My first “housing included” situation was not even a job I applied for. It was the road trip that started this entire lifestyle, the one that began because it was 130 degrees in Arizona, we were living in a non-running RV with almost no money, and I finally said we needed to go. So we did. My boyfriend at the time and I pointed the car north with no destination in sight and started figuring it out as we went.
We pulled into a free campsite at Deer Field Lake in South Dakota one night, set up the tent, built a fire, and cooked dinner. It started snowing. I got so cold that I ended up sleeping in the car with the heat running just to get through the night. I had Arizona thin skin, I got cold much quicker back then.
The next morning I woke up to the lake, and four people from the next campsite over had a boat already on the water. They invited us to join them. We spent the morning catching trout after trout, what felt like buckets of them. Back on shore, they taught us how to clean and skin everyone.
That night they invited us to dinner. We told them everything. The 130 degree summer, the RV that did not run, leaving with almost no money, picking up whatever work we could find along the way. They listened to the whole story. Then they offered us both jobs on their cattle ranch just across the border in Nebraska, and a room in the basement of their house to stay in while we worked.
I did not ask for any of it. They just offered, and I said yes because it was there. That was my first quick win, and it taught me everything about asking, because you never know what opportunities are around you. If you want the bigger picture of how that road trip turned into the life we live now, seasonal work to travel covers that story.
The next job taught me everything.
Questions to Ask Before a Seasonal Job With Housing: The Short Version
Housing is almost never offered upfront, even when a job genuinely has options available. You have to ask. What you ask for, and how specific you get, often determines whether you end up in a dorm with strangers, a cabin, a campsite for your own rig, or nothing at all.
Quick answer:
- Most job postings do not mention housing details. Ask directly, every time, even if the listing says nothing about it
- If you have a camper or trailer, ask specifically for a campsite option, it is rarely advertised but often available
- Ask what the cost is and how it is paid, deducted from your check, billed directly, or free
- Ask if pets are allowed, this alone has ruled out housing options for us more than once
- Know that your circumstances can change mid-season, and housing situations can change with them
The Job That Taught Me to Ask
When I applied for a position at Fort Robinson State Park, I was traveling with my boyfriend at the time. I asked directly if they had a place for us to stay. What they offered was a woman’s dorm and a men’s dorm, separate buildings, no option to be together, and a shared kitchen with women I had never met.
I did not want that. So I asked if there was anything else.
There was. They offered us a campsite instead, and we took it. I lived in a tent for almost an entire summer, and it was genuinely more comfortable than I expected, certainly more comfortable than a dorm room I would have been sharing with strangers.
That relationship ended that fall. My boyfriend at the time cheated on me and left with the car, and I was still living in that tent when it happened. October in Nebraska gets cold fast, and a tent stops being a charming adventure pretty quickly once the temperature drops. My manager noticed and found me a cabin to stay in for the rest of the season. I did not have to ask for that one. Someone just saw what I needed and made it happen.
Can You Live in Your Own Camper or Tent at a Seasonal Job?
Often, yes, even when the job posting only lists a dorm. Employers in remote or seasonal locations frequently have more housing options than what gets advertised, including campsites for employees with their own camper, trailer, or tent. Ask directly, even if nothing about it is mentioned in the listing.
What I Learned About Saving Money the Hard Way
I came back to Fort Robinson for a second season and got an apartment outside the park (I paid rent and I paid utilities). I found out fast how expensive that actually was compared to everything I had done before.
So, this season, I went back to the ranching family in Nebraska. They offered me a free room again, this time in exchange for helping out around the ranch. I worked full time at the state park and did chores on my days off. It was a real trade, my labor for a place to live, and it worked.
That is around when I started spending time with Curtis. As I spent less time helping at the ranch, I moved into his camper, which was parked on a free campsite at the same state park where I worked. I could walk to my job. It saved money and it was extremely convenient on the nights we were out bowfishing until late and just wanted to get home.
If you want a system for building food you can actually take anywhere (not just store, but pack and go) I put together a free guide around exactly that. It covers how we eat real food on the road without a cooler, a full kitchen, or starting over every time we move.
How Asking Kept Working in Every Job After That
We moved to South Dakota together when Curtis got hired on at the adventure park. Curits asked specifically about housing during the application process. They offered us a mobile home. It was originally meant for four seasonal employees. However, they let the two of us have it without adding anyone else. They charged a small rental fee that basically covered our electricity use. It was close enough that we walked to work. None of the other seasonal staff there had housing provided. We got it because we asked.
After we finished building our home on wheels and sold the camper, we lived in it year round. We headed back to Arizona in the winter. We picked up odd jobs in between that had a spot for us to park.
When our rig started overheating, we asked about housing again. We ended up in a cabin overlooking a lake, because we asked what was available and then asked what it would cost. They gave us a small fee that came directly out of our paycheck before we ever saw the number. I do not remember the exact amount, but I remember thinking it was basically nothing.
After that lake job, we spent a whole summer traveling around to all the western National Parks and Monuments. We slept in our tent for the entire summer moving from National Park to National Park. Here is the post where I wrote about that National Parks Trip in more detail.
What Does Seasonal Housing Usually Include?
It depends entirely on the employer and what you ask for. We have been offered dorms, private cabins, mobile homes, apartments, and campsites for our own rig, sometimes all from the same employer depending on what we requested. Utilities have been included every time. Meals are less common but do show up, usually at a small additional cost that is still cheaper and faster than buying groceries and cooking yourself.
Where We Are Now
At our current job inside Yellowstone, we pay $200 a month for a full apartment with utilities included. I have written more about what daily life here actually looks like in the hard truth about living inside Yellowstone, and the full breakdown of what this lifestyle costs month to month, beyond just the rent number, is in what seasonal work actually costs us.
Curtis had a list of places he wanted to work, jobs he had never done before, things that sounded exciting and different. We found every one of them on Indeed. Not one listing said housing was included. We asked every single time. What our options were, whether anything was nearby, and how much it would cost.
We always asked specifically for a campsite when we had our own rig, and specifically for housing when we did not.
Some of what we have been offered came down to Curtis being hired into management roles, which sometimes comes with more housing flexibility. But the options themselves, campsites, dorms, cabins, apartments, mobile homes, exist for a much wider range of jobs than people assume. Even right now, Yellowstone offers seasonal employees a dorm room with no kitchen but three meals a day included for a small cost. It is not the option we chose, but it is there, and it works for a lot of people.
My brother was a traveling welder for years, a completely different field, nothing related to parks or seasonal hospitality, and his employer paid for hotel rooms the entire time. It genuinely does not matter what your skills are. The housing options tend to be there. You just have to ask.
What I Would Tell Someone About to Say Yes
Ask even when the listing says nothing about housing. Almost none of our actual housing situations were advertised upfront. Every one of them came from a direct question during the application or interview process.
Ask for the specific option you need, not just “do you have housing.”
- If you have a camper, ask for a campsite.
- If you don’t want separate housing from a partner, say so directly the way I did at Fort Robinson.
- If pets are part of your life, ask about that before anything else.
And know that your situation can change mid-season. Mine did, more than once, a relationship ending, a rig overheating, a manager noticing I needed something different. The housing changed with it every time, because I kept asking instead of assuming the first answer was the only one.
I have lived in a ranch basement, a tent, a cabin, an apartment I paid full rent for, a borrowed mobile home, a home we built ourselves, another cabin, and now a $200 apartment with everything included. None of that happened by waiting to be offered something. It happened because I asked.
With love and adventure,
Mindy
What is the housing situation you are hoping for if you try this life? Tell me in the comments. I have probably lived in something close to it.
