Rainy day.
Been raining most of the night. About a medium level amount of water coming down, I decided even tho I am not feeling all that great, I needed to go to the property and take a look at water issues in real time versus looking at patterns from streams and running over trails and such after the fact.
Foregone conclusion there would be large pools of water on the RV pads next to the driveway. There is no place for the water to go, except to pool up and wash over the new driveway. Completely unacceptable, the water quickly erode the dirt and the next thing you have is a channel running through your driveway.
Pipe is amazingly expensive right now, it was almost shocking to look up the pricing of it. I don't know what the contractors are getting - they usually get better pricing since they are buying in volume year round, but whatever the cost, it has to be addressed.
Anyway, I went to Walmart to get full suit rain gear, waterproof (a lot of what they sell is "water resistant"], went to the property and was met at the other end with a set of headlights staring back at me. I'm telling you, these oil and gas companies really need to have their trucks labeled with signage on them to ensure the property owner and other interested parties know who they are.
At least the dude waved at me this time. A spirited, hearty wave at that. I waved back, this is really all that these people need to do: be nice and act sociable and I will be nice back. Giving me glares every time I drive up on them doesn't work in my world, especially since it's my property and even more so that they are there consuming natural gas which is transiting through my property yet I am getting nothing out of it. This is why I have been pretty straight forward with my desires that whatever portions of the property they are using, they maintain it and maintain it well.
Well, as I said, it's been raining most of the night and into the morning, it's now 9:00 am with no let up in sight. I got the 4 wheeler running and started slowly riding all over the walking trails, looking for any areas where I might need to address it if I have campers back there. Amazingly, there were very few glitches back there. One intended camp sit had a very small stream of water running straight down - I'm not sure I'll do anything about it. I might just not use it as a campground and save myself the hassle.
The "group" campground had no water issues. I mean, yes, there is water running over all of it, as expected. But running evenly and just wet ground, no pooling anywhere. That was good news for me. Another intended, large campground on the other side the same thing. Just wet ground, but no water streams or pooling water. Yet another one in a naturally grassy area in a stand of pines was fine as well.
The new road where it drops off and I figured from looking at it that there would be water issues? Yeah, not that much and I still have my 4 inch sewer pipe I can run a couple of stick across it and then build up the dirt to get rid of the drop off and get rid of the drop off. I haven't really determined how I am going to do that, but they rent bobcats at the local rental place, the only issue being having to run 500 feet back and forth to the dirt pile. I could use it to smooth out some of the trail areas that need a bit of leveling.
That isn't going to be today. I am not working out in the rain like this, number 1 and number 2, I have a really bad sore throat going right now that is just telling me to stay home, relax, listen to the rain pattering on the windows and get better. The boys had it first and they got over the worst of it in a bout 3 days. Taylor has had it longer and has been feeling really cruddy. I don't know, but when the sore throat goes away, I'm going to have to get back at it. I'm figuring I'll have to spend nearly what I have left in the bank for the septic install and the gravel, I'll have to cash out the other 401k to have operating money.
The only other "issue" for running water beyond the stream that runs through the property and should have water running through it is the trail that the mulching man cleared back out. There is a plateau where the gas operation sits and it's a large swatch of land. All the rain water runs to the southeast side of the plateau and runs down the hill in a pretty good stream. It goes right across that trail. I see no reason to address that situation. If you want to hike when it's raining, be my guest but you'll obviously encounter water!
No, I'm not looking for jobs yet. Just not there. I'm sick, as I figured I would get after being in close contact with other sick individuals and I have a lot of work on the property I need to get done. My other 401k will save me from having to go back to work right away. Once I ever get this thing rolling, I won't need an OTR or regional job. I will look for local only and something that is flexible. It doesn't have to pay a lot of money with park income coming in. It's a gamble, sure. I have people interested in moving into the park already. They want to live there, tho and I'm not sure I want to go that route yet.
Regardless, I am going to contact the media dude and tell him to go ahead and start putting that website together and do whatever he's going to do to get my park on the first page of any rv search for my area. I was given a ballpark of around $500 for the sign, ok, let's get it done, please and thank you. Wifi - going to wait until the telephone poles are installed, they won't be able to do anything before then. And I need the electrical contractor to come out and install a meter and run a line to the "shed" I want power in it and I want power accessible beyond the RV pedestals. I asked him about this a while back, didn't get a reply, will be asking him again today.
Well I'll be! My park is showing up on Google search. Like, if you put in rv parks and the name of the town and state I live in, it comes up on that listing that Google does whenever you input such a request and it attempts to come up with every such business in the area and shown on a map. That was quick. But, the separate listing of the park doesn't show up until page 6. Not a big deal for right now, at least it's on page one of the google search for all parks in the area.
And, as always, the idea of applying for an SBA loan still lurking around in my head. But, I'm unemployed at the moment and that probably wouldn't look good on paper. I think the park would have to be up and running and bringing in decent revenues before I could get a serious look at a loan that large. I'd be going for 400k or more. They'll want the property on that loan as well as the park sitting on the property. A row of tiny homes, another 60 spaces or so, a pool, clubhouse and whatever else lacking. Yes, the tiny homes sounds really good. They could be short term rentals, or, they could be month to month rentals and separate them from the rest of the park with fence and gating.
I won't need a down payment, everything I've spent on the property is the down payment, at least according to the guy that is in the SBA loan center who helps you put these applications together and make them look as good as possible on paper. I'm going to pull out all of that application stuff today and just look at it and think about it.
Oh, and a trip to Lowe's - again - is in order. This time for some kind of pruning shears to start cutting down those annoying vines that are sticking down all over the place. They hit you in the face while you're riding the 4 wheeler and they are in your face while walking. That stuff needs to go. It will be quite the effect to have those vines coming down from high up the trees, yes, but cut high enough they aren't going to bother anyone. I figure to pull the trailer through, stand on it and cut vines on top of the trailer. Or I could even stand on the back of the 4 wheeler to access enough height to make it a non-issue.
So much cleanup to do.
Anyway, I'm offa here. Gonna get busy with the things I can do from the house.
G'day.
