Workampers Rick & Kim

Home
Current Logs
Stories/Moments
Truck Photos

 

About Us

We are two unique individuals working together toward a common goal harmoniously, creatively and joyfully. We are concerned and conscientious about our own health, the health of our planet, and value family, life, happiness and relationships.

Kim and I have always longed for the day we could head out in search of adventure and bid farewell to our foundation based fixed existence, noisy neighbors, city traffic, smog and the continuous wale of police and emergency sirens. In February 2006 our dreams of jumping into our RV and never looking back became a reality. And so we began our venture into the exciting lifestyle of fulltime RVing.

Kim is 48 years of age and I am 49, we are both healthy, innovative, business minded individuals with strong morals. We believe in the old adage that if a job is worth doing its worth doing right. In September of 2005 we sold our businesses in which we ran and published a popular northwest newspaper The Local Fisherman News. View past issue of our newspaper.

We developed the publication from scratch in May of 1998, and in the eight years that followed it grew rather quickly into a must have for Northwest anglers. In fact it became so large and demanding that we found ourselves lacking the resources needed to manage and grow it to its full potential. That's when we decided to sell out and begin our dream of traveling the US by RV. We still run and maintain A & B Pro Guides an internet based fishing guide referral service. We also design and maintain numerous Web sites for various types of businesses.

Kim and I have been together for over 33 years and married for 28 years. We have two wonderful children, both girls, who are now grown, married and have families of their own. We have also been blessed with five wonderful grandchildren, Joey, Troy,  Eliot, Zander and Jacob. We love them all to no end.  When it comes down to it -- all a person really has is their health and their family -- and those are the things we cherish most.

View our resumès - Kim / Rick     Letters of Recommendation
 


Our Rig

Currently we own a fully customized well maintained F250 Ford Ranger 4x4 Pickup. I purchased this truck new from the Marv Tonkin lot in NE Portland in December 1999.

This is an extremely well maintained, clean, sharp looking rig. The truck received a fresh coat of quality paint in 2005 and the camper was painted to match in 2000. There is no rust, dents or damage of any type. There are no oil leaks! We get a lot of complements on this unit!

I had the original gas engine, a 351M which I meticulously maintained, professionally rebuilt to above standard performance ratings in 2000, after racking up well over 250,000 miles of faithful service. On the dino machine the new engine dished out 180 horse power at the rear wheels at 4,000 rpm, and that's with a 354:1 rear end. It does a more than adequate job of hauling the load. Mileage is 7 to 8 MPG loaded or empty. Total weight with camper is a little over 4½ tons. Utility trailer is 2½ tons.

  Click image to show your support for the Ford 351M engine.

This truck has a 4 speed manual transmission and I have equipped it with Hewing sway bars front and rear, 3,000 pound over loads, additional leafs front and rear, Firestone Air Ride with in-cab controls, flexsteel bucket seats with center console, HD three core radiator, HD 3,000 pound polished aluminum wheels, 10 ply steel belted Good Year tires, two 6 volt deep cycle batteries (wired in series), diesel truck air horns and an onboard 2.4 cfm 12v air compressor with a 2½ gallon reserve tank. I also upgraded the headlights to extreme bright white H4 HID's. Next upgrade - a GPS unit.

[ Our Photo Gallery ]

I have always undertaken all of the maintenance and upgrades to the truck myself, except for the engine rebuild which I had done by a professional engine rebuilder. I am very mechanically inclined, having grown up in a machine/small engine shop. My father is a retired diesel mechanic who also ran a small engine repair business on the side for many years.

Our camper is a custom deluxe fully self contained 11½ foot EL Dorado. I have spent extensive hours customizing this unit inside and out, greatly enhancing its comfort and livability. It has been custom built for full-time living. It weighs 4,000 pounds and is very comfortable and well appointed. View interior photos. This unit has been retiled as a 2002. It was also painted it to match the truck which makes it a very sharp looking rig.

Our family has traveled to many destinations in this unit and experienced many memorable moments, none of which any of us will ever forget. To read about our trips and some of our most unusual and exciting moments visit our Stories and Special Moments page. To read about what we are currently doing visit our Current Log page.

Over night spot Grape Vine CA
 

 

87 Nissan PathfinderOur second vehicle is a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder. This vehicle is also very well maintained and is four wheel drive. We have chains for this vehicle and are experienced at driving in sever weather and heavy snow. This vehicle is equipped with all season tires, a 5,000 lb hitch, CB radio and GPS.

Upgrading. Kim and I are working hard so we can someday upgrade to a 30 to 35 foot triple slide 5th wheel. We enter the Visa Arts drawing each year, as well as a few others, in hopes of possibly wining a new truck and trailer.  View one of our favorite new trailers. We are also hoping to eventually upgrade to a 34 foot Alfa 5th wheel trailerlarger diesel powered truck, but may have to get by with our current truck for awhile.

Keep watch for photos of our new rig and wish us luck in the drawings!


 

Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy.  If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.

                                                                                                  -- Johnny Carson

 

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Our Schedule | Ricks Resume | Kims Resume | Letters of Rec. | Favorite Sites | RV Products

This site was last updated 05/24/08

 

Site prepared and maintained by Business Innovations
E-mail us with questions or comments about this web site.
All photos, copy, artwork and logos are the property of Business Innovations and are copyright protected
under the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act." Those who infringe on these rights will be prosecuted
to the full extent of the law. All copy rights reserved © 2005-2008 Business Innovations..