It was time to head out to our next workamping gig and we interviewed with a guy in Robinson, NC, who was trying to start a small boutique campground and botanical garden. We talked several times and when we came to an agreement, we set a departure date and made our way down into the mountains of the Nantahala.

Upon arriving, we noticed that the driveway into the property was very steep and narrow and not ideal for RVs, not to mention it had been raining, so the ground was soft. We made it up the hill and then found out that our Full Hook Up RV spot was not as described. The water and sewage hookups were unconventional and obviously installed by someone who did not realize that RV hookups are of a standard size.

Then to make matters worse, the job was not as described either. There was not going to be a wage for this job, although it was talked about over the phone. We spent time and money getting to this location and were falsely advertised that the job would allow us to make that money back.

We decided to have a conversation with him to talk about the discrepancies in the ad, phone calls, emails, and the real thing. He got very nasty and defensive with us almost immediately, so we decided that the best course of action would be to leave and find another gig.

We decided to land in Cherokee at a campground that we had just applied to before leaving New Jersey. They didn’t reply to us, but we figured that we already vetted them so we might as well go somewhere familiar. When we arrived, the friendly staff asked Jake where we were coming from and Jake explained our workamping fail. The guy quickly told us that they were hiring and we said we knew and that we had applied. We paid for 2 nights and checked the sights out around Cherokee. On our second day there, the manager came to our site and offered us a temporary job until we find a new gig. We decided to take the temporary job to make up for the money we lost, to save on site rent, to use the internet, and to buy our time.

After working at the campground in Cherokee for 2 weeks, the managers said that we were welcome to stay for the rest of the season. We were considering it, but the situation at this campground was also a bit odd. Because it was on Cherokee land, Cherokee law applied to everything. The mask mandate was much more strict, the community was visibly impoverished, and things like smoking cigarettes indoors still exist and are acceptable.

We decided to keep looking for work and we ended up finding employment in West Jefferson, NC at a cabin resort. The job was only for Jake and was focused on the owner’s personal progress in remodeling a homestead and moving her farm animals to it. During our stay, Jake maintained her livestock which included pigs, horses, cows, chickens, and ducks.

It snowed a lot here and was frosty for most of the Winter.

We were an hour away from Boone, so we were able to attend Elle’s family’s vacation in the mountains this year. We drove to the cabins on specific days and stayed the night on New Year’s Eve.

We visited Blowing Rock, a place Elle has heard about since first going to Boone, NC, but had never gone to. We walked the grounds, took in the sights, and pet the kitty.