KOA means home to nomadic workers

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Neither falling temperatures, chilly winds nor dancing snowflakes put a stop to activity at the KOA campground north of Wellington. Open year-round, it accommodates snowbirds fleeing south and then traveling north again, in addition to a number of people who pay monthly rent to park their homes on wheels.

Campground co-owner Helmut Roy said one young man rented an RV spot for seven years--through his college days and first job in Fort Collins. Lot rent is $375 a month, making it more affordable than an apartment--after buying the RV, of course.

For some, pulling an RV into the Owl Canyon KOA also reduces commuting time to work. Many of Roy's recent "monthlies" have been working on a gas pipeline in the Carr area. They will move on as the pipeline heads toward Kansas.

RV life has become common for people who follow different jobs, Roy explained. They may stay a couple of years or a couple of months. In recent years, his campground guests have been employed at a variety of tasks - reconstruction work at the Horsetooth dams or construction jobs at Rawhide, Advanced Tank and the Anheuser-Busch brewery. "We get repeat customers," Roy added.

A KOA campground can offer many amenities for those pursuing a nomadic way of life--private shower facilities, a laundry, swimming pool, phone and cable hookups, a small store and a recreation room for games with neighbors. The KOA crew even hosted a wedding.

Roy and his wife, Anne, are business partners with Guenter and Theresa Kippschull. The foursome owns two of Colorado's 26 KOA campgrounds--one east of Interstate 25 at the Owl Canyon exit and one off Highway 287 at Poudre Canyon. The latter is open seasonally from May 1 to Oct. 15. Some of its monthly tenants relocate to Owl Canyon for the winter.

The Kippschulls purchased the Owl Canyon site, once an independent campground, in 1994 and converted it to a KOA. In 1999, Guenter Kippschull called his long-time friend in Illinois, Helmut Roy, and invited him to join the business. Roy, who owned an automotive repair shop, said he was tired of Illinois' dog-eat-dog competition and decided it would be a good change.

Roy noted that his ability to do much of the maintenance work has made the KOA franchise a good business decision. With the help of one of the campers and a set of instructions, for example, he built a camping kitchen this summer. The covered facility has sinks with hot and cold running water, grills and burners for use by those who are tent or cabin camping at the KOA.

Trials and errors

Despite a 10 percent growth in RV sales, Roy has noticed a downturn in tourism for three years. In 2002, Gov. Bill Owens' nationally televised statement that "all of Colorado is burning" turned travelers toward other states, he said. In 2003, reports of the high incidence of West Nile virus in Larimer County kept campers away, and this year, gas prices are keeping many people at home, he added.

There also have been moments to try a campground owner's soul. One RVer drove off without disconnecting his hookups. Another ran over a picnic table. A pair of campers left behind a stolen car; they had registered with their real names and were easily arrested, however. One summer, a neighbor's grass fire burned a vacationer's car, but winds turned the fire away before it spread to the rest of the campground.

Sometimes local livestock also think the KOA is a good place to stay. Roy arrived one morning to greet three jackasses at the office door. At least these were the four-legged variety, he joked.

There is an art to RV life, Roy noted, and he is willing to help local residents learn the ropes. He offers a 50 percent discount on rental fees to those who want to bring their RVs out to experience campground life before they take off on longer journeys.

Campers spend 95 million nights a year in commercial campgrounds, according to a recent study commissioned by Kampgrounds of America Inc., and two-thirds of those are RVers. Sometime this winter, when life slows down at Owl Canyon, the Kippschulls and Roys will join them, heading south in an RV and staying at KOA campgrounds.