Sherwin Creek Campground, near Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra, is the spring and summer workplace where Linda May camp-hosted while living in her motorhome. The campground’s quiet arrival season and sudden heavy snow place the practical realities of mobile life beside Linda’s enduring sobriety and her search for land, making the location a revealing pause in an itinerant working life rather than a settled home.

Setting and Arrival

Linda May’s camp-hosting job was due to begin in spring. After leaving Ehrenberg, she drove north toward Mammoth Lakes, stopping overnight at a Texaco in Tonopah, Nevada. She reached Sherwin Creek Campground in mid-April, when it was quiet: the only visitors noted were deer and a truck carrying sled dogs to a film shoot.

Within a week, wintry weather arrived. Footlong icicles hung from the cab of Linda’s motorhome, and heavy snow accumulated on its roof—more than she had previously experienced in an RV. Inside, however, she stayed warm and dry. A newly repaired roof held against the weather, and Coco appeared healthy. Linda took the circumstances as evidence that life was good, even in an isolated, snowbound work setting.

Work and Everyday Conditions

The campground gave Linda a place to earn income while continuing to live on the road. By late May, she told the author that the campground was full and that she was doing well. Her work there was seasonal: she expected to remain through early fall, then return to Amazon CamperForce for another job.

That employment did not remove financial pressure. While at Sherwin Creek, Linda’s cash was tight enough that she stretched what remained in her food supply, turning stale tortillas into chilaquiles and old bread into a French toast casserole. Her refrigerator dwindled to four eggs, milk, and condiments before a paycheck let her restock it. The contrast between a full campground and Linda’s carefully managed provisions makes clear that seasonal work offered income without guaranteeing ease.

Sobriety and Plans Beyond the Campground

On April 28, Linda marked twenty-four years sober. She reflected that her oldest grandchild, then twenty-one, had known her as a sober and loving grandmother. Family and friends responded with affection, including her daughter Audra, who recognized the significance of Linda’s stand against an addiction that had affected their family across generations. The milestone fell during a period of harsh weather and limited money, but Linda described herself as grateful and happy.

The campground was also a base from which Linda continued to plan for a more durable future. Her search for land had encountered a setback, so she shifted her attention toward the area around Julian, California, which she considered beautiful and close to water. She hoped that the money from camp-hosting and her subsequent Amazon CamperForce work would help move the project forward. A wrist injury from her previous Amazon stint had not healed, but the next job was still months away, and she remained optimistic.

Narrative Significance

Sherwin Creek is one stop in a recurring cycle of seasonal labor, travel, and renewed planning. Before Linda left Ehrenberg for the campground, she and LaVonne Ellis had decided to try working together; LaVonne planned to seek work through California Land Management, on Linda’s advice. Linda’s own next move—from camp-hosting toward another warehouse season—shows how employment, housing, and mobility remained intertwined even when she had a temporary workplace.

The campground also belongs to the wider reporting journey that led the author to live in a van and spend extended periods among workampers. Linda’s experience there complicates an easy picture of life on the road as either carefree adventure or unrelieved hardship: snow, tight food supplies, and an unhealed injury coexist with paid work, family connection, gratitude, and plans for land. Sherwin Creek’s quiet seasonal setting holds that mixture in view.