Well that was .... interesting.

Got to the guy's place, Taylor took me over there, couldn't find the keys. He had parked it off his property on the side of the street.  No worries there, it's all country and country roads, not much traffic.

After locating the keys, it fired right up, albeit running rough. Took off hoping it would make the 20 mile trip and get this over with.  Well, first off, the brakes were working but not all that great.  I'm guessing a master cylinder leak from the way it was acting. 

But, they worked enough to stop it, just had to make sure you had plenty of room before any stop signs.  

Then, the roughness got worse. Sounds like a bad exhaust manifold gasket.  Unlike new vehicles, I'm pretty good with determining what's wrong with old stuff.  It probably had bad fuel in it as well.  

Any little hill? And I mean even the slightest upgrade?  It would start bogging down.  Like, bad. 30 mph on a 55 mph, 2-lane highway.  Fortunately, no traffic besides Taylor was behind us.  The situation got worse and worse, tho, to the point I was lightly feathering the gas pedal to try and get it to keep going.  My thoughts turned towards: Gee, I hope I won't have to be calling a tow truck out here.  

I dunno, but i was committed, there was no turning around. Some cars car up to us on that 2 lane highway but not until we were near the end of the road. They were stuck maybe a mile and a half and then it spread out to 4 lanes.  No one flipped me off or honked so I guess we were all good there, lmao.

Originally going to take it home, I decided against that.  Every time I had to stop the thing wanted to die.  Way too many turns and lights to go home, I just drove it straight to the property, parked it behind the shed and left for home.  

I think whichever route I take - selling it or renting it - it's going to get parked behind the shed.  I'll just need to run a water line closer than what the nearest one is. Not a huge deal, dig out where it's buried and there is a valve underground, add a short stick of pipe, a T, 2 sticks out of the T, cap off one end and run a 90 up above ground and get a spigot on it.  I'm going to try to situate it tomorrow, I'm done for today, that adventure took it out of me, I was quite apprehensive about it breaking down and having to deal with the aftermath.

It does, however, handle quite well.  And the power steering works quite well on it too.  I certainly wouldn't take it on a road trip without fixing the power and braking issues, obviously, but driving it wasn't bad.  

The only other thing that = got me = was the steps.  I pushed and shoved on them and I couldn't get them to go in.  I had no idea that these were/are automatic steps. When I opened the door at the park to get out, the steps came out by themselves.  I don't know what triggered them to go in? Perhaps the ignition? 

I feel like I want to try renting it first after I make sure everything works and the thing is cleaned out.  It needs aired out badly.  A musty smell in there from being closed up all the time, it needs a good dose of fresh air and maybe some air fresheners in it.  I'll have to measure the area for the couch area and see how long of a couch I can put in there.  

That was my excitement for the day.  I will reposition it tomorrow, hook up the electricity and start trying to turn things on.  The AC came on, need to run it and see if it's going to blow ice cold or just cool.  Just cool?  I can either have a pro come look at it or, with those old ones, you can just pump freon in it through fittings they used to put on the things. Put a can in it and see if it gets colder. If it does, then just run the ac for a few days and see if it holds.  

As for the rest of the day? Well, I was going to talk to the tent guy but Taylor had to go home - I wasn't going to try to make her wait anyway.  She's going with a friend to the movies this afternoon.  I actually might go back over there and hook it up to electric today. I know the ac comes on and the refrigerator and freezer works.  

I just needed to sit here in my room for a bit and recompose. It was extremely hot in that thing, I don't know if the coach ac works and I was too busy trying to keep it running to find out.  But even if it did work, I wouldn't have turned it on anyway for as bad as the thing was running.  It would just drag it down even more.  Plus I couldn't get a temporary tag for it - I tried.  And I was just afraid I was going to have to go through an  afternoon long ordeal trying to get it to the park.  

It kind of messed with my head a bit. But, whew! It's over with, I've got it there, I don't have to worry about it now.  Yeah, I think I will go back over there. I'd take Addler but it's way too hot to be going for a walk. 

__________________

She is occupying the shed again. This time over 2 hours.  I went to meet the brother. He's in his 60's from his appearance.  The tent wasn't actually in direct sunlight, it just appeared that way from the angle I was at the other day.  There's a breeze blowing today so with the breeze and start sweating it's tolerable. Not optimal, but a person can deal with it if they have to.

Except her, apparently.  So, now I'm going to have to get even more blunt.  I spoke to the brother that we are going to have to discuss this situation because she is driving away people who want to do laundry. It doesn't take that long to charge batteries.  If after what I said to him doesn't do anything, then it's just going to be face to face either stop hanging out in there or you can just find another place to go to.  

The AC. I plugged in the RV, the ac came on, I felt cool air coming out, figured I'd leave it on and come back later. 
Which is what I did, probably spoke with the brother for 45 minutes - yes out in the heat. Came back, the ac was off. Blown circuit breaker? Not on the shed.  It was still on.  So, either the AC is bad and needs repaired or replaced or who knows what.  I am going to have a service guy come out and take a look.  If it needs replaced, that will be a bummer. If it can be repaired, that would be ok.  Those things aren't cheap and it wasn't part of this plan.  I was looking at everything. Carpet and a couch.  Figure out why some of the 12 volt lights aren't coming on.  The refrigerator works, the toilet works, there isn't much to it to have to work. I didn't try out the stove, I don't know if it has propane in the bottle and I was boiling hot by that point.  

Plus it's getting late in the day.  Which reminds me, I forgot to bring the card home of the guy that is mobile RV repair. He fixes/replaces ac units.  He really fixes anything if it's fixable.  I don't know what he charges for a service call or hourly but a few people in the park have had him out, well 3 now that I think of it.  

Whatever the case, I'm going to get AC in there one way or the other. I could always put a large window unit in. People do it all the time, one of my guests has 2 of them on his rig.  Again, not optimal but it will cool an RV down nicely if you get a big enough one and can place it where it can blow throughout the rv.  The other guy has one in the rear window and in the front side window.  They run all day long.  I don't know how much that is costing me in electricity, but it's probably jacking that bill up nicely. 

They aren't as efficient as the newer roof mounted AC's.  

They have a huge tent out there.  They have their own beds in it but they are not sleeping in separate tents.  That must get a little - strange.  I mean, it's getting down into the mid 70's at night, that's not terrible. Not great, but not terrible. 

 The guy was refreshingly honest.  This is what's wrong with it. The Motorcoach that is.  Minor stuff. I think the AC might have issues but if that's it, I'm good.  The thing is pumping out cool air but not supercool air. Now, is it that the thing just needs to run for awhile after not being used? Or is there something wrong with it? Well, I'll find out when I get to the park, plug the RV in and fire up the AC and just leave it run.  The compressor is working - it was 100 degrees and there was cool air coming out so at least that's a good sign.  Those older units usually have fittings to pump in freon.  

I mean, I inspected that thing pretty good.  The bedroom, the shower, the toilet room, it's old school cooking with a propane gas stove and stove top - oh well! I used to like cooking like that but it also means having to refill propane tanks periodically. Pretty sure the water heater is also propane. That can actually be upgraded to electric inline version, but why would I want to do that?  Uh, well, to keep people from complaining.  One thing to cook with propane, it won't use that much, but to keep a water heater going? I've been there and done that.  

These are all things I need to ensure are in working condition and I reveal that upfront/ Yup, it's propane cooking and water heating.  If you don't want to have the water heater on all the time, you can use the shower in the amenities shed. I don't remember how much propane it uses to keep a small tank hot all the time. I think I was using hot water pretty frugally - referring back decades ago when using a travel trailer.  Same thing here, different layout.  

________________

Started that yesterday.  Thursday morning. 

Trying to get  a temporary tag to move the thing 20 miles.  Texas online system won't even acknoledge the VIN number on the title.  I may just drive it bac without one and make sure someone is following me. It's almost all 2 lane highway and the unit does, indeed, have a license plate on it. Just not current.  I get it to the park I'm not driving it anywhere else.  

I've put up on my business Google and Facebook account about the fact that I will be having one available to either rent or sell on payments.  I've had one person interested so far, she wants to see pictures. Fair enough, but I'll be taking my own pics instead of using the ones on the ad.  

Anyway, I was going to pay for a ride over there this morning, folks here are busy, but I had second thoughts. I really want someone to follow me back in case something goes wrong with it. The man said he drove it from another place to his house and it was a bit of a distance so at least I have some confidence that it will make the trip - but still.  I don't think the lady driving me for pay over there would want to do that or if I asked her to, she would probably ask for more money.  I'm thinking maybe wait until James gets home from work and have him follow me home. If something happens, there are at least some tools available to try and fix it. This thing has a 454 in it, I believe, carbureted.  This is stuff before computers were installed to run vehicles or just around that time.  

This is something I have some expertise in, actually, I used to work on vehicles all the time until computers took over everything and I just flat gave up on it.  

Well, the couch is missing out of it. The guy says he has it but it would need a covering put over it, it's not in great condition.  I think I need that couch, it was made specifically for that unit.  Maybe get it reupholstered if it doesn't cost thousands of dollars. Otherwise, find something used on Marketplace and stick it in there.  It kind of needs a couch/sitting area.  It also appears to be missing a small, fold-out table. Nothing I'm going to replace. You can buy small tables cheap, if someone wants one in there they can do that themselves.  

Dang. The guy has "a" couch but not the original one that came out of it.  Probably trashed the original owners must have chucked it.  I am finding jacknife couches for reasonable prices on Facebook marketplace, I'll just have to go with one of those. Or a regular sleeper couch, the foldout style.  

The only thing is used couches are difficult to buy on the internet. The pics never really show cosmetic issues with them, you have to go see them in person. Another deal where I wouldn't want to drive too far to see one considering that possibility that a pic online isn't really showing what it looks like in person. 

Well whatever. I'll deal with that after I get the thing parked on a lot.  I am looking and there are some available in my town. Needs to be a sleeper bed in case more than one person want it, ie: a mother with child or small family.  

Ok this thing is diverting my attention away from issues that need to be dealt wtih.  Namely, these tent campers.  I told them to NOT have their dog in the shed at all anymore.  So what did the guy do? Left the dog in the bathroom with the door shut.  Someone went in, found the dog and returned it to the dude, the lady was off property.  I contacted her about it, she tried to tell me the dog was not in the shed but was with her brother. Uhh, no, I have a video of it, lady getting the dog out of the  bathroom.  She tried to get around it but with video proof, I don't have to have any other evidence.  

These people.  The dude just now texted me back after I tried to contact him yesterday about getting some work done. They are not staying their for free.  I already told her that if they aren't going to work, they need to pay the rent retroactively.  She directed me to the brother.  Like, why should I have to go chasing these people down?  The tent? It's not under the trees, they put it out in direct sunlight!

I clearly don't think like these people. With as hot as it is, one would think that putting the tent under shade would be the way to go.  Perhaps they don't stay inside the tent during the day and use the shaded area for - existing - during the hot parts of the day.

I have been getting more and more direct with them as each incident occurs. At this point, it's follow my rules or get out of my park. It's really that simple.  She isn't hanging out in the shed for hours on end now. She's in there an hour charging a large batter to run a fun at the site and recharge their phones.  They have some money because she has a car and drives it every day.  They have phones, those aren't free for monthly service, well I guess the government gives out phones.  Probably disability or something like that.  

I'm going to keep on her about finding a job as well. I don't want them sitting back there endlessly with no hope in sight to do anything about their situation. She can go find a job, there's PLENTY of them in town.  She has an address to use - my park - she has a phone and she has access to a shower and laundry.  She has transportation, there really isn't anything else.  Life sucks sometimes, I've been in poverty, I know what it's like.  It's not fun.  You take the steps you need to take to get yourself out of poverty.  It's why I"m considering going back to trucking. I'm not going to sit around forever wondering if I'll have enough money to pay bills and live my life.

Screw that. I'd rather work a regular job and have a reliable income.  

The dude finally texted back something beyond gibberish.  He said ok, but I thought it was the trails you wanted done? No, that isn't priority, I need the lots plowed up. I have a machine.  He replied "cool".  LMAO. Ok then.  I just need to go over there and get into their personal space and discuss this whole situation.  I am a person that tries to help people, but I have parameters and rules for such things. Reasonable rules, nothing dictatorial.  It's why I set them out to her before they ever moved in.  She ignored them and then I had to get direct with her.  I wish for their sake it was fall, the temps would come down. Instead, we have 3 months of hellish heat in our way.  

If the guy does enough work, I can slip him a little - not a lot - extra cash.  If he doesn't do anything, they're gone.  She won't even lift a finger to help keep the damn shed clean, but the brother might - might - have a different mindset.  

Ok, Taylor is on her way home. I presume she means that she can take me to the coach. I hope so, I'd like to get this over with.  

G'day

 I stayed up way too late last night.  Like, why did I even do that? Oh, because I got in so late.  Well, I have a lead on a motorcoach - older one - they had listed at $4,500 I offered $2,800 and they are debating it.  I'm sure they want to wait to see if anyone else contacts them with a higher offer.  

They are only 20 miles away if that.  He said he'd ask his wife. There's one other one in there that a guy did about a 75% rebuild of the inside of the trailer.  It's not bad looking. It needs more stuff in it but for the price, it might be worth it.  He want's $1,500 and he's had it up for quite a while.  I asked him if that was his bottom dollar?  Maybe, do you want to come look at it? Sure. 

That one is in Shreveport, a bit further away but not ridiculous like yesterday. I texted those people yesterday telling them they should be more honest about their ad. They had told me it was in great condition and was worth more than they were asking for it. In a pig's eye. That thing is worthless.  They texted me back in the middle of the night telling me to F off and other niceties. These people are you classic example of trailer trash.  I didn't call them that in the text.

It's not that they live in a trailer that makes them trailer trash. It's the whole mentality.  Junk laying everywhere around both properties.  Their mobiles falling apart. Even if they are poor, they could reattach skirting and possibly find a can of paint somewhere and fix the roof instead of draping a tarp over it.  AS soon as I saw the house and then the trailer, I knew I had driven up there in vain.  Well, live and learn. 

If a trailer or coach is close enough by, I don't need a lot of pictures, I do want some.  The rest can just be inspected in person.  I'm good at saying no thank you, turning around, getting into my vehicle and leaving.  

Well we agreed on a price so now I just wait until he gets home from work.  The tent camper just went into the shed yet again.  I feel for them, it's hot outside.  I would think living in such conditions would motivate a person to do whatever it takes to get out of that predicament.  It would me, I'd gladly drive a truck all over the place than be without a place  to live - or living in a tent.  But I still don't want her in there all day long. Her presence drives away people wanting to use the machines and I can't have that. There are plenty of places she can go to in town to cool off that don't cost anything and she does have a car.  

Got sidetracked. I have notifications on whenever someone is driving by or is in the shed.  I want to see who it is and what they are doing in there. We still have tools in there that I think I may just move to the small shed outside and put a lock on it.  

Anyway, this guy went into detail about the coach.  Said he was on the roof cleaning it up and using a hose and that noting leaked inside of it. He also said the floors do not have any soft spots.  In fact, he just said the only real things wrong with it are that some of the clearance light don'ts work and the generator apparently doesn't work. I don't care about either of those issues.  It doesn't need a generator and lights can be fixed.  But driving it back to the park in daylight I don't need lights either.

He said he wanted to be upfront about the things wrong with it.  Finally, at least in appearance, an honest person.  Again, the little town it's located in is only 17 miles away after looking on GPS.  I hate to sit here and say that I'm just going to buy it after all of what has happened at previous places, so I won't lmao.  But if it is in as good condition that this dude is saying it is in, I'm driving it home today.  It has some sort of floor covering that previous owners put down in it, he said. 

Yes, you could see it in the pic.  Looks kind of weird.  Maybe just install some carpeting.  

Well I don't want to get too involved with talking about that until after I go see it and potentially drive it home.  Well, not home but over to the RV park.  

Okay, she's taking a shower. I know that because there is a microphone on the camera and you can hear it. I'm not a peeping Tom, but I can see taking a nice, cool shower. It's going to be a very hot day again today and all the rest of this week and - summer.  I need to get over there today and discuss the work situation with her brother.  She dumped it off on me to go find him. This is just one thing that irritates me.  I shouldn't have to go chasing these people down, they should be contacting me up front.  

Whatever.  If she's still in there when I get over there I'm going to gently remind her that I said at the beginning of this that I didn't want y'all camping out in there. At least she is keeping the dog out of there now.  Apparently she's putting him in the doggy park and yes, there are some trees for shade.  She spent 5 hours in there yesterday but it was doing laundry.  I think she just dragged it out so she wouldn't have to leave. She did not bring her batteries in so I am assuming she is going to drag it out even further for even more hours to do that. People not doing what they agreed to do and me having to foce the issue. 

It's aggravating and I probably should have thought this out better.  Like, don't do this again.  If someone is coming in to tent camp for a few days, great.  There is a family that is coming to our town for 4 days that wants to tent camp next month. Crazy.  It's so hot.  I can deal with 4 days and just monitor the situation.  

As it stands, I've got yet another guest leaving. He was told they are sending him somewhere else in the next few weeks but they won't give him an exact date.  My park is slowly emptying out and I don't have anyone coming to take up another space.  It's frustrating.  I don't know what else I can do beyond what I've already done to get more people in there.  I put up another Facebook post and took down 2 others with different wording. I think I'll put up another Facebook post with a different picture and remove that one as well. 

And update the Google business statement.  But beyond that, I have no clue.  There aren't any other amenities in the foreseeable future without the finances to be able to do it.  I really wish I could get a pool loan. No guarantees, but putting that up as an amenity in the park would very likely fill the park up. And at slightly higher rates to cover the cost of maintaining it. I don't know, I haven't tried to get any loans in a while because I have too much debt and it counts against me.  It counts against me too much.  America has a debt crisis with credit cards going right now, lenders probably are looking at any given individual's credit report and seeing how much is on there.  I am not late on any payments, but it's pretty high amount.  That is the biggest thing that would help me right now, if I could get a debt consolidation loan, put all of it on there and have a lower monthly payment than what I am paying now for all of it.  

I might try again.

As for now?  I need to eat something and then get over to the property. 

G'day

 Well. Lots of driving today, been a long time.  

I went up to Arkansas with the hopes of snagging a nice trailer.  Umm....I got the idea this wasn't going to turn out too well.  The address was a very old, trashy, singlewide mobile home.  The house was falling apart at the seams and there was junk laying all over the place.  They had already informed me the trailer wasn't there but close by.

So, they loaded the entire family up in a mini van - there was a host of them I can tell ya - I followed them up the road about 500 feet to an ever worse situation.  The lady comes running out of the car: Don't get out, the dogs will bite you!  Little scraggly things, albeit a lot of them, I wasn't concerned.  The mobile home on this land was in even worse shape than the first place. 

There were 3 junky looking trailers out there, surely none of these are it? I thought.  I think back now with the pics they posted and what I saw in front of my eyes. They had carefully taken angled shots to conceal the shittiness of this trailer.  It was disgusting just looking at it from the outside.  I decided I would force myself to walk inside the thing since I had driven so far. 

It was far worse disgusting inside. The pics they had taken - I'm looking back now - were high up. The ceiling, the cabinets on the wall. The ceiling looked good - the portion of it they showed.  It was sooo bad in there. You step inside the damn thing and put your foot down on a raised hump, the toilet 20 feet away - lifted up!  Wait, what?  The remnants of furniture was gross.  I did a quick inspection, but it was obvious before I even entered the relic that I wasn't going to give them anything for it. 

If anything, they would pay me to haul that pile of useless junk out of there. 

What a waste of time! Not exactly.

You see, there has been this thing in me. It has been nagging at me.  If I have to go back to trucking, can I even deal with it?  How am I going to handle driving all day long? You know, if you' read this blog before I got out of trucking even if temporarily, that I now despise that occupation. There's FAR more to it than just driving, but even the driving part had become loathsome.  

It was actually a nice drive. Close to 300 miles round trip, up there over to Shreveport and then back to the house. It's actually this reason that I wanted to go on this trip, honestly.  I had no idea if the pics would equate into a trailer that is as nice as what they showed.  I did care, yes, but I learned something about me in my current state of mind. 

I will despise going back to trucking, but yes, I can deal with it. It was helpful.  

I wasn't particularly happy that these people had misrepresented this trailer. They had it listed at $3,500, I deem it worth $0.  You would spend that much money fixing it.  You would literally have to gut the entire thing, put in new flooring, bathroom, furniture - it isn't worth fixing, it's a pile of s***. 

I can tell you 2 things about any future trips to see trailers. 1: they will show me pictures of the entire thing from floor to ceiling on the inside.  If they won't, I will move on. 2: I won't drive more than 50, maybe 60 miles to see anything listed.  

Down to Shreveport, I wanted to see the inside of this trailer.  This dude showed me the receipts, the bill of sale and the title.  He paid a lot of money for that thing. Amazing he knew he had just let it go and didn't really care. It served it's purpose at the time and saved him money on hotels. I guess. 

It's a 2016 trailer, the cabinetry in it is beautiful, still in great condition. However.  The bedroom ceiling has a leak, the flooring is soft the entire walk through the trailer from the entrance door to the rear of the bedroom. It is likely just a leak around a roof vent, that appears to be where it comes in.  The roof damage - at least visibly - isn't that bad.  But the entire floor would have to be replaced. 

The refrigerator doesn't work - beautiful wood work on the doors - but who cares if the damn thing doesn't work?  The AC unit doesn't work either.  Blows hot air. Well, at least it blows! LMAO

He came down to 2 grand, he'd have to come down another $500.  He definitely won't sell it for $3,500.  He likely won't sell it for 2 grand, but who knows. He has had only 2 people show up and they didn't want it. I get that - walk in the thing and your feet start sinking.  But the cabinetry! Beautiful! The sink and counters are also in great condition. It would be worth fixing if I could get him to come down another $500. I could fix the roof myself, I'd ask James to replace the flooring and I'd look at the ac unit. Sometimes you can figure out what is wrong with it without paying a pro  I've done it. 

The refrigerator? That same pro would have to look at that, I have limited knowledge of refrigerators.  

Whatever. I'll contact him tomorrow. Unless he comes down on the price, I won't take it.  Someone could spend 3 grand on it and come out with a trailer they could resell for 10k or more. I don't have the time or the resources for it and I have to draw a line.  If I can pay people to fix it and I do minimal work, then fine, I'll take it.  k

Otherwise, I'll just keep looking. 

,Well, got home late. Stopped for dinner after leaving Shreveport. Nothing fancy or expensive but I was hungry for I hadn't eaten since this morning.  It's almost 10:00 pm.  I'll ask the dude if he'll drop his price even more, if he will I'll go get it and park it behind the shed.  If not, well, I have other things to do.

Yes, the tent lady finally texted me back. Today, this afternoon actually, long after I texted her. She said she'd put the dog in the dog park and tell her brother to stop parking in front of the shed.  She told me to talk to her brother and gave his number. No thank you, I want to talk to him in person.  Well, he's "always there".  She's a nice lady, don't get me wrong, but there are a lot of nice people that will trample over the top of you and take you for everything they can get. That isn't going to happen here and I do believe she got that message today. 

I will hopefully be able to go meet with him and give him an agenda of things to do that start - immediately.  Screw the walking trails, get with that tiller machine and start churning up the soil.  Let's plant grass, you can do the work!  I'll find out how motivated they are. She certainly doesn't seem to be, maybe the brother is different.  

The family is leaving sometime next month to go to Missouri. The Florida trip was cancelled so they decided to go visit a different grandma.  I didn't actually know this until tonight being asked to deal with their dog and cats.  Yea, I don't mind. I'll have the place to myself.  It could get a bit strange being in a house that is normally loaded with all kinds of noises, but yes.  

That's the thing about driving trucks. It starts to get lonely.  You start craving human interaction - whatever you can find.  I don't mean sexual stuff, but even communicating with odd people becomes something better than nothing. Phones, texting, email are ok but don't replace the in-person interaction.  

No idea about tomorrow until I hear back from this guy about the trailer. Except - I wasn't even over at the property today.  I'll be over in the morning and checking out their tent site. Do they even have a tent?  Are they trashing the place or do they keep clean? Is this dude really willing to work? What kind of attitude does he have? It'll be an adventure, lol.

Enough. Getting late. 

 Tuesday

Another trailer popped up on the Marketplace which is quite clearly in excellent condition. Listed price: $3,500.  They immediately went down to $2,700.  I agreed to buy the thing for $2,700, however...

It's 112 miles away and it was already 7:00 pm.  I can't come right now, without stating that little fact but I can come tomorrow morning.  Well I have to work, she replies, are you here in ****ville?  No, I'm a little bit away from you but I really want that trailer.  I get off at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.

Now, did they sell it between the time I spoke with them and now?  No idea.  I will be trying to contact her soon.....just messaged her.  Not going to let the day escape and have her change her mind with someone else.  She confirmed the time but said she would give the address after she gets of work.  That makes it a bit sketchy.  You know other people will be contacting here. She might tell them there is a pending offer, they might offer more, she might take it even tho she has promised it to me.

I think I will drive up to Linden and be ready to move up north by the time she gets off.  There is a meat distributor in Linden that sells all kinds of meats at excellent prices, I've been wanting to go up there anyway. If it turns out to be a dud - them selling me the trailer that is - I can at least justify it with going somewhere I already wanted to go which is right on the way up to where the trailer is.

I will not, however, drive all the way up to the location without her confirming her address first.  Her not giving it to me now could mean a lot of things. Perhaps she's afraid I'll go and try to steal it or something.  Perhaps she wants to ensure someone is there with her before a stranger comes to their house. Or, perhaps, she is holding off to see if she can get a better price. That thing had just popped on there and I immediately contacted her. 

These trailers that are in good condition for a great price move fast.  One minute they're on there, the next, poof, it's gone "SOLD" on the post.  

Been feeling sluggish in the mornings.  Maybe because I got fat all over again, lol.  I stayed off the diet far longer than I was going to and a lot of fat piled right back on.  I'm going heavy duty into Keto right now to get some of it off. I need to get my medical card renewed before July 12th and I don't want my weight to be anywhere near the obesity level.  

The federal government has reached it's tentacles well into truck driver's lives, a thing I don't want to go into right now, just to say they basically dictate when you drive, when you pee, when you stop.  And they dictate your health and if it's not good enough in their estimation, you lose your CDL.  It is converted back to a regular driver license.  

They even know that I am not driving now.  It was in the verbiage on the letters they have sent me telling me to get it renewed or lose the privilege.  Maybe people new to the industry can deal with all of this, they haven't been in the game. I've been in the game when they gave out chauffeur's licenses that simply gave you permission to drive a truck even if you didn't know how to drive one.  The driving test wasn't any different for those tests, the written exam had more questions. CDL's came along and eventually, over the years, the Federal Government has become truck driver dictators.  There is no exaggeration there and there is no other way to adequately put it.  

Now, will I go back to trucking? At some point I think I will have no choice.  If I do get back into it and at least find a semi-decent company, I will probably stay in it for quite a while. Get debt down, get a pool built on the property, etc.  At least the shed will be done.  

Speaking of the shed.....

These people......

I don't know if they don't like to listen or if they have comprehension problems, but I'm already at the verge of telling them to leave.  Try to help people and what happens... These people are parking their car directly in front of the shed, in front of the door.  I told her yesterday to please stop doing that and she agreed. Last night? They were out there parked the same way.  I also told them before they moved in that they weren't going to be making the shed their home.  How many hours did they spend in there yesterday? Over 5.  Further, they were either to pay $5 per day - I was giving it cheap to help them out - or do work. 

They opted for work, yet haven't lifted a finger.  In fact, she was sitting in the shed yesterday, half blocking the door, using my electricity to charge 2 phones and a battery and had turned the ac down to 72. I turned it back up from afar.  Her dog got up and started growling at me when I walked.  

Ok. I was annoyed enough by their behavior that I just sent them a text.  In a nice way, it was shape up or ship out.  No speeding, no hanging out at the shed, pay for your stay, keep the dog out of the shed, etc.  

 I woke up this morning not feeling all the great.  Weird sleep patterns.  

The man with the trailer contacted me - I went over there after taking the money out of the bank and looked at that thing and left. It's pretty easy to take flattering pics of these trailers and make them appear as something they aren't.  

I just left there instead of bartering with him, I had already bartered but I didn't expect it to be in the condition it is in.  I offered him $1,500 for it, that's about what it's worth. There will be repairs needed.  

Hasn't really been any new ones coming on there in the last few days that are in my price range.  I have cash in my pocket now and might keep it there a few days, see if I can jump on something that might come up.  If not I'll dump it back into the accounts I got it out of. 

I wasn't in the greatest mood. Getting notifications, that tent lady had come into the shed with her dog.  She went straight to the AC unit nd turned it down to 72 degrees.  I went to my app and turned it back up to 78.  She plopped herself down in the chair right at the door and partially blocking it, facing the door and her dog plopped itself down in the middle of the shed.  

I was still heading back from Shreveport and I decided to stop and have a meal before going over there. I wasn't in the mood to talk to her - or anyone else for that matter.  But, she was there when I got there and her car was parked right in front of the shed.  So, I asked her to not park there anymore, there is already a place to the side of the shed where people park.

Oh, forgot about the dog. It got up and started growling at me when I walked in there. I wasn't particularly afraid of it but that is not what I want RV'ers to be exposed to when they walk through the door. A dog growling and a lady sitting there facing a person.  I was in too bad of a mood to address her about all of that and the fact that they are neither paying me to stay there OR doing some work as originally agreed upon. I will deal with her tomorrow if I see her.  I'm not going to do it through text messages and such, I want a face to face event that hopefully will stay civil but at the same time, I'm going to lay out what she said when she came in there and what is actually happening.

I don't want her in that shed for literally hours at a time.  She was in there 2 hours, that's way beyond anything I imagined.  If they want an amicable solution and stick around, they can start paying me or start working immediately on the property and they can keep their time in the shed limited and NO dog.  I can even install an outlet on the rear of the shed for them to use to charge their devices.  

I did ask her about whether she was looking for a job.  She said something about finding places that are hiring. I rattled off a dozen names right off the bat. "Well, I put in applications online but I never hear back from anyone".  Did she think I am stupid?  If you really want a job somewhere, you put in your application online and then you go visit the place, find a manager and tell them you put in an application and that you are really interested in working there. You do your homework about the place and get some kind of basic knowledge of what they do and discuss it with the manager. 

She then said she had spoken to the manager of a gas station that is about a mile and a half away.  Ok. After that I didn't have much to say to here, she was in my way, I was trying to clean up the shed, she apparently doesn't get clues either. I hate to have to get blunt with her but this situation isn't going to fester with me. I will deal with it civilly but I WILL deal with it.  She finally did get a clue after some point in time, got her devices, her car battery, her dog and left.  It was a bit unbelievable, really.  

Lol, now someone else has turned the AC down in there, but only to 76. I'm interested in keeping it slightly cool in there when there is no one in there, but if they are doing laundry and actually have a valid reason, I have no problem with them turning it down.  I just don't think they'll remember to turn it back up, that's basically why I got remote access to it.  They leave, it's going back up to 78 or even 80.  

I have 5 empty lots and no leads for people coming in. We're near the end of the month so that's a bit disconcerting. Regardless, paying high electric bills for that shed is not a part of my plan, especially when income is limited.  

I need to find some kind of advertising ploy to get people to consider my park versus those that are right next to the Interstate.  My prices are low, I have done enough looking around at what everyone is charging currently.  I still only have 4 Google reviews, that's not helpful either. 

I think I am going to read other's ads and maybe get some clue about what I can do to get people to my place.  I have that in my ads, but I do think that I am too wordy  I am going to create an ad that is not overly wordy but makes the pertinent points. 

Enough of that.  There is plenty of work to do at the property and that is why I offered those people free stay in exchange for work.  Pull weeds, rake dirt, clear the trails, something. 

It's so hot out and it's going to hit above 100 degrees at least 2 days this week. I can only imagine what the "feels like" temp will be. It's muggy and nasty out there.  

Anyway, I'm going to just keep checking every hour at least for new trailers. If something good comes on there at a good price? They go quickly.  I'm trying to create business by offering something to live in.  A slum lord, however, is not my idea of running a business like this and so, it has to be decent both inside and out. Doesn't have to be perfect, but it needs to look good enough that it doesn't catch people's eyes by being too dilapidated.  

What else is going on....kids are still gone and won't be back until Saturday. I'm more than enjoying them being gone. They could stay out another week and I would be great with that. Love those kids but I also love the peace and quiet.  

That's about it for this one.  

 There was just no way for me today.  It's Sunday and I hate working on Sundays.  Totally out of it, I went over there, did a few things but basically just didn't feel it.  I don't feel the need to work every single day of the week. James is all gung ho and I'm happy for him, he's got lots more energy than me.  The older I get, the less energy I have.  Coupled with that miserable stretch of Covid last November where I really have never felt right since then. It just drained me and tho some of my energy came back, certainly not all of it. 

We ended up going to Lowe's to hopefully buy the last of the supplies to finish the drywall portion of this project.  I figure he'll get this done next weekend. If he has tie of course, but if he does have time, he'll get it done. I take that back. I think he's going up after work to where the kids are but he's going to stay to visit a couple of days. So, I guess a couple more weeks.  I am not going to leave all that mess in there that long since the drywall is done, I can throw all the stuff out and just one more area I need some of the leftover insulation. 

I'm going to scrub the stuff on the floor up, pine sol it and get it as clean as possible in there.  Once he gets all the tape and mud on, I expect the ability of that shed to stay cool without the compressor on the AC to have to be running continuously to occur. Maybe.  If I had known it was 20x12 shed versus the 16X12 I paid for, I would have bought a 10,000 BTU unit. Mind you, the 8,000 BTU is enough to cover the square footage and then some by quite a bit.  It just seems a tin shed needs more.  

I'm home now.  Just counted and packaged the last batch of quarters I got from the shed. Around $300 total.  It isn't near as much as I really need to cover having AC running in there, water heater and monthly payments.  Amenities don't always make money, in fact, they often times show a net loss on the ledger.  It's more in keeping people happy to stay at your park.  That lady last night complaining about there being "only one bathroom?!!" irritated me.  

I know, you can't please everyone.  Just all the work and money spent in putting that bathroom in there to end up hearing that nonsense.  

I was looking at that new park 20 miles up the road's amenities and pricing. I'm just amazed how much money they are asking for lot rent and apparently they must be getting it.  Here I am at the bottom of what I will charge and still have 5 lots empty. Well, they just emptied out, it would be nice if some more people came in. They've got location going for them. I have location for certain things. ETBU being one of the biggest ones.  But, ETBU is out for summer break and so are the rest of the colleges.  

I only got one person in because of the storm, he paid up a month.  

I don't really know what else I can do to get people in there beyond what I've already done and within my budget.  Well, yes, get some rental trailers in there.

Still working on that.  This person I wrote about last post had a no-show. I contacted him this morning and he said yes, still have it, but have "lots of people" coming to look at it. Well, he still has it and it's afternoon time now.  Who has $2,500 sitting around in their drawers?  I know I don't. It's Sunday, ,I tried to get that much money out after seeing that Chase bank allows it. Nope.  

_________________

So, the first people didn't show up, another set of people showed up but didn't want it, the wife didn't like it.  What's wrong with it? I asked.  He said nothing, she just didn't like it.  Oh.  I'm hoping beyond hope this thing doesn't sell to anyone else and that I can go look and probably buy it tomorrow morning.  It's getting kind of late to be showing it now, but who knows.  It's the only one in my price range that even looks doable.  

But, as always, more keep popping up on there. There's several that are just junk.  I might take one of them if they were giving it away and just do it as a longer term project.  You've got floors missing, walls missing and roof troubles. IMO they are totally worthless in their present condition and apparently everyone else thinks the same as they don't sell.  

Well anyway, we went to  a place called Fire & Dice today to shoot off propane powered handguns at basically laser guided/acquired targets. It was fun. A bit pricey but the dude gave us double the time he told us we get. Target shooting, competition shooting and moving target shooting with scorekeeping.  I was doing pretty good if I do say so myself.  We don't go shooting near enough so I thought it pretty good to get such good scores shooting a target 50 feet away with a pistol.  

The end of the day. The tent camping lady was in there again today, but this time she spent about an hour.  Her friend wasn't there, the one that was complaining last night tho she was talking it up with another RV tenant.  I'm going to ask her about this person and how she feels about having that kind of setup in the park. I don't know when they are leaving, they have been working on getting septic, electric and water on their land, I have no idea where they're at with it or how much longer they will be around. I've only really got 4 actual long term tenants left in there, the rest are here for short stays up to a month and then they're leaving.

Yes, I'm saying I need a pretty good influx of people to come in and soon.  

Or not and whatever.  The shed is being finished to get it finished, it isn't going to have any more effect on getting people in there than it already has.  I want it done and James has been getting with it.  Another 6 days of no kids.  It's really been great, lol.  I talked to them on facetime - the older one wanted to talk about nothing in particular, just connect I guess.  

Well enough. I am on hold.  The man says he doesn't know yet whether he will have to work tomorrow. If he doesn't, I can go look at the trailer and potentially buy it. If not, he says he won't be back until evening. Welp, I'll go over there in the evening.  

Sunday - early

James left a few minutes ago, I'll be behind him after I get a couple of cuppas down my throat.  

11 hours at the shed yesterday netted in getting all of the drywall installed. Now, it's tape and mud time.  I think he's trying to get this done today Ambitious, but there's a lot of taping to do.  He's motivated.  

Tent camper lady showed up last night.  Like, how do you show up at night to start your tent camping?  She went into the shed with someone else who had come in another vehicle - who was complaining about the bathroom.  "Is he only going to build one bathroom?!!"

What.  This person that doesn't live there and never will complaining about the facilities.  You can take your happy ass and you can get the Hercules off of my property, was my first thought.  The tent camper decided she was going to back her vehicle in in front of my shed, help herself to an extension cord run through the window and park there for an hour and a half like that. 

We'll have to have a talk.  First off, she can park to the side of the shed.  Second off, I informed her before she moved in that she wouldn't be taking over the shed.  I personally wouldn't want to tent camp in this heat, that is her decision.  I'm going to be all over this situation and monitoring it right off the bat.  Her brother - alleged - was nowhere to be seen.  

I don't care if she spends an hour in there charging her phone and taking a shower, but that's the limit.  After that, she needs to vacate. People won't want to do their laundry in there if she's sitting around in that shed in the middle of the floor.  

There is plenty of space in there, I may end up putting a small desk and chair in there.  I'm just getting really happy that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that this project is near completed.  It's been a very long road and I can say some of it wasn't so pleasant. James will be leaving there now that I think about it to help his friend move, I think that's why he's starting so early.  I don't really think it's going to be done until next weekend.  Whenever he finishes, I will buy some paint, paint the walls and call it good. There are other things that need to be done, but they aren't priority.  

I found a trailer.  It's $2,800.  It appears to be in excellent condition.  The dude just texted me and said the other people who beat me to it didn't show up.  They had offered $2,800 with his initial asking price of $3,500.  Oh well.  He just said "Few more people coming..so anything can happen".  

Whatever. I'm not racing over to Shreveport to find an RV that's already been sold.  It happens every single time.  Had my hopes up on that one, from the pics it's in really good condition.  I was second in line, but that doesn't mean squat to these people even if you say you're coming. If someone else shows up, they will just sell it and that's that and you can go jump in an icy cold lake.  

I'm half tempted to try - it's still early and it's Sunday, are people really going to get up this early to go get a trailer? Probably lmao.  

Outta here. 

 No kids Saturday. We all slept in lmao

Not a lot of time here, I think I'm holding James up.

Back to the  property after a couple of cups of joe and get this drywall completed. 

Well, after a trip to Lowe's.  Since the shed is 20 feet long, not 16, I need another 2X6 to cover the extra distance on the ceiling and an extra sheet of drywall, some more drywall screws and other drywall rleated stuff.

Anyway, I'mnot going to linger on here, just have to get back to the blog later on today.  

 Friday.  Morning. Not exactly early. 

For whatever reason, I'm out of it today.  It was hard to wake up and it was hard to get out of bed.  No, I didn't get drunk last night lol. I did have a glass of wine tho.  That wouldn't make me feel like this.  It's usually because I haven't been sleeping well so finally, one random night, I'll sleep like a log and then feel like hell the next morning.  

James is on his way home.  He didn't get out early because they had drained the oil and the coolant out of the motorcycle.  Why would you do that?  Whatever, I guess he had to go buy both, fill them up and then he was able to leave. He's hot on the trail of wanting to get the shed done and told Taylor that he intends on going over there today when he gets home and get with it. 

I'll be over there with him, that's what I can say.  Let's get that done and I can wrap that project up for now, clean it all up and start something else.  

I intend on asking him if he would be interested in another side job.  Namely, if I buy one of these trailers that have "soft" floors, would he be interested in tearing up flooring, replacing the wood and the flooring?  There's a few of them on there at the right price.  I'm tired of making bids on trailers and not getting them.  I know, some of it is low-balling, I don't expect to get those. But when I offer full price and they still sell out from uner me? 

There's a motorhome in Nagodoches that is selling cheap and needs work.  There's several bumper pull trailers, everything works, but cosmetics and new flooring and probably a bit of roof work needed.  I need to get some other methods for making money in this park beyond just renting spaces.  I need to keep it full and that can happen if I have at least a couple rental units.  

As I was pulling in there today, a trailer was pulling out. He was only temporary, said he actually was pulling out a day early.  So right now, I have 3 open spaces. One of them is allegedly spoken for, showing up on Sunday. That leaves 2 empty spots I need filled up for there are more going to be leaving.  It's the nature of the business, yes, but the business needs to operate at full or very near full to be profitable.  

Here's where I went and said to myself, well if I"m going to do that, why not just do this instead?  I was thinking of building a cheap cabin. This would be a small, basic structure with no more than a bed, a couch, a small kitchen and pretty much nothing else. I don't need a bathroom in it, there is one in the shed. I would have to install heating/cooling as well. So what do you have invested into something like that, even just plain Jane?  Thousands of dollars.  Lumber, shingles, windows, doors, electrical, plumbing for the sink and running water in kitchen.  Etc.

It would be listed as a camping venue, but it would undoubtedly rent out monthly . Anyway, looking at 5 grand minimum to do that.  Or, buy a trailer that needs work for a grand, dump a grand into it or even 2 grand and I have a place ready to go in much less time and much less money.  

I haven't made any decisions yet. There was a trailer that was pretty nice, until I saw how they had pained the interior. This ugly, dark looking blue paint, it was just a repulsive look in there.  Of course I could repaint it.  I'm just going to have to rethink this.  The trailers in my price range: they are decent but usually so far away that I can't just get over there quick to get it so they sell to someone else or they are in various stages of disrepair and need a little to a lot of work.  

I just really frown in roof damage.  It just does so much damage to the interiors. It rains a lot around here, 

No noise in the house. It's a miracle. The kids are gone, there was no screaming, yelling, loud laughing, etc this morning.  There is still none of that noise and there will be none of that noise until next Saturday. The grandma is keeping them for 9 days instead of the 7 she originally spoke of. It's all good with us, we need a break.  The roughest part about this type of situation is when they come back. We brace ourselves for the noise and the torrent of kids clamoring for attention, but it never works. Lol

Just counted quarters and wrapped them.  Next time at the property, I'll empty the receptacles again and wrap those, take them to the bank, get the cash and stuff it in my desk drawer.  Keep doing that until there is enough to pay off the machines and get that over with.  Then start all over and save the money to pay off the shed.  

I've been looking at solar, but so far I am not impressed. Very pricey systems. As much as 70k.  That's for my house, not the property.  The payments supersede the savings in electricity every month.  I don't see the allure of them unless you are somewhere where there are no power lines.  I signed up with a company that gets quotes from different companies and you get to compare. Well, so far, the cheapest system is 19k and gives you estimated half of the electricity you use.  The payments, however, are higher than amount of electricity saved. So what's the point? 

___________

Many hours later.  James headed over to the shed and I met him over there a little later.  He got some trim done and then we got started on the ceiling.  We got 4 large pieces up - with odd cuts and just a bit trying to get in, but we got them up.  I expect that all the drywall will be done tomorrow and then there's the tape and mud to do.  Once that is done - and I have no idea whether that's going to be this weekend or not, but if not, it's okay I can still clean the shed up -  I can primer and paint the walls and call it done for good. Well at least for now, lol. There's other minutia I'll get done over time.  

Anyway, we got those 4X8 sheets up and I was looking at what wasn't covered yet. Huh? This shed is supposed to be 12X16. Uh, no, it's 12X20.  It's what's been throwing me off for a long time. I just assumed it was 12X16. My mind couldn't quite gather why more stuff was fitting in there than it should.  

It means more drywall than I originally calculated, but really, I think we only need one more sheet than what we've got.  

James was commenting that I should put a vending machine in there, there's plenty of room.  Yes, I thought the same a long time ago but I put that out of mind.  I started looking for fun.  You can get used ones relatively cheap.  The question is, will it be worth it?  I haven't decided on that and it's definitely not a priority.  At some point I need an official sign mounted to the shed that says laundry, bathroom, shower vending.  Well, I don't want to get a sign made until I decide on vending.  I wouldn't mind getting one of those machines that sells both soda/sports drinks and candy/chips. 

Anyway, James also said he would fix whatever trailer I buy.  Not only does he want to do it for the funds but also so he can take before and after pics.  He wants to go full time as a pro-handyman at some point. So I'm now looking at cheaper things that need work. Like, new floors, new walls, things that he can fix up and I can rent out.  There's one I'm looking at that they have listed at $1,200.  It need new flooring half the trailer and new walls for same-said half. It's something that might be worth a few hundred dollars, I'm gong to make an offer on it.  

I think I'm just going to save the quarters from the machines until there is enough there to pay them off.  It will take several months to do that, of course and meanwhile making payments on it, but that will speed up the pay off date and get another $216 a month worth of payments off of the books.  It shows I have 8 more months of payments, not ridiculous really, I just need to dump some payments.  

The shed is still a ways off.  Probably 2 years.  It may very well be I'll just do the same with the machine quarters for the shed.  

Another tenant supposed to show up today - tho I haven't seen him yet, I am going over there in a while to verify.  Need to have it written down what day they show up for payments sake.  

The kids finally left for Arkansas.  The oldest - who was here from Arkansas visiting for two weeks - sat on the couch all day long, pouting.  He wouldn't talk to me or Taylor at all.  The middle brother was lamenting all day long how he didn't want to go.  Too bad.  The youngest was the only one that was talkative and all over the fact that he gets to go to grandma's for a week.  Grandma spoils him and she changes the rules over here when she comes.  

I had a falling out with her today and we didn't talk the rest of the day either. One of them wanted to go with me to the property to deal with a tent camper that had shown up.  So, walking out, I informed her he was going with me. She got a smirk on her face and spouted out: No, he's not.  Oh? Why?  Because I don't get to see them that often and I want them to stay here with me. 

It wasn't that she wanted him there with her. It was the way she was talking down to me and ordering me around as if I were also a child.  Not too many people in this town that have met her like her.  She is crass, bossy and impudent.  Her feelings supersedes everyone else's.  I instantly had had enough of it. She has been doing this forever, I have bit my tongue forever.  Today?

I flatly informed her that they would all be with her for the next 7 days, he is going with me.  That was it, instead of just blasting her as I felt like doing, I just refuted her and left.  We went to the property, met the lady who wants to move in semi-permanently.  We went to the tent site, she approved of it and said if I need any help, her brother could help. I dunno how that setup is going to work, but I do hope they have 2 tents and that these siblings that are in their 40's or 50's aren't actually sleeping in the same tent?  I don't really care that much, but they will be signing an agreement to cover my ass.

I just don't want people claiming squatter's rights.  I have read too much of that going on and that isn't going to be a happening event on my property.  A signed document declaring them as temporary guests that are being allowed the use of the property in exchange for daily payment, tenancy can be revoked at any time.  Or something along those lines.  

And then another guy here on work assignment.  He's working at the same power station that several before him have come in on.  He's coming Sunday, or so he says.  

Anyway, just like that, there is peace and quiet in this house.  It's amazingly wonderful.  It's summer, the kids get too antsy, start squabbling at a moment's notice with each other, fighting, pouting, crying, etc.  I mean, the power being out was the real problem and everyone crammed into 2 bedrooms.  Sometimes the kids would be out in the common areas in the heat playing, most of the time they were in either bedroom and driving adults up the wall.  

I've already started cleanup.  My desk has been cleaned off, the bed linens have been washed and that's it for today.  Tomorrow will be the kitchen, another area in my bedroom and anything left in the front yard.  When James gets back - he's on his way up to Arkansas with his mom/ the grandma and the 3 kids - he says he intends on continuing work on the shed. Good, I will gladly go help him all day long - it will be the worst of it, putting the sheets of drywall up on the ceiling.  Let's get that thing done and over with, I want to get it all cleaned up. 

It will likely be a busy weekend with all of this stuff to do.  I'm heading over to the property in a few minutes to see if these folks have shown up. They paid $100 in advance, I would assume they would be, but who knows. 

Well enough. I got my book up to date on who is where and what.  Didn't fix the campground software yet, I will just wait until a person leaves tomorrow instead of trying to move everything around.  

 Thursday, mid-morning

I didn't get up late per se, but I've had the kids cleaning up their messes. They are leaving today for a week, Taylor went to work, the grandmas is here but I made them completely clean up their room.  We're going to completely clean up this house now that the power emergency is over and their room? No, they can do it, not the adults. The adults didn't make that room dirty.

So, it's clean by my standards but I'm sure Taylor will have them doing other things in there.  Just the main bulk of the ridiculousness has been cleaned up. I'm totally out of sort with the park.  I am going over there in a while and getting my notes straightened out on who is in what lot and for how long.  My reservation system is all in a mess for people have pulled in to whichever space and I have fixed that either.  

But, I need to go there first, lay eyes on everything, write it all down and then fix the reservation system.  I know I have 2 back in lots available. The rest of the lots are taken. But, some of those are only temporary.  I need to fix the reservation system to show which lots will be available when so I can still keep getting reservations in if anyone so chooses.  

We can finally cook in an oven and a stove top again, the days of eating out are one, as far as I"m concerned and I'm going back on my diet now that I can cook what I need to to my specifications.  

But my do we have a lot of cleanup to do. Extension cords laying everywhere, 2 trailers backed up onto the front lawn near the steps, the kitchen a bit dirty, just need general cleanup and get this place spic and span again. I have a bunch of receipts I have to upload to Quickbooks and get that stuff filed away and just general cleanup in my room as well.  Kids were crammed into 2 bedrooms for almost a week, it became pointless to try and keep it the way I like it.  I just tolerated this situation.  

Most of the businesses in our city are powered up and back to normal again. But there are still a lot of houses without power.  We got lucky, but I found out that's because one house on the next street down which is also on the same leg (power) as we are filed a complaint with the State of Texas. They have a special needs child that is listed with the state as such and as such, their power should have been priority to be restored. The child has to have 24 hour monitoring. When the parents aren't at work, they have to have a licensed nurse in there watching the child.

We don't know that is the reason for sure, but it likely had something to do with it. All I know is, I saw a SWEPCO pickup driving through our neighborhood and then an hour later or however long it was, the power was back on.  It actually stopped at our house and took note of the 2 generators on trailers on the front lawn.  

All of our friends had their power restored before we did, some of them many days ago, so there's no helping them, they don't need any help.  My bank account depleted from all of the gas and eating out.  We are thankful for the church feeding us, tho, it saved us a chunk of change.  If they're doing it again today, we will go for dinner.  There don't stand at the door and ask if you're power is out, they welcome everyone in.  My church is still without power, at least as of yesterday, haven't checked today.

I am fairly certain that if they had had power, they would have done the same as others of these churches.  Yup, their power is still out. The church is located on the same highway my property street is on. Everyone is still saying they don't have power down there. 

Well, it's time to get with it.  So nice to go into the bathroom, hit the switch and the light actually goes on.  Or not have to have the door to my bedroom perpetually closed. The whole house is nicely chilled. And I know I keep saying this, but it will be wonderful to have those kids gone for a week. After the week we've had with everyone going through what we've been going through, the adults definitely need a break from children.  We can have some peace and quiet and go about the business of restoring everything to normal in here without constant nagging and asking questions and such. 

 So...(yesterday, Wednesday)

I get a call earlier. You have any lots available? Yes!  Good, my husband is coming through Gilmer he'll be there in a little while.  Ok, well he can just pull in and take whatever empty lot he likes.  Well what about payment? I'm in the middle of something right now (sweating my ass off while I was doing it), I'll catch up with him later.  These people are apparently not used to hearing that. I don't need payment right away if I'm busy doing something else, I WILL be at their door at some point, they will pay.  I have no doubt about that.  I know my rights as an RV park owner, they show and don't pay, they leave.

So far, no one has ever tried to not pay.  I may run into it some day, but up until now, it's been a non-issue. They pull in, park, hook up. I come by later, they pay, we're good. 

So, they pulled in while another person called.  They live on the street that connects to our road - not the main highway end but the other end where our road crosses the Interstate and ends.  It connects to another county road. That entire road is not serviced by SWEPCO, they are serviced by a rural coop and these people were being told it could be weeks or longer before their power is back up.  They have a travel trailer and say they are tired of paying $75 per day for electricity when they could come to my park and pay much less.  

Makes sense to me.  We've been going between $48 and $90 per day.  I just filled the tanks back up maybe an hour before the power came back on.  I had no choice, it was time to refill, I couldn't bank on the power coming back on, you have no idea when it's going to happen in these dire circumstances.  I can use the fuel in the mowers at the property, James can use it in his welder.  Not like it's going to sit around for a long time and go bad.  

They grumpy texted today as well. They said the area they were sent to, all the RV parks are charging around $1,500 per month. Some with no amenities at all.  Port Sulpher, Louisiana.  Apparently they are building a new power plant down there, which of course would mean bringing in workers from all over the place.  Imagine that, actually building new power plants in this energy hostile environment the White House is creating in this nation.  

I replied that I expect prices to go well up around here when the Interstate starts getting built.  They always bring in a huge amount of crews and those people have to stay somewhere. Some will stay in hotels, yes, but I always see trailer parks filled up and even temporary trailer parking at the job sites themselves.  It was a bit strange to even hear from them again.  I figured they were done with me, lol.

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5 hours short of 7 days, we finally just got power back on. 20 minutes ago.  We are hoping beyond hope it actually stays on this time. We did shut the generators off, they have been running almost the entire time and need a break.  But, we are not rolling up extension cords, not at all. I am not doing that again and then having the power go back off 20 minutes later.  In fact, I suspect we'll just leave it all like it is all night long.  Or, as far as I am concerned anyway, my extension cord going to my room is staying put.  

And, confirming it's going to take hours for the house to cool down.  It's been on half an hour now and only down 1 and half degrees.  13 degrees to go.  

We'll see if it stays on, it would be wonderful if it did. 

The grandma just showed up as well. I was asking why she was coming here when there is no power on?  It makes literally no sense.  It's hot in the house, there would be 6 people sleeping in that bedroom.  I don't understand her thinking, at all. James can't go back with her until after work tomorrow.  She hit it lucky with the power going back on.  The house will finally be cooled back down after all of this time.  

I keep walking out there to see if it's cooled down yet, lol. The doors have had to been slightly open with all the extension cords, lots of flies in the house, gag.  I was thinking we could just fumigate the common areas of the house and leave for a few hours.  The kids will be gone and we can just go do something, like watch a movie we wanted to see.  

Whatever the case, there will be a major cleanup operation.  And laundry.  Sweeping, cleaning, vacuuming, etc.  Wait til the kids are gone tho.  

The internet is out once again.  IT comes and goes. We went and toured some more of the destruction today.  A mile away, there was an area we hadn't seen that someone told us about. It was insanity.  Trees had fallen and destroyed several houses, fallen and pulled down lines, fallen and snapped telephone poles in half like match sticks.  You just can't describe such things, you have to see it with your own eyes. HUGE trees EVERYWHERE. 

And my property!  I hadn't gone for a hike in the back 15 acres since the storm hit. I had NO idea there would be that kind of destruction back there!  Trees down all over the place, some of them huge trees. I'm going to need to do a cleanup effort back there but with all of that, we're talking days worth of work, maybe weeks.  

 8 hours into day 6 of no power.

Yup. We're done with this. We have all been trying to keep a good attitude but this situation has us all in each other's business what with only 2 bedrooms being cooled.  They are still saying Friday for our power to be restored.  I am not blaming the power company by any stretch of the imagination, that isn't the point.

The point is, yes, we should be grateful. We have 2 generators - albeit we have spent somewhere near $500 keeping them fired up.  But...it's just old.  I think I might take these kids to the movies today to distract their attention to something other than getting on each other's nerves for a little while. Just one more day. Well, 2 days really.  The grandma isn't coming until tomorrow afternoon and she isn't leaving until James gets off of work. He is going back with her. 

There's a couple of movies that are kid friendly showing in the local - and cheap I might add - theater.  I can get all 4 of us in there for less than $20.  Now, eating popcorn and drinks another story.  If we go, I will get them popcorn but the drinks will be limited to water only.  I've spent enough money.  Went through my records yesterday, I have a lot payment coming in on the 25th after that, it's the 1st.  The only other things have been some short stays here and there.  They help, definitely. One dude lengthened his stay by 5 days.  

He said they weren't finished patching up a gas line pipe they were working on. A short section, it was the only reason he came to town and then they are leaving.  They being the rest of his crew, staying where? I have no clue.  The Asplundh workers said they have to drive clear to Shreveport every day after work.  If I had rental units I could easily fill them up - temporarily anyway.  

I am still looking for a trailer.  I'm just not letting myself get carried away on price so the options are limited.  Most of it needs major work and really, aren't worth anything at all. There is utter junk being sold for 2 grand that has no value in their current condition at all.  Like, those things just sit on Marketplace, who in their right mind is going to pay that much money for something that they will have to dump thousands of dollars and untold man hours worth of work into? Not me.  I can see a little work, but nothing like replacing walls, entire floors, leaking roofs that have caused major damage inside the unit.  

If these people had bothered to at least rolled some rubber sealant on those roofs, they would have something that would be worth 2 or 3 times what they are asking for.  

Today's agenda? Keep generators running. Head to Lowe's.  Price the parts to install a breaker for the generator. If' I can get it around $50, I"m getting it.  No matter when the power comes back on, it will be available for future reference.  But if it's going to cost $100 or more, no thanks.  It just really depends on the cost of the breaker, the wire will cost around $25, the male connector around $10. This is a different type of circuit breaker than what I used on the shed.  

I have nothing else right now. 

 All 3 kids departing in 3 days for Arkansas.  I can't wait.  They are going stir crazy.  It's hot outside, only the bedrooms in the house are cooled, they need out of here.  It was planned months ago, this trip of theirs with grandma, but couldn't happen at a better time. Actually, it would be better if grandma would come get them today considering the circumstances.  I guess that's not in the works.

Yesterday, the power did come on- and go back off at the property. It was on for 6 hours. The instant it went out (I was over there most of the day), I reported it to Swepco. They have a yard a mile away and a crew was immediately dispatched.  I watched them trying to figure out what was wrong for many hours. 

I also lost 3 customers.  2 of them showed up - and left. Another called, found out I didn't have power and said no thank you. Can't blame any of them, but it was extremely unfortunate to lose that kind of business.  I need the money.  

Anyway, I was out there until around 8:00 pm and then I finally went home. I left the light switch in the on position at the shed. No guess work if the power is on, just look at the camera and see if the light is on. Later on yesterday night, the light came on and more importantly, has stayed  on all night and half the morning.

We are on day 5 of this stuff, 9 hours into it to be precise. We are getting very tired of this. Understandable tho, SWEPCO finally gave a really detailed update of what actually happened. 50 transmission lines - the type that carry high voltage went down and most of their facilities went down as well. We're talking beyond power poles and lines, this is generating plant, main plants and substations.  They are having to rebuild most of them.  

This explains why the power went out and has stayed out for so many people. It's slowly coming back on line, people getting their power restored at random, we just don't have it yet.  The fuel expenses for generators is around $90 per day.  A hotel room around here - a decent one - costs over $100.  I compare these because we have 2 bedrooms nicely cooled. A hotel room is just that: one room only.  You can imagine having 6 people in one room all day long.  This is far better even if pricey. The alternative is to just sit here in this unbearable heat.  

I don't think that is a realistic expectation with a pregnant lady, dogs, cats, 3 kids and 2 other adults besides the pregnant lady.  I guess I could deal with it - go sit at the property in the shed now that the power is back on, the AC is on in there.  Sit in the car and run the ac in there.  But you just can't do that with that many people and trying to keep your food from expiring and just trying to have a place to keep comfortable.  

_________________

There is a large Baptist church nearby feeding people for free.  They don't care who you are, come in, sit down, cool off, have a meal and a drink, charge your devices.  Second day we've taken advantage of it.  The kitchen is dark in this house, the stove doesn't work, we do have a crock pot but we'd have to eat dinner in a hot dining room.  Just no.  Eating out is expensive, but this church food is decent and it's free. We thank them profusely each time.  It's nothing grand, it fills the gut and that's all it needs to do.  

People next door's chargers were just about completely charged. These are battery packs - HUGE battery packs, you can plug a phone into and recharge the phone.  These are as big as my camera phones over at the property. Those phones last at least 2 weeks if not longer on a full charge.  We charged these things for around hours before taking them back. I still don't understand how they can bear being in that house.  It's just unfathomable to me. 

I just spent another $90 on fuel after fuel spending $47 this morning.  Yes, this is getting old. We're 5 hours short of 5 full days of this. Day 6 begins around 1:00 am.  

Whatever. The generators are full and I have about 11 gallons left sitting out there. I wont have to get fuel in the morning at least.  I am talking like this is going to last forever. No, I know it isn't, but there is no reason to relent on the new routing of fueling those machines up twice a day and more so, buying the fuel in advance.  until the power actually comes back on.

With that, I am very tired. I've been out in the heat a lot today and it has taken it's toll on me.  

 RV Park power back on. Only one person knew about it, the rest had generators hooked up. I knocked on all the doors and let everyone know that they can hook back up to the pedestals.  Some of the oilfield workers have big welding units on their trucks, they were all plugged into their generators.  Still, it isn't the same having a generator versus having the power online.  You are limited in what you can run and if you have 2 ac's, you're definitely only going to be able to run one of them.  

I saw the notification this morning and rushed over there to verify the power is on.  I don't want to turn away any more business having to tell people we are dead in the water.  

I went so far as to do a short advertisement in the gossip group.  I have avoided posting in there because of all of the negative-Nancy's that find a way to sour anything that's going on.  Some people just can't resist to continuously bash businesses for "bad" service or other people.  But, I felt it prudent to go ahead and say something about it since other parks may still be offline.  If someone wants to hook up and cool down, that's what they can do at my place! 

A giant crew of line workers came in yesterday from Appalachian Power in West Virginia.  They are rocking it, they are all over the place getting power restored everywhere. I don't know where these people are all staying, unless they got the hotels back online, there is nothing but hot hotel rooms available in this town.  I suspect they may have prioritized getting those businesses back up and running.  I wouldn't want to be working out in this heat and come home to a hot room. That would suck royally. 

Our house is, of course, still down. I am really hoping today is the end of it, but I filled the generators back up anyway.  I have one more 5 gallon can filled with gas before I have to go out and start looking for fuel again - but - the entire street which is also a state highway near my house is now back online.  That's 5 gas stations back up and running, thankfully.  I'm thinking that so many people have their power back on now, the quest to find gasoline won't be too bad.  

At the same time, I don't want to buy another 12 gallons of fuel to keep generators running if they are going to get us going.  They have to be getting close, our neighborhood is close to so many businesses and houses that have their power restored.  Im just really happy the park is back online. People that might have been thinking of leaving for greener pastures can now just sit their - well anyway, stick around. I've got 6 spots available. I need them filled up. 

I'm thankful we have generators, but this whole thing is getting a bit exasperrating.  

Well, no great plans today. The shed needs finished but I couldn't do the rest of that alone even if I wanted to. It's all ceiling stuff now and you have to have either a specialized piece of equipment to put and hold the sheets in place or you have to have 2 people holding it up and trying to screw it in.  It may very well sit until next weekend, but I'm okay with that.  I think next week I'm going to go in and get my medical certificate for truck driving renewed.   

It's still 25 days off, maybe I'll wait until the beginning of July now that I think of it. Usually, you wait until it's very close to forcing you to have to renew it or lose your driving privileges.  It's just that it's 2 years of certification and you might as well get your full 2 year's worth out of the current certification before getting recertified.  

Ok, I'm just sitting in my room and quite a bit relieved that the power is back on over there.  I don't know if I'll get more people in or not any time soon, but at least I don't have to worry about losing current long term because of the idea that I don't have power, but someone else may.  

I might write a bit more later. The house is quiet, I'm assuming the kids are being forced to stay silent while Taylor is sleeping, they have all been sleeping in their bedroom since the kid's bedroom is hot.  

Just like to take advantage of the peace and quiet, lol. 

 Saturday - 10:45 pm. 

Figured to go out late and find fuel. 2 stops. 1st, the lights were all on inside and outside of the facility.  So, I parked at a pump and walked up to the door which had a sign that read: WE ARE CLOSED, THE POWER IS OUT!!!".  Oh? How can your power be out and you still have all of those light on all over the place?  Weird. 

A mile away is a Chevron near downtown. It is always closed at this time of night but you can still get gas as long as you are using a card. I pulled up, saw the "OUT" signs on every pump, inserted card, pumped out 10 gallons of premium into the gas cans and another 15 into the vehicle.  James wants to use premium because it stops a lot of the problems you get with generators and using lower octane gas. 

Ethanol free would probably get rid of the problem as well.  There aren't many stations around selling ethanol free, but it's what they recommend in using for small engines such as lawn mowers and weed eaters and such.  No, I wasn't looking for ethanol free, I was looking for gas. Any gas.  I really didn't care if it was lower octane, just get something to dump into those generators, the heat indexes remain high and aren't going down any time soon.  

I don't think I even spent 15 minutes on that trip. Now we have enough to last through tomorrow.  It's getting expensive tho.  Still much cheaper and convenient than hotels and frankly, there aren't any hotels that are opened or if they are, they don't have electricity.  The Marriott Fairfield has an empty parking lot.  The Holiday Inn apparently has guests staying but they out and out stated they don't have power. I don't know about the Hilton brand hotel down there, not really paying much attention to it, but IF there ARE any hotels that have power in this town, they are going to be full.  

The 2 bedrooms with window ac are nicely cooled, we will all sleep fine tonight.  That's what I can say about that.  I have other focuses of attention tomorrow, but it won't be gee, we need to go get gas first thing in the morning.  I didn't do the whole house hookup, James seemed to think I should wait.  Okay...but...we could have whole house ac and have lighting.  The down side is it would load that generator down and make it use even more fuel in the process.  It's a matter of what do we want.  

No stove or range or microwave.  Air fryer, yes.  Crockpot, yes.  Grill, yes.  I'm opting for crockpot stuff. You can make extremely delicious meals in a crockpot.  Oh and we have an electric frying pan as well.  

Just a couple hours short of 48 hours since the power went out and potentially facing another 120 or more hours of no power.  This is why I would want to just power up the house.  

I'm going to have to back myself off from looking at all the news about this and everything related to it.  Kind of consuming my mind at the moment.  Definitely don't have to think about people coming to stay at the park, who wants to come to a place with no power? The people that reserved a spot called and said they were making other arrangements.  I told them I would refund their money.  

It's really unfortunate, the timing of this outage. We would have had that shed finished by now.  Easily would have had all the drywall up and probably the tape/mud done as well.  James was off this week, he isn't off this coming week....Oh well, at least the walls are drywalled in.  I really wanted the ceiling done to help keep out the heat transfer through that thin metal. 

Enough of this. It's after 11 and I'm ready to go to sleep. Hopefully this wicked storm they are predicting coming tonight will fizzle out or go off in another direction.  

 Yesterday, at one of the few restaurants opened (doing a booming business because of it), this family's other kids brought up the subject of age.  These kids are 14 and 18.  I don't know what possessed them to think this, but they were shocked when they found out my real age.  Oh?  You must think I'm older than what I appear.  Well how old are you? 59.  What?!!!  They pointed at their dad and said "we thought you were his age!".  

Dad just turned 40 this week.  Now I was the one in shock. You think I"m in my 40's?!!  I haven't heard that in a long time, lol.  They just sat there staring at me. Umm, you know I have wrinkles on my face, right? Your dad doesn't have any....didn't phase them. 

Anyway, James just went out looking for gas.  Most stations are closed, some are just plain out of fuel - which literally and still makes no sense. I know how gas operations are run from the trucking side.  The stations set up accounts and then the trucks come and babysit the tanks. They don't necessarily fill a tank all the way up if there are other customers needing fuel as well.  But still, to just run out of gas and have nothing coming?  One of the stations has their own fuel trucks. Sitting there.  

Whatever the case, the few stations opened have lines that would make a Venezuela gas waiting line look like  a picnic in the park.  I can't imagine waiting that long to get gas, I'd rather just drive out of town and go 30 miles than wait an hour in a line, wasting gas sitting there idling.  These vehicles are out onto major streets on the shoulder, the lines are that long.  

So, that's exactly what we're doing, going to Longview for more gas after Taylor is done with her appointments over there.  We've got 2 5 gallon cans but I have another one at the property. Might as well fill them all up, we have no idea when the power is coming back on. SWEPCO is saying the end of next week, "but it could be much sooner than that". That doesn't tell us anything, really and we are going to operate off the assumption that we will be needing gas for the next several days.

If we don't, we'll have plenty for the lawnmowers and other gas operated devices.  My riding mower uses some fuel. 

We will probably eat out while over there.  

The grumpy people left about 30 minutes ago. The man was reassigned to some place on a Gulf port somewhere.  She lamented that they were leaving one place without electricity and moving to a place just in time for hurricane season. Sounds about right.  Their grumpiness sort of took a hike in the last week or so.  I dunno why, maybe because they knew they were leaving.  I've got 5 spots open? I think.  That's not good. I didn't hear back from the people allegedly coming in today - I sent them an email detailing the fact there is no power and don't expect any and yes, you can get a full refund. They didn't leave a phone number on their reservation so I can't call them and let them know.  

Shrugs shoulders. I did what I could.  Everyone that called yesterday knew the power is out everywhere, but they were calling me just in case. I"m on the other side of town, maybe it's on over there! Nope.  I wish it was! I wouldn't price gouge anyone, I wouldn't even raise my rates, but I'd make a killing right now off of overnight guests and having the park full.  Anyway, hoping these people understand there is no power.  If they do show up, I will probably give them a partial refund.  Maybe 15 for an overnight stay without power instead of my normal rate.  

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We drove clean to Carthage again to get gas.  This time everyone went and we had lunch/dinner at Denny's  Carthage didn't get his like Marshall, everything is normal down there excepting the sweltering heat. It was even worse than Marshall with a heat index of 116 degrees while we were there.

Stopped by the property before going so we could grab my other 5 gallon gas can. Someone had taken it out of the shed!  The first people I saw I asked, did you by chance happen to see anyone with my gas can? "We have it in the back of our truck, we filled up our generator and then we filled it up again to give back to you".  Half the park has generators out there now, thankfully. The bad part is finding gas anywhere.  There are a few places in town but the waits can be hours.  The lines are that long.  

We drove all over the place and the amount of damage was astounding. Houses with roofs torn open, huge trees down everywhere - many had fallen on the power lines and had snapped the telephone poles.  I mean, a LOT of them.  Even more than I saw yesterday.  

I was thankful those people had refilled the gas can. We drove back home, dumped the fuel into the generators and then headed to Carthage for more fuel.  I mean, you have your choice: wait in line for fuel here and hope they have some by the time you get to the pump or just drive 30 miles, fill up, drive back.  We have enough fuel to last until tomorrow now.  I am thinking it best to get up early, refill the generators and get to the gas station here before the lines and eliminate the need to drive 60 plus miles round trip.  Taylor said someone had told her that people were lining up at 5 am for fuel, tho.  

Another tenant called a few minutes ago. He brought a generator but he doesn't have a gas can and he can't find one anywhere. Do you have one I can borrow?  I thought a bit, we can't just let our cans go, we can't find any cans either.  I was about to say, well, you can borrow it long enough to get fuel and dump it into your generator when I remembered the diesel fuel can sitting out by one of the huge burn piles.  I had hid it a while back out there, people are stealing my gas cans, I've had 4 of them stolen since I started this rv park endeavor.  I had it out there to start fires on the piles.  I left it out there but the lid/nozzle is tightly sealed on it.

That was my offer. Go find that, clean it out and walaah. You have a 5 gallon gas can.  Well, do you have any idea what I could use to clean it out? I mean, the answer was obvious? Put some gas in it, swirl it around, dump out the gas, maybe do it again?  Ohh, yeahh! I got you!  Gasoline will clean that sucker right out, you just have to dump it somewhere where you won't get into trouble doing so.  He had been all over town looking for a can.

Unfortunately, SWEPCO has not changed their outlook on a date to have power restored.  We're looking at up to 6 more days of this.  People are getting their power back on randomly all around us. It's still baffling to me how one house can have power and the house across the street not have power.  I don't fully understand the power grid, obviously, just weird how it works.  

Our neighbors are finally jumping on the generator bandwagon. We've had them out there since the morning after the middle-of-the-night weather chaos.  So, those generators have been running about 37 hours now.  Probably be good to check the oil on them, lol.  I've had mine for several years but I haven't used it that much, mostly just a back up for times like this. I did use it to help build that bridge last summer, I wouldn't have been able to do that job without a generator.

I guess I'm just rambling on, it's just everyone is a bit on edge right now. The power outage is getting on people's nerves and they are starting to cast blame on the power companies - who had zero control over the catastrophic weather event. I just now read that the tornado that touched down was a half mile wide!  That is huge!  

We filled up the tanks on the generators a while ago and have a 5 gallon and a 2 gallon can left.  That will last the night and take us into tomorrow morning, where, if the power isn't back on, we'll have to go ahead and buy even more fuel.  But, it's cheaper than a hotel and far easier dealing with 3 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and fish, not to mention keeping frozen food - frozen.  We would have had to run at least one generator anyway even if we did go to a hotel.  No savings, really and everyone crammed into a room. 

2 of the kids are in and out of the rooms that are nice and cool. Kids - they don't care that much lol.  Sitting in a hot dining room playing games.  More power to them.