I have a fun interview for you today. I’ll be speaking with a woman who authored “The 50 States Bucket List,” a book which describes things to do in every state and offers space to journal details of the trip.

I interviewed Jessica Laughlin, the author of “The 50 States Bucket List” months ago. I appreciate her patience as we worked through a whole bunch of interviews with Workampers and employers.

Jessica’s book is a delightful look at the many activities to do and places to see in all 50 states. For RVers planning trips, her book would be a fun resource to use in making travel plans.

Writing the book was her way to combine a passion for travel, a love for writing and a talent for drawing into one big project.

The book features hand-drawn maps of every state that accentuates historical sites and fun things off the beaten path.

Jessica describes the book as her love letter to the open road. In writing it, she hopes to spark an interest in travel among other people and then fan those desires into real flame.

Jessica did a great job in researching so many details about the states, but also in capturing the flavor of each state through her meticulous drawings.

Each state is highlighted in a two- to three-page spread that provides background information on the states as well as suggestions on what to do and see when visiting.

Each state’s full-color, hand-drawn map gives people an idea of what takes place in various regions of the state or what it might be best known for in terms of history and culture.

What makes Jessica’s book so special is that she created space for readers to journal details of their visits. She prompts people to write about the strangest sites they saw in the state as well as the best food they enjoyed and where they found it.

Jessica said it’s also a great book for kids to journal their own experiences in the state while studying history and key facts as well.

Writing and drawing for books is just a hobby for Jessica, who works full-time as a realtor in the Las Vegas area. She has done some travel already, but RVing with her husband and dog remains on her bucket list of things to do.

People can connect with Jessica on Instagram or by visiting her website at www.jessicalaughlindesigns.com.

If you’re looking for a nice gift for someone who wants to travel, I encourage you to pick up a copy of "The 50 States Bucket List" on Amazon or at other bookstores.

Want to be featured in an upcoming episode of The Workamper Show? Schedule an interview with me at workampershow.com.

We’d love to hear about your Workamping experiences, how you got started RVing, and what you love and dislike about the RVing lifestyle. You can help others explore all the different ways to live this great lifestyle by sharing your story.

If you are an employer of Workampers, we invite you to be on the podcast too! Share all of the details of your Workamping jobs in a future episode. It only costs a little bit of your time.

Schedule an interview with me at workampershow.com. You’ll find the schedule buttons on the home page.

That’s all I have for today’s show. Next week, I will be speaking with a couple who just took over a campground run by their parents for 25 years in Maine. I’ll have more details on the next episode of The Workamper Show. Thank you for listening.

The post Jessica Laughlin talks about her book “The 50 States Bucket List” on Episode 303 appeared first on The Workamper Show Podcast.

Today I am speaking with a representative from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who describes a beautiful opportunity to volunteer for a few months at a wildlife refuge near the northern California coast.

Denise Seeger is the visitor services assistant for the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge near Eureka, CA, which is located about 100 miles south of the Oregon border.

Her agency is tasked with maintaining a diverse range of wildlife habitats, including a salt marsh, mud flats, sand dunes and even a forest dune ecosystem.

Denise is responsible for environmental education programs at the refuge. She also hires about 12 Workampers every year to serve as hosts in opening and closing the park every day as well as maintaining trails and public areas.

The refuge is open year-round, so Denise is looking for volunteers to make a three-month commitment in exchange for a full hookup RV site in a beautiful area near the coast.

The refuge sounds like a unique place to visit, let alone live for several months. The agency maintains two wildlife sites in the area. One is a pasture grassland near Humboldt Bay, and the other is a dune forest where people can hear the ocean as they walk among the trees.

Denise said the refuge is similar to visiting the Oregon dunes, but on a smaller scale.

Although Workampers don’t get paid, they do get a wonderful perk. After they put in 250 volunteer hours, they receive a free annual pass to get into any federal recreation area, be it a national park, national historic site or national forest.

Workampers are asked to put in 24 hours a week, so they qualify for the pass in about 10 weeks. The 24-hour commitment is also required to get a free RV site. So, a solo would do the 24 hours by themselves, or a couple can split the time.

Much of the work involves contact with the public, but it also involves habitat restoration and trail maintenance duties as well.

No special skills are needed to be a Workamper at the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge and any needed training is provided. All Denise really looks for in Workampers is the ability to be friendly and engaging with guests.

People interested in the job can email Denise at denise_seeger@fws.gov. She will send a two-page application to become a federal volunteer. Hiring decisions are made relatively quickly after a phone call with applicants.

There are a lot of natural recreation opportunities near the refuge. If you like birding, Denise said there are more than 250 different species that either live at the refuge or migrate through the area.

With a population of nearly 50,000 people, Eureka is the largest city along the coast between San Francisco and Portland, OR.

For more information about the refuge, people can visit www.fws.gov/refuge/humboldt-bay.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Workamper News. Wouldn’t it be nice if Workamping job listings for your ideal location just appeared in your email inbox? They can when you’re a Workamper News member.

Join Workamper News today to start using the best toolkit for finding your next Workamping gig.

When they turn on job alert emails, members can select to receive help-wanted ads for just one state or all the states they want to be in.

Each email contains the full ad text so there’s no need to have to click a link, go to a website and then hunt around for the ad to see if the job even interests you.

The job finding process is easier with Workamper News. Join today at www.workamper.com.

That’s all I have for today’s show. Next week, I will be speaking with an author who published a book about all 50 states. It’s a good resource for travelers to familiarize themselves with the states and the major activities to check out when visiting.

I’ll have that interview on the next episode of The Workamper Show. If you like these interviews, please consider leaving a review wherever you download the episodes. It’s hard to believe there are less than eight weeks remaining in 2024. Thanks for listening.

The post Denise Seeger talks about volunteering along the California coast in Episode 302 appeared first on The Workamper Show Podcast.

Today I will be interviewing a couple who has been RVing in a recently-renovated school bus. They have enjoyed some interesting experiences and discovered a way to earn a few extra dollars by finding jobs in the local community in addition to their Workamping jobs.

Allen and Mandy Hallengren were in Leavenworth, Wash., working at a KOA when I interviewed them several months ago. While Allen was involved in maintenance duties, Mandy would help plan and lead activities for kids and adults.

The couple bought a school bus and spent $15,000 renovating it because they liked some of the safety features on the vehicle. By gutting the seats, they could completely design it to fit their needs. For example, they created a bigger-than-average kitchen and set up solar to have the option for off-grid camping.

Allen worked in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and Mandy calls herself a “Jill of all trades,” but she really enjoys restaurant work.

In fact, she will work for local restaurants while Alan takes care of Workamping duties. It’s the best of both worlds as they get a free RV site, and Mandy makes pretty good money as a waitress at a local restaurant.

Yet, she really enjoys working with people on special activities, which makes their RVing experience even more fun for the couple.

They love RVing for the ability to go to climates that better suit them instead of the snow and cold of Michigan, which Allen had to endure for 47 years.

Allen and Mandy found a unique way to put Workamping to their advantage. Allen’s skills in construction, electricity and engineering can often be put to use at campgrounds. He’s retired so he has a military pension to augment his income.

Mandy, on the other hand, is still working. So she finds jobs at local restaurants where she can often make better income through tips than she could at a paid Workamping job. When she’s not working at a restaurant, she’s helping to organize special activities at the campground.

Because they live in 275 square feet of space inside the converted school bus, Allen and Mandy had to develop some good communication skills to ensure they could work and live together in that tightly-confined space.

Mandy said she’s a verbose storyteller, and she’s often describing their adventures on their Facebook page called Beulah Beluga Adventures. You can connect with them there. They also have a YouTube channel.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the featured employers at Workamper.com These Workamper employers have taken the extra step to share some photos and detailed information about their Workamper programs with you.

Opportunities exist for solos, couples and families, whether they are full-time, part-time, seasonal or even long-term jobs. Some are income opportunities and others involve volunteering at locations throughout the United States. Go to www.workamper.com/fe to meet the featured employers today.

If you are an employer seeking to hire Workampers, then you can learn how to benefit from year-round recruiting by becoming a featured employer. Visit www.workamper.com/fedetails.

That’s all for this week’s show. Next week I will be talking with someone from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about what sounds like an amazing opportunity to spend some time volunteering at a wildlife refuge along the coast of Oregon. I’ll have more details on the next episode of The Workamper Show. Thanks for listening!

The post Allen and Mandy Hallengren describe their Workamping adventures in Episode 301 appeared first on The Workamper Show Podcast.

Today is a special day for The Workamper Show. We are releasing our 300th episode. It’s quite a milestone for our five-year-old podcast. We will celebrate the occasion with a special show about finding the ideal Workamping job.

Today’s episode is actually hosted by Jody Anderson Duquette and her husband, Luke. They became the owners of Workamper News a few years ago when Jody’s parents retired after running the company for about 15 years.

The entire focus of the Workamper News operation centers on helping RVers to find great jobs, as well as helping employers to connect with people looking for those jobs.

So, Jody and Luke are going to have a discussion to offer tips for finding the ideal Workamping job. They have identified 11 steps people can take to follow a path from looking for work to actually landing a job.

The 11 steps they identified to find and secure a great job will be a tremendous help for anyone who wants to travel and enjoy a more adventurous life.

The Workamper News organization has truly changed the scope of RVing for the better. When I first started working in the RV industry in January 2000, the average age of first RV ownership was 65. That’s because people usually retired and then went RVing.

Today, the average age when people buy their first RV is 45. That’s because the former Workamper News magazine, and now the Workamper.com website, opened the door for people to afford to travel while they were still young enough to enjoy it.

There are literally thousands of jobs available every year to people of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels. Most are paid positions, but some are volunteer opportunities.

Two features of Workamper membership that literally pays for themselves are the Awesome Applicants Resume Builder and the corresponding Awesome Applicant Resume Database.

The resume builder guides people through a step-by-step process to create effective resumes that provide exactly the type of information employers are looking for and in places where they expect to find it.

The resume database allows employers to scan all the resumes submitted by Workampers to search for people with specific skills and interests. It has become such an effective recruitment tool that some employers never advertise their jobs anywhere.

They simply scan the database and extend invitations directly to Workampers encouraging them to apply. As a result, Workampers who don’t have their resumes in the database miss out of some great opportunities.

If you are not a Workamper member, I encourage you to check out the membership options by visiting www.workamper.com and clicking on Join in the upper right corner. It will cost you nothing to try out all the features and benefits for a full 30 days.

Do you have more questions than answers when it comes to the Workamping and RVing lifestyle? If so, listen to the free Workamping Q&A videos to get your questions answered.

Each video answers questions submitted by folks, just like you, who are learning about the RV lifestyle, just getting started, or have been Workamping for a while.

The videos cover topics like what kind of Workamping jobs are out there, what do these jobs pay, tips for writing your Workamper resume, questions to ask an employer, what type of RV is best, how to get your mail as an RVer, and much more!

Listen to detailed answers now by watching the videos at workamper.com/answers. In the description of each video, you’ll find a list topics that were discussed so you can quickly jump to the answers you want to hear.

That’s all we have for today’s special 300th episode of The Workamper Show. I’ll be back next week with an interview of a couple who are relatively new to the RVing and Workamping lifestyle. I’ll have details on the next episode of The Workamper Show.

If you like this podcast, please consider leaving a review wherever you download the episodes. Thank you for faithfully listening to this show for more than five years!

The post The steps to finding your ideal Workamping jobs in Episode 300 appeared first on The Workamper Show Podcast.

Today I am interviewing a ranger with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about an exciting opportunity for Workampers on Long Island in New York.

Ann Marie Chapman works for the National Wildlife Refuge System, which has 10 units scattered across Long Island, five of which are open to the public. Together, the properties encompass 6,800 acres.

The beautiful thing about Long Island is that it’s 45 miles from the largest city in America, New York City, yet it’s filled with beautiful scenery and surrounded by water.

Ann is looking for several volunteers to serve a minimum of three months preserving the habitats of endangered wildlife and protecting some endangered plants. In fact, Workampers take part in an annual plant count to help rangers keep abreast of the things growing on Long Island.

The work takes place at the Elizabeth Morton Refuge, which is located in the prestigious Hamptons area, as well as at the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge, located on the wild and scenic Carmans River.

Ann is looking for Workampers to help at the refuge from April through October and even into November, if the weather is still nice.

If she could find one Workamping couple or solo to help during the whole season, Ann would be delighted. However, If volunteers would like to stay just three months, she’s happy to split the commitment.

Couples are expected to put in about 24 hours per week, per person. Solos are expected to work about 32 hours. The refuge does not allow outdoor pets, but animals like cats, which generally stay inside the RV, are welcome.

The volunteers are involved with maintaining trails, trimming grass, cleaning bathrooms and picking up trash. However, they can also be involved in leading educational programs. That makes this job ideal for a retired teacher.

Workampers receive a free full-hookup RV site and have access to a storage shed as well as a washer and dryer.

The primary trait Ann is looking for in Workampers is the ability to provide great customer service. The agency offers training on how to use all-terrain vehicles and even motorboats.

A former Workamper created a handbook for other Workampers to serve as a guide of all the activities they can do during their off time. It’s easy to go horseback riding, kayaking and camping. People can also hop a train to get to New York City, Boston or even Washington, D.C.

For more information, visit www.volunteer.gov and search for opportunities in New York, but enter Long Island as the keyword. People can submit applications right from that site.

This is a great opportunity for people to combine big city life with wide open natural resources.

Today’s episode was sponsored by Workamper News. Creating a resume can be a cumbersome, intimidating task - especially if you haven’t written a resume in many years.

The unique Workamper News Resume Builder takes you through a step-by-step process to build a complete resume with all the information Workamper employers are looking for when reviewing applications.

Once complete, your resume can be emailed to anyone, and the software tracks when and who you have sent it to. You can print out the resume or make it into a PDF which can then be uploaded or emailed.

Some employers NEVER ADVERTISE – not via Workamper.com or anywhere else. They find all of their applicants just by searching the Workamper News resume database. If you don’t have a resume in the Workamper.com database, you will be missing out on some opportunities.

To open the door to more Workamping jobs, become a Workamper member today by visiting www.workamper.com.

That’s all I have for this week’s show. Next time, I will be talking with an employer who has an opportunity for people to work at a campground in West Virginia. The firm is also seeking a manager. I’ll have more details on the next episode of The Workamper Show. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the spectacular fall colors and cooler weather.

The post Ann Marie Chapman describes a volunteer opportunity on Long Island in Episode 298 appeared first on The Workamper Show Podcast.