Our mission from May 21 through September 20 is to do work camping, or as KOA calls it, work kamping. The basic concept is that an person or couple works a certain number of hours in exchange for a campsite with certain amenities. The typical “rate” is 15 hours per person as a couple for a site with full hookups (water, electric, and sewer). A bulk of the KOA locations, however, pay a competitive rate for 40 hours of work and charge a minimal amount for a site. Our site just happens to have water, electric, sewer, WiFi, and cable (27 channels).
The street view of the KOA; swimming pool and office can be
seen in the distance.
When we arrived at the Wisconsin Dells KOA we found that another couple had been here for nearly three weeks and another couple was scheduled to arrive on June 1. It looked promising that there would be two other couples working with us to greet guests, register them for staying, escort them to their site, and do “other things as assigned” on a full-time schedule.
Martha stands by our motorhome at our campsite for four months.
We got started within 36 hours of our arrival; KOA shirts on and can-do attitude, too. In the KOA work kamper tradition, Martha will work in the office/store behind the counter welcoming and registering guests as well as doing some light housekeeping. Byron will work outside escorting guests to their sites, assisting them in parking, and helping with general maintenance. We were separately shown around the facilities separately by owners, Jill and Ed Brennan, who have owned the campground for 23 years. We also met the couple that arrived before us as well as the local employees, Heather and Jon. Yet to arrive was another work kamping couple and three students from foreign countries.
United Presbyterian Church of Wisconsin Dells; where we
are attending worship services each Sunday morning.
On our first Sunday we attended the United Presbyterian Church in town. We found the service to be based on a relaxed and casual sense of liturgy. It is made that by the way the minister conducts the service. The music is a somewhat traditional in that they do use a hymnal and have avoided the use of computer-based projection.
Ten days after we started work the third couple arrived. They, too, have a diesel motorhome for full-time use. The couple had work experience past the typical age of retirement and they, themselves, had been formally retired for ten years. However, after a week or so of employment it was determined they were a poor fit and moved on. A week later another couple with KOA experience (name tags and shirts) came in after an urgent request was posted. This “third couple” was 20 year younger than the previous with real experience. As it has turned out, the “senior” couple decided they could no longer take the physical nature of the tasks and left moments after giving notice to the owners. We are grateful the other couple is ten years our junior and have the energy to show for it. Now we are back to two couples handling the work load of three. However, since we are all committed to our jobs, we’ll make it work until another couple is employed.
One of the perks of working in the Dells is getting to have community card that allows us a discount at most of the restaurants and free admission to most of the attractions here. Thus far we’ve eaten at a few restaurants, taken an Upper Dells boat cruise, and went to Circus World at Baraboo. We’ll begin taking in some of the shows such as the Tommy Bartlett Ski Show and the Rick Willcox Magic Theater.
After looking over the grounds at Circus World we went to the
one-hour performance under the “big top” where we were
entertained for an hour with some quality circus acts.
