he worked with this young girl from Vietnam; although she was young, he was able to get along well with her. She didn't mind taking the trash out; I wouldn't take the trash out so he
probably liked working with her better, Lol.

Making Chicken Salad at the Oasis

Josh worked between four places in the park, The Chicken Shack, The Lemonade Stand, Rally and The Pig. I am not sure what all they served but I know Rally had corn dogs and things like that; chicken shack had of course chicken tenders and sandwiches, the Lemonade stand had frozen lemonade and pretzels, the Pig had bacon on a stick and bacon flavored popcorn. The pig was his least favorite place because of how small it is; no one liked the Pig too much and they rotated them from there the most because of that. Overall, he enjoyed his time at Adventureland; he loved spending time in the park when he wasn't working. He also really enjoyed having his own money!

To find out more about workamping with Adventureland, check out their site here:

https://www.adventurelandresort.com/employment/workamper

Our Next Adventure: 

Off to Tennessee 

We are going to spend a month in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area just for fun; no workamping here. I will be working my online job though. 

September 26-Christmas: Mufreesboro, TN to Amazon; Paul will be working with Amazon Camperforce. 

Amazon is supposed to a bit more labor intensive and something that I would definitely wouldn't want to do. Paul is going to try it this season and will see how it goes; I will write a blog about that experience in the fall. 

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Shelby's First Flying Adventure

Although we are traveling carrying our travel trailer, there are times where other quick trips are needed. 

For now, not only do we tow our travel trailer, we decided it would be best to drive the car along with us. I drive the car, Paul tows the camper with his truck. This allows us to venture off to places in the car without having to strictly use the truck. We haven't decided if we will always continue to travel this way but for now we will. This also gives me access to the car while Paul is working locally for trips to the grocery store or wherever. We also use the car for day trips so we can explore the area; we have several of those planned out.

 Shelby's first flight!

Our daughter, Shelby is 18 years old and just graduated high school. She has several neurological conditions which make learning and living independently difficult for her. She has attended public schools all of her life in Louisiana and Mississippi and since Mississippi is our home base, all of her resources are there. There are times we need to go back to Mississippi to handle paperwork or necessary appointments to help her as she transitions into adulthood. We, as a family, are learning what her best needs are and the best ways to help her out. For now, there is a lot of waiting. She is on a waiting list, which we are told could be very lengthy, years long; so there is not much for her to do except wait. She could pick up a job and see how she handles it, however we have a little experience with this and knowing her and how she is, we know that her having and keeping a job will have its ups and downs. A lot of them! She's only 18, mentally she is much younger so my feeling is to not rush anything at all and just let her enjoy life without any major responsibilities for as long as possible. The waiting list for services for her is long but that gives her the opportunity to explore new places; experience new things in life. I don't want to leave her in Mississippi while we are traveling all over the place. She can't handle doctor's or dentist appointments without me being there and that is not going to change anytime soon so while we are waiting, why not have some fun.

The time to travel back to Mississippi came rather quickly into our trip. I knew it would as this appointment was scheduled before we even left. We could have driven back from Iowa, however it would have taken more time and comparing the cost of driving back to the cost of flying; it is more economical for us to fly. Our oldest son, works for an airline and they have great benefits. Flying for free and next-to-nothing is passed on to family members and friends he wishes to add to his benefits.

Shelby did not want to fly; she has never flown before. We have always loved to take trips and vacations but with four kids, we never really could afford to fly; we would always drive. I've been a few flights and so has my husband and once we took Aaron when he was a baby. Now we have no excuse not to fly and for quick trips it really is the best.

So, Shelby had her first experience flying. We went from Des Moines, Iowa to Dallas to Gulfport. We did not have any delays or any problems going there and everything was on time. We flew into Gulfport because her appointment was in Gulfport and I wanted to fly back the next morning from there.

Smooth going all the way there, even had my Coke zero!


We did rent a car and travel to Hattiesburg to check some mail and we stayed with my sister at that time.

It was fun renting a beetle bug :)

One of my sister's dogs, Copper, loved waking me up; he's a sweet dog though


Shelby did fine the entire trip and I spoiled her to shrimp twice! She loves shrimp as much as I do. However shrimp and other seafood does not love her back so much (messes with her head).

This lead us to having a wonderful "Shelby Conversation" about shrimp while delayed heading back.


We took care of busy, got up early to catch the 7:30 flight out of Gulfport to Dallas and then out of Dallas back to Des Moines.

The 7:30 flight was delayed; mechanical issue. It was pushed back to 8:30 but it was still ok, our flight in Dallas didn't leave until 11 so we would still be good and it actually was delayed as well. Still all good. I had taken off work so no worries at this time, just a small delay.

We board the plane around 8:30 and get situated. The plane starts going, the emergency policy thing as usual is going on. We get to the runway, about to take off and the plane doesn't do like it's supposed to. The pilot: there is a problem, we will have to go back to the gate and get off. A different, unrelated mechanical problem. The afternoon flights to Dallas are all booked. The part for that plane we just got off will have to come in on one of those flights from Dallas. They do not know if they will be able to get the plane going that day or not (they weren't and I figured it wouldn't be the same day). Most mechanical problems do take more time to fix.

First plane with mechanical problems


The only reason I was wanting to get back sooner was because I took off that day (Thursday) with work; I did not take off Friday so I did not want to fly on Friday! Since all the flights that afternoon were booked to Dallas, we could go to Charlotte and get to Des Moines that way; there were plenty of flights from Charolotte to Des Moines. So they switched us to Charlotte.

So we wait a few hours for the afternoon and board the plane to Charlotte. Still doing ok, because we will still get back to Des Moines that evening. We did have to pick up our bags and re-check them to go to Charolotte so so far, haven't lost our bags yet :)

The waiting is hard on Shelby but anytime she has to wait for things is hard on her. I have learned to become the most patient person while waiting. I just wanted to get back to Des Moines sometime that night. We even left the airport to go get some more shrimp; anything to try and help her with the waiting. Actually we waited so much in the airport that day, I didn't even need to take off! I got on my computer and did some work.Shelby Rested

So we board the plane to Charolotte around 4pm (I think or maybe 3). Everyone is one the plane and we are not moving. A few minutes later the pilot comes on saying that communication is down and they are not able to get fuel on the plane but will wait a few more minutes to see if it comes back up.

I learned something new about flying that day:
The planes have to communicate with where they are going before fuel is added and everything is ready to take off. I did not know that.

I don't understand why they had us even get on the plane if it wasn't ready to go. I guess they were being optimistic and thinking it was a minor delay and everything would work out by the time we all got on board. However, it didn't and it wasn't a minor delay.

We don't move and we sit there for about 30mins and the pilot comes back on and says that we will need to unboard the plane; we can't just sit there not knowing how long it would be before they are able to take off.

We unboard and wait another 30 mins or so; now it is after 5pm. (We had gotten to the airport at 5:30 am). It takes even more time to find out that all communication in Charlotte is down and is not coming back up so that flight has to be cancelled.

Huge Exit Row!

I am thinking we will just have to stay in Gulfport again and fly out Friday. That means I will need to take off work Friday; I didn't want to take off work Friday; I could but I just didn't want to so that was last resort.

However, there was one last flight to Dallas, fixing to board. Actually there were several others getting on that flight that were from our cancelled flight that morning. I had forgotten about the 6:30pm flight because I was thinking we could get to Charlotte; taking such a late flight to Dallas would leave us in Dallas; wasn't sure there were any late flights out of Dallas.

By the time I get to the counter (the line was slow going for people trying to change and figure things out) the flight to Dallas was boarding. The wonderful person working got us on though. It was literally 5 minutes before they were going to close the doors! She worked magic and got us on! At least we would get to Dallas and then could just fly out in the morning; there was a 7 am flight out of Dallas and we would get to Des Moines by 9 so I wouldn't have to take off another day of work! I was happy with that. I knew our bags wouldn't make it though. Since she barely got us on last minute like that, there was no time to communicate with anyone to move our bags back to Dallas.

This plane takes off without any problems, finally!! We make it to Dallas; I'm lost on time now because that flight to Dallas was delayed, it didn't leave at 6:30; I think it was 7:30 but we still barely made it on that flight. There was a flight leaving around  8:30pm to Des Moines but I knew we would miss that one.


We get to Dallas. I see that the flight leaving at 8:30 was delayed, it was now leaving at 9:30. We had time to make it; but had to go straight there. I had my doubts that they would be able to get us on it; figured it would be full but I wanted to check anyway. I had already told Shelby that we would get something to eat in Dallas; there were several restaurants to choose from at that airport and she was happy with that.

On the SkyTram in Dallas



However, when I go to the gate with this one last flight, they say, yes they can get us on but everyone is already on; they had to have a change in pilots so just waiting on the new pilot. We had to board right then, didn't have time to go eat. This upset Shelby greatly. She was expecting us to sit down eat, then find a hotel and fly out in the morning. This was not a bad plan and looking back was probably something we should have just stuck with. I just saw the opportunity to get back to Des Moines that night; it was going to be after 11pm but it would be ok; we would be back.

So she freaks out, doesn't want to get on the plane, cries, throws a fit and I make her go :(

We get on and sit there waiting; the new pilot finally arrives; we have to sit a good 30 minutes after we board and Shelby is crying the entire time.
The pilot gets on and yes, good, fixing to take off as soon as they check everything. At that moment it hit me, something is going to be broken. Sure enough!
The pilot comes back on and says some microphone is broken, maintenance is there looking at it. So we wait longer, and then some more. Shelby is really upset now; we were supposed to be eating right now.

We are on a plane just like this one next to us, waiting for the pilot, thinking we would get back to Des Moines Thursday night.

The pilot comes back on, unfortunately (those words we heard so many times that day), it can't be fixed so we have to get off; the flight will be cancelled. Three times in the same day we had to get off a plane! I think that may be a record.

I had to record this one; there is no way anyone would believe this happened three times in the same day!!


They will have a new plane and new crew in the morning. It will leave at 6 am.

So we ended up having to stay in Dallas anyway; by the time we get off and wait in another long line; the restaurants were all closed. We did find a bar that was open and it had some salads and wraps. I got a wrap and Shelby got a salad; the wrap was actually really good. It was midnight me eating a wrap!
The airline did put us up in a hotel but it was like 1:30am getting there for a few hours of sleep; we had to get on the Shuttle back to the airport at 4am for the 6am flight.

The 6am flight was delayed; the plane was not there but they reassured us it was coming. 6:30 it did finally come and we made it to Des Moines at 8:30am so all good! Finally!

It was the worst flight experience I ever had trying to get back and for Shelby, she doesn't ever want to fly again. However, most flights go well and if there are delays they usually aren't that bad. We just had some awful luck that day. Or it could have been intervention and saving a flight disaster from happening, will never know!

There will be more times where we will have to fly back to Mississippi to take care of things; hopefully it will go better and since it will not be anytime soon; hopefully Shelby will be ok with it next time. She is definately in no hurry to try it again.

Oh and our bags never left Gulfport; since we were on cancelled flights and they put us on one last minute it never registered that we left Gulfport until much later. They did mail our bags out to us. We bought some toothpaste and essentials at the gift shop at the hotel in Dallas (they seem to exprience this a lot since they had a nice supply of goods on hand) and our bags were back to us in Iowa Friday evening.

Also, when we were cancelled in Dallas; there was another plane coming in from Philladelphia who had to make an emergency landing at DFW; so not only was there a huge plane of people going to Des Moines, there was this other plane of people coming in at 11:30pm and stranded in Dallas. They ran out of hotel vouchers; we were again lucky getting one of those by getting in a new line they opened up when walking back from grabbing the sandwhich and salad.

Missouri and Escapade 58

Missouri and Escapade 58

Our first two weeks
of being full timing; it's been busy and smooth going; no surprises!

 

Sometimes all of the planning in the world still brings surprises, however our first two weeks out has gone exactly as expected.

May 26th: Shelby's Graduation
Her Graduation was at 10am and we left town about 1:30pm


Stopped in Jonesboro Arkansas. It was late but it was important to get that far to make it to the Escapade by the 2pm deadline. Since it was late, we stayed overnight at Walmart: It was hot! Definitely do not want to do that very often especially when it's so hot and humid.

Although it was just overnight, we did try and sneak in a few sights in Arkansas; it really is a beautiful state.

When stopping for just an overnight stay, it's a very simple process and there are some etiquette rules. It is NOT camping, it is strictly an overnight stay; isn't that one of the points of having a camper, to avoid having to spend money in hotels? To me it is. As much as I love traveling and staying in different hotels (decent ones anyway) there are some positives to carrying your home with you:

• Do not have to pack; all clothes and toiletries are right here just like at home. 
• It's your own bed; you know how clean it is and when the sheets have been washed. A plus is if you have upgraded your camper mattress it can be really comfortable! 
• All of the food and anything you want is there. Of course in an overnight stay I wouldn't cook in a parking lot or even just staying some place for a short amount of time, but if I wanted something to drink or a snack in the middle of the night it can easily be done. 

May 27th: It took all day, the roads were up and down; so many hills and no interstate!! Luckily it was Sunday and I didn't have to worry about work; it was a long day.

We arrived by 1:30pm; we were going to boondock at the Escapade but it was way too hot so we changed to full hook ups! It was nice to think that the weather would be cool enough to not need the AC but it felt just like MS, way too hot and humid.

Sunday at 3:00pm was the opening ceremony and ice cream bars.

Escapade:

 

The Escapee's RV club is an organization for all types of people who love to travel in a camper or RV. I am not paid to endorse them or advertise for them but since our first event was centered around them, I do want to explain who they are a little bit. https://www.escapees.com/
We decided to join Escapee's for the resources and events. The 58th Escapade which is a national event was scheduled in Missouri the end of May and since we were going right through Missouri to Iowa it worked out perfectly.

This is the event website: https://www.escapees.com/event/58th-escapade/

There were seminars and vendors and everyday packed full of things to do at this event. To me, it was the perfect way to start this adventure.

I am also going to admit how I felt like Dory in Finding Nemo with the Escape hatch because I was pronouncing Escapade wrong until I heard it pronounced correctly at the opening ceremony.

It was during the Memorial Day long weekend so I was off some but did have to work most of the week but still was able to enjoy a lot of the seminars and activities.

Expectation 1:
We would meet more people our age and get to know more people.
Reality 1:
Most of the people were older and really retired (not early retired). There were some people our age and some families with younger children but there were not any opportunities to get to know them unless you are really extroverted and can go up to people and just start talking to them. Unfortunately this is not where we excel and others didn't really do that either.

I did become known though and I wish I could get access to the pictures but I'm told they will eventually be up on the website; maybe.

Tuesday evening the entertainment was an illusionist named Reza. He's a young guy and I had never heard of him before but was quite impressed. I was brought up on stage for a couple of tricks; funny, entertaining and impressive tricks so people remembered me. Plus the next day at the evening door prize ceremony I thought I had won a big prize. They called my name to come up there. It was for a gift that Reza wanted me to have; it is pictured below. He signed it: To: Mrs. Smith Reza and it was the toilet paper roll from the entertaining side during my time on stage. So between the two, people knew me from that. It was fun though.

Expectation #2:
The seminars would be really helpful.
Reality 2: the seminars were not helpful at all; I blame Paul in a good way though. When you have a husband that spent the past year or so obsessed with learning everything possible about going full time; it doesn't leave much left to learn from a basic seminar. It is ok though, I am glad we went and had the experience.


Expectation #3:
There would be a lot of people there
Reality 3: There was a lot of people there

 The red arrow to the right, that is where we were!

 Heading North

 

Friday, June 1st: Time to leave Escapade and head north.

Drove about an hour north to Chillicothe: home of the sliced bread! The first place ever to sell sliced bread.

Finding unique places is something we love to do!  This small town had murals painted everywhere and was the first place ever to sell sliced bread.

We found a free campsite by a lake and stayed there near Chillicothe; it stormed early the next morning but we had plenty of time to get to Iowa so it was ok.

Amish County

After the rain, we worked our way to St. Joseph, MO; a little out of the way but there were some things we wanted to see there. On the way, we visited a small town, Jamesport; the largest Amish Community in Missouri is there.

St. Joesph, MO

Where the Pony Express Started
The Glore Psychiatric Museum
The Home of Jesse James (where he was shot)
Wallace State Park (about 35 miles away)

We parked the camper and stayed at Wallace State Park and drove into St. Joseph since it was to the west of I-35 (took I -35 into Iowa)

Enjoyed the nature at Wallace State Park: The weather was decent; it finally cooled off after the crazy hot Memorial Day Week!

Pony Express and Trains! 

If there is a train around, Paul will find it!!

 Real Well, still in the building and still works

More Murals in St. Joseph

Jesse James: 

It was a small museum so I didn't take many pictures, this building above was right across the street, had some unique things.

Glore Museum

This one was my favorite; it was definitely unique, scary, sad and had the most interesting stories.

On North to Iowa

We finally made it to Iowa and this is will we spend most of the summer. Paul workamping and Josh experiencing his first job ever! 

We have several day trips planned while we are here though. 

The geese visit daily, the people are super friendly; it is going to be an interesting summer for sure!