Erick Roder Is Building Fargo Businesses Around Adventure and Joy
Rodemerica was born from a blizzard-day dream. Bounce House Party grew out of hard lessons about margins, logistics, and what families need. Together, they show how Fargo founder Erick Roder is learning to balance passion with practicality.
By Erick Roder’s own telling, the strangest thing about his business life is also the simplest:
“My garage for my van is more profitable than my van.”
Rodemerica—his camper van business—is his passion. The vision. The thing he built because he had to.
Bounce House Party—the indoor birthday venue on Page Drive—is the one that works on paper. The one that makes sense. The one that, so far, has produced real, consistent profit.
One is built around freedom. The other is built around efficiency.
Together, they tell a much more honest story about entrepreneurship than most founders are willing to admit.
Built on Escape
At first glance, the two businesses don’t seem related.
Rodemerica is about the open road. It’s a fully equipped camper van with beds, Wi-Fi, workspace, and just enough structure to make remote work possible from anywhere. It’s designed for people who want to see Zion, Sedona, or the Tetons without burning all their PTO.
Bounce House Party is the opposite. It’s a fixed, controlled environment designed for kids’ birthdays—private, clean, simple, and predictable.
But look closer, and the connection becomes clear.
Both are selling escape.
One takes you out of Fargo
The other gives parents a break from chaos.
The Dream
Rodemerica came first
Like a lot of good North Dakota ideas, it started in the middle of winter, watching snow pile up and wondering why work had to be tied to one place. The concept was simple. If people can work remotely, why not build something that lets them do it somewhere better?
Somewhere warmer. More interesting. More alive. Roder didn’t just think about it he had it built by the team at Vanna Vans in town.
And then he lived it.
He’s taken the van to Medora,
Yellowstone, Zion, Sedona, the Grand Tetons, and beyond. One trip in particular, taken with his cousin after their grandmother passed, still sticks with him.
