• 1966
  My parents and I and a bunch of friends take a raft trip down the "River of No Return". We get a late start, run out of food, lose a boat, break most of our oars at least once. What more could a kid ask for?
• 1967
  Our first Grand trip! I help build my first "frame"-gluing a curved piece of metal on a raft tube, so we can bolt a block of wood to it for an oarlock stand. Run a new, 7 month old Crystal.
• 1970
  My guiding profession begins, raking in $10/day. We refine the art of creating wood frames for new boats, usually by light of Coleman lantern at Lees Ferry. Painting frames and removing splinters is a big part of our job.
• 1978
  A big year for advances in frame design. After working a season in Alaska, we are prompted to design a light breakdown frame from pipe and scaffolding fittings.
• 1981
  Go for broke. Buy a boat, take out the thwarts and spend the winter building the first PRO frame. I get some weird looks due to this radical departure from the norm. Meet Nancy on a Grand trip.
• 1983
  Nancy and I tie the knot. PRO becomes an official entity. Our first major purchase as a married couple is a tube bender, which eliminates the less than perfect corner fittings. We have frames on six continents.
• 1984
  We are now employers. Kevin and Doug weld and cut away in the basement. Calls start coming in about renting boats. Sounds pretty crazy so we decide to give it a try.
• 1985
  Rental clients make it clear there's a market for one stop shopping - boats, food, shuttles - so away we go. A Menu Plan program is developed, we rent vehicles for shuttles and joke about calling this new service a Painless Private.
• 1988
  The shop leaves our basement for the back room of a warehouse. D5 joins the crew and we spend a lot of time in the shop building gear for our rental business.
• 1990
  Now we're renting a warehouse of our own and Chris and Mike come aboard. We add some new products, a few more boats and get to build a lot of really weird equipment for the Grand Canyon EIS program.
• 1992
  Louise becomes our manager, allowing me to spend more time on the water. The Painless Primer goes into print and Nancy starts guiding in the Grand Canyon.
• 1997
  Our dreams of a new warehouse are becoming a reality and none too soon. PRO grows in leaps and bounds. With Beth's office expertise and Louise at the helm, our fearless crew provides folks with another great season of service.
• 1998
  This year is a major milestone for PRO. After many years dreaming of having a great place to work, our new warehouse has become a reality. We moved the first of March and settled right in. Life is good.
• 2000
  As the new millennium rolls in PRO fully embraces the computer age. A new reservation system is developed and put to use - The office staff gladly sends the old hard copy boat book to the recyclers. Teresa is a welcome addition to the crew.
• 2002
  Beth returns from a sabbatical to help Bruce hold on to the reins. We can now produce our own ice which has a far greater lifespan than normal block ice.  We had our biggest season ever--until 2003.
  
• 2005
  Each year seems to be the biggest year yet, with no end in sight. Staff come and go, and come back again. This year we finally have a snowpack to talk about, and the skiing is still fine on the mountain in April.
  
• 2006
  The Woody Fire burned right up to our front door. We switched to Cook Partner stoves, and started buying Icee Kool coolers. The permit system changed from the Waiting List to a Lottery.