From the time Rick was just a little guy (oh yeah at one time he was little) his parents took him on many vacations where he was always fascinated by the tour guides at the various places they visited. Whether it was the Gettysburg Battlefield, The Mayflower at Plymouth Rock or Howe Caverns in New York, Rick loved to hear the many interesting facts and stories that the guides would weave throughout the tour.

Even though starting a travel business was probably the farthest thing from his mind, destiny intervened one year when the sixth grade at Blain Elementary where Rick taught was taking their annual class trip to Washington DC. Rick's good friend Gary Eby, owner of Just For Fun Travel had always gotten the motorcoaches and the guides for each year’s trip; but the trip in 1989 proved to be a bit different. Gary called Rick and said that because of the busy Memorial Day weekend he had been able to get guides but he promised that there would be two motorcoach drivers on the trip who "knew Washington like the back of their hand"

On the day of the trip one of those drivers just happened to be the one and only world famous Mr. Perry County himself, Gary Eby who upon arriving at Washington donned a headset/microphone and proceeded to drive as well as escort/guide the days tour! Needless-to-say Rick was fascinated and on the way home at a supper stop he asked Gary if he and his wife Polly ever needed a hand with the business. Gary told him it was a small “mom and pop” kind of business but if he ever needed help he would call.

A year later Hope and Rick went to see the New Bloomfield LCT production “Harvey” and who was sitting in front of them but Gary and Polly (Ah the fickle finger of fate!) Gary turned around before the show and said “I just said to Polly the other day, I ought to call Rick and see if he wants to help me out with some tours this summer!” Well at intermission plans were hatched and as soon as the school year was over, Rick was at Just For Fun Travel.
According to Rick, Gary got him into the travel business right away doing short one day tours. After several weeks in the office one day Gary said “Rick, I have a one week trip to Cape Cod I want you to escort”. Even though Rick felt he was still a fledgling at the travel business, Gary assured him it would be a great trip because once we got to Cape Cod we had a step-on guide all week and all Rick had to do was use his “gift of gab” to get them up there and back home.

Coincidentally, it was this trip where Rick met Butch Bower, a driver for Wolf’s Bus Company and they formed an instant friendship. The week went well and Rick was now smitten with the travel bug. For eight years he continued to work for Gary on and off throughout the summer and sometimes winter months, until Gary made a decision to get out of the motorcoach business.

In 1999 however after being bugged by a lot of cast members from Lions Community Theatre to take groups to New York City for Broadway shows, Rick did a lot of soul searching with Hope, his wife (actually it took about five minutes!) and Stagestruck Tours was born! Our first year we did 21 one-day tours and one overnighter to New York City. To this day that overnighter, called “A Marvelously Monstrous Matinee Weekend” and featured two “monster” Broadway hits “Jekyll and Hyde” and “Phantom of the Opera” remains Rick’s favorite.

Each year fluctuates with the number of tours, the addition of new travelers and the new sights and shows. Through it all Hope has been the “straight-man” (woman) to Rick’s antics as well as handling a lot of the office work and mailings.