Bonus Blog: Why We Workamp
🛠️ Coffee, Campfires & Clocking In: Our Workamping Life in Northwest Indiana
Hey again, fellow road warriors and curious readers! We’re still rolling along with Outland Adventures, but, we’re parked in one place for a bit — tucked into the tree-lined corners of Northwest Indiana, working at a campground that’s become our temporary home (and paycheck).
Workamping might sound like a weird buzzword, but for us, it’s how we keep the wheels turning — literally. It’s part travel, part work, part campground chaos, and somehow, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
🧔🏻 Chris: Landscaping, Maintenance & Getting Dusty
Chris spends his work days outside — mowing, trimming, fixing, hauling, or tracking down that one leaky spigot again. From landscaping to routine maintenance, he's basically the behind-the-scenes wizard who keeps things running.
You’ll find him with a weed eater in one hand, cold water in the other, probably mid-sweat and still managing to crack a sarcastic joke. Whether it’s repairing picnic tables, clearing brush, or helping someone figure out why their electric hookup isn’t working — he’s on it. Bonus: the job feeds his need to be constantly solving problems, just in real life instead of in code.
💄 Amanda: Camp Store, Office & Reservation Extraordinaire
Meanwhile, Amanda holds down the front lines of campground hospitality. She runs the camp store, helps manage reservations, checks guests in and out, answers phones, solves minor camper catastrophes, and somehow still smiles through it all.
She’s the first face most guests see when they arrive and the friendly voice they call when they can’t find the turn off for the campground or want to know where to buy ice. She’s also the one making sure the snack rack stays stocked, the souvenirs look cute, and the computers haven’t completely betrayed us.
Spoiler alert: she’s amazing at it.
🏕 Why We Workamp
Workamping is how we balance the budget while living full-time on the road — trading a set number of hours for a site, pay, or both. But it’s more than that. It’s how we meet new people, learn weird skills (Amanda can now reboot a booking system in under 30 seconds), and get to know a place, not just pass through it.
Here in Northwest Indiana, we’re surrounded by quiet woods, Midwestern charm, and just enough weird weather to keep things interesting. The work is steady, the days go fast, and at the end of it all, we walk back “home” to Wildebeest — our cozy, converted command unit turned house on wheels.
🔧 What We've Learned So Far
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People forget their gate codes constantly (and that’s okay).
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Landscaping in Indiana = sweat, gnats, and a good hat.
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Office computers have their own moods.
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Campers ask really specific questions about firewood.
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Propane-powered coffee tastes better after a long day.
📍Work Hard, Camp Harder
At the end of the day, we still get what we came for: sunsets over the fields, evenings by the fire, and weekends exploring nearby small towns. (Yes, we still make time for roadside oddities and diner pie. Priorities.)
Workamping isn’t always glamorous — it’s manual labor, customer service, and unexpected chaos in equal parts. But it gives us freedom, stability, and the chance to live our kind of life on our kind of terms.
If you're thinking about diving into the workamping world, or just wondering what life’s like behind the “camp host” sign — stick around. We’ll keep sharing the real deal, the weird stuff, and the wins (and fails) as we keep wandering.
📍Currently working: somewhere between the camp store snack aisle and a broken sewer cap someone just ran over again.
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