This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Richard Smith, 81, who works part-time for the campground where he lives for half of the year and part-time driving for DoorDash. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
My wife and I have done work camping all across the country, including in New Hampshire and even Alaska. Work camping is a lifestyle that combines working and camping. Work campers often trade labor for compensation, which can include a free or discounted campsite, utilities, and sometimes wages.
We bought a house in Florida nine years ago and live there for six months in the winter. Our 42-foot Monaco Class A motor coach is our home for the other half of the year while we work camp. Since 2019, we’ve work camped in New Hampshire. I also do DoorDash in both places.
This year in New Hampshire, I’m working two jobs. I work at the campground Thursday through Sunday nights, and I drive for DoorDash Monday through Wednesday. I’m basically working seven days a week.
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I started working back in January 1963 with Eastman Kodak in Rochester, and I worked for them for over 30 years.
I got married very young and had kids very quickly after. I had a family to support, so I worked full-time at Kodak, part-time in the evening at automotive stores, and went to night school. I wish I’d put money aside during this time and let it compound.
In the 1990s, I was offered an opportunity to work in Hollywood at a major motion picture film lab, and I moved out to Los Angeles to be their technical director. I worked for them until around 2004.
At that time, I fully intended on going full-time RVing and doing work camping; it was one of my lifelong dreams to travel the country in an RV. But a great opportunity came up at a university in California, and I worked as a film lab manager for the school’s motion picture and television film lab, where they did archival restoration and preservation of all their film libraries.
I worked for them for another five years. I had planned on staying a few more years until I reached full retirement age, but then they offered me a retirement package in 2009, around the time the economy took a dive.
I accepted and invested my retirement package into a self-directed IRA.
Unfortunately, my self-directed IRA went to hell due to some stupid decisions; I made some risky investments.
Because I waited until later in life to invest, I wasn’t able to set as much aside for retirement. Most people don’t realize how much they really need for retirement, and more than likely, they’re going to outlive their retirement funds.
In 2009, I came across Workamper News, which was a good resource for finding jobs throughout the country. I signed up as a member, and it’s how I found a lot of work.
My wife and I decided to pack up everything we owned into our RV and a large cargo trailer. We headed to Alaska, where my two sons and grandkids live. We traveled around the country for the next eight years, work camping and visiting family and friends.
Now in New Hampshire, I work as a ranger. I basically patrol the park, mainly at night. My day usually starts around 4 p.m. and ends around 12:30 a.m. I’m paid $15 an hour for my range of work.
Due to my age, I’m mostly restricted to ranger-type work camping jobs, which involve riding in a golf cart, patrolling the park or campground, and maintaining security at night. I can’t do maintenance work, as my health prevents me from doing any bending, lifting, or twisting.
My wife does housekeeping while work camping and takes care of cabins, restrooms, and laundry rooms. You have to pick and choose the work camping jobs that fit your lifestyle and financial needs.
This campsite rental is deeply discounted at $200 a month.
On DoorDash days, I usually start around 3 or 4 p.m. and go until 9 or 10 p.m.; it depends on how frequently the orders come in. My goal every night is to reach about $100, and sometimes, I go well over that.
I started doing DoorDash last winter. I couldn’t find a six-month, part-time job, so another work camper introduced me to DoorDash. It pays pretty well, though you have to factor in wear and tear on the car and gasoline costs. In Florida, I’m usually left with about $500 a week to help pay bills after fuel and taxes.
Driving is one of the things that I can still do fairly well at my age. I’m an excellent driver. I don’t feel comfortable driving at fast speeds anymore, so I let people go around me if they need to.
Every time I go see my primary care physician in Florida, he tells me that I’m very lucky and blessed to have such good health so far. I don’t know if that’s going to last, and I’m definitely overweight.
In Florida, we live in a little town by the beach on the Atlantic Ocean. My brother also owns a place down here. We like to fish as much as we can, but it really depends on the weather. We’ve never stayed a summer in Florida, as it gets really humid.
Today, I have a lot of debt. If you consider our house and all of the extended credit, it’s around $350,000.
I get close to $3,000 a month in Social Security. There’s less than $20,000 in my IRA, and I have basically no savings account.
I’m trying to pay down my debt as much as I can. Unfortunately, car repairs interfere with that. I also recently had carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand, and I’ll probably have my right hand done next year. Those charges end up going on the credit card because I don’t have the savings to pay for them.
The fuel bill for driving from Florida to New Hampshire and back usually runs just under $1,000. It’s hard to pay for that and still pay down my debt.
In the worst-case scenario, we have a lot of equity built up in the house, so we could sell it and go back to full-time RV life.
My brother sends job openings that he comes across, and occasionally, I look into some of them. There may come a period in life when we’ll have to stay in Florida all year for health reasons, and I’ll need to find a year-round job.
I don’t see any other way to get around it because winning the Powerball lottery isn’t working.
