Yogi in the Smokies... our first WorkCamping Job

Setting the stage...

Prior to going fulltime we decided to spend part of our time on the road working in campgrounds. There were two reasons we wanted to do this; first to help offset the costs and second, to meet like-minded fulltime campers.

We learned of a couple of online resources that facilitate workcamping. These websites allow workcampers to post a resume with skills and work preferences, typically for a fee though some are at no cost. Employers also subscribe and can post jobs as well as view/review work camper resumes. We posted a resume on a few sites and low and behold received several offers for work, both by phone and email!!!

One on the first to call was Yogi in the Smokies, a Yogi Jellystone park in Cherokee NC.

Coincidently this call came soon after we were told by Ruth's doctor that we needed to stay close to Atlanta for a time. If you recall, we had originally planned to go to New England when I finished up at The Summit in West Virginia. So we get a call offering us a position to work in housekeeping from August - October 2013. Housekeeping was not our first priority, well maybe our last, but it was an offer, it was close and it was a job!!!

So after I get back from West Virginia, and after a few final days in Georgia we pack up the rig and head north to Cherokee.

The Campground...

Yogi in the Smokies is an older campground, it was started back in the 1940's or 50's. Located on the Oconaluftee River about 8 miles northeast of Cherokee in the middle of ...nowhere!! The campground is pretty and caters to kids and fishermen, tubing the river is big in the warm months as there is an endless stream of tubers floating the river all day long. Once a park exclusively setup for tents and RV's it now has over 40 cabins ranging from primitive [no restroom] to two bedroom all intermingled throughout the campground. Being at a higher elevation and close to thriver the summer temperatures were never hot, this was a nice change from the brutal heat in the low lands.

Cherokee NC is an active Indian Reservation, home of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians and is nestled deep in the Great Smokey Mountains adjacent to Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The terrain is beautiful, there is so much natural beauty in this area BUT... the area is depressed, backwards in so many ways. The tourist economy is thriving all around the area but not so much in Cherokee. Of course there is a casino and it is always busy but the downtown area is full of old, cheap tourist trap souvenir shops selling fake Indian trinkets from China...very sad. At least on this visit some of the "photo op" stops where you can have your picture taken with a REAL Indian had Native People dressing in traditional Cherokee dress, some though were still wearing the Plains Indian dress, e.g. bonnets, breastplates & loin cloth.

The Job...

Ruth and I began work the day after arrival, the campground had three bath houses and over 40 cabins. There were three couples assigned to housekeeping though most days only two couples worked. We were scheduled to work five days a week, we had Wednesdays and Thursdays off. After a couple of weeks we asked the camp manager for Sunday mornings off so we could attend church. After a couple of weeks we found LifeWay Community Church in Sylva, a wonderful church that met in the high school cafeteria. It is amazing how much having just this little break in our week brought so much fulfillment, we looked forward to Sunday mornings for our spiritual boost!!

The work was HARD, exhausting and most days we worked we drug ourselves into the RV, ate a quick frozen dinner and fell into bed. As our time moved on the work slowed a little, the crowds slowed as we moved into September but that was short-lived, at the end of September one of the housekeeping couples left so there were only two couples working and we were "deep cleaning" the cabins, readying the campground for the winter shutdown. This entailed a thorough floor to ceiling cleaning of everything in the cabins.

The Area...

There were some interesting points in Cherokee, around town there were a number of bear statues all painted differently by local artists. I'm told there are fifteen in total but we never found all of them. While searching for the bears we also discovered many statues and sculptures, the one that really moved me was Transformation Through Forgiveness, a beautiful bronze with a very powerful unspoken message to all people.

They also have a play, Unto These Hills, a very good outdoor play depicting the struggle of the Cherokee people and the brutal removal of these peaceful native people during the Trail of Tears. There is also a Cherokee museum showing much of the history of the region and it's Native People.

The novelty of visiting Cherokee on our days off wore off quickly and after a few weeks we rarely visited town instead driving through to get onto the highway to visit other towns in the area where we could at least find a WalMart to shop for groceries and necessities.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is very close to the park so we cruised it a few times, we also visited the National Park several times and it was interesting to see the changes as the seasons changed from summer to fall.

One of the real perks of being in the area was visiting our daughter Lydia and her boyfriend Dean. When we first arrived in Cherokee they were living and working in Cashiers NC which was quite a trek from Cherokee but they relocated to Asheville shortly after we arrived so we visited with them as often as we could. We also visited with Ruth's college roommate Wendy and her husband Bob on Waynesville when we could.

As we approached fall the crowds dwindled...until the beginning of October! This park has an unbelievable following, many of the families who come here have been doing so for years, we met families who have been coming to the park for over 20 years, now bringing grandchildren. The park celebrates Halloween EVERY weekend in October and the park fills up again as the leaves first change and then fall. As mid October came upon us we were treated by a visit from Erin and Eli as well as our good friends Tom & Tammy with their granddaughter Haley. While they were there we celebrated Halloween in a big way!!!

As the end of October approached we were so ready to move on, the weather was cold and dreary, the work had worn on us and we were anxious to move on to new adventurers. We busied ourselves with preparing for the move by cleaning the RV from top to bottom, scrubbing the roof, washing the exterior and putting away all the treasures we had accumulated over the past three months. As departure day arrived we hooked up the rig to the truck and headed away toward our first SOWER project on Toccoa GA... so long Yogi and Cherokee!!!



Next up... Toccoa Falls College