Workampers Rick & Kim

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About Us

Rick & Kim MartinWe 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 50 years of age and I am 51, 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.

More recently we sold our remaining businesses, a fishing guide service and Web site design service, in November 2008. So we are now totally free to travel and volunteer where ever the wind blows us.

Kim and I have been together for over 35 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 dearly.  We are not materialists and don't need a lot to enjoy life. 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.

Resumès available by request     Letters of Recommendation
 

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Our Rig

Currently we own a 30 foot 2000 NU-WA Hitchhiker II with a super slide. This unit is in like new condition and is very well maintained and cared for. Our truck is a 2006 Dodge one-ton with a 6 speed manual, 5.9 Cummins Turbo Deisel and performance PRXB Exhaust brake (see photos below).

 

We will be upgrading to a 35-27 foot triple slide unit in the near future.

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Our first rig (below) was a fully customized well maintained F250 Ford Ranger 4x4 Pickup that I purchased new in December 1979. I owned this rig for over 30 years (1980-2008). We took a lot of family trips to some fun locations in this outfit and really loved it. We also recived a lot of complements on this unit while full-timing (2005-2008).

 

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.

This truck had a 4 speed manual transmission and I 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, heated westcoast mirrors, 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), onboard battery maintainer/charger, 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.

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I have always undertaken all of the maintenance and upgrades to my vehicles myself, except for major work like engine rebuilds and transmission work which I have done by a professional. I am very mechanically inclined, having grown up in a machine/small engine shop. My father is a retired diesel mechanic.

Our camper was a custom deluxe, compleatly remodled, 1927 fully self contained 11½ foot EL Dorado. I 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 4,500 pounds empty and is very comfortable and well appointed. View interior photos. I painted it to match the truck which makes for 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.
 

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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

 

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This site was last updated 07/25/10


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