Newton / Des Moines East KOA Journey Blog
Only 30 min E of Des Moines, IA, Newton KOA is the perfect overnight stop after a long day's drive
KOA Journey campgrounds are the perfect oases after a day on the road. Whether it’s along the way or a quick getaway, they’ve got you covered. Located near the highways and byways of North America with long Pull-thru RV Sites, they deliver convenience to the traveling camper. Pull in, ease back and take a load off.
KOA Journey campgrounds are the perfect oases after a day on the road. Whether it’s along the way or a quick getaway, they’ve got you covered. Located near the highways and byways of North America with long Pull-thru RV Sites, they deliver convenience to the traveling camper. Pull in, ease back and take a load off.
From I-80: Turn north at Exit 168 onto Iowa Speedway Dr. Travel about 3/4 mile and look for the "KOA" sign on left. Take a hard left in front of the lighted Newton KOA sign between Barney's towing and a church. Go 1/4 mile down our lane into our KOA.
Check in at the office and you will be assigned a site.
Relax and enjoy!
Do not rely on GPS. You may be routed needlessly through Newton. GPS: N41.684937, W93.013722
Get Google Directions
Reposted from the KOA blog:
If there’s one thing that 2020 has taught us, it’s that going into an office is no longer a necessity. Though it has taken some trial and lots of error, COVID showed us that working remotely is possible.
Over the last few months, a lot of the kinks were worked out of working from home. it’s time that you take full advantage of this new approach to work.
However, we suggest you take it further. Rather than working from home, you should work from your RV. Being able to travel full-time in your RV is a dream come true for many, and guess what? It’s not impossible. All the recent changes in approaches to work have paved the way for you to take advantage of not needing to go into your company’s office. Instead, you can try calling your RV and the wide-open road your office.
Picture yourself waking up in your favorite KOA campground to catch the sunrise, work for a few hours, and then head out adventuring wherever your heart desires. Rather than building your life around work, build your life on living and fit work in where you can.
To help you achieve those goals of working from your RV, we’ve come up with some job ideas that thrive in an on-the-road lifestyle. Here are the top remote jobs for RVers.
This may or may not be obvious, but when you are looking to find a job that fits your on-the-road lifestyle, you want one that doesn’t require you to be at a certain location. The whole point of you going out on the road is so that you are free to do just that. You don’t want a job that requires you to “check in” at a physical location to hold you back.
With that said, there are quite a few different jobs that seem like they were made for people on the road. Read on to see if any of these strike your fancy.
This job is something that can vary greatly from company to company, and can include all sorts of tasks and duties. Many administrative assistants find themselves scheduling travel for their boss(es), scheduling meetings, answering emails, taking phone calls, preparing presentations, reviewing material, and much more. An administrative assistant does not necessarily need to have specific schooling or training, but undoubtedly needs to be highly organized and a great communicator.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, and reliable access to wi-fi.
When you’re on the road you likely find there is a lot of dead time where there isn’t much going on. If you’re traveling with someone who can do the driving between your destinations, a great way to use that time and make some money is by getting a job as a transcriber. You may be given speeches, presentations, documents, meetings, etc. to listen to and then transcribe onto a document that shows everything you heard in written form. This job requires attention to detail, and a great deal of patience, as you will likely be rewinding and relistening to things over and over again.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, reliable access to wi-fi, and a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones.
Another job that doesn’t always require physically being in an office is a graphic designer. With this job, you are responsible for creating a variety of graphics for the company. This could be graphics for social media, marketing materials, website, presentations, products, packaging, and more. Think about how many things you use and see on a daily basis that involve some sort of graphic. Those are all created by graphic designers and that could be you! This job is great for your on-the-go lifestyle, but there is a fairly steep learning curve when it comes to learning the programs you’ll need in order to make your graphics really stand out. The Adobe Suite is something you will likely become best friends with.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good laptop, reliable access to wi-fi, and the Adobe Suite.
With the gig economy exploding recently, there is a great need for virtual assistants to help keep things organized. A virtual assistant needs to be well-versed in CRM software as well as WordPress. Generally-speaking, this position requires being someone who is tech savvy and is quick to learn new systems and programs. The main purpose of this job is to make the job of your boss(es) easier, and this necessitates self-starting and recognizing where new systems and ways of doing things need to be implemented.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, and reliable access to wi-fi.
Branding is everything in our modern-day lives. Think about all the products you use on a daily basis and their branding. So much of branding is visually recognizable without even seeing the name of the company, like Apple for example. You see the logo and know exactly what it is. A brand specialist is someone who works to build a brand, which is a key part of a business’s success. That means that this job requires great skill, knowledge, and proven success and experience in helping companies or businesses create a strong representation of their work.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, reliable access to wi-fi, and the Adobe Suite as well as other design programs.
Writing is something that everyone can do, but not everyone can do well. Nor is it something that everyone enjoys doing. Thus, the ability to write and create blogs for a business or company is a great job for RVers. You can write about a variety of topics, but you’re most likely to find work writing in areas that you have knowledge and experience in, thus making the writing more authentic. Those long days on the road serve as the perfect opportunity to whip out your laptop and get writing.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, reliable access to wi-fi, and a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones that allow you to focus.
Social Media Manager
If you find yourself spending hour after hour on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and other social media apps and sites, then you may consider becoming a social media manager. This job seems to never get boring, as the algorithms, rules, and trends are constantly changing. And a social media manager must stay up-to-date on all of those changes. This job requires having a proven record of success in helping a company or business improve their social media presence, and in a way that not only gains followers, but that also brings more business and revenue to the company.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, and reliable access to wi-fi.
Whether there is a course you’ve been wanting to create yourself, or are interested in helping others create courses, this job is a great way to “teach” in a modern and remote way. Course development is an ideal job for those that have teaching experience and the ability to present information in a way that is digestible to people. The subject matter of courses can vary greatly, depending on your areas of expertise, as well as your ability to learn others’ in the case that you’re creating courses for people other than yourself. Organization is a necessary skill for this job, as the course needs to flow well and make sense to the person taking it.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, reliable access to wi-fi, and programs to build presentations with.
If you are looking to stay in your RV in one place for a season, then consider KOA’s Work Kamper program. A position in this program means you serve as a season employee and work at a KOA campsite to help make campers maximize their experience. Though your RV will be parked at the same KOA campground for a few months, you will still have plenty of time and opportunity to explore around and create your own adventure with your job. The job opportunities vary from location to location, and different campgrounds will have different needs for a Work Kamper to fill. Some examples of positions available through the program include front desk staff, manager, and maintenance.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good and positive attitude, and the desire to work towards making peoples’ camping experiences great.
It is almost an unspoken requirement to have a website if you are running a brand or a company, so the need for web designers is most certainly a thing. Web designing is a wonderful job for RVers because you can design from anywhere, as long as you have good internet access. Designing websites requires some knowledge in coding, and the ability to use platforms such as WordPress, Squarespace, ShowIt, and more to build websites on. You don’t have to spend a great deal of time learning a bunch of coding, however, as there are many templates that you can work off of to create websites that require minimal coding.
Tools you need: In order to succeed in this job on the road, you will need a good phone, laptop, and reliable access to wi-fi.
Since many companies have changed their structure to allow for remote work, finding jobs for your RV lifestyle is much easier.
LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster all have options to narrow your job searches to only include those positions that are available to work remotely. You will likely find a lot of positions that are remote for now, but may require employees to return to an office once it is safe to do so. Don’t be deterred by that, however, as the option to work remotely is available for the foreseeable future.
Another place to look for remote work is a website called FlexJobs. As is clear by its name, this site is made for people who want flexible jobs and need the ability to move around while working. FlexJobs shows full-time, part-time, and temporary positions so no matter what you are looking for, FlexJobs has it. You can choose from over 50 categories of jobs, allowing you to narrow your search or keep it open for a wide range of opportunities.
You can also approach your current employer (if you have one) about the changes you can make so that you can continue your position on the road. Many employees have been able to do this with the COVID requirements to stay home, so you should be able to, too.
Working remotely is more feasible than it has ever been. Many people are ditching the concept of going into the office, and staying in one place and instead opting to work from wherever their travels take them. And there’s no reason why you can’t do the same!
Though it will take some coordinating, organizing, and some pretty big lifestyle changes, working on the road is a dream come true. Imagine waking up to work for a few hours in the morning, and then heading out to explore the rest of the day. Then you can hop in the car, head to your next destination and do it all over again.
Leslie, a.k.a. Copy Girl, is a copywriter who gets butterflies from telling stories through words.
Her voice comes from a place filled with passion, dreams, and lots of sugar. “Cake over steak” is her go-to motto.
With over 10 years of experience in crafting words, and years of embarking on travels that have taken this Montana girl to some incredible places, Leslie love the adventures of both body and mind her writing takes her on.
Everywhere she goes, she takes this advice with her:
“Hold on to your divine blush, your innate rosy magic, or end up brown.” – Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
To see what Leslie’s up to in the writing world, visit her website here.
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