Day 2 in Brownsville.

I was mistaken last night when I thought that I was the only one down here.  I had looked in the truckstop and saw no tractors from our company sitting there waiting, usually a good sign that there is no one else here, waiting.

However.

I woke up this morning to the sound of a beeper coming from a truck backing in, I got up and looked, it was another driver.  I didn't see any other trailers besides the one I brought down here, so it dawned on me that perhaps a driver decided to take a night at a hotel.  Pretty common thing - the second night you go get yourself a hotel and get out of the truck.  

Sure enough, not only has he been down here over 2 days, another driver as well.  Although it happens, I don't expect them to bring up 3 trailers today.  Usually they bring 2 empties across. There are no empties sitting at their yard across the border, which makes me believe that there is only going to be 2 coming up from Alta Mira.  

Why go on about this? Because if I spend another night here, it's going to be at a hotel and this time, not that place up the street. After my last stay there, I decided I wasn't going to stay there anymore.  Besides the couple have loud sex, there is no carpet on the floor, not even throw rugs.  It's not really a nice place to stay and it only costs me another 20 -25 bucks to get a better place.  In fact, I was looking: Marriott Residence Inn is going $89 tonight.  That would be great.  

The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing. So, I'm trying not to get jittery and exasperated waiting on a decision from the guy that owns the land.  I'd like an answer, but I also think maybe the realtor isn't going to get over to that guy's house this weekend.  Apparently this person doesn't do stuff over the hone - they said he's elderly, perhaps he's incapacitated and can't go anywhere and simply doesn't like doing transactions over the phone like that. Old school thinking, nothing wrong with it, but it will delay this from happening.

I therefore have decided I best keep on looking at other properties.  In case this falls through, I need to have more lined up behind it.  There are a couple of them.  One is more than what I am financed for - but they have had it up for sale for a long time.  They might come down, especially considering it's rather overpriced property - but - it's in a great location.  That will probably be my next attempt if this one doesn't go through.  Whatever the case, I am convinced that any property needs to be near a major highway.  It doesn't necessarily need to be down the street from a grocery store, but the highway needs to be within a few miles at most of intended location. 

There are 2 major highways going through my town and several lessor highways.  Those are my target areas.  A location near both would be excellent - but improbable. There are 2 properties right there near the intersection of both. The land owners wants 400k for the 4 acre and 600k for the 6 acres.  In my view, that is an outrageous amount of money and I wouldn't pay that much even if I were a rich person.  It's a small town, now some mega-city with the potential for huge income.  And 4 or 6 acres would mean a sardine can type of setup.  

I actually would like to try such a venture, where the lots are small and you cram a bunch into a small location - it seems that the ones in good location around my area are mostly full.  But they're just glorified parking lots.  

Oh, and Texas. Their regulations require a "recreational area" "easily accessible" by all campsites and at least 2,500 square feet. In every property I have looked at, I have looked for a place to install a dog park, a camp fire ring and an area for peace and quiet.  Book reading swing, picnic tables, etc.  That really isn't a great expense besides clearing the land to make it.  So that was something I had already thought of before I even found this official state site.  

The thought of not having sewer at every site didn't cross my mind until the last few days when I started reading about sites that have sewer at some sites and not at others.  In fact, your campground can have all kinds of different sites set up for different types of campers.  The idea is to offer everything anyone would want - while cutting some of the costs.  

No one recommends installing the electrical system yourself unless you are an actual electrician. I kind of came to that conclusion already anyway.  Most of them tell you that installing water yourself is recommended and easy. Yes, I know that as well.  Dig trenches, install water line, walaah.  Easy peasy, save thousands of dollars.  

So I'm kind of undecided on the sewer - excepting that if every site doesn't have an individual sewer line? You have to have a restroom built.  It doesn't actually say what kind of restroom, for I have seen many restrooms trailers that are set up very elegantly inside and saves on the cost of installing a building.  Regardless, I will have to at the very least have a dump site.  RV's pull in, dump their blackwater into it and move onto their pad - or on their way out - or probably both.  

I've got to keep costs trimmed down at the beginning.  I just don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to throw at this project.  Most "experts" tell you to simply buy an already existing RV park.  Yeah? The cheapest one I've seen was half a million and the price tag goes way up from there.  

And frankly, if this project gets too expensive, I'll switch back to a small mobile home park, acquire old homes, renovate them and go that route.  Remember, this isn't something that has to happen tomorrow.  I'm in no huge rush.  Land acquisition is the major thing, after that, I can and probably will take my time in construction whatever I end up with.  It will highly likely take at least a year before it can be operational.  I don't have unlimited time - I'm still going to have to work - and I don't have unlimited money.  I might have around 70k available.

That means for starting out? It will have to be a small RV park - no more than 25 spaces to begin with.  That way I don't have to install multiple septic systems and the electricity installation expense will be kept down.  BUT, I do expect to install some boondocking sites - these are sites that have no electricity - or anything really - just a place to park.  Charge at most $15 per night, probably less.  Good use of the land. No expenses besides install the pad.  Have 5 of those and see how that goes.  

I have lots of plans, but in reality it will take years to build up what I want.  Money being the biggest factor, time being the other.  I think I can enlist James tho to do a lot of stuff, he is quite handy and if I pay him a decent hourly wage, I suspect I can get a lot of this stuff down while I'm on the road.  I just can't quit my job.  Not at the beginning.  Just not in the cards.  I wish it were, but I am being realistic about this, especially about the way Im going to go about this.

Most people are getting full time into the RV park business - they quit their careers.  Me? I'm going to tighten up ship and bring my expenses down so that I can dump portions of my paychecks into the operation.  This will mean eliminating eating out with the family as often as we do - tho I don't always pay, it adds up.  I will just have to take my mother's role modeling in being a very wise spender, frugality has always been her mindset.  She doesn't have to be, trust me, she has plenty of money, it's just the way she lives her life.  

Ok, well I have a whole day to do - something - with.  This town is still "locked down" compared to other towns, you are still required to wear a face mask everywhere, limited seating, social distancing, etc etc etc.  So I'm just going to stay in the yard for the day and see if I can find a good movie to watch on my laptop versus attempting to find something to do.  It gets kind of boring, even if watching tv all day, just no one around to have a conversation with. 

Well actually I could make a trip to Walmart for some needed supplies, now that I think about it.  

Anyway, offa here.