This guy really doesn't communicate too much lol.  I went over to the property today - and it was a really beautiful day, took the dogs with me - to see if they had shown up yet to start this project.  

No one there.  Drove to the back and walked to the west side, to the rear of the place.  There is a nice stand of pine trees over there. There are stands of them in various places but this one I really like.  But that area isn't for me.  It's where I want to put some tent camping sites.  But this time, I was really honing in on how I could get people back there without even using the easement up the hill.

I'd rather not use it because it's a very good drop off there.  Would be a very steep drive for anyone to drive their vehicle back in there.  I don't really envision cars driving back there even on a better road setup, it's got to be pickups only. 

Anyway, I want to start with two of them back there and another one further up, sort of off to the side of the gas well operation, but in another stand of pine trees.  I plan on making a trip to the local state park at Caddo Lake to see what they offer for tent sites.  What I mean is, what do they do for the tents? Just an open area? Some kind of platform?  Like if it rains and water is running through, something that elevates them off the ground? 

I never tent camped like that but I'm taking it campsites put some sort of platform in and some of them put in sand pits.  These will be primitive sites. There will be nothing offered beyond a campfire pit, a picnic table and a place to park the vehicle beyond the tent site.  It's a very beautiful, serene, peaceful area.  

Addler was so happy to be back there that he was tromping around all over the place, making all kinds of noise. I had to call both dogs over and make them sit and be still.  I wanted to hear whatever sounds there were to hear.  Nothing but nature, I was hoping.  The breeze flowing through the trees. This is exactly what my version of tent camping is.  

The property is a real gem and the price tag on it was even better.  My overlooking it at the get go was only because I found places I thought were better.  Well, one of them I still really wish I could have gotten, but I see now that what I have is much better. Much more land, city water, internet is right there, close to the city yet definitely not the city feel at all.

I  tracked what I thought would be a good road to build into that area back to where the well site is and then, found a much better approach to driving back there than anything I had seen before.  I mean, it has to be cleared but it's not that much that has to be moved out of the way.  I plan on spending some time with this contractor back there and showing him what I want done in terms of trails, a road, leveling some camp sites.  I expect at least 5 grand more added to the price tag.  So beit.  These are must haves in my view.

Back to the vehicle, but I was looking at the other above ground pipe setup.  They just repainted all of it.  They don't ask permission, lol, that's all their stuff, I just see it after the fact.  They also completely cleared out the corner that was overgrown the last time I saw it - which was not too long ago.  See, I like them taking care of that stuff. Less for me to do or pay someone else to do.  

Stopped again and listened to the sounds.  The cattle rancher was out there so the cows were howling, that's what I call it anyway. It's beyond mooing, they start making a lot of loud noises when someone they know comes along and they figure they're bringing them food.  That didn't last long.

The only real, annoying noise is the train.  Most trains fly through the tracks, you hear them a couple of minutes at most and that's that.  This trains?  It honks every couple of seconds.  2 short blasts.  Wouldn't be a big deal but it must be traveling really slow because you can hear it for 15 minutes.  I've heard it a couple of times out there and today was one of those times.  It just went on for so long.  

Still, the noise people must be hearing at all of these sites right next to Interstates and major highways is constant and loud.  So a bit of annoyance here and there? I'm not going to worry about it.  The only way to get out of all of the noises altogether is to go well out of town and well off the beaten trail and then? Good luck getting people out there unless it's its own destination spot that has plenty of stuff to do.  

Well, off to make a donation.  A person's mobile home burned down yesterday and they needed help and were asking for donations. I remembered when my house burned down and all the help I got.  I had to do something.  The post was just asking for stuff, I just wanted to give money. Yes, they will need other stuff - there were pictures of the house while it was burning down form the local fire department, total loss.  So I went to the bank and yes, they had an official account set up for it.  

Dollar General, Kroger's, an oil change place and then Chili's later, I texted the contractor.  When is the start up date?  I need to know.  I need a date.  I mean, yes, if weather is bad such as it has been I can see it. But give me a date so I have something to latch onto, not these endless generalities.  It took a while to get an answer.  Tomorrow.  Followed by "wanted to make sure it was dry". 

So, tomorrow, they are going to be out there dealing with all of that stuff.  I will be heading down to Brownsville, unfortunately, I'd rather be home for the beginning of this.  But he understands my ribbons, that's pretty easy, the rest of the stuff comes out and they will put it in huge piles. It will dry out and eventually can burn it. That stuff can go down at the other end where I'm not going to be doing anything for a while with the land.  

The day of reckoning is coming.  I will have to make decisions.  My mind is all over the place.  If I have to sacrifice one thing for another - keeping costs down and trying to make money versus getting into a lot of debt - there are things I think I can compromise on, in my own mind if with no one else.  A simple barn shed that costs a few thousand dollars (or less) can work for laundry.  People want laundry.  I can see it.  They don't want to have to wait at a laundromat, they want to be able to just do it wherever they are staying.  

Perhaps the same setup for a single bathhouse if I can do nothing more.  Just a small shed thing with a full bathroom including shower in it.  

Or no bathhouse to start with and let's get this going.  In my mind, walking trails and a pond are more important. 

I'm going to wait on some of these decisions to see what I have left after the basic stuff is installed, paid for and over with.  Well, I guess just the price tag, whether it's done or not, so I can figure out what I have left over and what I can do without spending anything more than what I have left and leaving some working capital.  What I'm kind of not knowing right now is the cost of the driveways and the pads.  I'm guessing another 20 - 25 grand.  That's going to eat up a lot and I will still have wifi after all of that to install.  

Yes, I will take out another small, personal loan - if I absolutely have to - but right now, my thinking is to get whatever I can get going - going. Save up as much of the income as possible and expand.  After everything is all said and done - whether I get a pool loan or not is unknown at this point, no decision on that yet - the next priority will be to double the number of sites.

I'm not feeble minded, I'm just trying to figure out what I really should have based on the information I have before starting this endeavor up..  14 sites won't be much, but if I can fill them up it will be more than enough.  People will come - I think - if the right amenities are in place.  WiFi is one of the highest if not the highest priorities and I want that to be right regardless of start up expense.  If you have good WiFi, you will get the reviews to back it up.  If you have bad WiFi, you will get those kinds of reviews to cast a pall over your operation.  It's really that important to many of the people that come into those places.

It's rather perplexing to me, because if I were full time RV'ing, I would just have what I have now as a truck driver: unlimited Verizon with unlimited Hotspot.  I wouldn't rely on the campsite for it.  But if there is one complaint that stands out above all the rest of it, its the idea of a campground having bad wifi.  And even worse, if  a campground claims on their website they have good wifi - but you get there and it sucks. 

Okay, I have an early rise tomorrow.  My mind is refilled with thoughts again now that the construction is finally going to begin.  This has been a long road and it's not even half over yet.

 Trip to Oklahoma yesterday? Mixed bad

I forgot that my fuel gauge isn't working and paid a good price for forgetting.  10 miles on the Interstate going to work and the thing started dying. It slowly droned down to zero miles per hour and I knew I was screwed. Sunday, early morning, no one awake, no one answering the phone.  An app to get help? No luck nor tow trucks. 5 miles to the nearest gas station.  Eventually James came and rescued me.  That SUV holds 33 gallons of fuel and yes, it took just short of 33 gallons to fill it up.

Off to work.  Fire up the tractor, get my stuff and - find out the cab heat isn't working. It is cold here, at least my version of it, anything below freezing is cold to me.  

Anyway, the rest of the trip was a nothing-burger.  Snow on the side of the road, no snow on the road and no ice.  Up to the plant, drop and hook, back to the yard. Very possible to do it in a day if the trailer is already loaded and you don't have to waste the time going to the plant and doing all of that.

Birthday - was wonderful.  Fattening, but cool.  My stomach is just popping out too much.  I am on my 38th hour of a water only fast - well there is a little black coffee in there too to keep from getting headaches - but yeah, it's time to get serious about the diet.  I've done enough cheating, the fat is piling on, time to reverse that.  Fasting will get ketosis fired up again quickly, it did the last time I tried it a month or two ago.  

Crypto - mixed results. One of them is up 40% - I dumped $100 into that when I bought it.  That's a good rate of return. Others are up a little and a few are down a little.  I could see how if a person could hit one right and dump a large sum of money into it, you could get some serious gains quickly. Of course, you could also lose it.

No, I'm not dumping my park money into it, this is all money that comes from paychecks.  I'm about $250 cash into it, probably going to do a couple thousand after I get acclimated to how this stuff works.  So far, I am seeing everything I have bought go way up - and then crash way down - and up and down like a roller coaster ride.  I guess you just have to hit it when it goes up and get out of it quickly.  But - none of them stay down lower than what I paid for it, eventually it goes back up again.  I mean, if you had 100k and got a 40% increase 3 days later - well do the math.  

But, like gambling or the stock market, it has risk attached to it and therefore, I'm not jumping in the deep end. It's just something I've been looking at for a while and wondering why I don't at least give it a try.

Property? No idea. The trackhoe is over there, I'm home, going to load up the dogs and go over there ina bit and see if they have actually shown up to commence operations.  That's all I know, everything is is ready for them, the only change I made was moving the park another 75 feet south to the edge of the gas line easement. This creates a huge swath of room for a large dog park that won't interfere with other plans.  People want a large dog park, I'm going to give it to them. The only cost is putting a fence around it, a gate, installing a dog doo post with a trash can and plastic bags and grow some grass.  Probably the cheapest amenity I will have that people really want.  

As for all the other amenities, I am just holding back until the utilities are installed.  My view of it changes with passing time.  Perhaps the park could have a "soft opening" with nothing more than the utilities at each site and the doggy park, advertising it as such in bold print so people are not going to be able to say they were mislead. Well - and the walking trails.  I want those done as well.  That might cost a couple thousand to finish them but the end result will be worth it.  If I limit amenities at the get-go, I also reduce the cost of liability insurance.  It would be nice to have a couple of washers and dryers there, tho.  And I am going to have to have someplace to put the wifi hardware.  

I can simply offer a reduced fee for a soft opening and if I can keep the place filled or mostly filled, I will still turn a nice profit to begin with.  

Am I sold on this line of thinking? No. Just thoughts - wondering how much all of this gravel and pads are going to cost that might eat up whatever I have left in available cash.  It's 56k for the full hook ups and then whatever after that for gravel/pad creation and whatever after that is for the dog park and whatever else I can afford.  I'd like to not have to take out any personal loans.  I have around 120k available to do whatever I can get done.  

I have conflicting thoughts on amenities right now, is my problem. Yes, I can buy a cabin shed - it's just a shed with a porch - and have an office with a couple of showers.  But - is that what I want permanently? No.  I want a log cabin - a real log cabin - setup.  I go back and forth in my mind with this. "If I buy the cabin shed, what will I do with it if I have a cabin built?".  "Use it to start a parking lot style RV park that is just overnighters stopping on their way to somewhere else".  "So, buy more land?". "Yes, you were going to do that anyway, a couple of acres right off the Interstate".  "But I wouldn't be able to do that for years". "So?  You weren't going to upgrade to a building like that for years, either".  

That is my thought process, lmao.  Don't tell me y'all don't get into arguments with yourself over tough decisions lol.  

Yes, I thought about the Google reviews and what might happen with a soft-opening, but if I advertise it truthfully - this is what I have, this is what you are going to get when you arrive here - type of thing, what can they say? Well, they can say anything, that's for sure and some of them will, that's also guaranteed.  Nit pickers and people generally unhappy in life will poop on everyone else's parade regardless of how good a setup it is.  I could have a perfect park and someone will find fault with it and they will publish their discontent. 

The biggest priority on people's list - I have been researching this for a while now - is good wifi, a doggy park, lots of room for the pads. People are sick of tiny parks with small lots that have no room between sites.  My latest post in a giant RV tips group - I didn't see a single person say anything about a bath house. That was kind of odd.  Many wanted a pool or a place to swim, many more said they didn't care about a pool. Some want concrete or paved roads and pads. That's a no-go.  Think gravel is expensive? Try having asphalt roads and pads installed. 

The fact of the matter is, is that I'm coming to the point of a reckoning.  I'll have to decide what I have to have and what I don't have to have and move forward accordingly.  What's going to bring them, what might be appealing to a certain crowd of them, what isn't really that big of a deal that I don't need.  

To that end, I am going to go to a nearby state park with a lake and see how they have their campgrounds set up. Tent camping that is.  I don't know if they put some kind of sand pit or what for the tents or if it's just like the good ole's days, find a level spot on the ground and pitch the tent. I always went tent camping with air mattresses, which I assume a lot of people still do. Still, I'd like to see how the state parks do it just to get an idea since I do want to have a few tent camping spots as well.  

With that, I am out of here, going over to the property and see if anything is going on. If it is, there will be pics or maybe a live video stream on my Fakebook page.