The Workamper Show Podcast

Desiree Shultz, or Ranger Dez as she prefers, is the manager of Yogi at Shangri-La, a family-friendly campground in Milton, Pa. The 191-site park boasts of a variety of amenities including a heated pool, splash pad, catch-and-release fishing, a recreation pavilion, bike rentals, a large group campfire and a busy retail store as well as a snack bar. Ranger Dez is looking for workampers yet this summer as well as people for the 2021 season, and she’s rolling out the welcome mat with some pretty nice perks.

Dr. Tom Davis is the founder of TED Consulting, a company that helps other medical service providers transition into a direct pay system. He also helped develop WoW Health Solutions, a company based in Detroit that is not an insurance company, but rather a marketplace that allows healthcare providers to list their services with transparent pricing. What makes Dr. Davis unique is that he and his wife are RVers, too. They live in a 28-foot motorhome, but maintain a sticks-and-bricks home as well.

Sherry Davis is the director of the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, which is located just outside of Bangor, Maine. She is looking for volunteer workampers to live onsite and open the various buildings and staff the gift shop when the museum is open. They also help keep the grounds clean and in good shape. You’d basically be boondocking with some access to electricity, water and the ability to dump tanks. However, wi-fi service is available at the gift shop.

Darin Uselman is the vice president of franchise services for Kampgrounds of America. He oversees the workamping program for KOA, which hires more than 1,000 workampers each year to help staff 525 campgrounds throughout North America. Some of the jobs are seasonal in nature while others are short-term for a few months and others can be year-round. There are full- or part-time jobs available. All of the jobs are paid positions.

Alyssa Kaste is with Express Employment Professionals, and she hires hundreds of workampers each year to help with the sugar beet harvest in Montana, Michigan and Minnesota. Workampers are not working in the fields, but at processing centers where harvested beets are delivered. People work as samplers who collect and stack bags of sugar beets separated by machines. The firm also hires skilled workmen to run the piler equipment as well as skid-steer loaders.

Mike and Melissa Cummings own Camp Riverview along the Frio River, which is a very popular destination for river tubing excursions. They are joined by Brian and Tina Bourgeois, who manage the camp. The campground needs workampers this summer to help process reservations, check guests in and out, operate the camp store, and perform outside work as well.  They will also assist guests with arts and crafts, hay rides and laser tag in addition to the water activities. Bilingual workampers are especially welcome.

Laura Diehl is the author of When Tragedy Strikes, a book that relays her own painful experience of not only raising a handicapped child, but losing that child when she died at 29 years of age. By traveling the nation speaking at churches and conducting seminars, they connect with hundreds of people who have lost children. Laura describes the mission of GPS Hope and explains how parents and grandparents can cope with the loss of a child. More importantly, she offers practical advice for the rest of us regarding how we can support those people.

Bob Zagami is a lifelong resident of New England. He has been a journalist covering the RV industry for decades. He is also the executive director of the New England RV Dealers Association and host of a weekly podcast called RVing in New England. Bob describes a number of fun and interesting things people can do and see in the New England area, both indoors and outside.

Ben Souchek founded RV Real Estate Income, a company that developed virtual income opportunities in the real estate market in the Lincoln and Omaha, Neb., areas. However, the work can be performed online from anywhere. The contractors do not need to be in Nebraska.

Jim and Naomi Coleman are from Idaho and have been RVing pretty much their entire married life, but doing so full time for the past five years. Friends introduced them to workamping, and the more they learned about it, they desired the same type of lifestyle. They applied for a job, were hired on the spot and wound up staying for four months.