I got a job for the winter!

We're leaving Salt Lake City and driving west along I-80 today, headed for Healdsburg, CA, but I wanted to update everyone on my latest accomplishment.

First a little background on our winter plans. As of now, we're planning on spending October of 2006 through the first of April of 2007 in Tucson, Arizona. We both really liked Tucson when we were there last winter, but it's just too hot to consider for a permanent location. Since our house money is tied up until April of '07 and our stuff is in storage until Oct. '06 (and will be extended until April '07), we decided to spend the winter working in Tucson. I started looking around for drug rehabs in the Tucson area, completely forgetting about one of the most famous in the country, Sierra-Tucson until it popped up on a Google search (duh!).

I went to their website and saw that they are hiring for an MAS counselor, PRN. MAS is the medical service side of intake, commonly referred to detox. PRN is a medical term that spells something in Latin that means, "as needed". Basically I'd be doing initial session paperwork on new clients on an "as needed" basis. That can mean when they get a lot more intakes than their regular counselors can handle, if someone calls in sick, or someone is on vacation. They are also expanding by 44 beds this winter, so they'll need help there as well. In addition, they want to use me to fill in with their case management (my old job!) department. So, after several phone interviews, I was basically hired, pending completion of a drug test and background check when I get there in October. The pay is even better than I expected.

Now the tricky thing is to find a place to stay for the winter. The location of Sierra-Tucson makes it challenging. They're technically located in the town of Catalina, about 10 miles north of Tucson. Most RV parks are on the south end of Tucson, including our favorite, Voyager. We'd hoped to winter in Voyager, but it's almost 50 miles from ST, so not really a possibility. The next closest place we've found is in Marana, which would put me 24 miles away. The woman I interviewed with, Kristine, suggested I type something up that she can post on the employee message board, because several homes around the Tucson area have full-hookups installed on the property. That may be something to consider. The good thing is that the park we're considering has monthly rates, so it'd only cost us $350/month + electricity!

-Laura

PS. (Rich, here!) I've got a couple of opportunities I'm pursuing in Tucson as well. One qualification we had for a longer term plan, one us had to have something nailed down. Laura scored first! I should have no trouble getting a short term gig with a food broker down there and hopefully can score something that would provide use of a car! As Laura said, we liked Tucson, a lot, but I'm not sure either of us could live their year round.

After spending the winter in Tucson, socking away as much money as possible, we'll begin the journey back up to SLC in April. We'll start looking for housing and permanent jobs in SLC prior to our arrival, again, the goal is for one of us to have something nailed down by the time we get into town. Since spring will have sprung by the time we get there, we will be able to live in the coach, until we decide on a house. Based on the past 2 weeks here, we have a pretty good idea of the neighborhoods that will suit us. Once we find a place, we'll sell the coach, move into a home and begin life 2.0!

-Laura