Never more than a phone call away from three grown children and two grandkids settled near their home in Huntington Beach, California, the Kievas recap the hour-long conversation they've just had with a son sharing the news of his engagement. Calling themselves "extended RV travelers" because they return to their home every two or three months, Joe and Vicki have an enviable retirement lifestyle.

With Joe's background as a security consultant to financial institutions and Vicki's as an insurance consultant to school districts, Vicki jokingly describes themselves as former "commuting yuppies!"

"But we'd made a goal to retire on my 50th birthday and had worked our lives in that direction," Joe interjects. "When I hit the half-century mark, we looked at our budget and decided we'd have to settle for semi-retirement, finding some way to earn a few dollars."

With over 25 years of RVing and experiences in four different rigs, Joe and Vicki knew they wanted a lifestyle on the road. "And like most other people, we did some stumbling around trying to find our niche," Vicki says. "We knew we had some good ideas, and it took some time to figure out where we'd go with them. But we were determined to start making some of our own dreams come true."

In the beginning, they applied for wagonmaster positions at one of the RV caravan companies and, for a short period of time, escorted groups to Mexico and Alaska. "It was a lot of fun, but hard work," Joe states. "And too much like having a regular, full-time job!"

About that time, the Kievas talked to a lady about choosing an RV," Joe says. "After we told her what we knew about RVs, she encouraged us to put together a class and present it at the local community college.

"So as a lark, we did! And it met with such remarkable success, class members said they now wanted to know how to go about making an RV work," he continues. "That led to another 3-hour class. We ended up with six 3-hour programs we've taught at sixteen community colleges throughout Southern California."

At one of their classes, an RV show promoter attended. Afterward, he asked the Kievas if they'd be interested in presenting brief 45-minute seminars at one of his shows. "Like the fictional story character, Topsy, our Workamping career grew from there," Joe says. "Now, we schedule classes at colleges and seminars at RV shows six months to a year out. And we're in our sixth year of traveling around the country, having a good time!"

Their classes, "Choosing an RV," "RVing Made Easy," "Extended RV Travel," "Driving Alaska's Highways," and "RV Travel in Mexico," provide practical and useful information for both prospective RV travelers and those with experience. In their seminars, Vicki says she and Joe have very different approaches and speaking styles, noting she accents her words with waving hands. "People have told us the switch back and forth in 10-minute intervals makes the class more interesting," she explains. "And we're giving both a man's and a woman's perspective."

However, in the three-hour classes, they divide the presentation into areas of expertise. "When we're teaching about living on the road, I talk more about kitchens, packing cupboards, and telephone communication," she explains. "Joe talks about brakes, holding tanks and leveling a rig."

At an RV mall in Irvine, California, the Kievas recently shared the speaking platform with Escapees representatives, Joe and Kay Peterson, for different perspectives on "Gearing Up for Extended RV Travel." And Joe and Vicki added a new class about making money on the road.

"Ever since we've been RVing, we've been interested in how people generate incomes as they travel," Vicki states, "And we're amazed at how many are out there earning some money on the road. The types of jobs we read about in Workamper News fascinate us.

"When Joe and I started our classes, we consistently had people age 55 and over," she continues. "Now we've noticed -in the last couple of years, we're having more people in the 40 to 45-year-old bracket who have either been laid off or want to drop out for more freedom in their lifestyles. Many are going to quit their jobs and go out and do it!

"But the main thing we tell anybody getting ready to spend some time out on the road is to make sure they like each other," she adds. "For two people who don't get along, an extended RVing lifestyle could be miserable."

And summing up their best advice, the Kievas realize not everybody has a flair for organizing and teaching classes. "It takes a long time to organize our thoughts so we can use them to teach people," Vicki says, admitting giving presentations and training employees in their past careers provided a platform for them to build their teaching skills on. "The most important words we say to people establishing a mobile lifestyle is: 'Find a niche for your dream!'"