I ended up getting a Lyft to the airport, found it in the same condition as I left it excepting a half flat tire and a paint scratch that definitely wasn't there before.  I filled the tire back up and of course no one leaves a message telling you they are sorry they dinged your vehicle.  

The ride was funny tho.  It was a black lady who was talking up a storm to her black friend (I am only saying the race because they thought it important to iterate it).  We got into this long conversation: the driver, her friend on speaker phone and me about life in general and then the proposal hit: I'm a young, beautiful black woman, single and I need a man!

Lmao! Ok?  I am not looking for a woman.  You've just been getting the wrong peoples!  I blew it off pretty quick, this lady on the phone was serious. I am definitely not looking for a woman and certainly not in some random encounter where I can't even see what she looks like.  

Today is the last day of vacation. It actually should have been over as of yesterday morning, but if my manager doesn't contact me and I am not feeling it, I won't call him.  But, I did contact him this morning, let him know I'm ready to come to work and he is having me come up there to get a trailer, get whatever needs to be done with the truck, get some paperwork and turn in papers.  I'm leaving the same time the kids do, which is typically when I leave for either direction on a run if I'm the first load.  

The truck needs an oil change the windshield wiper fluid motor isn't working.  It's the only things I can think of wrong with it beyond the AC which I have gotten used to and now we're going to be entering "winter" months, temps coming down.  Oh, there is a drive axle tire that is wearing funny for some reason, need to switch it to another position.  Save the tire from ruin before the rest of the tires wear down.  I figure to be there a couple of hours - at most.  I don't like going there for several reasons, but since it's the only thing I'm doing - not loading or delivering - not quite so bad. Plus, they have an empty trailer there so I don't have to drive clear over to the Crocket washout to get one. That adds at least 2 hours.  I was very happy to hear that.

That trailer should be washed out as well, so I won't even have to go to a washout.  

______________

Many hours later.  I wasn't going to leave the truck over at the park, I'd rather leave the SUV over there, but I never made it back over there and I don't have anything pressing to go over there for.  I've run endless ads and not making any progress for long term. I get calls but they don't convert into anyone showing up.  It's a bit disconcerting.  I have ideas for possibly bringing people in, but if I spend the money and nothing happens, then what? 

I've wasted money on a non-starter.  I don't want to throw money at this place and get no results.  I feel like I need to take a different direction with it but those directions are pricey.  Mobile homes, tiny homes, cabins.  In other words, also offering the housing.  When you are working with limited money, whatever decisions you make, you are stuck with them.  If they work, great, if they don't?  Not so great.  

I have the old motor coach the needs to be refurbished inside. The lady isn't going to do it. If she was, it would have been done by now.  It's too late anyway, she had the surgery done on her arm and that is going to stop her from doing much of anything for a while.  I don't think I'm much of a "refurbisher",  but I guess I could give it a try.  Tear out the carpet, tear out the entire kitchen setup, tear out the shower stall and replace with whatever I can find.  House type stuff, not RV stuff.  Much cheaper and just as easy to integrate.  

I may very well do that myself since I'm having no luck. It's really where I need to direct my attention I suppose, now that I think of it.  I could spend a couple thousand on it and hope that I can find a decent renter.  It will also need a new bed.  Or a very good used one anyway.  I think it's going to be a lot of work trying to figure out how to integrate a new shower in there.  It will be a lot of work to put in a new kitchen but I don't think that will be as difficult.  The toilet also needs to be replaced.  

Toilet - $150

Shower stall - small - $229

Kitchen counter stuff - around $300

New cooktop or stove with burners?  Now that will be a dilemma.  Do I put in propane or electric?  If I put in electric, will there be enough power in that thing to power it and the rest of everything else? Probably not.  I would likely have to go with propane.

Then you have to have a propane water heater.  Look, a lot of RV stuff is run off of propane. It's only a 30 amp setup, it has to have stuff running that isn't drawing off of that.  It can be a pain to have to get propane, but if you want to cook or have hot water? That's how it has to be.  

Some of this stuff could be found used and in good condition and I don't mind going that route to save money.  

I'm thinking carpet for everything but the kitchen area, which had carpet but kind of dumb I think to have that where you're cooking.  I'll be glad to get rid of that kitchen set up, it's old, bad condition and ugly.  I think that's it. That should be the next direction, that or installing at least one covered parking and well, everyone is all over the idea of a hot tub, even in the winter.  I'd have to have a concrete slab poured, get the hot tub and buy a cover kit to have it covered.  Not enclosed, just covered.  

These are the things I can do.  They're within reach and frankly, to bring new people in for the lots, the hot tub isn't going to cost that much and - who knows?  Maybe it will draw people in, maybe it won't?  I figure a grand for the slab, whatever for the hot tub - I may end up driving a longer distance to get a cheap one from the Dallas area - and a $300 soft top gazebo.  

I"m looking at a new gazebo for $258, 13X11 dimensions which is enough room for the hot tub and a table and a few chairs next to it.  I guess I'll have to put up a fence and a padlock door around it now that I think of it, that will add to the cost unfortunately.  I rarely get kids over there but it only takes one tragedy to ruin everything.  Well, even that isn't terribly expensive for enough to surround it with a gated entry.  

But, the gate has to be a self-closing type so the people who don't care whether the gate is left open or not won't cause someone else to have something happen. Honestly, the boys here are the only kids over there right now, that and one of the ladies bring her baby granddaughter over to watch while her daughter is working.  Still, for safety's sake, gotta do it. 

"There is a way which seems right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death".  Seems like a ghastly scripture to apply to such a situation, but I always think, hmm, it sounds good to me, but what does God have to say about this?  Is my thinking astray? What do I do to get the park filled again and keep it that way?  How do I get the people in there?  Good thing I have a job right now.....otherwise I might be in panic mode.  I'm just saying, what does the Lord have to say about any of this? Do I pull the trigger on any of this stuff or do I just sit patiently and wait until I see some definitive sign that I know it's the Lord showing his will? Or has He already done that and I've been blind to it? Or is my thinking about some of these things right on and His blessing would be upon it? 

I could go on like that for a while.  "Fools think they are right, but the wise listen to advice".  I haven't had any advice on this matter from anyone.  I'm certainly open to other's opinions, even if I think they are wrong I still hear people out to see if there is something to glean from what they are saying, especially in situations where I feel like I am groping in the dark. 

The book of Proverbs speaks about fools, sluggards, lazy people.  I think I will read that entire book again before I make any decisions. There is a lot of wisdom in that book and there might be something that speaks to my heart.  I feel like I am losing out on perhaps some input from church members who are also business men/women who could give me some direction.  I haven't gotten involved with the church - yet - after all the time I've been there. There are plenty of venues.  Wednesday morning bible study, Sunday morning adult groups, the Lord's Supper twice a week....they do it differently than most churches, they actually have a meal and then drink the blood/wine.  Well I doubt they are serving wine, that's sort of a Catholic thing moreso than in protestant churches.  

So there it is.  I've come up with some path to find wisdom.  Here's my thing: I am not a seasoned businessman.  I have spent a lot of time researching, and things have gone reasonably well until recently. People that were only staying temporarily - a month, 2 months, whatever, left town and left my park.  And people? Haven't been coming in their place.  I've only had overnighters since the last long term left.  That's been a while now. I looked at this new dude's place, he's been running ads all over the place and so far, he's gotten 5 or 6 people in there.  There isn't a large pool of RV'ers to draw from.  Not with all the RV parks in my immediate area and all the new parks going up all over the place.

That is sort of a confirmation in and of itself that I either need to be offering housing or I need to get amenities in there that no one else has - or potentially better: both.  I don't think a single RV park in my area is offering a hot tub.  Many of them have trees for shade, I don't have that.  Hence the thought of covered parking which appears to be highly popular anywhere I see it offered. But see, just because it's popular at a park 90 miles away, does that mean it will be popular enough to draw people into place?  

Again, if that was my only source of income, I would be in panic mode right now.  

Which reminds me, I have to get up early and the hour is growing late. Late for an early rise anyway.  I have been going to sleep pretty early this entire time I've been off anyway, not much of a transition excepting forcing my @$$ out of bed at 5:30 am.  

Enough.  I throw myself into a conundrum of thought attempting to sort out what I should do and at the end of it, I just come up with: I need wisdom.  Wisdom coming from those that are experienced in making business decisions.  People who have no vested interest, but want to see others succeed.  This is where I have been stuck at for a while now.  Without wisdom and clear instruction, it's kind of hard to proceed in any direction - all of them require spending money and I am just not willing to go there atm without decisive direction.

BTW, God uses people for such things in many cases.  This is why I am open to whoever, wherever that might have something to say that I am just not seeing. A person might say something that confirms to another person the direction they should go and the person saying it might not even realize that what they are saying is akin to revelation to the person hearing it. 

 Tuesday - late morning

I haven't been posting - I get started on an entry and then get distracted by things and don't get back to the blog.  

I left off at the 700 mile mark in Odessa, spending the night there at the Marriott Residence Inn.  It was a good night's sleep and I ate a wonderful breakfast - they have a huge breakfast bar at all of them and it includes meat, potatoes, cereals, waffles, scrambled eggs, etc.  I didn't eat too much meat but they were serving egg white scrambled so I scooped up a bunch of that.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful even if full of stupid people who have no business having a driver license.  Ridiculous nonsense.  

The truck ran perfectly, never a single hiccup.  It gets almost 18 mpg which is good for that thing, I have subsequently found out looking it up online.  My SUV only gets 15 on the highway, I was already used to gas hogs. In fact, the SUV is still at the airport and I am trying to find a ride over there. Taylor doesn't have to go over there all the time anymore and by the time she goes back, I will be on the road and won't be able to take advantage of hitching a ride.  

So, I am likely going to have to pay for a ride. I dunno if I can get an Uber or Lyft over here but I'm going to try.  The SUV can be parked at the property for now, it needs work and tho I want to do it, it's not high on the priority list.  Front brakes and rotors, rear ac not working and a bushing.  I'm guessing a grand need be dumped into it, but I will likely replace the brakes/rotors myself and save a ton of money.  

Anyway, I stayed at a local La Quinta the day I returned for reasons I won't get into here, unpleasantries I will label it as. It was the first really good night's sleep I had had since the Sunday I had left. Marriott was good sleep, but not great.  I forgot about the part where someone was stomping up and down the hallway at 5:00 am-ish, I was planning on sleeping in until 7 - 7:30.  The noise went on so long that I was tempted to get up, get dressed and go out there and confront whoever.  I didn't do that, but still.

La Quinta was great sleep - but.... it's also the "Dog Inn" where people are allowed to bring their dogs in for stays as well.  Not a problem, except....I realized my bed was full of fleas too late.  My arms, chest and back were bitten all over and I have the bumps and red marks to prove it.  I have spent the last 2 days in itching hell and took a Benadryl at 3:00 am last night.  I went to sleep, yes, but now I have having trouble waking up, that stuff will knock you out.

That was the point of taking it, I just have things I'd like to get done today. I am not back at work, the manager hasn't contacted me and frankly, didn't really want to go back to work right away.  I am thinking of contacting him later  on today and working out getting back to work tomorrow. I'll need a trailer to start with, which is why I'm dreading going back to work. It is highly unlikely I'll get the trailer I have been using for many months and I'll have to start back at ground zero with whatever issues some other trialer - WILL - have because they always have problems and drivers don't get the stuff fixed. 

The truck needs a complete cleaning, I will say that. Dog hair and it just needs wiped down good and get that dog smell out of there.  I might do that today.  The city has forced a water limitation on everyone and the car washes were shut down. They had a main valve bust and they have to have one manufactured.  This city has a very old water transmission system that needs to be completely replaced.  They piecemeal everything together and constantly fixing water leaks.  Apparently, one of the local washes got permission to open back up, I'd like to get it washed and then spend quality time vacuuming out the interior.  

However, I am going to go to the park in a bit and see if I can get an uber from there to the airport.  I have heard Uber is up and running here again, I will try it. It will be an expensive ride but I can't leave my vehicle sitting there forever.  I don't want to bring the SUV back here, too many vehicles here as it stands I have one, the folks have 2 and a motorcycle.  

I just texted the manager the dreaded text: ready to go back to work tomorrow or whenever such is available.  I can't stay off work forever and trust me, if I'm not forced back into it and I get into "that" mindset, I will just sit it out for as long as I can get away with it.  Lol.  It's been long enough, I think the flea bites are starting to heal sufficiently but if it isn't oh well, deal with it.  

It's really bad on my fingers.  I didn't realize what was happening until too late. Started itching my fingers and cranking on them without thinking about it.  By the time I realized what I was doing?  Too late.  Have these giant bumps all over.  

And was on hold with the Texas State Comptroller. Required filing every year, I sent it off months ago and now they are threatening to take away my business license because I didn't file?  I sent it off to them via snail mail.  No clue there, but I intend on getting to the bottom of it for I need that license to operate my business.  

Whatever else?  I just talked with the manager. He wants me to come up and pick up a trailer, plus do whatever service the mechanics deem necessary and I have paperwork to turn in as well as hazmat paperwork that needs renewed.  I'm not hauling hazmat atm, but if the situation arises, need to be legal for it.  I'm going to leave early in the morning so I don't have to waste an entire day doing that nonsense.  Like, out of the house by 6:30 am, out of the park by 7 and up there around 9:30. It's only 136 miles but it takes 2-1/2 hours to get up there, probably spend a few hours there and the same amount of time back.  Gets me home no later than...2:30 we'll give some extra time there. 

I don't know what else. Still running ads and not getting a lot of hits.  I'm being undercut by other parks so I have advertised $200 off, given out over a 3 month period. I'm not giving $200 off the first month, it's long term and if they want the discount, they'll have to stay 3 months to get all of it. The new guy has meters so he's advertising much less and disclosed in fine print that the power is extra.  People will figure it out after they stay there a while, it isn't the bargain they think it is.  

However, I could install some meters on some lots for fairly cheap and try it.  Just take the profit in the rent and the guest can eat the electric bill.  I'm still about these covered parking setups and I'm going to have one installed, or do it myself because they will probably charge a fortune to install it.  Just rent an auger machine, dig out the post holes, put the posts in, cement them, etc.  I kind of want to build a woodens structure, they don't look tacky such as their metal ones do.  I have seen several parks with the metal versions I just don't like the way it looks.  I don't know if anyone else cares, but I am about nature and the metal isn't about nature.  

Shrugs shoulders, obviously my "old" way of getting people in isn't working I have to reinvent the park.  That only happens with additional amenities.  

Oh, and Lyft is actually available here.  $38, it's 40 miles there so that's not really a bad price. Get my vehicle back and have that issue taken care of. 

In fact, I'm going to finish getting dressed, head over to the park and order the ride.  

G'day