Well, the forecasters got one right.  It rained all day long yesterday, moderate to heavy rain.  So, I went to walmart looking for a ledger, they didn't have one which was odd considering they have an entire "business" type of aisle with business good, then to the city water department.  While I have time, let's get all of this stuff done.  

The account has been transferred over to the business checking account.  

Then I decided to do something about auto insurance.  I ended up at a place that is 2 blocks from my house and stood there - it was kind of strange the receptionist didn't have me go sit down at the desk of a lady that has it set up for taking applications....it was a good deal of time standing there.  

Whatever the case, all of that time paid off: my insurance was reduced by $100 per month with almost the same coverages as I had with Allstate.  I got rid of the roadside assistance.  I have never used it on any of my policies and seems a waste of money.  I have about 6 months left of payments on that vehicle and I'll be done.  I will probably leave the coverage on it, it's tempting to take a much lower insurance rate with minimal coverage, but if something happens, you lose everything and have to start over.  I plan on keeping that vehicle for awhile, car and especially truck prices have skyrocketed and I don't feel like getting caught up in $700 a month payments.  

You would be surprised how how much Ford, Chevy and Dodge want for a new pickup. 

Anyway, over to the property while contemplating what to eat and then, Taylor texted asking if I wanted to go do lunch? 

___________________

Today/Wednesday. No rain in the forecast but everything is wet over there.  I would have to say it's a good time to go over and pull weeds.  It's cold outside, but I'm sure after a few minutes of physical exertion, I will warm up nicely regardless of outside air temperature.  The front field is so ugly when you pull in there and I would like to see how much I can get done in a few hours of pulling. If I can knock out a good chunk, I'll just keep going.  I'd rather have a plain, barren dirt field than a field full of 3 foot tall weeds.  Just not a very good look, at all.  This is a problem I can do something about without spending any money.  I'd rather pay for machinery to do it, tbh, but I'm going to try to see about getting the front portion done and find out how long it takes me.  There are several days worth of rain forecast next week, it would be nice to get that front portion de-weeded and get at least a little grass going out there.

That's my plan, whether I follow through with it or not? Well, the next entry will be the tell-tale on that one.

Keto.  I'm doing well sticking on the diet.  9 days into it, I'm stuck at 10 pounds lost.  I was down 11 pounds, but it went back up a pound and that's where it's staying for now.  However - there is noticeable fat loss, especially on my belly.  A person needs to see some results - it doesn't have to be a lot - in order to gain that momentum, confidence and motivation to keep going.  The scale helps, but seeing it is much better.  I'm still fat around the belly, lol.  Just saying, it's gone down.  I have no intentions of caving to internal desires for potatoes, pastas, rice and other things any time soon.  

As long as I can see results either on the scale or in the mirror, I will remain motivated to stay on it.

I'll go to drastic measures to get it going again, such as water-only fasting for several days if necessary. I'm not there yet, I'll let this go a couple more days before switching gears.  

My next financial challenge will be calling Dish Network and basically telling them they can either get the price back down or I'll be switching to Directv.  I think these satellite companies sometimes think you are bluffing . So they start talking about reducing your channel lineup instead of simply giving you a long term customer discount - or whatever they want to call it, the price of the service at the AZ house is beyond ridiculous, it's absurd. I get so tired of these companies jacking up the prices - the do it in increments - and then you have to call in to discuss seemingly endlessly to get it back down.  

If I didn't need the service over there, I would just cancel it altogether.  But, people want the satellite so I have provided it for quite a long time now.  I'm not really trying to "make" money off of that house, but it does need to pay for itself.  

Well that's enough.  I need to get ready to go over there.  I don't think I"ll take Addler, he's a big baby in the cold. He'll run around for a while and then he'll just stand there, shivering, looking at me. Yes, even your dog can give you looks, lmao.  He does it well, too.  He'd be happier laying on his bed in my bedroom, which is exactly what I'm going to do. He's outside probably standing at the door atm, I pretty much let him inside with occasional potty breaks when it gets cold like this.  

Starlink. I'm signing up for it.  IT isn't available here yet, but you can sign up in advance.  I can't afford Verizon.  I'm only 2 weeks into it and I've already received a notice that I've used half the data up already.  I can't be having $500 per month internet bills, I might as well take out a loan and have Fidelity installed for the 7 grand for that much money.  They provide unlimited access offers.  I only have 3 people in there using internet and it's half gone already?  And then, they charge you an exorbitant amount per "block", they are calling it and rest assured, those blocks aren't that much date.  

I've already signed up for it.  Apparently, whenever they are expanded into my area, they just ship out the equipment, which isn't cheap.  But, I've read up to 30 devices can be hooked up to it at a time.  Another RV park owner said he put up 2 separate systems and says it works well enough. Yes, I'm not trying to provide lightning speeds, I'm trying to give people access to the internet for looking up email, social media.  Not online games that use tons of data and broadband width.  I dunno, I'm a bit nervous about this Verizon account because it can go way up in monthly price. And there is only one full time rig there.

They sit in that trailer all day long. They said they had their own unlimited wifi, but it's obvious they are relying on my internet for their complete internet coverage. I can't do anything about it, this device doesn't appear to have any limits you can attach to individual users.  Some devices you can cut one particular user off completely while still allowing access to everyone else.  I dunno, but at the rates I'm charging, I'm not feeling all that generous with giving them even more perks for minimal money.

It's a perplexing situation that I"m going to have to figure out - and soon.  I expect a high power bill, a medium water bill but wifi? No thanks.  I can only  hope that Starlink becomes available soon.  They have a business account but it's $2,700 to set it up and $500 per month.  That's way too much money. I'm thinking more in the $200 range and that's it.  

And again, if worse comes to worse, I will pay the price for Fidelity.  Outrageous amount at first, yes, but in the long run it would definitely pay for itself.  I think they have a plan in the $250  range for unlimited access for multiple users.  I dunno, I'll wait another week and see where the Verizon usage is at, but it's obvious I can keep that up.  Think about having 14 units in there and at least some of them home all the time gobbling up data?  I didn't build a park to have so much monthly accounts payable accounts that I am making hardly any money.  I'd actually get rid of internet altogether and people can fend for themselves if that were the case.  

That's really a perplexing situation. 

People want it, but they don't really want to pay for it....this is why I'm limiting the low, intro monthly rate to 4 units. After that, I'm jacking up the monthly price by at least $50 and it is what it is.  

Meanwhile, I've been racking my brains trying to figure out how to afford to have a shower room built in the shed.  I don't know - yet.  Loans loans loans. No thanks, I've got enough.   

Enough. I need to get out of here and get something done. And get away from this computer.  I have a person in my Facebook inbox claiming he's a minister running a children's ministry in Pakistan, wanting money. Of course you want money!  He's sent probably 30 pics of the kids and him handing them bowls of food, apparently.  The problem? Anyone can lift pics off the internet and say it's them. He even sent a copy of his government issued ID.  I do help people out here and there, but strangers off of the internet? With so many scams?  Just not interested.  I asked him if could prove his ministry by telling me any pastors in the US he works with. Also, the name and address of his ministry?  

G'day.  

 ApparentlyI don't have to pay any taxes to the state. Now working on finding out what the feds want out of all of this. Again, I'm not going to fudge on this, I'll pay the taxes - somewhat begrudgingly.  I don't mind paying some taxes to pay for all we have around us, I do mind paying for people who don't work, that are perfectly healthy individuals that could work if they wanted to.  Or paying for exorbitant politician' pet projects. Such as a bathroom stall that costs a million dollars to build. 

Anyway,  it's a rain day so this is what I am doing currently, looking up tax stuff now that I am bring in a bit of revenues. Why haven't you done this already? Cause paperwork isn't my forte and I frankly despise it.  I'm trying to get that stigma out of my brain cells. I'm also going to run up to Walmart and get that paper ledger and start inputting these expenses and revenues into quickbooks.  

Maybe taxes won't eat me alive anyway.  Well, I see. Sort of.  A sole proprietor in a small business without any employees pays the federal taxes through the income tax.  I guess. I'll keep looking, preliminary results show this to be the case. I will pay no state taxes for 1, I made nothing last year on this business and 2, even if I did, I will not be making the kind of money that triggers a business tax.  There are no city sales taxes because I am outside of city limits, the only local taxes are property taxes.  

Directly from the IRS website: "an LLC with only one member is treated as an entity disregarded as separate from its owner". So, I don't pay a business tax for what I am doing, I pay income taxes.  This is, of course, only part of the equation. Then the questions go to - how much tax?  How often?  Where is it sent?  These may be things better left to a CPA, but I"m going to continue on with the research regardless. Inquiring minds want to know.  

Where I'm going to get lost is write offs for business construction expenses.  I don't know how I can get any deductions for a business that was built last year but didn't open last year, I'm wondering if deductions can be applied to the next fiscal year.  These are questions a tax expert will have to answer. I stand to lose a great deal of money - maybe/potentially - if I don't spend the money and at least have a consultation.  

I'm just trying to come to an understanding of how all of this works, but at least I am safe with Texas - I will pay zero taxes to Texas.  The Feds always get their fingers into any business enterprise, somehow, that is expected.  Texas has no income tax - yet. Let the lefties come take over this state and that will undoubtedly change.  A fortune being ignored! We must take your money and spend it on useless projects that benefit no one or line politician's pockets and their cronies with money! Meanwhile, Texas has a 27 billion in a "rainy day" fund. Well, it's a rainy day, can I have some please? Lmao

I suspect that I will have to pay income tax to the feds on a monthly basis.  I'm going to have to make an appointment at a local CPA.  I was going to go late last year, then got sick and just put it off.  

Anyway, I am encouraged that I can pay most of the monthly bills with revenues.  2 more long termers would be extremely helpful.  I'm working on it.  Or just a steady stream of short term - not that much so far.  This dude that came in yesterday helps, but I need a lot more of it.  

I was going to go over to the other property today to see about getting a few railroad ties, but it's raining and apparently going to do so all day long.  I don't think so.  I just want to take a chain saw over, cut some of the ties up into blocks and have them available for incoming guests/tenants.  And anyway, I'm guessing the boys would like to go over there, too. They haven't seen this property before. Addler loves it over there.

Enough.  I'm going to go check the property - daily run over there - up to walmart and then home, that's it for today lol.  Maybe tomorrow I can go pick weeds since the ground will be wet and those things will come out easily?  Maybe....

Alright, the new tenant and the 2 week stay are paid up.  I kind of got a little uptight about the guy showing up this morning and not even contacting me to inform me he was there -after I asked him to please text me when he arrives and he agreed.  But,, this dude has an 80k 5th wheel with multiple slide outs and all kinds of features.  It was doubtful he wasn't going to pay.  He ended up paying cashapp, I don't care how they pay but if it's cash or cashapp or paypal, I don't have to pay a user fee.  Credit cards incur 2.3% processing fee.  

So, with that thought, I probably should change my rates a little.  If you can pay cash, cashapp or paypal, X rate, if using credit card, X rate plus 2.3% fee.  All of this I have done so far excepting 1, 1 night stay, has bypassed the campground software system since they called me and didn't want to use that system.  It's another $2 fee per reservation, I'll gladly take that.  

Now, just before the first month of being open ends, I need to get info of how much percentage tax to pay to the state and where to send it and how often I'm supposed to send it.  I'm going to search the internet first, if no info there, contact the state, if they can't or won't help (sometimes you'll be told they can't give you advice, tho I'm not looking for advice, I'm looking for factual information) then I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay for a conference with a certified accountant.  

And frankly, I don't want to do the yearly taxes.  I want an accountant to do that and I need to know what they require.  Now, not a year from now.  I don't have to pay any taxes for last year, I received no payments from anyone for any spaces.  It wasn't until the 2cd of this year before I got my first guest.  

The walking trails seem to have no appeal to anyone so far. Well, one couple said they went partially back on it but it was getting dark.  I actually don't care, I'd love to keep it private and just have it to take the dog back there, sometimes the boys want to go back as well.  But whatever, it's listed as an amenity, it's open and available, it's marked with signage to find the trail.  

I'm going to take a fire ring from one of the lots and put it back for the tent camping spot.  I want to open that one up.  And I still want to do boondocking option which is nothing more than making a space for an RV to park for cheap.  No amenities whatsoever - tho I would probably let them get water.  Well away from the park, a generator running all night long wouldn't bother any long term tenants.  It's not a lot of money, but it IS money.  I bet at a decent rate I could fill up the boondocking sites.  

Whatever the case, the bills are paid for the month.  What with the overnighters, the 2 week man and the 2 long term, I have everything covered.  I take that back, the bills I have assigned to the business checking account are paid.  There's still power and water to assign to it.  The month isn't over yet.  Still 8 days to go.  I can dream that more overnighters will show up or even another long term.  I still have one long term allegedly coming at the beginning of February and others that have expressed interest and even intent, but until they actually show up? It's nothing to me.  

And finally, I can count myself lucky that it is cool weather.  AC units aren't being used.  Heaters are - and in RV's that means propane gas.  Of course, people can be using space heaters and I wouldn't have any way of knowing that.  I can also be thankful that the 2cd long term unit is an itty bitty thing. Even in summer, it's not going to use the same amounts of energy as these giant units.  This is how they average out monthly use to $125 - $135 per month on a yearly average.  Not everyone has giant RV's with dual AC units.  Anyone trying to come in with 3 of them will incur a higher charge.  

I am also thankful that so far, I have had no problems with the new electrical system and the septic system seems to be working.  I guess? I haven't seen any water coming out of the aerators. I guess I should open the fitting to the nearest outlet and see if there is anything visible.......

It just dawned on my that the property I own a partial portion of has a house that was made out of railroad ties that is collapsed, caved in and useless. The other owners are not going to do anything with that junk, I need some of those ties for blocks! Free! Yayy!

 Well, the solar lights were only $5.95 a piece, I bought enough to line the RV park driveway and some by the entrance.  I'll go over at night time and see how it looks. Might need a few more.  So far, the people coming and going haven't really been dumping that much trash in the 55 gallon can, so I am glad I didn't go for the dumpster yet.  That's another $165 per month that I don't need to spend until I have enough people in there to warrant one.

The man coming from out of town never contacted me. Instead, he showed up, chose a lot and set up his rig lol.  He wasn't home and so far he hasn't responded to my text. However, if he's already working, he probably can't text until a break. I'm not worried about it, tho I do want my money. That's $300 right there to add to the business coffers. 

My knee is feeling better today, not near as much pain, which I found odd because it was giving me trouble overnight.  I'll take it.  However, I forgot my boots and tho I go some other stuff done, I didn't get started on the driveway trench project. I'm not doing that in tennis shoes.  I'm undecided whether to go back or not.  I'm going to have to go back later to meet up with the other guy who already came in a few days ago - and hasn't paid yet.  

I hope to never have to use it, but Texas law gives me the right to immediately evict them out of the park.  Even to the point of calling a wrecker and the sheriff to have them physically removed.  Obviously, that is the final, last resort, but I have read about park owners that have been forced to go that route.  Some of those people are very strict about their rules and enforcement. I get why they are doing it, I sort of need time to get the right mind frame about all of this.

It's not like I've ever managed an RV park before...I wouldn't say I'm completely clueless having had rented out rooms in the house and having had to deal with people directly and throwing a few of them out after they got hostile. And court actions going both ways. I guess I probably need to learn Texas law about how to evict an rv long term - that's tenancy and falls under tenancy laws.  

Now, the dude staying for 2 weeks? He had his own railroad ties that he cut up and apparently had with him. I certainly didn't have any but it's a great idea.  I'm going to buy a couple and cut them into blocks. He has the wheels off the ground on one side, I"m going to ask him if he wants board to put under the tires as well - adds stability.  He has a giant 5th wheel, this thing is huge and has several slide outs.  I don't know what those things cost, but they look like a house on wheels, basically.  

I'm still feeling tired and sluggish. It's from not having slept all week and then finally, sleeping last night.  I may just take a nap instead of going back over there and then tomorrow morning, get with it.  Well, I mean, I do have to go back over there for money, that doesn't mean I have to work. And looking at the area around the sign on the street, it might not take too much to at least pull the weeds up out of that area and make it look nicer.  

I'm going to want a water line running over there, I eventually want to put in a garden type thing at the entrance.  Make everything look pretty and inviting.  It's all money and time.  Especially time, in having to dig down to the water line at the front of the park, cut it, install a T, put a piece of pipe in the T and then put a valve on it. Yup, means turning off the water as well.  If I have it all ready, the water only has to be off for maybe 30 minutes.  

I'd like to go ahead and get some flowers in by the sign if there is such a thing as winter flowering plants, otherwise, winter plants that look good sans the flowers. 

Yes, I'm good at loading myself down with projects. It will be endless.  It will probably take years to get the place to where I want it.  I'm not stressing it, one thing at a time.  

People asking me for business cards, so I'm having 100 of those made up.  I don't know why they want business cards, but I've been asked enough times for it that I'm going to get some. I just get online and find the person's business if I need their services.  

Yes, sitting down, fatigue hit me quite nicely.

 A local friend just texted me and said "I might have done something".  Oh?
I guessed before she said anything it was related to the rv park.

She said she had posted it in local groups she had been in before for rv parks. I have to say I never even thought to look for facebook local rv park groups, I'm not sure if that's what she meant.  I did find some rv park groups but nothing local.  Still, I joined them anyway - I will put up ads wherever, I don't care if the recipients are half way across the country, you never know who might be looking to move to another state/region.  

Well, this guy that said he was coming for 2 weeks should be contacting me any time -unless he found other accommodations.  I hope he does come is all I can say about it. Much needed finances to pay park bills.  

And after considerable amount of - aggravation is what it turned into after spending a lot of time on the phone and then going to the bank - I finally have access to my business banking account online, no thanks to Chase or their customer service centers.  It was getting exasperating, actually, having to go to the bank to get account info.  They didn't even give me a debit card so I had to go to the teller to see the info.  

Both issues resolved, debit card coming.  I don't know anyone who opens up a checking account whether personal or business and doesn't want a debit card.  I was really thinking about switching banks, but it's such a hassle to move all of your auto pays over and I have quite a few of them. You have to open the accounts somewhere else, first and then switch the auto pays over and then you can go close your account at previous bank.

Banks will not close an account if there are any autopays due or even if one comes in after you close it.  It's weird, to me, because how and when I pay my bills is none of their business. The companies can contact me if I have made their auto pay useless. 

I finally got some sleep last night after 7 nights of basically nothing.  I've been so exhausted, but every time I turn in my sleep, I wake up from the pain in my knee. I'm still sleepy right now and it's 10:30 am, I really took advantage of the sleep and went on as long as I could.  I've been a little cranky, anyone would be after losing that much sleep.  I don't know if I feel better or not, lol, I just got out of bed, got some coffee and sat down at the computer to check things out - and then my phone started blowing up with text messages.  Funny how that worked, these people seemingly knew I was sleeping and then started texting?

Lol, obviously not.  

Actually, I think I will text this man and see if he's coming. If he's not, he'll probably  just ignore the text such as a few others have done. I'm not requiring any deposit to hold a lot atm.  Maybe I should just to get them to rethink going somewhere else after they have already committed to coming to my place.  It's just that they won't find anything cheaper around this area, especially considering I have the 50/30 amp services and electric is included.  He's traveling from some other state, he was on the road when he called.  

Well whatever. Cold day here.  54 for a high, it was 30 degrees when i woke up.  I'm going to take an ibuprofen and go over there and see if I can get anything done, regardless of pain.  I've been sitting here for days doing much of nothing trying to get this knee to heal - but at the end of the day? I've got work to do and my time is running out to get it done.  I wasn't going to drag it out to February to start trucking again, but I have enough money to tide me over and I want to get the park filled up to enough to at least pay the bills.  

And it's going to be hard to find anyone to go over there to meet anyone that wants to move in after I get back on the road.  I have a few options, yes, maybe Maria would do it in exchange for some pay. It's just go over, hand them some paperwork, take the money if they're paying cash, wish them a nice day and go back home.  I bet she'd do it if I gave her enough money.  She doesn't work and it's easy money.  Taylor is busy with her work, kids, etc. I won't be asking her.  The friend that just contacted me about spreading the word would probably help, but she has a full time job.  

I think Maria would be the best choice to approach first.  I don't really know what to offer. Maybe $30 or $40 per client?  If it's long term, the money lost will be the money gained.  I don't really want to have to have anyone meeting up with short term - those types aren't really coming in in droves and I am making the thing basically automated. Pay online, show up, park, level, hook up, done.  This is why I need a few cameras over there.  Oh, I need to go get those solar lights today.  I want to get that done, the people asked for it and it was something I was going to do anyway. 

Enough.

G'day

 Well, I wasn't kicked out of ketosis, but the scale went down to trace instead of moderate.  No biggies, probably something I ate at In Japan last night.  I tried to keep everything Keto - steak and lobster work, but there was some sort of sauce on the lobster that I didn't expect and it was sweet.  I tried to wipe it all off of it, but it was probably what sent me back a bit.  

The scale showed me teetering on the verge of 11 pounds down, so regardless of the ketosis stage, I'm still going.  The folks here tolerate me and my diet, thankfully.  I'll make secondary food if I have to - make them something and make me something else. Or, I can usually just make the same recipe for everyone, I just separate the recipe at the point any carb laden ingredients need to be added.  

For example, I want spaghetti this coming week.  I cannot eat regular pasta and I balk at paying $30 for a box of "keto" version. But, there is a recipe for noodles made out of mozzarella cheese and egg yolks. That's it, that is the extent of the ingredients. There is quite a bit of work in making it, but to me it's worth it.  Otherwise, I am just taking spaghetti sauce and dumping it on keto friendly bread. I am fortunate that Walmart carries fully 3 versions of Keto bread.

If a recipe has potatoes, I make it with them, I just don't eat the potatoes.  There are ways around most everything.  Anyway, day 6 is almost over and tho I am not necessarily seeing any results, the scale is definitely showing a steady decline.  There will be a plateau sooner or later and I will probably go on a water fast at that point - nothing but water - for a couple of days.  I'm motivated this time around to dump this fat.  It's just gotten excessive and I can't deal with it. I'm trying to get down to 200 pounds before doing a "cheat day".  That will take months, at least.  And yes, I can make it months without cheat days.  I've done it before, several times over. As long as my motivation stays high enough, I can do it.

Oh, definitely when I start getting some revenues coming in that take the park above and beyond the monthly expenses, I am going to use the revenues to build a glamping site.  This would be somewhere around a 20X20 large glamping tent a wood deck approximately 30X40 in size.  I'm done thinking about it, it's something I want to try, Glamping is sweeping across the country and if you can do it, you should try it.

Well, I have the land, which is most people's major obstacle.  I've been trying to figure out the electric part of it - this structure would be put in the rear part of the property well away from the RV sites. The only thing I can come up with is solar panels.  The utilities are always the most expensive part, I am finding.  Glamping is luxury camping - there is electricity, a shower and a bathroom, the latter 2 being outdoor.  

There is nothing here that makes you rich overnight - or even ever makes you rich. It gives you an income that you can more than comfortably live off of, but it's a long term plan, not an overnight thing.  Glamping sites charge hotel rates.  This isn't nickle and dime stuff and if you can keep it full most of the time, your investment is paid off in a year or less.  Glamping is not a dream, it's a goal. I have given considerable thought to it and with 6 to 8 grand investment, well maybe a bit more if solar is involved,  I can find out if it's truly the pot of gold that people are claiming it is. I likely would make it very luxurious, I don't want half-@$$ed anything with something that people expect to find an elegant setting. 

There are so many things I want to do with this land....but besides loans and going back to work to finance such loans, I can think of no other ways to acquire money unless there is "free" federal money up for the taking. There must be something there, you don't have trillions of dollars budgets and not have perhaps small business grants or low cost loans?  

Back to earth, I have stuff to deal with that doesn't cost anything more than what I've already shelled out. So, tomorrow, I'll take ibuprofen and go over there and try to get something done.  

So, fill the place up with oil field workers. 

They're a different type of crowd and especially around here? They are mostly rednecks.  Now, I have nothing against rednecks, at all. They are usually decent people, but one wouldn't necessarily attribute them as "normal" by, say, a city dweller's idea of normalcy.  

The call yesterday was from an oil field worker. The dude that moved in - oil field worker.  A person replying to one of my local face book ad - I suspect he's an oil field worker, he didn't actually say that part, he just said I could fill the park up with them. 

So what's the problem? Well for one, they have odd hours.  They might be leaving for work at 2 am.  That isn't necessarily a problem as long as they make minimal noise when leaving the park.  The guy that moved in asked about that and that was my answer. Just keep it reasonable, we have quiet hours but that doesn't mean you don't live your life.  

Second, because of their odd hours, some of them may have "waking" hours that are in the middle of the night.  The potential here is that they all congregate and start making - a lot of noise.  I don't want to have to spend my days visiting with people asking them politely to keep then nose levels way down between the hours of 10:00 pm and 7:00 am.  

Now, if I had enough of them in there, I could follow through with my plan to simply build a fire pit, at the rear of the front of the property. It's at least 400 feet away, they could - drink probably - get loud and no one would care.  I'm going to take the man's advice and check out the groups he suggested "to name a few". If they allow such ads, I will post them. If they don't say one way or another, I will post them anyway and admins can take it down if they don't like it.  

When you are dealing with rednecks, perfection isn't necessarily an issue.  They are good-hearted people, at least the ones I have dealt with personally in my everyday goings and doings.  They very likely won't care if there isn't a bath house.  They might appreciate the social area with the fire pit, maybe even a built in BBQ grill.  The bath house is just a sticking issue because if you have one, RV'ers can take long, hot showers. In an RV, they can't take long hot showers unless they've installed one of those inline water heaters that heats the water up as it passes through it.  But a regular shower means they have room to move around and they don't have to take their storage items out of the shower stall in their RV. And a myriad of other reasons not worth going into here.

The point? Yes, I will seek these people out. This area is filled with them, other parks have them.  They usually have 2 residences, their RV and a house - on land - or an apartment. or whatever.  An actual, permanent structure.  They're looking to save money on the RV lots since they are paying for 2 residences.  This is where my park comes in.  These people aren't broke, they are traveling with 42 plus foot long, newer RV's that have all the fixings in them. Oil field work pays excellent money.  

I have a few things to get done today, by that token.  I need to cut up some more boards for the guy that is possibly coming in - he said he was but I'll believe it when I see him and go over and help the guy level his rig out.  They have it all tweaked out, I was looking at it yesterday. The whole thing just needs to be re-done from scratch. It's a small unit, it won't really take that much to get it level all the way around. 

I was thinking about this unlevel lots situation yesterday.  I will probably try to level some out, over time, by hand, with a shovel, but in the end? I'm just going to supply leveling board setups they will need to simply drive up on them and that will either get them level or close enough to it that the rest is easy peasy.   I'm not going to stress over it, I'm just going to offer a solution.  They actually sell them online, at $33 being the cheapest available, that's not going to happen right now.  I might buy one of them to see how well they work.  They have different levels you can stop the wheels on depending on how high you need to go.  Mine would probably have to go the full 5 inches - which should work, maybe only 4.  But you can imagine the tilt if you were just going to set up without leveling being 5 inches off.  

Well, we're off to church this morning.  The younger boy woke me up running through the house - a thing he has been told repeatedly - probably 1,000 times - not to do. I was pretty cranky, but a few cups of coffee and time got me past that point.  I don't think going to church should be used as some sort of thing that we only go if their behavior is good. Other things, definitely, but church? Not so much. I don't really feel like going that much, but since the property is right down the street and around the corner from the church, I am taking them.  It's only an hour and then I can get stuff done over there. 

 Well it wasn't shocking that a person called, asking if I have a bath house on the property? What am I going to do, lie?  No, the property is still under construction, I'm sorry.  

It is still getting set up, tho most of what is left to do is minor stuff.  Stuff I can't currently do because of a ligament injury on my right knee.  I really want to see if I can level a lot by just moving the gravel around a bit - or get it much closer to level, at least.

But, the lack of a bath house is an issue. Who knows how many potential customers might have looked and said no because there isn't one there? I have no idea.  I just know I spent a good deal of time researching this issue and for a good many people, not having one is a deal breaker.  

The only thing left to address, really, is how can I get the money to turn the shed into a bath house? Well, just one bathroom with a shower, to be more precise about it.  I dunno. I haven't looked for more loans because I don't want another loan.  There is no guarantee that if I get one built, I will all of a sudden see bookings flying in.  

Ok, the way I will do it is when I get enough long term staying there - or - by some miracle - a bunch of short termers start coming in.  I don't know what else to say.  If I go back to work, it isn't to start funding the park.  It needs to pay for itself, at the very least.  I'm not going to beat myself up over this, it just kind of came home to roost after getting that phone call a few minutes ago. 

It did, actually, start raining today, even after people began dismissing the forecast. It rained for several hours, actually, but it appears to have stopped. Raining that long? Well I'm not going to have the bush hog guy come out. And on a different note, James supervisor does bush hogging on the side and James says he charges $40 per hour. That's $35 per hour cheaper than the dude I was looking at using.  I'll wait to see if this supervisor will come out. He's about 45 miles away, I'd gladly pay  a fuel fee for saving that much money per hour. If I were to have the front AND the rear portion done, it would probably take all day long.  The weeds are tall and a machine would have to go through them slowly to get them hacked down.  

_______

A man calls, asks about 50 amp hookup - yes.  I'm coming for 2 weeks do you have anything available? Yes, we have spots.  What do I need to do? I'm not requiring anything at the moment.  I need the business, thinking, not telling him, don't want to sound desperate for I'm not.  What's the rate? $150 weekly.  Ohh, ok!  He probably doesn't hear that rate too often. He's coming Monday.  Of course, as everything else in life, wait and see, but if he's coming for work, he needs someplace to stay.  He would have already seen the 2 biggest competitors in town and for whatever reason, didn't choose them. 

I'm okay with that, lol.  

The new tenant texted me after I contacted him - well it was hours later. I'm here now.  Yes, well we were at a restaurant so I told him we went out to eat, I'll be over there after we are done.  A while later, he suggested coming over tomorrow. Yes, indeed, it was getting dark and his rig needs leveled. I don't want to do that in the dark. It's wet, cold, damp, overcast, just a gloomy day.  

The man coming for 2 weeks? I'm going to build  a leveler block.  I'm going to make several of them, actually . this is just a 2X8 structure.  You make it long enough for dual axles.  It causes the trailer to pull up onto a 2X8, then up on another 2X8, down, back up for both axles to end up resting on the top of each of the platforms. It's near 4 inches off the ground for the wheels on the driver's side to site on. If that's not high enough, I will rebuild them to near 5 inches high.  I don't think it needs more than 5 inches. 

 It's relatively cheap and I want the stuff available, as well as a lot of 2X8 blocks cut maybe 8 inches long for the leveler/stabilizer jacks.  If people come and don't have anything, I will supply it for them.  Cheap customer enhancement insurance to make them happy. If they can just drive up on the thing to level it, it will make people much happier. This guy has a 42 foot 5th wheel and who knows what kind of truck, but probably either a dually or a rear single axle but still a 1 ton setup.  

I am not advertising unlevel lots.  No one does.  If they ask me, I will tell them, obviously, the lots aren't level side to side and I am supplying blocks to drive up on.  If they don't want to deal with it, that's their choice, I won't hold it against them.  But at least, for now, I will have something to mitigate the problem.  It's a temporary solution, beyond shoveling gravel, I don't want to spend the money on a dozer operator coming out to fix it, far too much money right now.  I will start on each lot digging down one side and shoveling over to the other whenever my knee starts to feeling better.  That will be a long term project, I can't foresee manually doing that and getting 14 lots done in any short period of time.  

Each lot will be shut down for use while doing it. It's not like I have all lots full every  night.  It's going to be a gradual "twisting" effect to pull up onto the lot, but it will be nothing major, I'm looking at 4 to 5 inches offset to start.  If that gets it close, I won't worry about doing any more, all of these trailers have jacks or stabilizers on them to level their rigs.  "Well, if that's true, why bother?"  Because the wheels come off the ground.  If you don't have the wheel or wheels on that side holding pressure on the frame of the rv, the rv will move around every time you take a step in it. You couple the wheels with the stabilizers and the front jack to get it secured. 

Anyway, enough.  Tomorrow is Sunday, I don't know if I'm going to church and I forgot to ask the guy when he'll be home.  Or if he's going anywhere.  But I want to get him squared away and get this all over and done with. And build the leveling block assembly - that won't take long, I already have the lumber, it's just a matter of cutting 3 boards and screwing them in place.  If takes more than 15 minutes, I would be surprised.  

 I wish I could sleep.  This knee pain persists.  It feels like it's subsiding a bit, but it's still enough to wake me up every time I turn in bed.  Stay in bed 10 hours and get 5 hours of sleep? Gag. It's great weather, I am contemplating going out and working anyway.  Time isn't going to wait for my knee to heal....Probably a bad idea, the real way for this type of injury to heal is rest, not using it as much as possible, not straining it. I"ll have to be on my knees digging out that trench, standing up bending over constantly picking stuff up

There's allegedly some dude moving in today.  You know the story, they say they're coming and they don't. But there is something that has been eating at me and I finally remembered what it was.  I think a lot of my descriptions on these directories talk about long term as well as short term.  I'm going to look in a while, I'm just trying to get myself awake at the moment.

The reason is some or even many RV'ers that are traveling full time or even just going on vacation mode don't necessarily appreciate long term RV'ers.  It's sort of a snubbing.  They think the long termers are possessive of the park and it's amenities and that they own the place. They can "tell" because there is a lot of "stuff" outside of their rigs.  

I'm not trying to deceive anyone, but I don't want the long term stuff in any of those directories.  I am pretty sure the local ads are the only way to find those types of people.  

If after a few months, I don't start getting reservations for overnighters, I'm going to just fill it up with long term people and that will be that.  It will change the entire venue. I'll let people put up fencing if they so desire and make it more homey.  It would be far better to get overnighters coming in consistently - apparently that can take even years to get them coming in to the point your park is full or nearly full most of the time.  

I don't have years.  I can put in stuff that will bring them in such as a pool, but right now? I don't have the money for that and I don't see it being a good risk for taking out a loan to get one.  In fact, if I were to take out even a "smaller" loan, it will still have to be a lot of money to build a pool, a bath house, laundry, a pavillion and put in at least 20 more spaces.  That's easily 200k.  50k pool, maybe more, 25k bath house/laundry combo, 15k pavillion and at least 100k to put in more spots.  That's because I would have to put in another septic system, run the electric even further back and the water line.  The cheapest thing would be the water line, it's just hook into the existing line.  Electric would cost a lot more than I spent already.  Underground line new spaces?  I'm looking at 40k minimum just to run the line and install the pedestals.  

This is a dream, maybe a goal? Nothing is set in stone, is pretty much what I'm saying here. RV park, mobile home park, tiny home community, mixture of all 3, whatever works.  I don't really care - I just don't want a trailer trash setup.  

I ponder lots of things that are unattainable.  I wonder about things I can do and why they don't seem to be working.  I know from reading experts in the field and park owners it can take a long time to get to the point you are mostly busy.  But I expected a bit more than what I am getting now, especially with all the local advertising. The directories that reach across America?  I need reviews, I'm pretty sure that is at least one thing holding up getting the reservations, that and some amenities I don't have people consider "must haves".  I didn't expect to spend as much money as I had to spend building the park.  Costs went up - well beyond original quotes.  

Shoulda, woulda, coulda, should have gotten the quotes in writing.  Buy the stuff up front if they need to and I could have paid them up front.  

Now what.  Go back to work, that's the end of the story. Once I get this knee better, I am going to work to get the stuff done I need to get done and then I'm going to start looking for a job.  I'll start local and work out to regional.  I just won't do OTR.  There's far too many regional jobs to worry about having to go OTR.  I don't need to see America via the driver's seat of a tractor-trailer rig.  I've seen most all of it from coast to coast.  Just never been to Alaska and obviously you aren't going to drive to Hawaii. 

I dunno, but these things occupy my mind - probably too much. I think it would be relieved if I could at least get in enough people to pay the bills to start with.  

I am going to the bank today. I cannot access my account online, they never sent me a debit card and I have to go TO the bank to see what transactions have transpired. The idea that you are starting a checking account without getting a debit card at the very least is absurd in my thinking.  The idea that they won't allow me to access the account without jumping through their hoops is a bit ridiculous as well. They have by now sent "small amounts around $1" to verify it's me. I have to verify the account by inputting the exact amount those transactions were for.  Well how the Hercules Hondurans do you check it if you cannot access it? This isn't a lot of walking and I want this situation dealt with.  

On another note, day 4 of Keto.  232 starting weight, 224 this morning.  Now, I don't know what, exactly, has been lost but I doubt you can lose 8 pounds in 4 days of fat, so I assume water weight or something, I really don't know lol. I'm committed to losing at least 24 more pounds - getting to 200 - before any cheats, at all.  I don't care how good the food looks, I'm not going to just live with a fat belly and thighs. It's foreign to me, just really exploded after I got off of Keto because of high cholesterol. 

I'm just going to work with chicken, turkey and fish and run with it.  I'm still in "trace" ketosis. Who knows when it will get into the medium range, but just changing diet has already had benefits.  It will take awhile to get rid of this belly, but if I can make it 25 more pounds, this belly an thighs should shrink considerably.  

Oh, and I need to go check on the tent campers - and get that new chainsaw out of there, a thing  I completely forgot about last night.  I have no reason to trust them - I just don't trust strangers anymore.  They could be decent people, they could be thieves, they could be anything in between.  

Well, I got several calls from the facebook ad, a few of them - sound - promising.  So far, none of it has converted into long term tenants.  One dude is around 2:00 pm tomorrow afternoon, he says he will be heading over here. Another something similar. And the couple that says they are moving in on the 1st.  I've been through all of this before - people saying they are going to come and they don't.  It's something I'm already accustomed to from trying to rent out rooms.  

I got an unusual call, tho.  I'm not boosting tent camping right now.  Just not something I want to mess with while I'm expending my energies trying to get the RV portion done.  It isn't going to make a significant amount of money - tho I am of the "any added extra income is a good thing" mindset.  Still, there is some work and money to be spent back there and I'm just not in the position to spend - about 2 grand - right now.  

But, these people asked about a tent camping site?  I think I have it listed somewhere, yes it's on my own website.  Again, not promoting it. I thought about it for a few seconds, well I do have one site that will work that doesn't have access issues.  It was a few hours later - I was getting the boys, doing homework with them - and I met up with them out there, boys in tow. Mom and dad at work, homework done, we waited for their arrival with them playing on their favorite dirt pile.  

They asked how much? I just threw out $10. Ok!  A bit later and before we met there, I changed it to "I'll give it to you for free if you will give me a Google review".  Google reviews are worth their weight in gold when you have none at all.  Sure! they replied.  Ok!

Well.  It turns out they are homeless. They have a pickup truck - an older one probably early 2,000's, in good running condition and had a lot of camping equipment in the back. It was all neat and tidy, a good sign. The lady then said something about VA doctor visits and that hubby is a vet.  Well now you have my attention. Vets really aren't being treated that well in this nation and a lot of them end up in poverty and even more end up committing suicide.  There are some great organizations that are helping them, but overall, the stats of how they end up living when coming back off a war zone or just out of service shows a lot of them just don't do that well.

I didn't say they could stay as long as they want.  I don't want to start a homeless encampment. They aren't completely broke, thankfully.  She asked if they could stay a couple of days?   Sure! I just laid out to please keep the site clean and tidy and keep the fire in the middle of - such and such - area so as not to start a forest fire.  I was going to get them a fire ring from the front, but they had their own with them. I invited them to help themselves to fresh water, a bit of firewood and certainly could pump up their air mattress using one of the electrical outlets in the park.  

They even had their own, portable toilet. It became obvious they are just going from place to place, camping out wherever they can find to do so.  Camping sites are at the rear of the park.  This camping site is not along the trails. They are out of site, next to the gas well operation but in the woods.  I did ask them to stay off the well pad. I forgot one of my chainsaws near their site where I have a few items stored.  I don't necessarily believe they are thieves, but I don't necessarily trust people, either.  It's a brand new saw that hasn't been used, it's one of the $50 20 inch saws I got from Walmart.  Well I have their names, phone number and license plate number.  

There isn't much of anything else.  I wish I could get some more of those "just traveling through town, it's the end of the day, we need a place to stay" type of things but nothing.  The website designer wanted some money for the work he's done.  I'm kind of at the end of that. He's doing background work but said we are pretty much where we need to be for now.  Meaning after I pay him the current amount, I shouldn't have to pay him much of anything.  He's gotten my website showing fairly high up the rankings, he's done his job but his prices aren't cheap per hour and for now, I'd like to take a break from that.  Mostly because I am barely taking anything in and the word is out - all over the place. It's people are going to come, or they aren't.  But more work on the website at this point isn't going to help anything.  

 The FB ad has gotten a few calls.  The first one was someone calling for someone else. They were asking about the price and if they could move in today? Sure, just a few questions for you - they couldn't really answer them since they aren't the person wanting to move in.

The second was a man that asked about the price as well and wondering if I had 2 spots. I sure do!  But it became obvious they are broke and can't afford to stay - anywhere.  After asking the monthly rent, he asked about the nightly rate "because we have some...things...we have to take care of".  That sort of set off some alarm bells and flags in my mind.

I didn't turn him down, but I'm not going down on my nightly rate, it's as low as it goes pretty much anywhere.  I offered a weekly rate as well, but he didn't seem interested in that.  He did want 50 amp outlets. He didn't directly ask if I would go lower, he was certainly hinting at it.

As I said, I am not going down any lower in my rates. They are the lowest rates in the region, competing only with some trailer trash parks - I think one of them is a bit lower.  I do not have a trailer trash park and I have no intentions on operating one.  People are let known right off the bat that I do not allow outdoor storage of any kind. You can outdoor table, a grill, a smoker perhaps, some chairs, but storage of items in boxes or just junk laying everywhere will not be tolerated.  

I'm not pretty firm about that, I'm quite firm.  Anyway, I'm not sure I want people that can't afford a basic rate in the park.  I didn't turn them down, but they don't really sound like good prospects. I doubt I will be hearing from them again, people that broke are probably desperate and I feel for them, I've been there and done that. They would be good to just find some place to boondock until they can afford to stay somewhere with electricity, water and sewer hookups. 

 I doubt I will be hearing from the other person either.  My ads sell the park, I'm just on the phone to sort of reaffirm a nice place at a cheaper price.  

Oh, btw, Meta/Facebook reversed their decision after I requested a review. I dunno what made them reverse it excepting the fact that their stated discriminatory practices did not exist anywhere in the ad.  Even if I were a racist puke, I wouldn't have that in an such trying to promote my business since I not only know Facebook wouldn't accept it, I would also likely be "canceled".  Fortunately, I am not racist and don't care what anyone's skin color is, God created all of us and He is no respecter of persons.  

Whatever the case, I've been busy uploading pics of the park and the trail and all of that good stuff all over the place. I had lots of ads up that have no pics at all.  I think there's more, just have to find them and update them.  With no reviews besides that Facebook review, at the very minimum I need lots of pics of the place to let people understand by being able to view it how the park looks and what to expect.  

After all of this stuff I've been doing, I still haven't had any overnighters calling in the last several days and maybe 4 people calling about long term, only one of which I think might actually show up on the 1st.  They have "loved" some of my posts on my Facebook business account.  It would be really nice to have 2 payments coming in at the beginning of the month. It would pay for almost everything I have dumped on the business checking account thus far.  The mortgage payment, the shed payment and now the Verizon payment for wifi.  I want to put the water bill on there and will be setting up power company payments soon.  I want all of that stuff separated from personal finances. It's all business stuff and I want it showing to any taxing entities that may do an audit or request what I'm paying for on there. I'll need about 4 long term lots being used to pay for everything and taxes. 

I also need to pay the property taxes soon - around $1,700 worth, most of it for the business property.  25 acres was taxed at over $1,500. An almost $500 increase from the previous year, and yes, it was valued long before the RV park improvements were made. So who knows what they will want finding out it is a business?  I'll likely have to have an appraisal done on my own, this county and school district are rather greedy and quite generous in their handouts and building brand new schools and such.  I'm still aghast at the covered football stadium they built. What on earth does a high school need with that and to top it off, it's hardly ever used.  

I don't recall any covered stadiums in AZ and it's much hotter there than here.  

Anyway, at least I didn't waste the day even tho my leg is saying no thanks to anything. Well, me knee, to be specific.  It's especially painful getting up off a chair - as what I'm about to do to go get the kids.  Taylor is busy with work and usually asks me to go get them on Thursdays. 

With that, I bid you ado.  

 One thing if for certain, at least to me: if I want more people to seriously consider the overnight stuff - which equals more money - I'll have to get more amenities in there.  If I want long term, I just have to wait for as long as it takes to get 14 spots filled up with them. I just want people in there at this point. I really have no idea what else I can do now with limited finances.  

Laundry - can't get it off my mind, yet there is nothing I can do about it at this point beyond just putting up some sort of cheap looking arrangement.  That would probably work with long term, short term people would likely not appreciate it that much. 

I'm talking about a pad, just big enough to put a washer and dryer on it, some sort of covering that isn't enclosed and the utilities necessary to make it function.  It would still cost a couple thousand dollars including the cost of the machines.  

Hilarious.  My ad was taken down by "Meta" because it was discriminatory! They say it should be placed in a "special ads" section. Okkkk, but how was it discriminatory? No mention of race, religion, sexual orientation - nothing. I don't care who you are as long as you aren't Charles Manson and you do have enough money to be able to pay the lot rent up front.  You can never talk to anyone from Facebook about it, either.  I take that back. There is a facebook forum where reps from Facebook will answer questions, but a chat session? Or even calling them? Good luck!

As it stands, a trans couple may be moving in at the end of the month! That's about as "un" discriminatory as you can get! LOL!

I'm just sitting here musing how I can get this park to start working for me.  The word is out and people are informing me they are telling others about it.  I have invested a lot of time into ads and setting up on various websites all over the place.  It is allegedly the time of year people begin booking parks for their travels.  Short of money and building a bath house, laundry room, pool and pond, there isn't much else I can do. And I certainly wouldn't want to get a 200k or more loan right now not knowing if it would actually pay off.  It would be another mortgage payment, basically and if it didn't work, I'd have to be working full time just to be able to afford the payments.

Well, I will have to go back to work anyway, I certainly can't live off of one couple staying at the park - tho they at least said they are going no where and also indicated they are getting the word out.  They also said another family member may be interested in moving into the park.  Cool.  

Well, off to Walmart. Just a thing I have to do, I need keto stuff and as much as I abhor going into walmart, they have the biggest selection of Keto goods in town.

 Come to learn that TripAdvisor won't show my phone number or any contact details without paying  a whopping $45 per month.  I know RV park owners that swear by it - but others also swear by the free ones I have listed it with . My park shows on TripAdvisor, there is just no way to contact me from their site.  I could see a minimal charge to find out if it does anything - at the very least an intro freebie for a week or a month?  

But no thanks. I am loaded up with enough payments right now, I just can't afford more of this stuff.  If someone really wanted to find out about my park through TripAdvisor, they can just google the name, it will come right up! I decided to try and slip in the URL in the description - I suspect they won't approve it.  

I'm also waiting on CampSpot to contact me with whatever they are wanting to know - or charge.  Well that didn't take long, they charge 10% per booking and a 2.5% credit card processing fee.  I'll do it, I already did do it, it's just awaiting them to finalize it.  

_______________

Thursday - morning

I'm awakened all night long with the pain shooting up my leg when I subconsciously/sleep turn.  I'm abandoning my efforts to get up early until this passes. The pain is beginning to subside a bit, but when tweaked in the wrong contortions?  Yeah, no fun. Not going to get much of anything done over there, either. That's all physical labor type of work and I am not going to do any of that and potentially drag out even longer the time it takes for this thing to heal. 

I've been spending the days going through endless websites listing the park wherever I can, fixing or adding things (especially pics) to sites I have already signed up with and wondering how I can get more traffic to my business.  

I'm day 3 back on Keto - down 8 pounds.  This is usually what happens, lose 10 pounds or so and then plateau there for a while.  It can't be that much fat loss in just a few days, but it's nice to see the needle going down on the scale instead of up. I'm determined to get down below 200 before any cheat days. That's going to take a while- probably a few months anyway. Mostly just eating salads and chicken to start with a few fats thrown in.  The urine stick showed "trace" ketosis last night, it's just something to show you where you're at. 

Lots of people on the Keto sites say those sticks are useless and you "must" use a blood analyzer to determine exact ketosis. I'm like, what?  This isn't a life threatening illness, or diabetes or something, I don't need to go that far with it. It's more of a motivational tool - you see the stick getting darker and darker purple, you know you're on the right track.  

I have a Keto cookbook - an actual paperback book lol - that has some amazing looking dishes in it that I want to make. I doubt anyone here will eat the stuff, but if I make a lot, I can have leftovers for days for lunches and even separate dinner than everyone else.  It's just the way it has to be with everyone else eating whatever they want whenever they want to, I have to get off of that train.  If I don't, I won't lose this fat and this will all be a waste of time.

Well, anyway, just deleted the old Facebook ad and put up a new one with a lot more pics.  As many pics as is allowed per ad, in fact.  It will reach across a 100 mile radius or even more with all the different groups I put it in going from Shreveport to almost Tyler, north and south as well.  I will keep posting these facebook ads indefinitely. Only one out of 20 groups denies the ad, the rest don't care.  Most of the facebook selling sites around here really don't care what you are putting up as long as it isn't spam/scams.  

Enough.  Just going to keep looking around for ways to reach more people.  

G'day

 Yet another online campground reservation system that wasn't working because it wanted more information.  It didn't ask for that information when I set it up and it never sent me an email notification saying it's not live.  I guess I'll have to go back through all of the directories as well and make sure they are showing my park on there.  Yes, my campground software that I have on my website is working, the owner verified it and a customer has finally used it once.  

But sites like Roverpass that may be able to generate some income weren't going until I input specific information it was demanding.  I have no problem with giving that information, it just never asked for it initially. 

It's a rain day and my leg is still hurting when I try to get up or walk on it.  It feels like it's getting better, ever-so-slowly at least.  I can see it taking a while before the ligament/tendon whatever it is, probably a ligament tho, is fully healed.  These are no cuts and scrape injuries that you can just continue on with your normal daily routine.  I'm just taking it easy for the most part until I can walk without pain again.  

But yes, the weather forecasters actually delivered this time with an almost-accurate forecast. The rain initially was supposed to start at 4am. Then it was 6am. Then it was 8:45, then 9:15. It started around 9:15 lol.  

The oldest boy was begging me last night to come to school and have lunch with him.  I told him no, my leg is hurting, I don't want to have to walk that far. It's a pretty good walk from where you park to where you actually end up in a room they have set aside especially for that purpose.  He asked his mom last night anyway, lol. I'm pretty sure it's not me he wants to see but the McDonald's I would bring if I were going to do that.  Just throwing random things in here as I normally do, lol.

Well anyway, I have the park set up on 2 other campground software sites - but these sites do all the work, unlike the campground software I have.  And, the 2 other sites do all of the advertising and already have a huge following of RV'ers that use it to find parks.  So, in the last 24 hours, I've had them both up and running (when I thought both of them were already up and running), we'll see how that turns out. 

I'm going to see if I can find more of those types of systems. There are no start up costs, they have RV'ers that go into their system, look either for a specific park or a specific area/region and then start looking at the campgrounds that are available.  The costs are incurred in their fees per reservation. Rather high, but if it gets me business, paying them more is better than empty sites.  And I can stop at any time. I also have complete control over the reservations. If, by some chance, the park is full on the days they want to come, I can reject the reservation before it's even set. It goes to the campground owner/management to verify there is a space available for the dates wanted and then the campground owner verifies it, not the software system. 

I actually like it better than what I paid $200 to set up - but I really have to have ability to take payments on my website and the money has been spent already, the software is installed. It also has a per-reservation fee, but it's much lower than these other 2 sites.  Basically, at this point, I don't care how I get the reservations or how much I have to see go bye-bye to the website that is taking those reservations, I need people in there and I also need reviews.  

Well anyway, I just logged out of Roverpass and tried to set up a reservation.  It worked fine so I'm good with that. Same with HipCamp and showing all my freshly loaded pictures.  So, I have 3 sites available to book lots now, if there are more, I am going to find them.  

Ok, well apparently Campspot also has no start up fees, that application has been filled out as far as I can go with it until they contact me to finish up. Now, if they ask for a startup fee? Yeah, cancel and delete the account please.  However, I have seen other campground owners saying they don't charge a startup fee, I'll wait and see.  With Roverpass, HipCamp and Campspot, I have expanded the amount of places where people go to find RV parks greatly. I have it listed on dozens of campsite directories - they don't do reservations, they simply direct people ot my website.

The most important of which, at least if you give other RV park owners and experts, is TripAdvisor.  I personally would never have thought of that site for RV parks, that's hotels in my mind.  But some of these people swear by it.  Yup, doesn't cost anything but time to set it up and yes, it's live on their site as well.  

 I knew I was forgetting something, I just couldn't remember what it was.

The lone tenants there let me know this morning.  Really nice people btw, not hostile, argumentative - they said they really like it there and put the word out whenever they can to whoever might be in need of such facilities.  

Anyway, she said: Just a suggestion, but it might be helpful if you put in solar lights.

Yes! How could I have forgotten that?  There is literally no lighting in there at all at night.  I only want the low rise solar lights that you just push into the ground, regular street lighting is shunned by most RV'ers not wanting bright lights coming into their units at night.  She said a pickup truck came through late last night drove slowly through the park and then left.  I asked her if they are armed? Yes, she nodded. Oh that's fine, I have no problem with that.  

Anyway, my leg is hurting too bad to get much of anything done. I finished installing the doggy park trash bags, the kind you put your hand into, pick up the poop, pull your hand out and that's that.  And I cut the pipes down that are holding the gate and latch. And for now, I put in a much sturdier sign hold for the little sign at the highway. 

The other holder/stand would just bend over in the wind.  This one will not - it might lean a little bit but it won't bend over so far that you can't even see the sign.  I have been saying I'm going to install the big one a few times - and it just never happens.  Well I'm definitely not going to pound a post hole shovel in with this knee. Nor am I getting on my hands and knees to dig out the trench. I wanted to, that was my plan for today until the accident last night.

Fortunately,  just sitting here I feel no pain at all. That's an excellent sign that this isn't too serious and given enough time, it will heal on its own.  

Well good. A pack of 6 solar lights is only $30 range.  Get 12 of them, be done with it.  Fancier ones can be purchased in the future. 

Well, I guess it makes sense, changing the subject yet again. Roverpass hasn't been sending me any customers because they hadn't made my site go live yet.  I fixed this today after going there wondering about this and if I could upload more pics.  Turns out there wasn't any place for payments to be sent to - in other words, after a customer pays Roverpass, Roverpass pays me.  That's all taken care of and instantly I got an "you are now online with Roverpass!"  email.  

I did find it a bit odd that they didn't tell me this before I had to go digging in their site to find this out.  One would assume they want as much business as possible - they are taking a chunk of every reservation. I'm trying to get business in there and get the word out - I'll take the loss for the gain. I would like to hope someday I won't need Roverpass - or that I can simply raise the prices to make up for the loss of their 15% take.  My rates are so low right now as it stands.  Nope, there won't be any other discounts given, even if asked.  There's just no reason to give more discount on already highly discounted rates.

Well, maybe in the coming days I will get some business from them.  I'd like to get a call right about now from whoever: we're coming through, need a place to stay! Ok, come on over! 

____________

No new business. No reservations, no emails and no phone calls.  I dunno what to say - nothing I guess.  It will happen when it happens.  

 So I finally got a good review via Facebook. I wish they had put it on Google - but I think eventually it will be put on Google anyway, it seems to work out that way.  

"This is a gem! We stopped overnight and loved it! It is close to I-20 but far enough away to be very peaceful and quiet. Great for dogs."

That is, in my book, a very good review. Short, sweet and to the point. I may post it via manage my Google business account anyway. I need that up there, I don't just want it up there. There, that took 30 seconds to do, it is part of the description of the park now, the name left out of it. Not that I should have to worry about it, her name was visible on her Facebook review.

Ok. Well, a couple of people were playing soccer in the front yard yesterday and I was standing there - in the wrong place at the wrong time. An adult, male, human body came crashing into my leg and definitely did some damage to the ligament on my knee. I assume an ACL injury - wouldn't know that for sure without going to a doctor-

It hurt overnight but I managed to find a few positions in bed to sleep that allowed for sleep. I've had a complete ACL tear in the past, they are no fun. I doubt this is torn off, I can still put some pressure on it and sitting down I don't really feel anything. When I tore it some 30 years ago, it was in pain regardless and I definitely couldn't walk - for a long time actually.

So I'm hopeful that doing ice compressions and getting a knee brace after a couple of days have passed this thing will heal on its own. I have work to do, sitting around here isn't part of the equation. I am going over to the property today regardless - tho obviously I am not going to be doing any digging. If I could get down on my hands and knees, I could use the pick axe to dig out that little trench I need for that pipe. Somehow, I doubt that is going to happen. Exactly what I didn't need to have happen.

I'm also heavier than I have ever been in my entire life. I think the last time I got up here it was 230. I'm at 232. I'm done. This isn't going to go on any longer. I will just start eating salads and chicken. that's it. Anything else I might be able to find that is at least healthy, low calorie and preferably low carb. I can't just keep going up, I need to lose a lot of weight and I'm all in for that.

Keto diet was the only thing that ever worked, I'm going to try doing it again, just without too much beef or pork. Keep it mostly chicken and a lot of salads with various things added in - change it up here and there to keep it interesting. I may just fast a day or two and warp speed getting into ketosis. Oh well I can have turkey too. Not much of a change from chicken, but a bit different taste. And fish, yess, that's good as well and I have a bag of frozen Talapia already.

A few extra pounds is one thing, this is ridiculous. And can add health problems - especially diabetes junk. I just got serious this morning after seeing my weight increase fully 7 pounds from yesterday. I didn't even eat that much yesterday, I'm not sure how that happened.

Well, I guess I'll take a pain killer. It's fine sitting here but I'm going to be moving - as little as possible of course - but I really need to get over there and at least check everything out. Especially considering I didn't go yesterday. I do have a bit of security in knowing those people are living over there right now - they have my phone number, if something happens I would like to hope they will call me. I always tell people if there are any problems, please call!

Well enough. Not a lot to report, I'm just going to go over there and see if I can get anything done. The bag dispenser for the dog bags needed a screw that I bought the other day. I forgot to install it when I was over there last, I was messing around with the boys playing hide and seek. Well, the boys are in school and I can get something - even if just light stuff - done.

G'day

I'm in business to make money.  It may take a while to get there, but still, if a couple pulls in with a 100k trailer and an 80k truck and asks for a discount on already highly discounted rates - to the point that they are the lowest in the industry - why do certain people think it's necessary to give them a further discount rate?  Did you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars building a park/buying the land? And all the blood, sweat and tears put into it?

I have pictures of bloodied arms trying to get through the thorn vines, the trees with thorns and several other plant species loaded with spikes and thorns that made my arms look like I was bleeding out. 

No, you didn't. You didn't navigate a venture completely foreign to you.  I was judged and that was expected. People always try to defeat anyone trying to go into business - it's too risky! You don't know what you're doing! ..and a myriad of other things people that may have good intentions are saying to you and really, just tearing you down.  

I don't understand it but I'm not going to let it get me down. I will somehow make this park successful. It may not happen overnight - obviously that is not happening - but somehow, it's going to make a profit over all the expenses and pay back the debt.  

Anyway, yesterday, I was out there with the boys and the dog.  We went on the trails first and I took a video of the entire walk - but after that we went back up front - they wanted to play in the dirt and the weeds, I was quite happy to accommodate them in that, they needed to get some energy out after being in the house all day long.  

Well, while they were doing that, a pickup truck pulled into the very long driveway and going very slowly.  They pulled into lot 14 - 350 feet away from us. I just watched for a while, they got out, got their dog out on a leash, walked around, etc etc etc.  

But, after a while, I decided to put Addler in the SUV and walk up to them and see what's going on.  I have decidedly tried to get rid of judmentalism in recent years, a thing Christians are quite guilty of and a thing that is - at least when it comes to the unsaved - forbidden in scripture.  It actually says to the effect that we are not to judge them.  I don't know where I picked that up from - probably church, the old style that condemns sin to the point that all you hear coming from those types of people's mouth is brimstone and hell fire messages.  

Anyway,  I came to the understanding within the first minute of talking to them that these people were - unusual and that one of the was a trans man.  That meaning a woman that does the testosterone therapy and in this case, apparently the surgery as well and is turned into a man, replete with  a man's voice.  

These were completely normal people.  They didn't blurt out their sexual orientation, they just talked like normal human beings. They have a 2021 36 foot RV trailer and they were asking if I would allow them to put a shed on their lot.  Maybe.  I ask lots of questions and make lots of statements. They showed me a pic of it - they haven't even bought it yet, brand new. I said that would be fine, I just don't want out door storage.  You can have flat top, smokers, grills tables chairs - normal outdoor stuff, it's the junk that tends to go along with having these sheds that I can't have going. 

Well, they didn't come off as slobs and trailer trash.  So, it may be that they are moving in at the beginning of next month. I don't know for sure yet what they want to do.  It was a nice conversation is what I can say. Meanwhile, while that was going on, a couple of people on mountain bikes came riding up the driveway, rode into the park entrance, through the rv park driveway and back out again.  

I have no idea what that was about.  It seems that people feel the freedom to just drive in whenever they want. I guess I have no problem with that - but my insurance policy forbids bicycles.  Literally, forbids them being ridden on the property.  

Uhh, anyway. It's MLK day and it's almost over.  Tomorrow I'll be out there plugging away at stuff. I need to get that mini-trench dug and that pipe in. I think I will have to get more stuff for that setup, but nothing expensive.

There are lots of other things needing to be done, that one however has the materials laying out there and I want it in the ground and done with.  

That's it. I did not spend the day today stressing about the park.  In fact, I didn't even go over there. There were no calls or reservations for people coming in and if the lone tenants have a problem, they have my phone number.  I'll be out there a good portion of the day tomorrow.

 So my pro photographer took the photos and said they will be available shortly. She enhances them - or in this case at the very least blotting out a few license plate numbers (I wanted to show a long 5th wheel with the pickup detached from it, parked in front of it and still room to spare on the pad - that was there yesterday, I suspect they are gone by now).  

She took photos of everything, including fresh deer tracks. They must be coming over there every day - or probably night actually - because there are fresh tracks daily.  It's a good sell point, I think, that they are coming that far out into the open to eat grass. I assume that's why they are there and tho I don't particularly want the grass eaten up, I doubt they eat it all the way to the ground.  I have my deer-goats coming and mowing the lawns lol.

She also suggested going to the walking trails and getting some pics.  Yes, great idea!  I told them where to go and that they shouldn't have to go very far into the trail system to get some great pics.  

While they were there, the family delivering the cord of wood showed up.  Nicely seasoned oak, a little more than a full cord, I was happy.  Once the photographer came back, I suggested that if the cord people need some pro photos, there is the person to do it for you! The lady of the family said why yes, yes we do need some good shots of our horses!  They began talking back and forth. The wood is just a side hustle for the teenaged boy who is going to the local state college to learn to become a lineman (aerial electricity). He decided he wanted to just sell wood instead of going and finding a job locally while he does his studies.

Anyway, the family sells show horses, amazingly, and want some quality photos to post.  

I am going to flood my pages with photos.  Deer tracks, lots, trailers, whatever she took that looks good.  She has a high dollar camera that is a plus in and of itself.  

The only thing bad about yesterday was learning that lot 5 isn't level.  It is level going the long way, but side to side, it's pretty far off.  There is so much gravel on those pads, I am just going to shovel gravel from one side to the other - which will be a lot of work but will save me renting a $350 machine to do it for me.  I hadn't had that lot used before and it was disconcerting.  I can definitely fix it, I just didn't know it was a problem.  Lower one side a few inches and raise the other side, that should fix that problem or at the very least, come close to it enough that no one will care. All of these newer trailers have automatic leveling jacks or stabilizers.  

Anyway, one more thing on the list.  I will be checking all of the lots - tho I know at least some of them are nothing as far off as that one was.  If too many are off, I'm going to have to have them come back in with the dozer and try and manipulate the gravel enough to bring it closer. I don't need it perfect, just close.

Lot 5 isn't close.  The wheels were off the ground on the north side.  That's bad and will earn negative reviews sooner or later.  The man liked the park, the appearance, he didn't say much about the leveling problem but did point it out.  I'm sorry, I'll be working to fix that. Not that that helps him any, but I wanted to show concern that it isn't acceptable and I will be working to fix it.  Level lots are important. 

 I said I wasn't going to do it, but I did it anyway. It's just because there are now a lot of local Facebook ads popping up - this is a 50 mile circle type of ad around the location of the park.  Even junky parks are now advertising - I mean one of them was a real gem.  No grass, half gravel, half dirt - cheap rates yes but the park was as empty as mine. Well, I at least have one full timer in there.  I don't know if they're going to stay or not.  We'll find out at the beginning of next month....

So I did a 7 day facebook ad, this time instead of the entire region, I limited to the 50 mile circle ad.  It's cheaper and focuses more on the local people you are trying to get in there.  I'm going to do another round of going through all the local parks I can find in the vicinity - my town and all the nearby towns - and see what amenties they are offering.  I might even go to these parks and see how they are laid out. The biggest competitor I really want to take a look at - I've seen it on satellite and I've seen a lot of photos of the place and have read a lot of reviews, but I want to drive in there. There are no signs saying RV park guests only, just drive through it and leave.  Maybe all of them.  The biggest compeitor simply has the advantage of being around for decades.

Maybe I'm just plain overthinking this situation.  Maybe my original analysis is correct - it just takes time to get people in there, get some of them to give reviews and build up a following.  

Or, maybe my assessment that minimal amount of amenities is also correct.  If that's true, then I need the washer and dryer and a bathhouse.  

There is transient traffic coming and going, I'm sure of that, the Interstate is 3 miles away.  59 is about 4 miles away. Both high traffic throughways.  I wonder what a billboard costs. Or how much those blue signs on the side of the interstates cost that show you available stores/etc for each exit?  Would it be worth the money?  

Well, I guess one thing needed fixed. I was looking at my Facebook page and noticed I didn't have any finished product pictures on there. Gag - that's quite the gaffe on my part.  Just posted several posts with pics showing the completed product.  I have been focusing on my Google campaign.  Yes, well if I'm running Facebook ands and people see dirt, that isn't too enticing.  Well, it's fixed anyway.  

I'm going to take some new pics today, I need to find a way to get an angle that shows the entire park while not making it appear that the sites are too close together. They are not too close together, but I found that when I posted a pic on an RV site, everyone said those lots are too close! Oh? How close are they? Well I don't want my slideouts to touch my neighbor's slideouts!  When I explained that it was just the angle the pic was taken at, people backed down.

But it just proves that if you don't get the right pics at the right angles, you might be giving the appearance of something that it isn't to people who just glance at stuff. I will take around 50 pics from all over the park and hope that a few turn out good.  

Yes and a better pic of the large sign out front.  The kids want to go over there today - if that happens I will have them pull all the blocks out of the fire pit and build a new one next to it. Their reward will be lunch at whatever restaurant they want to go to.  I'd like to get that fixed up and looking decent and maybe get some firewood out there. An expense I'm not particularly interested in putting out right now - but a cord of wood would go well to sell to anyone that wants a fire at their campsite as well, I can promote it in the ads.  

Okay, if there is an average of 700 pieces of wood in a cord, I can sell the stuff cheap to start with.  Just trying to get people in there, get something going.  10 pieces of wood in a bundle for $5 is at least half the going rate and I actually make money off of it.  

Well whatever. I'm going to see if I can find a cord of wood today as well. 

 Yesterday I got up at 5:45 am.  Today - I did the same.  Took the boys to the bus stop - only because they asked me to otherwise Taylor always does that - and then came back and got busy with stuff.   However, at around 9:00 am? I was done and toast. I fell back asleep and didn't get back up for 2 hours. 

I'll try again tomorrow. I'm trying to get back into work mode and that almost always means getting up early, something I'm not really used to right now. It's been nice getting up whenever I wanted to - within reason of course - but it's time to get back into the trucking thinking.  I don't want a rude awakening, it will be bad enough just starting out driving all over the place again.

Meanwhile, I have listed my site on Roverpass.  It costs nothing to list it there, they do all the work, collect the fees and deposit it into your bank account.  It costs more than the one I'm using, but Roverpass is not just a campground software program. It is one of the premiere RV park location apps that many Rv'ers use.  It puts up all of your information the same as your website and lists everything you want it to list.  People looking for a site in my area can look at my site, see pics of it and the amenities and decide whether they want to.

I balked at their prices at first, but right now? I'm taking whatever I can get.  Whatever I am doing, I'm not doing it right apparently and I'm trying to figure out what the deal is. I can see not having laundry being a detriment to some people, but not everyone.  I'm having a pro photographer come out and take lots of pics.  Like, professional pics, people that have the knack to get the right angles and show things the way they should be shown.  This is only going to cost $75. The lady comes out, takes as many photos as she can take in an hour's time, enhances them and uploads them onto a portal. You have access to all of them, you pay nothing more. It's all digital I won't need to print any of it.  

If I find other platforms like Roverpass that don't have start up fees, I will post my site on those as well.  Somehow, I never thought it would be this difficult to fill up a small park that has all the basic amenities.  Especially with the prices I am charging.  I know - some of the info I have learned says it can take 6 months to a year to get fully operational but this is a bit ridiculous.  So far, it's just been people looking for a place to park at the last minute.  It's all large rigs that the other places in town can't handle.  I'm glad for that, but I need more, a lot more.  I need 4 full timers and I need a lot more transients coming and going.

I don't have the answers beyond spending money I don't have for amenities I do need.  I mean, if I could set up a washer and dryer outside on pavers and put a cover over it, I would lol.  Actually, I guess I could do that over by the septic system. My contractor told me I could install a couple of washers and it would be able to handle the extra load -the septic that is. 

Wait, why did this escape me?  I could put up a small shed, put in 1 washer and 1 dryer over there, right where the water, electric and septic are and call it a day.  Why do I have to have it running into that shed? It's too far away so it's going to cost a fortune to run the wiring, water line and sewer pipe.  I can run the wiring myself, I don't need an electrician to wire 220 volt to a shed.  The water would be easy too, the septic, well I dunno. I'm like, how do you cut into a sewer line that is being used without getting s*** all over you? lol. 

Maybe there's a youtube video for that.  It's still going to cost money, but it would cost around a 1/3rd of what I was contemplating.  I'll probably go for it eventually, I have too much other stuff to do right now that takes priority.  

Oh. Well I forgot to raise my prices for the Roverpass site. I want any potential guests to cover the extra fees. It's only going to raise it by $3 and it will still be either the lowest or near the lowest rates in the area - and - I can handle big rigs. 

Anyway, I need to learn to think outside of the box. I was stuck on having that washer/dryer setup in that shed. If I put it near the utility outlets, we're talking maybe 20 feet of electric line that can run underground, a breaker for the main box, a small box with a couple of 220 volt breakers, line running to outlets for the washer and dryer. I don't see a problem with this and saving thousands of dollars.  

I'm unabashedly sending a review request to everyone that comes in.  I don't care who it is, they are going to get a text with a link to the review site. If they don't review, oh well. I don't have any reviews yet and it's definitely a sticking point.  

If I'm using any service online, the first thing I do? Go look at reviews.  Especially buying stuff, but also if it's service industry. I understand it takes time to get reviews, but I need at least a couple to get me started.  It's probably what most people do. What kind of place is this from the customer's standpoint? I know I always want to know.  The 2 biggest competitors here - owned by the same people - have been there a long time.  They have a mix of good, moderate and very ugly reviews. But they obviously stay busy.  

It's rough.  Especially since I can't get this people to give anything.  

Oh well.  I'm offa here.