Lighten up.

I'm telling myself that.

Lighten up Ben.

It's just a business. 

You just have your life savings on the line.

What could go wrong? 

LOL!

Still.  Whatever happens, happens. 

 So it rained much of yesterday and all night long. 

A visit to the property was in order, see if I have any water retention issues on the pads.

2 of them, one of them was a huge lake.  But, the only issue is that the pipe is stick up too high and the water cannot flow through it.  I walked over to it and my foot sunk 10 inches into the ground, muddy ground. But I pushed down on the pipe and the water start flowing very nicely to the other side. I mini-stream going. 

I didn't finish.  I went to Lowe's instead to see if I could find something that I could put in the ground to hold the pipe in place.  Yes!  Some sort of holder for 4 inch pipe, it has a loop around the top and a 12 inch stake going to the bottom. 

I will try to insert that into the ground over the pipe. If it isn't deep enough, I will attach it to a 2 foot stake and drive the stake into the ground with the loop going over the top of the pipe. That should be deep enough to hold it in place.  

There are adjustments on some of the other pipes needed as well, but nothing near as serious as the 2 that were forming giant puddles.  The larger one was probably 50 feet wide. 

No, I'm not going to try to put that in today.  I will have to go back over and find something heavy to put on the end of the pipe to force the area to drain out.  Otherwise it will take forever for it to drain and dry and the gravel is supposed to be installed this coming week. 

That may very well change because of this weather, I will not have them driving heavy trucks through all of that mud if it doesn't dry out.  

The electrician wouldn't give me a date when he's coming. So I contacted the head-contractor who informed me I would have to contact the electrician. "So, I am taking it that this guy has his own company and only sub-contracts out to you". "Yes".  

Oh, okay, I replied, well if he doesn't get to it soon I will see if Don Wood will come out and finish the job.  I have half a mind - only half tho lol, it's a lot of voltage - to do the job myself.  I don't know if there's a giant circuit breaker in that green box the power company installed or what. I need to open it up and take a look.  If there is, it's a simple thing to put in the lines, rent a trencher and run 12 feet to the meter setup.  

I'd rather not, even if it is going to cost more money.  I really want the original contractor to do all of the work so I can contact him if anything goes wrong.

Of course, getting him to fix anything might be a challenge.  

I'm trying to get all the business end of this situation dealt with.  A meeting with a Camplife official next week, setting up Quickbooks - the cheap version - probably tomorrow - rules are finished. At least, they are finished for now. Rules can be adjusted, changed, some can be eliminated, new added - whenever you get the experience and understand why certain rules are needed and possibly others are a turn off.

Picnic tables - $155 a piece.  I'm not sure I will be doing that right off the bat, I will try to get the fire rings in every lot tho.  At $79 for 3, that's a no brainer. Lots of people carry their own tables with them.  

And now, a whole new opportunity that I may very well take advantage of, since it would only cost me the use of that mini-excavator again and a truckload or 2 of SB2 gravel.  

This subject of boondocking came up in the RV owners and investors group. It came up before a long time ago and several people naysayed it - why have them on your property for free?  Well who said anything about free? They can pay to park, just not the say rate as the people that are getting the power, water and sewer outlets are getting.  

Boondocking basically is camping out in the wilderness without any amenities.  In an RV, that would mean no water, sewer or electric hookups, no bathrooms, etc.  Fully-self contained RV's supply all of those things within the confines of the unit.  People mostly boondock for free, finding public lands where they can park wherever.  

Well, there isn't much of that in my area.  Public lands consist of State parks and they all charge to park at them, plus they are always full and hard to get a spot.  If I could charge $15-$20 per night for this kind of stay, it would add to my monthly revenues without costing anything more than occasional cleanup for those that don't know how to throw trash away.  No picnic tables, though I could build fire rings out of rock and not spend a lot of money on it.  Hey, give them something! Plus access to the walking trails.  

That would be geared toward RV's, I already have tent campsites in mind and I just need to finish those up.  I'm just concerned about most of the sites being at an angle. I could build decks out of 2X6 wood with 4X4 supports, but that would be costly an I have to wonder about the return on investment and how long it would take to pay for itself.  It seems to me if I'm going to go to the trouble of building a large deck, I might as well put on a huge tent and set up a glamping site - and make much more money off of it.  

But, a truck load of SB2 is something like $500 and I figure one or 2 truckloads for a place for RV's to park would be sufficient. I have plenty of room for such a setup.  Just locate it further back on more level ground, they pull in, spend the night, leave. Or stay as long as they want, providing they pay the nightly fee.  

I don't foresee a park expansion for a while and I would rather take advantage of the space I have than just let it go to waste.  It's a bit of a gamble, but for less than a thousand bucks of investment, I'm willing to take it. Basically, in my mind, boondocking would be the same as a truck parking in a truckstop parking lot that charges you to stay there.  Most don't like paying for a spot, but some will gladly do it to have a guaranteed spot and usually not have to be crowded in with other trucks. 

I think a truckload would be enough for 4 spaces worth.  Back in lots only, tho, I'm not building another driveway for that.  If it failed, I would just turn it into a social gathering spot with a large fire ring that people can use at night after quiet hours.  I intend on doing that as well. Tho I don't really want to spend any money on it more than buying the blocks to set up the large fire pit.