Diana Allen, MiMi, Ray Allen, Tina
It was in the fall of ’96 that Ray took an early retirement from Sears. I was still in the general insurance field living in Kelowna, BC. Retirement? The word doesn’t invoke the most positive of connotations when the last thing we wanted to do was stop being productive. So what do you do when society decides you’ve outlived your usefulness? Travel, of course! We both decided, standing still wasn’t for us. We traveled for a year and loved it but travel does put a strain on a retirement budget, so when we found a way to travel and create an income stream by producing site maps at beautiful RV park locations, we jumped at the chance.
We originally trained with Guest Services Guides for RV parks and started doing these guides as an independent contractor for a company out of Port Angeles, WA. We loved the business and the lifestyle. After a year we decided to sell our home and make a permanent commitment to our invigorating nomad lifestyle.
We began traveling and working all over the beautiful US, learning and refining our craft. After 5 years we decided to create a top-of-the-line site map/guest services guide for the Canadian parks. As a result, Readi Guide Services was formed in May of 2003. We decided RV parks in BC and Alberta suited us best since the locations would allow us to visit family and long time friends.
Putting the business together was a bit daunting at first, but we were fortunate enough to find a good designer and a competitive printing company as well.
We love going south in the winter, coming back to the Vancouver area and the Island in the spring, on to Winfield in BC and by then the frost has left the Calgary and Edmonton area where family awaits our return.