Another random call this evening from an older couple coming into town looking for a place to park for the night. Sure! I told him the price -which is currently the lowest in town and really, as low as it gets and then he started asking for Good Sam discounts AARP. No sir, this is a very low rate already. 

I'm not giving the lots away.  If they can buy a 75k truck and a 100k RV, they  probably can afford the money to stay at a park. It's part of the deal, you know you have to park somewhere every night.  I didn't give them a hard time about it, I just said I already have low rates.  Do you have fresh water? Yes, it's delightful city water - which IMO, it really is. I drink the tap water daily.  But it's fresh water, correct? Yes, it's fresh city water.  

I could only guess they have had bad experiences staying at places with smelly/foul well water or possibly even foul smelling or looking city water. We don't have that issue, thankfully and I have great water pressure.  Then it was a discussion how to get there. It's so much easier for them to just put it into their GPS and follow the directions than to try and sit there and describe to them how to get there from where they are.  I gave the description and then gave them the address - put that in there, it will tell you how to get there.  

They found it, they picked their spot, they paid and I left.  "If you have any problems, call me". I don't expect to hear much problems from anyone. It's all brand new, everything works, they just plug in, hook up their sewer line, hook up their water line and walaah.  I haven't heard anything several hours later.  

I am getting up early in the morning again - take the boys to the bus stop. They requested I do it and I want to try getting up early again. They have to get up at 5:40 am.  They have to be at the bus stop by 6:15 am.  After that I will probably drive over there and try to get some more stuff done.  

Anyway, I really need to get that sign up.  It is 4X4 and will be easily seen by anyone driving either direction.  I spent an hour and a half wandering around Lowe's today looking for sign mounts that showed they have but they - didn't have and trying to find something that will work.  I did find something.  I got the wifi going today, that was the biggest thing and having the website change from "free wifi coming soon" to simply having it listed in the amenities.  It works well enough, I have no clue if it would work with 14 rv's in there, most parks do not have adequate wifi when everyone starts streaming and bandwidth isn't sufficient. I have nothing I can do about that right now, it is what it is.  

Tomorrow, I need to promise myself to at least get started on the sign project.  I just needed to know what kind of mounts I"m using so I would know how far to apart to place the 4x4 boards.  Really, just need to get the holes dug, the posts in and cemented.  Sounds easy, but they are going to have to be precise in their distance apart from each other - it's harder than one might think to get it exact.  If there is wiggle room, no big deal but there is no wiggle room for this and if I screw up?  So, the first post will be easy, get it set into the ground and that's that. It's the second post that's going to be  a bit difficult. 

I'll get it done, tho.  If I can get the posts in, then I just have to wait a day for the cement to set - or actually 2 days but I don't want those posts sitting there too long like that considering it's a public easement and I don't want anyone fooling with it.  

Well that's enough. I also got the third pile burning today and was surprised to find the second pile still smoldering after two days.  The last/third pile is much larger than the first two and I started fires in 4 places to get it all going.  I'll pile everything up that isn't burned after it's done smoldering and light it again.  No, I haven't had any more online reservations but at least I know it's good to go and it's showing the free wifi.  Beyond what I am already working on, I can't really do anything else to get people in there, the coffers are running dry.  

 Thursday.

First day I started getting up much earlier.  It was 5:45 am, I heard the refrigerator door open and close, decided to get up and get moving. Dishes, laundry and other things done.  I'll be over at the property hours earlier than I have been over there any time recently.

I do have an excuse for this and it is, at least for me, a valid one.  I was sick twice in a short period of time. The first one was covid and it kicked my @$$.  The second was Type A flu that evolved into bronchitis that I still have going - to a much lessor degree now but the coughing is still there.  

The 2 of those things took it out of me.  Energy levels, way down, I was only able to work for a few hours before having to stop and take either a long break or quit for the day. I feel like I am pulling out of that now.  Admittedly a bit of a ways to go

Anyway, I can't say I was real happy to get up that early and I am feeling it, but I'm still resolved to get out of here soon and get over there, get stuff done.  The big sign or fire - not sure which I'm doing first.  Fire needs to get done just because I want that eyesore out of there.  I don't know what happened to the guy that was going to give me a quote on doing that front part, he called me a few days ago saying he was over there, going to get out of his truck to look at it.  Okay?  Give me a quote once you figure it out.

Yeah, that never came.  I mean, it's just dirt with weeds on it and some small piles of dirt that need leveled. Whatever.  

Anyway, I have a full plate of things to do - I seem to always have a full plate of things to do. It's really an endless list that just keeps getting more added to it after I get other stuff done.  I gave up on the grass for now. That last time I put down all that seed and much of it just washed away? No thanks, I have other things to do right now. At least the grass still left standing came back to life after that deep freeze.  It rained several times since then.

I also have a driveway project that I completely spaced out, it's dried up enough now to dig out a small trench - by hand- and install the 1-1/2 inch pipe to drain that area out when it rains. Once I get that pipe in, I can fix the driveway with fresh dirt and then - at some point - have a load of gravel brought in.  That's money and that situation is getting tight. A single truckload I guess I could deal with, but I don't want to spend the money on a machine rental to spread it.  

I just make decisions as I go here. Some things have to be done, other things - not so much.  I've thought about a substantial loan, really thinking about a draw loan, it's just if I do that, I have to put the land and the park I've built up as collateral.  If things go south - I lose all of that and I'm screwed out of 401k savings and the cashout-refi from my  house and money that was donated. Not an easy decision to make. I actually think I could get a large loan if I wanted. The property value and the rv park value is at least 350k with 64k owed on the land.  I could basically qualify for any size loan I wanted.

Anyway, some rv park owners were saying they just use starlink residential service for wifi for their parks.  It isn't available yet, but their business version is.  The difference? A lot of money. Almost $2,800 for the equipment and startup for business, much less for residential.  I'm going to set up this verizon thing for now and see how that works.  I will keep an eye out for starlink expansion into my area. Maybe I'll pleasantly surprised with verizon output? 

Well, it's time to go. Wish me luck, lol.

I was pretty much all over the place the last entry - my mind was swirling around in circles trying to take in all of this nonsense.  

To recap: Fidelity was almost 7 grand, Starlink was just short of 3 grand and most cell companies didn't have service to my property.  One that did, you had to jump through hoops to get a router and get it to actually work. I spent a lot of time today researching all of this stuff, before I eventually left the house, got in the car and drove to Verizon.  

Contrary to what the person on the online chat told me and what the person on the phone told me, I did not have to pay out $500 today nor did I have to give unlimited information to get a router that receives cell phone signal and converts it into internet and then sends out a wifi signal. 

I didn't have to pay for the router at all.  I also can order a booster - which I am doing right away  - for free. Whatever magic that lady had at the Verizon store? She did quite well.  Now, I am not saying this internet is going to work fabulously, I have really no idea.  I just know I will have something out there to use for wifi.  I was charged $33 today.  I still have to go online and fill out a bunch of stuff - I have been very busy today and none of that business included a single trip to the property. 

I am just relieved that I do have something to claim as wifi, I can only hope that it works decently.  It is not unlimited - that is a bit scary, I'll be keeping track of it.  I have the router, I need to finish all of this.

On to my online reservation system. A person in the Facebook group for RV investors/owners said they tried to book a site online and got back a "no sites available" message today. What? None of the lots on there are booked, not a single one.  I thought about it and got onto my site and tried to book a site. It came back with all 14 lots available.  

But I know what's happening.  There is a field you have to answer that indicates the type of rig you have. If you don't change the field, it is set at tent site. All of them show "tent" first. Well, obviously, tent sites aren't 78 foot long, graveled tent camping sites. I removed all tent sites from the site and then checked it. It still showed tent site first, even tho I had removed it out of the software.  I don't know if I needed to reset/refresh or whatever, but I wasn't waiting around.

I immediately contacted the developer and asked him to please fix it. He did, doing a test reservation which went through. Well of course it went through, he knows to change the thing from tent to something else.  Whatever, he left me to delete the reservation and that was that.  

Anyway, it's now fixed and I already received my first reservation through that system.  Like, how many reservations have I missed because of this situation?  Have I missed any reservations? A dozen? A hundred? I have no clue.  But it is telling I got the first one shortly after that thing was deleted out of there.  

Anyway, I'm moving forward and I'm hoping that now, I might get some reservations going now and throughout the summer?  See? I'm glad someone tried it and pointed it out to me.  The designer is the one who actually put that tent thing in there, he didn't catch that it was showing as default for type of rig and he also apparently hasn't considered that that field should probably either be eliminated or enhanced to stick out. Tents are gone, yes, but not permanently.  

Anyway, I am a bit relieved now that I understand that I have probably been losing business and now, perhaps, I will start getting some reservations.  

Tomorrow I will be working on trying to get the router going and pumping wifi out to the park. They said just plug it in, look for the name of it on your phone, enter the security key and walaah, you sould have wifi.  Yes, we will find out if the walaah actually happens. I just know that I have 3 bars of signal strength out of 4 for Verizon out there, that is sufficient to pump wifi into the park.  

There is still a lot to do and I am just doing one thing at a time and getting it done. I took campsite 1 out of the reservation system. These people are apparently staying for awhile and I don't need people booking it. I really think I want them to move to another lot tho, that is more of a "premiere" lot. At the moment, I am charging the same for everything but that will change.  If I start getting bookings all over the place, I may raise the rate up $5.  Still less than competitors but gives me a bit more profit.  

 $6,000 and change.

What for? 

To have Fidelity run 1,700 feet of aerial line to my property. 

I have no idea where they came up with that number for the lines run on the poles. It's about 500 feet from the pole near the road to the pole at the park.  It's 250 feet to the nearest pole with their line on it.  We're talking 800 feet at most.  

Maybe someday, when the park is "rich" and I am flowing in money, woo hoo!  Not today!  That's just to run the lines, that doesn't even include setting the park up.  

So now, I'm left with waiting on Starlink and hoping it works well - sometime this year is what they say with no date or even month when they expect to have it here - or try one of the sub-companies that's selling internet off the cell towers. Verizon won't give it to me because they are "sold out".  But a sub company will sell it to me through Verizon, lmao. 

Without Fidelity, my options are limited.  I just can't afford 6 grand for hard wired internet right now. I wouldn't even consider it under "normal" circumstances, but if I had "spare money" floating around, I'd do it anyway.  I could take out a loan, but I have 2 going now as it stands and I just don't want to go that route.  I'm kind of screwed.  

I guess I should have asked them if there is a payment plan I could get on.  She just flat out pasted me with over 6 grand that was that.  I suspect they'd want the money first before doing anything.  I wish I could talk to the engineer and come to an understanding of why they think I would need 1,700 feet of line. 

Oh well. I'm just going to try and find whatever alternative I can get.  Try to get something going.  I don't really know what to do right at this particular moment, that was really quite the let down hearing her saying that.  They're the only hard-wired internet around, I don't have any options if I want to use lines to deliver the internet. I suspect using a cell setup will require more than one router-account to get sufficient service to all the sites.

Ok, so calling Fidelity one last time, they want the money upfront. I then called ATT again - they have pedestals throughout the neighborhood but there is no service.  Lol, I know, sounds strange but I've been down this road with them before. And, I finally got a little more detailed info.  "It looks like maybe some people on the road have telephone service, old customers from long ago, but there is no internet service available. It just says coming soon".  Yeah, that's what they told me a year ago, coming soon. 

So what am I doing today? I guess I could go burn the burn pile while attempting to find service from cell towers on my laptop. I'm pretty much tempted to just sit here and look every cell service provider in the area up and see what, if anything, they have available.  I need internet, that's all I can tell ya.  

Well here we go.Verizon is now saying I qualify for Verizon LTE business internet.  Great! Would you like to see the options? yes please! This is why I just call companies back and talk to more people.  You get different information and that is likely due to the people at the first intake that really are just looking at computer screens but not really knowing much.

Regardless, I just got a call. Is this such and such RV park? I called you  yesterday?  No, this is Nature's Design RV Park.  Oh, ok, ok, I'm sorry called the wrong number.  So what makes them so special? Well, they have a lot of reviews and if you are looking at one specific set of reviews, most of them are happy customers. All the rest of the review sites? Hundreds of extremely negative reviews.  I mean, very dissatisfied customers for a variety of reasons.

Back to internet. Starklink is available for business in my area now.  Yay? Not so fast. They want $500 per month.  Unbelievable, this stuff is getting out of hand.  Even if I had the park filled up, $500 per month? I don't even know how well it works.....gag.  They want $2,798.38 due today. Lmao.  

Back to Verizon. They're claiming "300-600" feet. That's a big disparity! Still, I can get most of it covered and right now, I don't have anything but one customer in there. It's $99 for mid-level service. I'll upgrade it when I get more people staying long term in there.  Until then, I have no reason to spend a fortune on it. I can say I have it and that's that.  I will not spend almost 3 grand on Starlink and a ridiculous price of $500 per month for the service. It would be far more cost effective in the long run to pay the 6 grand to Fidelity and have a monthly bill less than half that. Wired service doesn't get interrupted by frequent storms, either. 

Ok lol.  I had to give Swepco - power company - very limited amount of information and I figure they installed thousands of dollars worth of lines, poles and 3 crews of people working on it. I bet that's 10 grand easily.  Verizon? You wouldn't believe the amount of information they want to set up a business account. It's unbelievable.  Plus they wanted me to send it over the internet. I started getting suspicious and wondered if it was a scam?

So, they gave me a business number that did not coincide with the business number listed on their website, right there where I was having the online chat with them.  I called the Verizon and they still wanted all kind of info, some of which I don't even have. Such as a business license. I don't need a business license, I am outside of city limits and Texas doesn't require it.  I'm out in county land and that's just the way they operate. Gag. Okay, I'm getting off of here. I need to go to the Verizon store, I was informed, if I wanted to start a business account and bypass all of this. 

G'day

 Yesterday wasn't a bust, but it certainly too a lot longer to finish up that gate, tighten the fencing and build that bench than I expected it to.  It took so long that by the time I got the trailer hooked up and got out of there, it was too late to do anything else beyond going to the store for dinner items.  

Anyway, I am going to get out there earlier today, tho I need to go get that sign and go to lowe's and get the materials to install the sign.  I'm sort of getting tired of spending money on this venture, but these signs are completely necessary. With people saying the main highway sign is too small and they can't see it and then seeing an RV stop in the middle of the driveway because they were unsure of where to go - well, we're going to fix that. 

The small highway sign was never intended to be permanent.  I am hoping to find a place along the other major highway through there that will allow the sign and not chuck it when highway workers find it.  The sign for the driveway wasn't foreseen.  But I could instantly see how a person driving up the main driveway could get confused. The exit only sign on works for the exit, but all of those pull through lots you could easily just pull into from the wrong direction.

Without signage, they have no idea where to go - well, I do have a "rv park entrance" sign at the entrance, but they can't see it from the point where the confusion begins.  It's a small investment for automation purposes, since I'm going back to work sooner or later here, people need to be able to navigate the thing on their own. 

Anyway, the software system for reservations has yet to be used by a single person.  It's not hard to use, I'm just not getting the customer interest.  I'm not sure what else I can do within budget to get people in. I'm trying to get wifi in there, that's a must, but Fidelity engineers are taking their sweet old time about it.  My Google ad is getting some views and some clicks, but so far it hasn't generated a single person coming into the park either short or long term.  It may be a bust, I don't know, there is still quite a bit of time left in that ad campaign. But, as I said before, after this? It's just going to be on-going ads for free in Facebook marketplace.  I'll be looking for any local venues that aren't internet based to see if I can post ads as well.  

I don't know if such things even exist anymore, the internet has taken over everything.

Well, I'm fixing to get out of here. Get the signs, get to Lowe's and then get back to the property.  If the fire pit is dried up yet, I'm taking the block out of it and starting a new one next to it and just fill that back in. It just fills up with water and takes many days for it to dry out.  It'll take half an hour to build the pit above ground. Let's change that to an hour and a half. Seems like everything ends up taking far longer than predicted lol.  That's it.  I want a cord of wood and build those benches that I already have the wood for.  

Go up and dig out the holes for the sign.  I don't even know if I'm supposed to be asking permission, but since my temporary sign was never taken down, I am just going to try. It's on state highway easement.  The small sign is sandwiched in between 2 permanent signs. One for the private rv park and the other for a Baptist church.  The new sign will go right there, in between those permanent signs. There's just enough room to put it in there.  

As for anything else today? yea that's probably a good amount of goal to get done or finish some and start on another.  I have fires to burn as well, but that takes constant attention to fueling it with wood from the area where the wood is stacked up.  So I dunno if I"m even going to try that today.  

G'day

 Well I certainly don't want to come off sounding like I'm giving up or dejected or anything.  It's not that at all. I'm just looking at everything going on around me and attempting to assess what the correct move/s will be next.  The only thing I will not allow regardless of what the property turns into - is a place full of trailer trash.  Trailer doesn't mean any particular skin color or income level. It's more of a mindset.  It's not a particularly good mindset and it becomes obvious around that type of person's dwelling place.   I will throw people out before I allow that kind of nonsense.

At the same time, there are a lot of mobile home parks that are kept immaculately clean both by management and by tenants. Tenants have no choice in these types of places, but for good reason.  You start seeing a lot of junk laying around a person's place and it is an eyesore and becomes irritating, to say the least.  

Anyway, I have 2 people that say they want to move in now. That is, of course, nothing to me until they actually show up, hand me the money and park.  My Google ad is getting some clicks and it shows where they are coming from. Most of it is from Tyler (Texas) which is about 60 miles away.  Look, if someone is looking to make a move, I'm going to make sure that if they are moving my way, they know about my place.  It makes sense to advertise in surrounding communities and in 3 counties.  For long term anyway. 

It makes sense to have it listed all over the country for travelers or tourists. There IS stuff to see and do in our area.  I don't know if that equates into people making it a destination. We do have some small town appeal in the downtown area where lots of small town stuff goes on.  Parades, farmer's markets, all kinds of stuff. 

I don't know what reputation our town has in the region.  It's about 22,000 population, it's got lots of restaurants and some major chains.  Lots of service industry as well. A majority of the jobs here are pretty much low paying stuff mixed with rich ranchers and people that have acquired a large amount of wealth through royalties from natural gas leases.  There are gas wells all over the place, there must be a dozen of them on my property street alone.  I assume they are connected into the same gas reservoir so I don't know how it works out that you need that many wells accessing one reservoir.

The biggest problem with our town is housing.  Build a house - it will sell quickly.  It was a secondary thing I was thinking about doing instead of an RV park.  Not necessarily building them, but buying up whatever is available and renting it them out.  Lots of poverty - 25% worth, that is more than double the national poverty rate.  And the neighborhoods where they live show it.  

My property street has a few places that are in disrepair. One house is so bad  that no one can or does live in it.  Another house is used for horses. No one lives in the houses, the horses get up on the porch, the property is not well kept. And another one, a person has a bunch of cars out front.  The rest of the street, however, is nice.

Anyway, the day isn't getting any shorter, it was freezing cold when I woke up this morning. 36 degrees outside, didn't feel much warmer in my room, the new heating/cooling unit with new ductwork? Yeah, that didn't do much for this room, my bathroom or the pantry - which is a very large room for everything from a freezer, washer/dryer, food storage, tools, etc.  It helped nothing and even going from 3 ton to 5 ton it's not doing anything different. Now, the system was old and was completely broken, it needed replaced, but all of this extra stuff they did that was going to heat/cool the parts of the house that weren't getting it?

I'm going out this morning and working on finishing the gate on the dog park - the concrete should be set by now, probably putting the park bench together and installing the dog dung bags. After that I can start on the fire. Well wait, I need to go get the new signs and the lumber to install the sign on the main highway. The fire may very well have to wait. I'd rather get this other stuff done first.

G'day

 Okay this is getting rather extreme and things that would have altered the trajectory of my course with decisions if I had known.

Yet another RV park has just opened - about 50 miles away.  Now, for people wanting to live in the park, that probably doesn't matter. If you want to live near my town for whatever reason - work/friends presumably - you aren't going to want to live 50 miles away.  

But, if you are just traveling through?  Hmmm.  You might be looking for the cheapest place just to spend the night - or - you might be looking for something very nice even if only spending the night.  

This place they built is quite nice, I'll freely admit that and they have put down some dough on it.  Half a million at least with the buildings and the concrete picnic areas and everything they've done.  I can't compete with it, at all.  I can compete with that other new one, they have almost nothing just like mine. A space, all the hookups and a few amenities.  

On top of this, sooner or later a 38 space park will be opening up about 15 miles south. I don't see how they can compete with much of anyone being out in the middle of nowhere without developing it into some sort of resort style park - which I also cannot compete with.  I don't have half a million dollars laying around for this stuff and if I did, I would be hesitant to dump it all into what appears to be an ever-increasing risky proposition.  

I'm very glad I am very close to town, that's what I will say for now.  My proximity will attracts locals looking for cheaper living arrangements. As for the transients? I have no idea.  I can guess that I'll have to leave my rates low in order to be able to compete.  They're charging $40 plus per night, I've got my rates stuck at $25.  It was a quick change in my mind from being stuck on at least $35 to the $25 simply because of the sudden, increased competition that started popping up all over the place.  

And seeing what some of them are offering.  I suspect they would jack their prices up even higher, but there's simply too much competition in this area.  Although I'm not caving yet, I suspect I'll have to change the format of my park to tiny homes or even modular/mobile homes.  TBH, it doesn't bother me that much because in reality, my dream was of opening a mobile home park for decades, not an RV park.  I can have a mix of both if it comes down to it.  

The only other places offering rates as low as mine are the dumps.  And they are absolute dumps.  Mine is not a dump. It's not perfect but it's far from trailer trash.  The weeds are irritating me and I'm just trying to get the wood piles burned up so I can get that dozer in there, level all that stuff, clear it and put down some winter grass seed. Not too much - it would cost a lot of money to put down a dense covering of seed to try and get that area turned green - but enough to get something going beyond weeds.  When the weed growing season comes, I hope I have the finances to put down summer grass seed.  

I'm not necessarily alarmed about all of these parks popping up - but I can say that my thoughts are definitely turning towards other methods of income for the park.  I don't really want "old" mobiles in there, I would like newer stuff that doesn't look trashy.  At least out of the metal roof era, I've lived in those and they are a constant battle it seems to keep them from leaking.  With the rain in this area, it's not a good fit.  

But for now, I've got what I've got and I am just trying to get people in there.  I've spent the time advertising it and I've spend the money on signs - 2 of which I still need to go get and install.  The signs are more for automation purposes tho - if I'm on the road driving I can't be running over there greeting people in person and telling them where to park.  The signs are just direction to get people to the right place. 

Still, I was in awe of the facility I just saw that is brand new and just opened. If only I had that kind of money to spend that would be of the "loan" nature, not my own personal cash.  This is going to be a much longer process than I originally expected it to be.  I can't stop people from dumping tons of money into land and building out RV parks.  I don't know if it's going to work out for them, tho, because of all the competition.  I've got the room for a pool, a clubhouse, all the things that some of these places are paying exorbitant amounts of money to have installed into their parks.  

I have ideas tho.  It all costs money, but I have ideas for a unique experience.  I have the room for it as well. That front area is a little over 7 acres and I've consumed maybe 2 at most of them for the present set up.  I won't go into those ideas now, it's just musings that would turn the place into more of a destination than just a place to stay or live.  

Anyway, it's the 7 turning 8 today's birthday.  He wants to go out front and clean up leaves, lol. This wasn't my idea but it definitely needs to get done.  The front porch is ridiculous and I started cleaning that up yesterday.  I'd like to finish and get it more presentable before people show up this afternoon for the birthday party.  We just tend to use things and then dump them on the front porch. It starts looking pretty - junky - after a while. We then clean everything off and start all over again, lmao.  

I've got far too much on my mind, I need a break from all of this thinking stuff.  It just turns on and I can't stop it.  Monday, I'll be out there finishing up the doggy park and then I'll get to installing those signs.  One of them is a large sign for the highway a mile away.  It needs 4X4's cemented into the ground, so that's going to be a process in itself.  That'll probably take up the whole day. 

 I didn't get the new signs today. Mostly because I completely forgot about it. I spent hours just dealing with one burn pile. It's much more work than one would realize considering the amount of wood and the fact that you have to keep cutting up trees and branches to feed the fire.  The fire won't spread as much as I would like it to, you have to bring the wood in the pile to the fire.  So yea, I only got one pile done today.  2 more to go.  I want that stuff burned before bringing in a dozer.  

I can see dozing under ash and small pieces, but this big stuff isn't going to wash.  I don't want any piles after the dozer work if at all possible. 

If I would have remembered, I would have brought the trailer home at least.  Oh, no I couldn't. Forgot this is Friday, the sign place closes for the weekend.  I guess I could go now.....

Apparently my ad campaign just started.  Thanks for sending me the email you promised when you said it was up and running!  I just clicked on Google manage your business and found the thing.

______________

That was yesterday. I received a call from a man last night looking for a place to stay overnight.  He saw my ad - yes it's showing probably 75 miles in every direction at least. It was a dead end. He was at another RV park that he said was closed and no one there.  I told him I was 54 miles away and that was too far for him, he only wanted to drive a little more to find the nearest place as he had been driving all day.

Meanwhile, I have had 2 inquiries about long-term residence at the park since putting up the Google ad.  And now, Facebook asked if I wanted to renew the marketplace ad to which I said yes, of course! lol. I'm getting some leads but so far it isn't transitioning into guests/money.  Patience I guess. Just keep on plugging it in the local market and hope eventually I get more people in there and eventually enough to half fill the place up.  I am still wanting to see if I can get the short termers in there.  It's not reasonable to assume I will be able to get a loan to finish the place off if I can't even get 14 spots filled up.  

One person just contacted me a while ago and asked what age do you allow? The RV, that is. Many parks only allow up to 10 years old. Some 15. Others don't care as long as they are in good condition. I'm with the third option - if they look decent and aren't falling apart and don't have to have tarps on the roof. Can you send me a pic? I haven't bought one yet.  Oh, okay, well as long as it's in decent condition I'm good with it.  I intend on buying one in the next few days, I'll get back to you.

Ok.  This situation could turn quickly in my favor.  Or who knows. I won't say "or not" because I have faith that this thing is eventually going to take off.  I don't when or how long it's going to take to get there, but affordable housing my area is fairly non-existent and the only stuff available for "decent" prices are trash.  You buy an RV outright for cash and live in it - one monthly payment for the lot, you're good to go. 

I've lived in travel trailers.  You get used to it.  

 The final money I'm spending on advertising. Posted a Google ad yesterday - still waiting for them to edit it and put it up. After that, it's just going to be local Facebook groups and of course anyone seriously looking for a place to stay will find my park on a myriad of searches including google. 

I just wanted to have that ad pop up to anyone referencing rv on a search.  The ad covers a few hundred mile radius according to the map Google shows of advertising reach.  So, will it be worth a couple hundred dollars?  I have no idea. I had to try something beyond what I've already got going here.  I have no other short term or long term interested parties going right now.  

I still think it's the time of year that is doing it.  

I also haven't heard back from the internet company. I don't know how long that is going to take.  I did get a revised offer from the trash pickup company - but with only one RV in there presently? I'm not doing any commercial trash pickup until I get more people in there. 

Anyway, I woke up yesterday morning with a very painful wrist.  I must have slept on it funny. It's still hurting and limiting my ability to do much of anything with that hand/arm.  I also am having a resurgence of coughing.  And feeling icky.  Unfortunately, I have stuff to do and I will just keep it to a minimum of energy output, but I am going over there today to see if I can get those burn piles going.  I have the starter logs and they will burn regardless. Set a match to them, they light on fire and burn for several hours.  It's been 3 days since the last rain and it is allegedly supposed to rain tomorrow. 

I can't imagine going to a trucking job right now feeling like this, I need to get past all of this nonsense.

As for jobs, much of what I'm seeing is "average ...50-60k" range.  I'm not interested in working for free. If it comes down to brass tacks, I'll take whatever, but I am not there yet or even close.  If I can't make at least 70k, at least for right now, I'm not interested.  You spend that much time driving someone else's truck and they are making that kind of money, they need to be handing some of that profit over to their bread and butter: the drivers.  It's amazing how cheap many of these companies are.  Profiting over the ignorance or inexperience of the people that bring the money in for them.

So, you have to wonder if there is actually a shortage of truck drivers or if there are just a lot of drivers that aren't going to work for these companies that are paying peanuts?  I don't know.  

Well, laying my wrist on my leg and typing that way works without pain, at least, lol. 

I'm ready to watch day 4 of the House circus act.  Democrats mocking republicans because they didn't elect someone right away.  Oh?  You mean, under Pelosi, the rules were skewed and the power rested in a few people's hands?  And the lack of debate over anything, including the 1.7 trillion dollar budget "deal" that just got rammed through Congress?  People apparently aren't used to seeing debate anymore, like a novel concept.  It IS a debate going on in the House of who is going to handle the Speaker's gavel.  And so, I don't really care how long it takes, but I am amused at both liberal and conservative outlets making it out to be some kind of disaster for Republicans.

These people understand that drama works for the uniformed.  For people like me? Yeah, this isn't anything to worry about.  They keep saying that "they could and should be working" on the things that matter to Americans. Yup, that may be true, but if these important things are being worked on with the wrong people, we get bad outcomes.  They have plenty of time to address all that needs to be addressed.  McCarthy supporting Reps go on and on about how these holdouts are just doing it for their 15 minutes of fame, etc etc etc.  But if you listen to some of the holdouts, they actually have reasonable demands that really shouldn't be an issue.   

I don't really think these holdouts are doing it for fame.  I think they are doing it because they are truly concerned about the state of our Republic and the continued direction it will head if you get a Speaker in there that kowtows the same as McConnell does in the Senate.  I unabashedly call McConnell a traitor to the Republican party and assert that he is no republican at all.  He is a wolf in sheep's clothing and not even disguised that well.  His rubber stamping this 1.7 trillion budget and many things he has done previously prove that.  

Well anyway, it IS entertaining to watch all of this, at least to me.  They will likely end up voting for McCarthy after he caves and gives into their demands, which apparently he is doing now.  He doesn't have any choice. Some of these holdouts, however, say they will never vote for McCarthy regardless of how much he gives them.  They don't trust him. I don't trust any politician, so I get that, lol.  They say a lot of stuff they very much do not mean and do not intend on following through with.  They get sucked up in the DC machine and become a part of it.  It remains to be seen whether enough of the holdouts will vote for McCarthy after concessions.  There is such a slim Republican majority, it only takes a handful of them holding out to continue to force vote after vote.  

Well enough. I'm heading over to the property and see about burning the wood. 

G'day. 

 Just trying to figure out how to get some more long term people in here.  The people that were going to come to stay for 3 months had a change of plans. Now they just want one night and are heading back to Kansas.  I just take their claims at face value, I have no control over any of that and tho it is a let down, it is what it is.  I need 3 more people to move in permanently.  Or, just have a steady flow of 1/2/3 nighters coming in and out. I've got the online registration system dialed into how I want it. 

I got rid of the one night's charge that most campgrounds force on people if they want to cancel their reservation within 48 hours.  I simply put that if they do not cancel their reservation, they will be charged one night's stay for no show. I'm on the "needy" side here, I don't have all the guests these other places have coming and going, I feel the need to be a bit more lenient on the otherwise rigidity of reservation rules.  

I understand why these parks do that, but I don't have the customer base to even care if they don't show up. Whereas long established parks could have rented the lot to someone else - hence they charge for cancellations and no shows - I have no such problems.  The point is that some people will abuse the system. They'll reserve a place at your park for "just in case" if there is no cancellation fee.  They may have never intended to stay, it was just a "plan B" or even C. I lose nothing in my current situation by not forcing them to pay.  So, I just spent an hour carefully rewording it and adding a liability disclaimer to the text.  I don't know why they didn't have that to being with.  

Anyone that uses the online system must click a field that says I agree with the terms and conditions - whether they read it or not is not my problem. They agreed to the liability disclaimer and I find that extremely important to force anyone to have to click on. I'm not liable for them falling on a trail because they weren't watching where they were going. Just things like that if such an event occurs.  I'll hope that nothing like that ever happens - but - that's why I have commercial liability insurance. 

Anyway, the only thing I haven't done is buy one of the more expensive Google ads.  I'm weighing my options here. Money supply is no unlimited but it wouldn't be an issue if I could just get more people in.  My rates are low and good for travelers coming through.  Well, great actually compared to anything comparable in this entire region.  Besides a  Google ad, I'm not sure what else I can do. I have it listed in like 15 of the local buy/sell groups and some gossip groups as well.  I'm really trying to get some of the people in other  parks to see my ads and consider a move.  

More questioning on my part than any answers.  It's still early in the year yet, anything could happen.  Now that I've changed the cancellation rules, I feel I have a better chance.  I just really need the reviews.  

Whatever the case, my attention is slowly shifting back to the work force.  And I've been looking. Not quite at the "serious" stage yet, but the time is coming where I'll need to get back into the driver's seat and I need to know what options are available out there.  

Anyway, I'm just glued to the tv today, I need to get out of here and get some work done. I'm watching the news because of this fiasco occurring with attempting to vote in the next Speaker of the House.  I don't have a problem with the holdouts, they have their opinion and they are also serving their constituents that voted them in.  Maybe people are sick and tired of Congress ignoring the will of the people.  Maybe people are tired of hearing about these unbelievably high priced bills that no one is allowed enough time to even read, much less digest and form opinions on the various aspects of the 4,000 page monster that this latest one is.  \

So, I'm watching this and wondering if McCarthy will actually be voted in or if he is going to have to stand down. 5 of the holdouts are "never-McCarthy" and reasoning that he has had 14 years in Congress to get something done about the issues that matter to the people - and much if not all of it remains the same or is even worse now than when he first started.  

I'm also watching Biden whining about conservatives rejecting some of his alleged measures to stop the unbelievable migration and illegal entry into the US from swarms of people coming from all over South America and even the entire world.  Biden has done NOTHING about the border, but for some reason, he apparently is changing his tune. I would say likely by at least some democrats that are saying the same thing as republicans: there is a crisis at the border, there has been  a crisis at the border and you (Biden) need to do something about it.

Finally? I must have slept on my left arm/wrist last night. I woke up with it in pain and after a few hours it still isn't right.  I always hate when you go to sleep in normal position and then wake up in some weird contortion, wonder how you got into that position and further wonder how you could have possibly slept through that discomfort or even pain?

Well, off to the property.  

 Well, the AC/Heat contractors are here and already noting that the roof access is too small for their fittings to get through.  Whatever, not my house. I suggested making the hole wider, they are talking about making a completely new hole somewhere else in the house. Literally makes no sense if you already have a hold to simply make it a bit bigger versus cutting an entirely new hole somewhere else. As I said, it's not my house and I don't really care, but the less holes the less heat and ac escaping through those holes. Yes they get covered up but those covers aren't insulated.

Anyway, I haven't received any more calls about accommodations and I haven't had any online reservations.  I'm reading that sometime this month, several park owners expect that people will start reserving spots for their parks. Well, I hope I can get in on that and get a piece of that pie.  

I'm working on getting wifi in there. Fidelity is my first choice - but that really depends on what they want to charge me to get the line run back there.  I'm not spending 5 thousand dollars just to get internet in there, I could see a grand.  They only would have to run the line, but, as we all know, inflation has jacked up the price of everything and who knows how much they pay for that line. 

I did have a person asking me if I will take mobile homes in there.  Not ATM, I replied tho I certainly won't write that idea off the table. This is a patience game, wait and see what happens in the next coming weeks, maybe a few months and see if people are actually going to spend a night or 4 at my place in the upcoming RV season.  

I've done everything I can think of to do for the Google business site.  It's received hundreds of views from various means, but mostly cell phones.  The website is also up to date with info on the park and the fact that we are open, please use our online reservation system or simply call us.  

I do have 3 people that are "seriously" interested in long term. I want 4 of them at the rate I am offering, after that, the rate goes up for anyone wanting to come in afterwards.  Of course, these people -even if they do want to move in - also have to pass my scrutiny for their rv, it's appearance and also that they will abide by the rules.  I am making it a practice to hand people a copy of the rules at first meeting even if they are only staying overnight.  Besides the rules, it also has a liability disclaimer on it.  I'm sorry you were struck by lightning walking out in a thunderstorm in the middle of an open field, we are not taking liability for it.  

Anyway, a person is coming tomorrow to take a look. They were more concerned about Verizon reception than anything.  I have Verizon, it works well, you can text, make calls, stream YouTube videos and even do live Facebook videos back in the woods.  It's a pretty strong signal.  I'll be happy to get a second guest in there if they do indeed decide to move in.  My rates - the low version - are getting attention and I am getting some inquiries.  Inquiries are good, but I need people to hand me the cash and move in.  

I'm bantering with Republic trash services to get a price I can deal with.  I don't have 14 lots worth of people, if I did then their first try would have been fine.  They wanted almost $300 per month for the smallest dumpster they have - no, no and no.  I am waiting on them simply quoting me for what we have at the house: 2 regular residential containers. That really should be enough to handle what I have/will have going.   

I'm working on my resume so I can simply upload it to jobs I am interested in instead of writing out my entire work history on every job application.  

Oh, well anyway, I tried to dig a trench across the driveway today - that was a no go. Too much water, it kept filling everything up and I couldn't see what I was doing. That water is going to have to dry up before i can do that.  I got the doggy park all but ready to go.  The pole for the dog dung bags is in - fresh cement and I finished a portion of fencing that I had to redo.  Now I just need that concrete to dry and I can install the gate and install the dog bag dispenser.  I have to take the bench over there and put it together - people like a place to sit while they are letting their dogs run around.  

Once I get the trash containers out there, I can take the 50 gallon can I have at the shed and use it in the park.  The fire pit was still quite muddy.  Nothing I can do there.  Tomorrow, I am going to see about burning out those burn piles.  Hopefully it will have dried out enough after 2 days.  I'm not going to fool with the doggy park get until Friday, I think.  Much of the rest of what I have to do is simple cleanup.  That's a work in progress.....

There's more, I'm just tired. I haven't been sleeping well at night and it shows during the day. I also lose energy quickly while doing physical labor and I start hacking/coughing like crazy.  I was only out there working a few hours today before I quit. Yesterday I lasted 6-1/2 hours.  

My first long-term tenants moved in today.  Good thing I'm opening a doggy park, they have 2 of them and one of them likes to run and not listen to it's owners.  I don't mind with no-one else there, but that isn't going to work with other people staying there.  I did let them know directly about that - not a problem now but there ARE people that don't like dogs and I don't want your dogs running all over the place terrorizing the neighborhood. Ok, lol, they are just itty bitty little things, but rules are rules and people get pissed if the owner/management doesn't enforce them.  I hope I don't have to get into confrontation with them - or anyone else for that matter - but I will if I have to.  

That's enough. The AC people left. There was a lot of work to do. They had to rebuild the stand the inside AC stuff sits on and install all of that plus the new condenser outside. They are still working on the new duct work and won't have that finished until tomorrow. So, we are stuck with space heaters for another night - going to get down to 38 degrees tonight, that's cold in my book.  

 This stuff wears me out. I actually think it would be easier to go back to work for some trucking company than attempting to deal with all of this park business stuff. I'm far from 100% as it stands so physical labor sort of takes it right out of me.

First, of course the morning was spent going through all the providers in my area for internet.  Boost and Fidelity are the only contenders.  There was one other company, but they piggy-back off of Verizon cell towers and Verizon already told me there is not enough signal strength for internet/wifi. 

Then I called the bank and got the process started to switch the payments for the land from my personal account to the business account.  

Then I got a call from the sign company, they had seen a missed call from me from last week. Yes, I need a couple more signs, detailing it to him what I want over the phone.  He "made" the signs on computer, sent me pics of what the finished product would look like and I said yes, that's perfect.  

After that, over to Walmart. This was not business related. Well sort of.  I wanted my own umbrella for this rainy season so I didn't have to take the family umbrella over there if it's raining.  I also needed some algae killer for my aquarium, the water is turning green actually.  And then I found candles on sale for 75% off, I absolutely love burning smelly candles in my bedroom.  

Anyway, over to Lowe's. Got the wider diameter pipe.  Then I got 2, 10-foot sticks of 1-1/2 inch PVC pipe - I am going to run that across the driveway to drain an increasingly larger pool of water that accumulates when it rains.  It's pretty bad.  I need the water to be able to drain, then I can fix the giant crater.  A couple of bags of quikcrete and I was done there.  Well, it didn't cross my mind until I had left that I am going to need 2, 10-foot 4X4's to install the new sign along the highway.

But I wouldn't have wanted to put those in my SUV anyway, it would just tear things up in there.  A couple of 10 foot sticks of PVC didn't mess anything up in contrast.  I'll have to get the trailer out for that.  Get some more grass seed as well when I do that. 

Over to the property. Both RV's were gone - but that was expected. They both said they were leaving this morning.  One heading to Tennessee and the other down to the border.  Safe travels, thanks for coming! I'm going to send them links to review the park.  If they so desire, they will review it and then it will come back to me for "final review".  I can tell ya, I'm not going to publish negative reviews if it's within my power to do so.  The people that I "saved" should give me something good or nothing at all.  The other people? I have no clue.  I only saw them for a few minutes and that was that.  

I threw the PVC out near where I need to install it and then went over and started digging out the gate pipe that is the wrong size. That took quite a while and a lot of energy to get that thing out of there. Remember, I had it cemented in.  But I did, eventually get it out and installed the new one with fresh quikcrete and then started working on the fencing to where the gate is. I got as far as I can get with it until the cement dries and I can finally finish that doggy park.  

That took up quite a of time and it wore me out.  In that time, an older gentleman came up and started asking questions about lot rent. I let him know about that but then he got into how much it cost to do all of the work to build the park.  I wasn't following him, I got suspicious.  It's pretty normal thing for competitors to go to their competition and act like they're customers.  I said yup, it cost a lot of money.  I mean, is it anyone else's business to ask such questions? I guess I don't mind answering them, but I got that gut feeling that this dude wasn't legit.  He wasn't looking for a lot to rent - but what he really wanted, I don't know. 

He left, I said have a great day! ....regardless of my suspicions, he could be a legitimate, potential customer so I just treated him in such a manner.  He was driving a late model Ford pickup - no cheap truck, he has money whoever he is and whatever his intentions are/were. 

It rained all last night so I didn't even try to light fires. It was sunny today and in the 70's, but I suspect it's going to be several days before I can think about burning all of that dried up wood piles out of there. It's going to have to be tended to - all day long - all 3 of those piles. Not because it could possibly take off and burn everything down, no, that's not it. It's because it's not all compacted together.  Basically, you pick a spot to start a fire and then you get your trusty chainsaw out and start cutting stuff up and throwing it on the fire itself.  

That or those are going to be a long day/s just doing that, but it must be done.  The fire pit is going to be completely redone.  I didn't much care for the way the guy did it, I didn't ask him to dig a deep hole and now that I see the hole is filled up with water? No thanks. I'm just going to fill it in and build the thing above ground.  That way, water will just drain right on through it instead of building up inside of it.  I do appreciate his intentions, but it won't work. It will be many days before that is dried out and can start work on that.  

At least I am quite close to being done with the doggy park and installing that drain line across the driveway will take lots of energy but it should be relatively easy enough to get done.  I figure several days for that cement to dry out for that post, I'm not going to even try to do anything with it until I am positive it's dry and putting tension on it isn't going to pull it sideways.  I only have one full time couple that is moving in - I don't have any more short or long term people - yet.

But, I did have the web guy put a notice on the front page that "free wifi coming soon!".  This is to appeal to people looking for a park to stay at for the RV'ing season.  If you don't have wifi, you can write a lot of potential customer base off. I don't know why I waited so long, it just really slipped my mind.  Only after Taylor said something about it yesterday did it hit home - yes, I need to get that done!  

So at least it says it will be coming soon and that at least gives any potential customers the knowledge that by the time they get there for their vacation rv'ing? It will have it.  Bath house? Laundry? I don't know folks, it's just not money I have to spend right now.  I wish I could at the very least get a washer and dryer in there - but it's $500 for me to run a power line to the shed. That doesn't include breaker box, breakers, running lines inside the shed, etc.  And I would have to dig out the sewer and water lines to run them over there as well.  

I'm not saying I can't or won't do it, I just don't have the money for that right now.  As it stands, at the very minimum, after I get that water drainage pipe in, I really must have at least a couple truckloads of gravel brought in to fix that entire area.  So there's a grand or more worth of gravel and that's doing it myself - having the truck bring it in and then me spreading it.  

I just sit here and hope that more people will call at the last moment - do you have anything available tonight? Why yes, yes I do!  

 There isn't any getting past having wifi available.  I've read far too many stories and far too many poll results from a variety of outlets saying that a very large percentage of campers want wifi available or they will just scroll on.  So much so, that I have my web support adding "WiFi COMING SOON!" to the web page.  And that it will, in one form or another.  Right now, I have a feeler out to the local internet company to find out what they would charge to wire the telephone poles on my property with their line to bring it to the park.  It's about 450 feet back - further really if you are going to the other end of the park.  But, it need only go to the final pole, down it and over to where I will install it not far from the pole and the power meters are right there, next to the pole.  I can run the router about 100 feet away from there on a stand and then have repeaters to strengthen the signal.  

It's going to happen and soon.  I'd prefer to try Starlink - but they aren't here yet. Just a statement that they plan to expand to my area sometime in 2023.  Unhelpful.  The local internet provider is Fidelity, they are my first choice since it's wired internet versus trying to bring it in via cellphone towers.  T Mobile says they aren't available there yet, either.  I need decent service, if they say they aren't available, Im not fooling with it.  Next would be Verizon and ATT.  T Mobile is cheaper hence I tried them first.  

Well that was fast.  Fidelity already called me back, said there has never been internet at your property, we have submitted it to our engineers to take a look, see what it will take and then we will get back with you. I mentioned that it will have to be run a ways back into the property and they said, yup, we do that too.  I'm not really sure why they called, I guess to tell me their engineers will be assessing it.  I wouldn't mind having them set up the entire thing, even if it costs a few thousand dollars.  It's money well spent to get the people in there.  

And a discussion with Verizon eliminated them as well, they said not enough signal strength. The choices are narrowing.  ATT is the only real option I would consider for cellphone tower service and I have no idea what their signal strength is.  I may very well be stuck with Fidelity, I can only hope they aren't going to try to charge me a fortune to run that line back in there.  ATT has pedestals running through the neighborhood, but they emphatically tell me they have no service there even tho they went to the expense of installing them.  It makes no sense, whatsoever, to put all of that in there and have nothing available to anyone.  

Alright, my signs are ordered.  There is confusion on the main driveway as to where to actually pull in.  I have a sign at the entrance, but it's at the back of the park and you can't really see it until you come up on it.  So now, I am having a sign made that says "park entrance, 400 feet". This will eliminate the confusion, mostly caused because the pull through sites look as tho you just drive into them from the main driveway. Now, if someone were to do that, they could still get out of the park. Just not how the park is set up, tho.  

Oh!  Now that I have had a civil, pleasant discussion with the new gas owners, the dude in the green pickup? Is now waving!  Yay!  He has also slowed down considerably.  That's marvelous news for me, I don't have to worry about contending with these people (hopefully) any longer. There are still service companies that go in there that contact out to the new owners, but they don't go in there that often.  Anyway, the dude in the pickup is in and out of there daily.  I mean, 7 days a week, they send an employee in there to check the operation and it's almost always him.  I wonder what kind of pay that guy gets to do that. They just check the liquid foam container, enter some info into a laptop and then leave.  

Yeah, probably won't be getting one of those jobs, but it IS interesting.  Ok, well I have nothing more I can do about internet right now until Fidelity calls back and I suspect that will take a minute for them to determine what they are going to have to do and what, if any, costs they are going to charge to install it.  ATT isn't showing any internet service at the address via cell signals either.  Well wait, whoa and hold up. Boost has good signal according to their map for my property.  

Anyway, it's not raining today and I need to get to lowe's, buy the correct items for the dog park gate entrance and get busy.  

G'day.  

 Why can't I just rent a small trackhoe from the local place and dig out my own pond?  Right on the stream near the bridge in the rear.  This wouldn't cost much money and add lots of appeal to the walking people. In fact, the first people that came into the park said they started to walk back the trail last night, but stopped before they got too far.  It was getting dark and they didn't want to get caught back in there. They didn't know how far it goes. 

Well, at a brisk pace you can probably walk all of the circle in 15 minutes.  If you want to explore all the trails, you will be back there 30 minutes. If you want the exercise, you can just go around in big circles for as long as you want.  But it was nice someone else went back there and enjoyed the views.  

Anyway, I could dig out a couple thousand gallon, small pond's worth and maybe add some sort of fish that can deal with that kind of living atmosphere.  Not really for fishing, just for appearance. Goldfish actually look OK and can live in just about anything. It's just there's times of the year when there isn't much water flowing through there and sometimes nothing is moving, tho that doesn't happen often and doesn't last very long.  I mean, I really could see a pond that the bridge crosses.  

Wait, I really wouldn't even need to dig out that much. Really just need to build a dam!  Why haven't I thought of this before?  I have no clue how to build a dam, but I would be willing to be $100 there's a youtube video for it!  Probably lots of them!  

I'll be looking into that - just research for now. I have too much to do with the park itself to be diverting my attention to the woods area again. And, when I do get my attention back there again, I want tent camping sites. Money takes precedence and there are opportunities I am losing out on right now for tent camping for a few reasons.

First and foremost, the access. That driveway near the rear is dirt and it turns into mud when it rains. It's raining heavily right now and I can guarantee you, if I were to drive over there, I would likely get close to getting stuck if I drove back in there. The RV park is well before that area, thankfully.  We're talking around 4 grand worth of gravel to do the entire driveway.  Just not in the cards right now.  I suppose I could advertise tent camping to 4 wheel drive customers only.  Restrictive but it's really the only way I could be rest assured that if it starts pouring rain and they want out of there? They can actually get out.  

If I did that, then the rest of it isn't that bad.  The first camping spot is to the right and in the woods near the gas platform.  It's a nice area and I am sure people would like it. It would be a good place to start with just one sight.  I actually think I will add that tent site to the website.  Might as well try!  Now that we're past the ridiculous 8 degree and 20 degree weather, perhaps it could generate some interest.  It's not a huge money make in terms of rates, but every penny counts and I want the entire property to eventually be generating revenues in one way or another.  

If you can't tell I'm getting rather excited, it's just that I didn't expect these 2 short stays at all and the long term is coming sometime this week.  We can pay some bills with that money. It's not profit but it's a start!

Enough for tonight.  

 Taking no chances with an almost 20k septic system, I contacted the contractor before turning it on.  Is there anything special I need to do before turning it on? No, just make sure the breakers are all on.  He got back to me quickly and I haven't talked to him in well over a month. That was nice.  I was thinking it might take - quite a while - for him to reply.  But looking at the switch to turn it on, it has a mute and a run setting. No idea what the mute is for, I put it on run and then asked him?

Mute keeps the alarm and the red flashing light off if something goes wrong with it.  I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to know if the thing is having problems....I have a 2 year warranty on it, if something goes wrong it is covered and I owe them nothing, the entire work they have done is all paid for.  Even if it weren't under warranty, I would definitely want to know if the thing has stopped working.  Last thing you need is a bunch of poop backing up in the lines to the inlets, gag and gross.  

Well, anyway, I don't know how much waste is in there but there's only been 1 rig using it, the one that came in? After I left, they put out their slides, hooked up their 50 amp line, turned on their AC units and left.  It's neither hot nor cold, it's the time of year those ac units should be cycling on an off, off more than on.  So once it initially cools the thing down it shouldn't really be running the compressors that much.  

I'm concerned about costs, obviously and electricity in the summer time with one of those things with 2 large ac units can eat up some power.  But for right now, I don't need to worry about it.   I guess if there is any advantage to being open during winter? No or low AC use - it is in the 70's 'here today tho - and heating is usually primarily supplied by a propane run heating system.  At least in the systems I am familiar with. I don't know if they've started installing AC units with heat option?  

I am probably going to put meters on for long term guests and charge less per month but they pay electricity. I"d like to get that done by summer - say late May early June at the latest.  That way people are less inclined to gobble up "free electricity".  I've had that concern with long term since the beginning, it's nothing you worry about with short term, they are paying more and covering the cost of electric.  My cut throat rates won't help with electric either, but it's getting some people in there so I'm actually happy.  For now.  

I'm at 3 customers now and not a single one of them has used the online payment/reservation system, lmao.  Ok, I only spent $200 on it and I'm hopeful people might start using it to book spring/summer/fall stays. These people showed up today, handed me the money and that was that, they didn't want to chit chat and that's fine with me.  I'm getting people who are disgruntled with the other options in town. They aren't concerned about the rates - they are willing to pay more - they are concerned about the lots not handling the size of their units.

One thing I learned today? I definitely need to rent the roller and get it over there and compact the gravel.  That heavy thing sunk several inches.  I have no worries about it getting stuck, but what I thought might need to get done turns out to be a no brainer. It's like $200 per day to rent the thing, I'm doing that soon.  Let me set this straight tho, there is about 12 inches deep of gravel and it's the best gravel you can get - it compacts nicely, that thing won't be getting stuck.  He had pulled up and back and up and back several times after I left, I could see the tracks.  They didn't level it, which seemed odd but I do know that that pad is level going east and west, but I do believe it has a slight grade on the north side.  

Sign place closed before I could place the order. I'll just go over there in the morning and get what I need. There is room for a 4 foot wide sign next to the other signs, perfect size for big lettering, few words but enough to get the message across: Yup, there is an RV park with my park's name on it a mile down the road with an arrow pointing in that direction.  

_____________

I was looking at a pic of the one that just came in and saw the name of the manufacturer - I recognized it because I used to pass by it on the way to Brownsville every trip.  A 2014 model listed at $349,000.  I don't know what year that thing is, but it's a custom built coach. But what I was really looking for is the weight of this beast. Because it left some pretty deep groves and tho I expect everything to get compacted in due time, this was a bit more than I anticipated.

With full water tank and loaded with the personal belongings, that thing weighs out at almost 50,000 pounds.  Astounding.  I had no idea. I questioned my contractor about this 45k weight statement he made quite some time ago,  but this confirmed that these giant motor coaches on luxury tour bus frames are very heavy.  I'm not going to stop them from coming in, but I may inform them that the gravel is still being compacted and it may go into it a bit, but no worries, you won't get stuck.  Basically, my contractor was making the case for much deeper layer of gravel and now I know why. If I want the luxury stuff to come in there as well as anything else (as long as it is maintained and looks decent, I don't really care how old it is), I am going to need a deep, thick layer of gravel.  

This is the type of clientele I am trying to reach. People with money and really no cares in the world. They just travel around from place to place and enjoy life, mostly retired folks that spent their lives working and now spending their time seeing America.  But, I had to get them in there somehow and the low prices are the lure.  Actually, I think my website says big rig friendly, or all of the places I have listed it have that on there.  It legitimately is big rig friendly. These people are usually the types that aren't going to be making a lot of noise all night long and are respectful of their neighbors. Some are social oriented, some want to keep to themselves - to each their own.

These people weren't in the mood for chatting, but I think that was only because they wanted to get over to wherever their family is.  It doesn't matter to me - if they want to be chatty I will entertain them, if they don't, it means I can get busy doing whatever else. 

 Monday, January 2023

I have no idea what those people are doing.  I have been sleeping in trying to get over this sickness.  Like, 10:30 am type of sleeping in.  Pretty soon, I'm going to start forcing myself to get up at 7:00 am regardless of what I feel like or how much or little sleep I had the night before.  

Anyway, I figure they have the tire fixed by now - even if everywhere was closed yesterday, they would have it done this morning - and then it's up in the air whether they are going to meet up with their friends in Weslaco - which is near my old haunting grounds of Brownsville, TX or if they are going to try to take the truck into a shop here and see about getting the codes interpreted and whether anything needs to be done.  

Personally, I would take the vehicle into a shop considering they're hauling a giant trailer and that isn't going to be a pleasant thing to deal with on the side of the highway if the truck decides to take a dump and quit on them.  But, I gave them suggestions for local repair shops beyond the local dealer - who may or may not be able to look at the vehicle.  It's not under warranty and I gave  him the best shop in town that only locals that have been here for decades really know about - or - people like me that have talked with locals and know of it's existence.  

The owner of that shop is a walking encyclopedia of all things cars, pickups and even semi-trucks.  There is very little a dealer can do that he can't.  

I will be heading over there soon to see if they are still there or if they decided to pack their bags and leave.  It will be nice to get video surveillance over there - but that requires wifi and I"m not doing wifi until I see some reservations popping up in the system.  So far, not a single reservation.  I don't think I got much out of that Facebook ad, either, tho I think there is one day left of it.  

I will have to try Google ads, which are much more expensive but probably get better results. They show up everywhere, you know how they work. You say something out of your mouth and the next thing you know, there are ads for it popping up everywhere?  But I'm going to finish the doggy park and the fire pit first.  The cheapest Google ad is $9 per day and I think there's a 30 day commitment. Yeah, that's why I haven't done it yet, it's rather expensive.  Yet, the new RV park 20 miles away has it listed and it's showing up at the top of my page - because I do searches daily of rv parks local to see where my ranking is. 

I just laugh at their prices, if they think they are going to be competitive with local rv parks, they have another thing coming.  They have nothing more than I have save a laundry facility.  I just need to finish up and do some heavy advertising, apparently. 

But, it's January and my "excuses" for not going back to work are quickly fading.  I could probably ride out another month or even two with no more income than what I have going now.  Then we get down to my threshold - a minimum amount I want in the bank that forces me to say ok, enough, time to find a new job!  After that, you start to get into semi-dangerous territory, tho in reality, it's enough to last probably 3 more months.  Meanwhile, however, I am going to switch the note payment over to the business account. The payment for the land, and the electric and the water bills will also be switched over.  

I need to do that this week, in fact.  

Good thing I remembered that, I see no reason to continue draining my personal account when the business account has money in it and about to add another $475.  

+++++++++++++++++

Add to that another $30  and supposedly another big rig coming in in a little while. Another couple called, they are coming to town to help their family move, they specifically asked about big rigs because they probably know that most of these places around here cannot deal with them. They are too tall - concerns about running into limbs from trees or they are too long and concerns about having a spot long enough for them.  Actually, they have a 45 foot long motorhome pulling a car.  All of my pull throughs can handle that thing some of my back ins might as well. Some people actually prefer back in sites, even pulling cars and trailers. If they plan on staying a while, they would be unhooking their car anyway.  

The $30 is the people already there. They got their new tire fixed - he said they had had them installed only 2 weeks earlier. It was a faulty valve stem.  They said the engine light isn't coming back on but they don't want to leave today because of the weather that's moved into this entire region. They would be driving right down into it if they left today.  So, another night stay for them and then these other people, I have no idea how long they are staying, but I'll offer them the weekly rate if they are staying that long.  

Anyway, as I figured, I'm going to have to replace the highway sign. The little yard style sign was good for starters but it's not that visible. It's small and there are 2 other signs on either side of it that dwarf it.  They said they saw the sign when they drove their pickup back in today, but the sign was being pushed over by the wind and it's very small.  So, it's priority.  My sign guy will make an aluminum sign that will last for years.  It will cost around $100 but I see no other way around it.  I just need to go out and measure the width I can put in there and then call in the order.

However.  It just started pouring rain and there is a tornado watch, hail watch and severe storm warning in effect.  I'm not really all that keen about going out and dealing with this big rig, but it's money and I am going to do whatever I can to get the finances rolling in. If that  means being out in inclement weather? So beit.  

I'm only doing this "meet up at the entrance" stuff for so long.  Going back to work, people are going to have to be able to find their own way.  The sign will have the park name, an arrow and "1 mile" under the arrow. Simple, large lettering, self-explanatory.  

__________

Well that was easy.  Probably $200k rig with a 75k pickup being pulled behind it lol. They pulled in, paid and that was that.  Have a nice day! Lmao.  They were concerned about getting stuck.  It does give that appearance because the gravel on some of the lots is not compacted.  Well, that will be taken care of with these units pulling in there. That right is 20,000 pounds easily, probably much heavier.  It's one of those tour bus frames made into a custom motorcoach.  I was told by the contractor that some of those rigs weigh upwards as much as 45,000 pounds.  With the grooves it left in the gravel, I can believe that one is pretty darn heavy.  

Darn. I forgot to turn the septic system on.  Welp, guess I'll be making another trip over there today.  I don't want the system to start getting backed up with poop and grey water.  Yes, I think I'll turn around and head back over there right now, in fact.  

 Well I don't know what those people are going to do. They had a flat tire they needed fixed - but today is Sunday so I doubt that was going to happen and he said that after he went to O'Reilly's and they cleared the codes, the engine light hasn't come back on again.  I suggested he drive the thing a bit to ensure that it's ok. Not because I want them to stay, tho I surely would love that, I just think it's a big gamble to be getting back out on the highway with that giant, 3 axle trailer and then have a problem on the side of the road.  

I don't know, but I did visit with them for quite a while today before leaving, going home and spending the holiday at home the rest of the day.  Tomorrow, working or not working is up in the air.  Predicted rain most of the day, but who knows what will actually happen?  Several things on the need-to-do list and get done.  The doggy park is at the top and then a bit more cleanup and then work on that fire pit.  

No more renting magic today, yesterday it was 2 people, today it's nothing. No reservations, no emails and no calls.  I'm neither expecting nor not expecting people, I'm just hoping.  That couple considered my park 100 times better than that run down place, that was a compliment I needed to hear.  My real hope is that they leave a review.  If they don't, I'll send them an invitation to review the park.  The invitation can be intercepted. This from the web designer, if it's not good, you don't have to post it lol.  

But I would think that they would be happy to give throw me a bone after what I did for them yesterday, they were still commenting about the help today.  I think if they were able to get that tire fixed - there is a place that does tires on Sundays but I was questioning whether they'd be open for the New Year - they are probably going to leave in the morning.  It is what it is.  I got some pictures of their rig but I do need to ask their permission to post them online.  They will give some context as to how well a giant 5th wheel fits on the pad with a large, 1 ton pickup that is disconnected from it but sitting in front of it.  I don't have their license numbers on the pics nor do I have them in the pics.  

Anyway, the holiday is over as far as I'm concerned, we're in the New Year, time to get busy, get the stuff done with and start looking for a new job.  I loathe going back to work as a truck driver but I really don't have any choice. The few dollars I've received for the lot rents are just going back into the business account and there will have to be taxes taken out of it and the rest goes to paying monthly debt.  I don't actually know how often I am required to send money to the state - I guess it goes to the state to go to the feds.  No clue.  I need to find that out soon, but I'm not looking tonight.  

There must be info on it somewhere on the web, presumably the state's website or if nothing else, I'll send email to the state comptroller and ask them.  I don't really feel like paying for that information.....

The man paid me this morning for 2 nights stay and gave me the rate that the other place was charging. I objected, I love the extra money but I have it advertised as $25 per night.  He said no way, that was the least he could do to help me out. 

 Well.

First off, was a couple that had called last night about renting long term. Sure thing!  They showed up this morning, without a camper - paid the monthly rent and that was that.  They'll be back this coming week, they have family just across state lines and they are from Louisiana - but they hate that state.  I won't go into the details of why they think that state is bad, especially Shreveport, enough to say that woke people would go ballistic.  

Then, about an hour ago.  A call from a Michigan number. I'm like, who is calling me from that number at this time of night?  I thought, I wonder if this is about the park? Well, I get a lot of spam calls but lately I've been answering everything. I do not have a separate phone for the park and I don't want to get one, it's too much more money and I have no interest in it - not yet anyway. 

It was an older gentleman, you could tell from his voice. Not that I'm a spring chicken, but there was desperation in his voice.  Is this Nature's Design RV Park? Yes it is, how may I help you?  He went into this story about his truck - a late model Chevy Silverado,  long bed, 4 full doors - coming on with engine light, at minimal power.  He is screwed. He went to the "big" competitor here with the horrific reputation - a pair of RV parks on the same road owned by the same people.  The sites are small, the driveway and the entire place is run down. They went in anyway and couldn't find "their" lot but further, determined that their rig wasn't going to fit in there.  

Do you have anything available tonight?  Didn't skip a beat, yes I do!  Well, we're at such and such a place. Ok, just put this address into your GPS, I'll meet you over there.  I'm sitting there waiting a while, I texted them: I can come get you if you can't find my place.  At that point I just started driving up the street - maybe 200 feet before I saw them coming.

A huge 5th wheel, this thing is 45 feet long plus the truck.  They pulled in behind me and I led them into the park.  It's not normal to take in guests at night, most parks have a rule against it.  But me? I'm getting anyone in there I can.  Not out of desperation, but out of a desire to hopefully get some good reviews going.  I need those reviews, my future with this industry depends on it.  And I like helping people, it's not just selfish motives.  I really do like helping people and they were at their wit's end.  The sigh of relief over their faces when they realized I had several lots big enough to fit their RV and handle the electrical demands - they are 50 amp set up of course. Most if not all the newer, large rigs are all 50 amp. Some of them are 50 amp and 30 amp with 2 connectors to be able to power everything.  

We talked for a while, but they had had a very long day, it had worn on them. "We're going to have a drink, make dinner and go to bed".  I cautioned them only one thing:  It's New Year's Eve and I can't possibly guarantee a quiet night, not at least until after midnight.  Sure enough, fireworks started going off down the street. A pretty nice show actually!  They didn't flinch, they were parked, they had leveled the trailer, they had plugged the electric in, they were good to go.  

I gave them 2 of the most respected private repair places in town - I have serious doubts they are going to get that truck into the local Chevy dealer and get it fixed anytime soon.  The dealers here are booked up weeks in advance. Even the private places are booked up but I feel like they will have far better luck with them than the dealer.  I felt they should have a good running start on places to take their vehicle.  If they go in and give a sob story who knows. They aren't broke, that's a fact.  100 plus k trailer, top of the line and an 80k pickup truck, they are retired and loaded.  

Then the guy asked about a local sports bar, but before I could say anything nope, we are going in that trailer, I'm going to make you an awesome dinner and a drink and we are done for the day!  Momma always gets the final say lol. 

One thing I will need to rectify, it is  very dark in that place at night. These rigs have their own outdoor lighting so it's not a huge deal, but I think some of those solar lights you put along driveways would at least be good to put in.  And I need to light up the signs out front - again with a solar style lighting that I have seen on other signs where lights hang out over the top of the sign and it's all operated out of solar/battery packs. I think the lights on the signs are going to get up to the high priority level, even with the rather large sign that simply says "RV PARK" with an arrow, in bright yellow and red, it's har to see at night.

BUT, as I said, most parks do not do night time operations. They might accommodate them, they might not.  The other park did not. They just told them to come in, gave them the lot number and left them to fend for themselves.  I don't really think a night time arrival should be met with a flesh and blood person.  I don't know, maybe they've been in the business too long and they just don't care or have become apathetic, but this is the hospitality industry and what sticks with people longer than anything else is how they were treated.  

My intention is to take care of people with a warm greeting and a handshake if they do handshakes anymore (remember, lord Fauci told us we are never supposed to shake hands again during the pandemic), do whatever it takes to get them feeling comfortable, wanted and fully taken care of and hope they will spread the word.  I'm good with hospitality, folks. I might not come off as such on here but remember this is a blog and I just write out my mind sometimes and sometimes? That doesn't sound so good.  I tend to adjust my thinking, actually, when I read what I'm thinking and say, gee, that's not really all that great lol. 

Anyway, I'm feeling better.  Sitting here wondering if any kind of guests will come through and now I have one full  timer and these folks saying they will probably be here several days - however long it's going to take them to get their truck fixed.  You can't drive a vehicle like that down the interstate on reduced power.  Well, you can, but you aren't going to get anywhere and you will have to get it fixed.  

My goal, if I could make such a thing come to pass, is to get enough traffic in this coming month to at the very minimum pay the bills. The mortgage note, the loan note, the note on the shed and of course pay the ensuing electric and water bills plus the taxes.  I'm going to have to set up an account just to put the taxes in, I think.  I don't need to get caught up in IRS crosshairs for evasion of taxes or something.  I will pay my "fair" share just because it's the ethical thing to do and of course, if you get caught you are screwed.  Obviously, I would rather get enough traffic in to make a nice profit, but let's just start off with small goals, shall we?  Considering it's winter I'll take whatever I can get.  If these people stay a week that'd be great!  

I know I said this already, but I feel better.  Not physically, I"m still coughing tho not near as much as the last few weeks, but I feel good about getting this thing started in the middle of winter and at least getting something going here.  It will greatly motivate me to get back to work on everything and try to get it all done in short time so I can go back to work.  I have someone I can hopefully use to take my place with such things as what occurred tonight. Or just greeting people coming in.  

Further, I can take pics of this giant rig parked there and show how nicely it fits onto one of my lots.  I will also find out, at least at that outlet, if the 50 amp outlets are working. If one works, they should all work.  He said he probably wasn't going to plug it in, didn't really need it, but I really encouraged him to do so, I really need to find out that everything is in working order here.  Ok, he said, I might do it.  Ok, lol, I can't force him to do anything but it's just a matter of pulling out the line and plugging it in.  I left here bidding them a good evening and please call if there are any problems.  

And finally - its' really been a ride for me tonight, I know it doesn't sound like much but I was pretty jacked up with joyfulness that something is actually happening.  They said they did a search for "rv parks near me" after leaving that hell-hole place and mine didn't show up.  Then they ended up doing a "suggested search" that popped up for "rv resorts near me".  I do not have the place listed as a resort lmao.  It's far from resort status, but whatever! It worked. The funny thing? I got out my iphone and did the "rv parks near me" and mine definitely showed up.  ??? this seems to happen a lot.  You input rv parks near me and it shows up one day, the next it's gone.  I have no idea.  The postcard came and I input that code right away, that's not the issue and I keep asking my web designer to come up with answers. 

He doesn't have any.  Google has so many variables in how they do their search results and how any given place will show up, he can't predict what will happen.  He can just try to get it up there on the results and do the things he has been doing for a long time now in doing what he does best on his end and telling me what to do on my end - which is to list the park in endless registries.  

Well, I just wanted to write this while it's fresh in my mind.  

Happy New Year!

 These people seem dead-set on taking a site as they have contacted me yet again this morning and asking if I'll take cash.  Of course I will. It will bypass any fees on the website.  The website is for customer convenience and accepting credit cards. But if someone wants to pay cash?  

So, that set off a flurry of motion in printing out a receipt and printing out the park rules which also has a legal disclaimer on it.  You have to have that legal disclaimer.  It may not stop someone from suing, but you have a signed document saying they understand the rules and they also understand that in any event, the park isn't just going to accept liability for - fill in the blank. Acts of God, weather related, etc.  You know, the every day risks you take just stepping out the door of your house.  

So, I'm just a bit nervous, I don't know why.  My first customers and I'm giving it pretty cheap.  Which is why they are taking it.  I wasn't going to do that at first, but I saw the fact that there are RV parks popping up all over the place around here and there is quite a bit of competition.  I have no choice, IMO, but to lower the price below all of them.  And that I have done, even below the existing, old parks that are in pretty sad shape.  It's just what I figured I'd have to do to get some people in there and hopefully get a few decent reviews going.

Put on my happy face and get out there. Yup. So much to do.  The weather has been horrid and I've been sick and I'm still far from 100%.  I'm just glad I have some money in the bank to tide me over for a bit longer because going back to work in this condition? Yeah, that's a non-happening event. I start coughing wildly the minute I decide to do anything beyond sitting here.  This is why I've been sitting home for weeks now, I know how bronchitis affects me and the effect is getting more pronounced the older I get.

I have no idea where I got this round, but apparently the kids got it from me as one of them is coughing away and the other also has a cough and sniffles. Sorry bro's, I didn't mean to.  Not like they haven't gotten me sick many times over.  

Whatever the case, I do hope this actually goes through.  I need to get over the hump of getting my first customers in the books.  It will get easier after that, after I hear - hopefully - some candid comments about the place and what they like and what they dislike. I want to hear all of it.  No, really, I want to hear the negative stuff so I can take it into consideration and if necessary, put it on the list and prioritize it.  

Now if someone says I need a pool, well that is on the list, but it's no where near the top.  But, if they say they want laundry? Yea, that at or near the top of the list.  Money is a thing and contractors aren't cheap.  Right now, I'm just trying to get some of the "bleeding" of money that is going on with costs associated with the place with nothing coming in to replace it. 

Anyway, I think I'll get the dog and I think I'll get out there.  They should be arriving soon.