The Workamper Show Podcast

Jared Creach and his family have been RVing since 2014. Today, he supports his family by serving as a mobile RV technician. There is often plenty of work to keep him busy by just fixing RVs at the campgrounds they visit. In fact, he has received calls for service within 20 minutes of his arrival. Once he arrives at a campground, Jared drops off a stack of business cards with the office staff and places a few in the mail area as well. Generally, just word-of-mouth that a mobile service technician will be staying at the campground for a while is enough for other guests to anticipate Jared’s arrival.

William Floyd works for the Glacier Park Collection, which is an adventure travel company providing guest services to people visiting the national park. The company provides lodging as well as retail and food services plus other activities for guests to enjoy the most from their visit to Glacier National Park.

For 22 years, Katherine Hampton has been managing the volunteer program at 30 Idaho State Parks. That may be a small number compared those in other state parks in the Pacific Northwest, but Kathryn plans to bring on between 300 and 400 volunteers to serve as campground hosts as well as working in volunteer or seasonal jobs. There are hundreds of volunteers needed for 2022 and Kathryn would enjoy speaking with you about where you would best fit in to the Idaho State Parks system.

Today’s episode features an interview with a man who operates a marketing business to help local companies do a better job in building awareness of their products and services. Brian Ostrovsky and his family started RVing about a year and a half ago. Originally from Sacramento, Calif., he and his wife raise five children ranging in ages from 4 to …

Steven flies all over the country and to Mexico or Central America upon occasion. When his time is up, he flies back to wherever his family is parked at the moment. His wife is involved in roadschooling their three kids – ages 10, 8 and 6 – as well as planning all the family excursions when they arrive at a new destination. The children have acquired 92 Junior Ranger badges from the parks they have visited in the past year alone.

Workamping would fulfill Larry Hansen’s desire to travel all over the country. But, because he was only 46 years old, couldn’t touch his retirement account or collect Social Security, Larry still needed to support himself for a many more years. But, he knew most people spend 60% of their income on housing and related costs, like electricity, water, property taxes, etc. As a single person, Larry knew he didn’t need much space in which to live, so an RV was a perfect fit. Because Workamping jobs typically offer free or deeply-discounted full-hookup sites, any money he made could be used to pay for food and experiences.

Dick and Melissa Karnes are originally from Oregon, but they hit the road full-time in June 2018 with their 12-year-old daughter, Madison, as well as two cats and three dogs. Since then, the family has been able to travel anywhere they want to go at any time because of a unique Workamping situation. Melissa is a mortgage underwriter for a Texas lender and Dick works as a certified RV technician fixing rigs in campgrounds they’re staying in.

Rocky Mountain Recreation needs people to work in national forest campgrounds to serve as camp hosts, provide maintenance or landscaping services, and even serve in management positions. Some of the Workampers also serve as attendants in day-use areas who collect money and answer questions from visitors. There are no special qualifications to work for Rocky Mountain Recreation. Workampers simply need to like working with people,be able to provide good customer service and enjoy being outdoors.

Delaware North hires Workampers to serve as cashiers, stockers, food service associates, cooks, custodians, supervisors and managers. All the jobs are paid positions with wages ranging between $15 and $19 per hour. General Manager Erin Benike explains that next year the company will experiment with a schedule where people work four days in a row with three days off each week. That will give Workampers plenty of time to explore the many features of Yellowstone.

The Everglades encompasses 1.5 million acres of wilderness at the southern tip of Florida. People from around the world visit the park to enjoy hiking, canoeing, biking, kayaking, camping and fishing among the diverse wildlife. Flamingo Adventures needs a bunch of Workampers to staff many positions including camp hosts, cashiers, waitstaff, cooks, housekeepers and front desk attendants.

Dawn and Jorge Hernandez spent three years working in food service at Dollywood amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. They also worked as camp hosts at a campground while Jorge worked in the front office and Dawn performed maintenance around the park. The job they keep returning to every year involves working at Adventureland amusement park in Des Moines, Iowa, where Dawn oversees 15 retail stores throughout the park and Jorge works at the park’s 320-site campground assigning guests to their sites and helping them feel welcome. They like working at amusement parks for the entertainment options that come with the jobs.

Dale and Margie Parker completed their first RV trip in a pop-up camper when they traveled 6,000 miles along the west coast. They have held a number of jobs over the years, including working at Dollywood amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., doing retail work at Yellowstone National Park, serving as camp hosts at a campground in South Dakota and they even spent some time in Alaska. Dale really likes jobs serving as a camp host and Margie enjoyed working food service jobs at Dollywood and retail positions at West Yellowstone. They both like the ability to meet people from around the world traveling to popular tourist destinations in America.