Our travel expenses the summer, fall and winter of 2019-2020 were fairly high, but we knew they would be with what we planned, including paying for a leased site at Pio Pico from July 2019 to July 2020. The lease site made each return to Pio stress free. It was nice to go directly to our site regardless of arrival time, no “crossover” hassle, and being able to stay put till we were ready to head out on our next trip. After traveling for two to three months at a time, it has been nice to stay put for a while with the lease site. We can only stay overnight on that site a total of 7 months out of the year, but we can break that time up any way we want. Unfortunately, with the power issues Pio Pico has, and the lack of reliable amenities, we have decided NOT to renew the lease site for a second year. ($5300). The hot tub near our site hasn’t been working since summer 2019. You never know if the swimming pool is heated enough to be conducive to get in or not.
After visiting various resorts in Yuma this month, we have selected Fortuna De Oro as our “home base” for September 2020 through April or even May 2021. Total costs here will be less than the $5300-lease at Pio Pico, and the park offers us SO MUCH more to do on a daily basis.
I am going to try workamping at Fortuna De Oro. I will work 17 hours a week most weeks. (Barry and I could share the 17 hours to make it easier to work and still have plenty of time to play. Hint. Hint.) The hours should cover the site rental and electricity usage. I don’t know what I (or we) will be doing yet. The official application and assignments don’t take place till June. We may try to work the Cactus Grill Bar out by the pool.
Every couple months we will need to drive back to southern CA for my orthodontic appointments. Those quick road trips will also give us quick visits with Isaac and Mona (& their parents 🙂 ). Our wonderful friends, Don & Jo Richardson, live in the local area, and have offered for us to stay with them when we make these short visits. We are blessed. Because it is only about 2+ hours by car back to Pio Pico, or 3 hours by motorhome, we think it is worth making the switch to Yuma from Pio Pico. We will still travel summer 2020 and 2021.
Don & Jo Richardson
I could have immediately taken the last available workamper position of food shopper at Carefree Village Resort, to receive 1/2 off the site rental plus $62.50 towards our electric bill Oct 20 – Apr 2. (Evidently 24 hours a week are required for a fully free site at Carefree.) But I wasn’t all that impressed with the pickleball program at Carefree. Taking off a couple weeks in December would be an issue since there would not be another shopper to work out a compatible schedule to allow me to leave.
Our friends, Kelly and Bob Robinson, who will both be workamping at Carefree next winter, told me that Carefree handles workamper payment/compensation differently. They do not issue paychecks, and thus no W-2 at the end of the year as Fortuna does. They simply contract you for “x” amount of hours to receive a free site or 1/2 off, + an allowance towards electric depending on whether you have a full or part time position. Kelly offered to cover my shopping duties when we would leave for two weeks in December. OMG! How sweet!! But, since we had already booked our site at Fortuna, gave a deposit, and was on the list to workamp, we will stick with staying with Fortuna. Yes, we will be taxed on what I/we earn, but we really like the amenities at Fortuna, and how friendly people are. We will be in Site #987 on Sylvia Lane, September 2020 – April or May 2021.
We discovered additional activities this week at Fortuna that interests us. These include conversational/beginner Spanish, regular line dancing, Latin line dancing, ballroom social dancing, water volleyball, golfing the par three, nine-hole golf course, and hitting balls at the driving range.
Water volleyball at the small south pool. 
Advanced Beginner Line Dancing with a great instructor!
We are currently enjoying our month here much more than we expected, and are looking forward to returning in September! Hey, Don & Jo, look–they have regulation cornhole here! It’s not my Seahawks, but will do. 🙂 You’ll have custody of our Seahawks cornhole set even longer.
