As part of their plan for early retirement, the Berrys sold their house 10 years prior to their target date and moved into a manufactured home, cutting their house payment by two-thirds. Two years before leaving their jobs, Vicki in research and development at the healthcare company and James in advertising sales for Gannett Publishing, they moved into their fifth-wheel.
On the day in 2004 when Vicki Berry retired from Cardinal Health, Inc. in El Paso, Texas, James picked her up, pulling their fifth-wheel behind their truck. They drove away on their full-time adventure and never looked back!
“The earnings and amenities are a bonus that defrays our living expenses,” Richard says. “But meeting folks, keeping in touch via e-mail, and then meeting again as we travel to another place is the most fulfilling part.”
Reta Averill’s RVing parents gave her and her husband, Richard, the idea for taking to America’s roads in retirement. Their plan for Workamping came from their goal to get to know the people and customs of particular areas of the United States.
They found their 1989 Wanderlodge Bluebird, and bought it two years prior to the sale of their Minnesota home and their ultimate retirement. “Basically, we have a house that drives down the road,” Patti says. “We had to do maintenance on our house built in 1929, and we have to maintain our coach.” Seven feline traveling companions are their first priority. “We didn’t want slide-outs because everytime we roll, we don’t want to take census to make sure one is not caught in a sliding room,” she continues.
Ken and Patti Marsh are planners. “For four years, we researched the RVing lifestyle,” Patti says. “Since we are drawn to old houses, we were drawn to a vintage coach.”
Although Mike had retired from the United States Postal Service as a rural mail carrier, and Jeanie retired in 2007 as office manager of an orthopedic surgery clinic, they had essentially been Iowa farmers for thirty-two years. “We know farming,” Joanie says, noting they had listed their expertise on their Awesome Applicant Resume at Workamper News.
Early one morning in March 2008, Mike and Joanie McMains received a call from a volunteer coordinator at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in San Antonio, New Mexico. “We need farmers,” Mary Lou Jorn said over the phone.
Following high school graduation, he swallowed his fear and hopped a Greyhound bus to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, carrying $500 borrowed from the Fort Lauderdale Ladies’ Aid Society in his pocket. “I enrolled at Bowman Technical School, one of only two schools for hand jewelry engraving in the United States, found a job at a gas station, and a place to live,” he recalls.“I worked nights and set a record by finishing the school’s eight-month self-advancement course in two and a half months. I had no money, so I had to get going!”
Growing up in the Everglades west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Bill Mains found his calling at age 16—and he’s never looked back. After apprenticing as a goldsmith and a watchmaker before the age of 18, he listened to people in the jewelry trade speak reverently about two hand engravers—Mr. Miller and Mr. Dongees. “That’s what I want to be,” he said.
The registered title WorkCamper with a “C” adds another dimension and identifies RVers who volunteer for charitable organizations. Under this WorkCamper umbrella, some organizations, such as Habitat, are humanitarian, while others support a Christian mission.
Traveling around the country and talking to RVers who are on the job, I frequently hear, “We’re not Workampers. We don’t subscribe.” Some will say: “We’re not Workamping; we’re volunteering.” The fact is that many RVers do not understand the definition of the registered name “Workamper,” which encompasses all individuals who live and travel full-time or part-time in an RV and work for wages or volunteer full-time or part-time.
No television, no cell phones, no radio, and no newspapers. At our campsite—the only campground in the park run by a concessioner—we were over 100 desolate miles from a shopping mall or medical services. We opted for full hookups—and a limited Internet link to the outside world. At our nation's most lightly visited national park, we sought Workampers who had discovered this remote 800,000 acres separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande River.
"Stop the world. I want to get off!” For those who have uttered those words, Big Bend National Park is the “getting off” place. On a January day, Lee and I rolled our motorhome wheels off the edge of the earth—at least, off the bottom of the United States. From Persimmon Gap Visitor Center, the entrance to Big Bend, we followed a newly surfaced two-lane road past Panther Junction to Rio Grande Village.
Ron’s Story: Ron, a consummate entertainer with a talent for country and gospel songs, knew he had a voice at a young age. “But I was so shy I would get someone else to read my book reports in school,” he says today.
Opportunities for Workampers are limited only by one’s imagination and initiative. Ron Shepard and Jerry and Sharon Mays, all relatively new to RVing, are proof. Ron, a single act, and Sharon and Jerry, a singing duo, have stepped into the RV world to pursue their dreams of entertaining and inspiring others with their music.
Gary Lewis followed a slightly different path for his start-up business, RV Basic Training. Yet, he maintains the same end goal as Dick Reed: To help others safely and comfortably navigate a large rig on the highway. He and his wife, Barbara, sold a business, purchased a Class A motorhome, and determined to spend retirement as nomads. However, after his first trip, Gary discovered that driving an RV is different from driving other vehicles. He enrolled in a bus driving school and obtained his CDL license and air brake certification.
Businesses on the road require a dream, particular skills, and the identification of a niche for a service or product. Imagination, creativity, and a heavy dose of persistence also help. Those characteristics fueled truck driving instructor Dick Reed when he started RV Driving School back in 1991. A seasoned RVer himself, he saw a need to teach other RVers how to safely drive their rigs. Dick opened his school and served thousands of satisfied customers from over 48 states before retiring and selling his business in 2007 to one of his trainers, Dennis Hill.
“Painting is my favorite thing to do,” Carol continues, dabbing her brush at saguaro cacti on the canvas mounted on her easel. “When I paint one of the mountains here in the monument, I know that mountain. I’ve been staring at it for a long time.”
“Welcome to my studio,” Volunteer Carol Miller says on the patio behind the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Visitor Center in the southern Arizona Sonoran Desert.
On the day in 2004 when Vicki Berry retired from Cardinal Health, Inc. in El Paso, Texas, James picked her up, pulling their fifth-wheel behind their truck. They drove away on their full-time adventure and never looked back!
Ken and Patti Marsh are planners. “For four years, we researched the RVing lifestyle,” Patti says. “Since we are drawn to old houses, we were drawn to a vintage coach.”
Early one morning in March 2008, Mike and Joanie McMains received a call from a volunteer coordinator at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in San Antonio, New Mexico. “We need farmers,” Mary Lou Jorn said over the phone.
Growing up in the Everglades west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Bill Mains found his calling at age 16—and he’s never looked back. After apprenticing as a goldsmith and a watchmaker before the age of 18, he listened to people in the jewelry trade speak reverently about two hand engravers—Mr. Miller and Mr. Dongees. “That’s what I want to be,” he said.
Opportunities for Workampers are limited only by one’s imagination and initiative. Ron Shepard and Jerry and Sharon Mays, all relatively new to RVing, are proof. Ron, a single act, and Sharon and Jerry, a singing duo, have stepped into the RV world to pursue their dreams of entertaining and inspiring others with their music.
Businesses on the road require a dream, particular skills, and the identification of a niche for a service or product. Imagination, creativity, and a heavy dose of persistence also help. Those characteristics fueled truck driving instructor Dick Reed when he started RV Driving School back in 1991. A seasoned RVer himself, he saw a need to teach other RVers how to safely drive their rigs. Dick opened his school and served thousands of satisfied customers from over 48 states before retiring and selling his business in 2007 to one of his trainers, Dennis Hill.
“Welcome to my studio,” Volunteer Carol Miller says on the patio behind the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Visitor Center in the southern Arizona Sonoran Desert.
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