Squat & Gobble

Those readers not from Bluffton won't recognize the name (above) of one of my favorite restaurants. It's the closest thing we have to a diner in South Carolina.

But it describes our experience here as well. For the past three summers we have moved almost daily from place to place. This year we are squatting in one place for almost 4 months (and gobbling food like it's going out of style). The difference is like night and day.

Because we do not have to set up and knock down we have options we are not used to. We have a screen room - and a hammock - and a bird feeder - and solar walkway lights. We have DIGITAL cable with a DVR and VERY high-speed Internet.

It's funny how you sometimes get to thinking that your way of doing things is the only - or at least the most common - way. I certainly felt that way about RVing. But most of the workampers here take this long-term approach most of the time. Probably half of the workampers are either true full-timers (have no other home) or partial full-timers (have a very small home that they sometimes return to).

For instance, the assistant managers of Fun & Games have a 40-year-old mobile home in Florida that they call home. But they spend much of their time workamping. The managers of our department do their job here, then dash off to their home in Texas. They then turn around and get on a plane for France where they have jobs assisting exchange student near the German border. They live in a castle for three months. Not much of a chance to keep up with friends at home, but a cool way to live.

Other couples own or have long-term rental sites in Florida, Alabama, and Arizona. They head back there in the winter. Most take some kind of job just to keep busy. It can involve working in a restaurant, driving a school bus, or working maintenance at their campground.

Many of these couples have rigs a little more sophisticated than ours. Some have washer/dryer units. Some can have fancy kitchens, king-sized beds and lots of other amenities. I won't say that they have everything in a 300 sq. ft. RV that we have in a 2500 sq. ft. house, but they sure aren't roughing it!

Some people don't feel the need to have constant contact with old friends. These people are completely comfortable making new sets of friends every few months. I don't think we could do that. We miss our home and friends a lot. Cell phones and e-mail sure do help. But having said that, we love it up here and have no regrets.