RV Park thoughts, suggestions & ideas.

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

I am not an RVer so I have no experience with RV parks but, I would like to through my 2 cents in so here it goes. If you have a T-1 (1.54 meg pipe up and down) line installed you are going to pay by mileage. So you can figure around $500 if you are lucky to $800 a month and you will likely need 2 so there is no slow down issues. Then add the cost of running all of the cat 5 cable= big $ (and I mean outdoor cable not inside wire unless you run it in conduit so it can be replaced easily) to each wireless access point plus the cost of the access points and the consultants to install and maintain the equip. you are looking at quite a large chunk of money that in my opinion will never be recouped. Here is my thinking, If an Rver has to have internet they will most likely have a wireless aircard from a cellular company to access the internet. They work great and provide enough bandwith to make do. For the occasional user that want's to check their e-mail I would get a broadband connection($40-$50 a month) from a provider in your area (telco, cable, sat.) and set up a wireless connection at your lounge and at the Deli/store. They can check their e-mail from there while they enjoy their breakfast bought from your store. You may loose some customer's due to this but I doubt those few customers would pay enough to recoup your cost. Same goes for phone service just let the RVer's use thier cell phones and place a few pay phones here and there. Again I am no RVer so I am looking at it as a buisness decision and not a matter of convenience so I could be way off base. Have a great Christmas with Steph and the kids

Whynot,

No need to be an RVer here to have some good ideas. The last time I looked into this, there are four companies that offer wireless internet that specialize in RV Parks. None gave me the warm and fuzzies, but to be fair, it's been two years since I last looked into this.

There are more and more RV Parks that are setting up there own systems and offering it for free to there guests. As some have mentioned, there are problems with most every system. My goal will be to find the best I can for what I can afford. Hopefully with some help from you guys, I'll be able to figure something out.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[hilld]

Eddie,

I don't know if this has already been asked, but do you have a drawing of your layout, maybe even a property map that shows the different phases of your RV park construction. If you do, maybe you could take a picture of it with you digicam and post it here, I think it would allow all of us to get a better understanding of what you are doing, how it is going to be laid out, etc.

Sometimes a picture is better than words, especially if you want all of us to be backseat developers, architechts, buiders and RV park owners.

Merry Christmas and I look forward to continued progress on your dream.

Derek

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

I don't know if this has already been asked, but do you have a drawing of your layout, maybe even a property map that shows the different phases of your RV park construction. If you do, maybe you could take a picture of it with you digicam and post it here, I think it would allow all of us to get a better understanding of what you are doing, how it is going to be laid out, etc.

Sometimes a picture is better than words, especially if you want all of us to be backseat developers, architechts, buiders and RV park owners.

Merry Christmas and I look forward to continued progress on your dream.

Derek

Hi Derek,

About two years ago I made a copy of my survey and did some rough measurements of the land and what I wanted to do. Then I did a drawing on the survey to see how it all fit together. At the time, the lake was just an idea and the roads were all jungle.

The attached picture is that idea based on what I new of the land at that time. It's not accurate, but shows the basic plan I'm following. When I finish clearning the roads and sites, then I'll get some accurate measurments and do the real plat.

To make this one easier to read, Steph colored it for me.

The highway is on the right hand side of the picture, as are my entrance and exit roads. The road on the top goes along my front pasture to my small pond. There you can go straight to the long term sites, or turn down to my store. The store is in orange with the pool next to it. Below that are my short term, pull thru sites.

Next to the pool and at the corners of the exotic wildlife preserve are my three laundromats. Next to the laundromat by the pool is my large meeting hall. The laundromats wil also have individual bathrooms and meeting rooms.

To the right of the pull thru sites are three lines of small orange squares. Those are my cabins and the long green rectangle is a very large berm. The berm is part of Camp Fannins Rifle Range #4. It's 600 feet long and 20 feet across at the top. It goes our perfectly flat as the ground drops down below it. At one point, it's 45 feet above grade!!

The red sqares are my shop and home, along with a future shed and a real nice house.

The large orange square on the right is where my storage rental units will be.

Not on here is the public dump station. It's right after the small pond as you turn to exit the park. Propane will be there too. Just past my shop buildings in red will be the RV car wash.

Thanks to Curley Dave, I've decided to use the land below the Storage Units for an open, fenced dog run. I'll clear the brush, leave the trees and fence it off into two areas for big and small dogs.

For the horse hotel, I'm thinking about eliminating the very top, left short term pull thru site and making it into a place with four horse stalls. I had some problems with trying to figure out how a large Class A RV will make that turn coming out of that site. Now the sites next to it will be saved for horse people, or until I sell out. That will put them close to there horses and should be a nice addition to the park.

I hope this makes sense, but if anybody has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[CurlyDave]

Here, long term sites are for people of very low imcome or contractors in the area for months at a time. Snow birds may become part of this group, but they are very rare here.

Just a thought, but but maybe you want to call these "recreational sites" and "residential sites", or something like that instead of long-term and short-term.

You will get a few snow birds, and they are going to be a lot more comfortable in the "recreational" area than in the "residential" one, even if it does cost more.

 

[rox]

Eddie,

At our campground where we took out a permenent site, meaning we paid by the year. We really didn't ahve anybody who lived all year long. The way around this was to close for a few months a year. Then you atract the families like our family, who rents the site for a year but is really only there on week-ends or a few weeks during thier summer vacation. Because of the weather in Wisconsin the campsites close at the end of October until mid April. If you had a closed period you would not atract those type of people who really just live there full time.

We spent a lot of money at the camp store and if there was a restaurant would have spent money there also. I think you were saying those are the types of rentals you would like to have. We didn't produce a lot of garbage because we were not there during the week. Also we were responsible for cutting the grass on our own site, since we had it as a permenent site. In Wisconsin if you take a seasonal site you ahve to cut the grass yourself. This of course cuts down on maintence for the campground owner.

Maybe I have it wrong and this is not the type of camping families you wish to attract, if so I am sorry.

Hope you had a very nice Christmas.

 

[EddieWalker]

Here, long term sites are for people of very low imcome or contractors in the area for months at a time. Snow birds may become part of this group, but they are very rare here.

Just a thought, but but maybe you want to call these "recreational sites" and "residential sites", or something like that instead of long-term and short-term.

You will get a few snow birds, and they are going to be a lot more comfortable in the "recreational" area than in the "residential" one, even if it does cost more.

Dave,

You're right. I need a better term for those sites. Residential is a good one. I'll have to keep it in mind and see what else comes along.

I should clarify that I've talked to some people in "residential" sites and in one case, happened to notice a financial statement sitting on the table that had over 2 million dollars in his account. You just never know who has what and how they chose to live isn't a reliable indication.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

At our campground where we took out a permenent site, meaning we paid by the year. We really didn't ahve anybody who lived all year long. The way around this was to close for a few months a year. Then you atract the families like our family, who rents the site for a year but is really only there on week-ends or a few weeks during thier summer vacation. Because of the weather in Wisconsin the campsites close at the end of October until mid April. If you had a closed period you would not atract those type of people who really just live there full time.

We spent a lot of money at the camp store and if there was a restaurant would have spent money there also. I think you were saying those are the types of rentals you would like to have. We didn't produce a lot of garbage because we were not there during the week. Also we were responsible for cutting the grass on our own site, since we had it as a permenent site. In Wisconsin if you take a seasonal site you ahve to cut the grass yourself. This of course cuts down on maintence for the campground owner.

Maybe I have it wrong and this is not the type of camping families you wish to attract, if so I am sorry.

Hope you had a very nice Christmas.

Hi Rox,

If I had any sort of control over the market, I'd really like to have people like you who rent a space for the year and come out here when they like. It would be the ideal situation. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any eveidence of this sort of client base in this area. Those who rent RV sites on a yearly basis as a place to go on the weekend or vacation, do so on one of the lakes.

We have some of the best bass and fresh water fishing in the country right here on our public lakes. Lake Fork is 45 minutes away from me and is considered by many to be the best Bass fishing lake in the country. There is still allot of undeveloped land around the lake and plenty of RV Parks and Moble Home comunities that have space for people that provide a service that I can't compete with. I did think of buying land on the water and going that route, but what I'm doing, in my unorthodoxed way, is what I really want to do.

Maybe I'll get a few clients like you who want to stay here as a weekend getaway and vacation spot. If so, I'll save the last road in my "residential" area for those guests. Of course, they can choose any site that's open, but I'm thinking they might want to form there own comunity. Each of the roads in those sites are dead end roads, so all traffic there will be there own.

Having them feel some some sort of ownership and pride for there spaces would be priceless. Of couse, I'd still mow there sites for them with the rest of the park.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[rox]

Eddie,

2 things would attract me to become a seasonal camper
#1 the swimming pool
#2 the owners of the campground

I know you love it and others have commented positively, however the Big Game Preserve is not of interest to me. It is the pool, my personal campsite, and how i personally connect witht he owners that makes me sign. i don't een mind construction workers who rent because they are int he area for a job. These are working people and I have learned a lot of intersting things from construction workers. They are jsut working people and there is nothign wrong with that, i surley am no "better' than them and am more than happy to ahve them as my neighbor. I have had consturction guys as my campsite neighbor for about a month at a time. Every time, I cna sya that they were nice guys.

 

[txdon]

"The berm is part of Camp Fannins Rifle Range #4."

Eddie, tell us more about the range. How will the noise affect the tranquility of the park? Will automatic weapons, pistols, and shotguns be allowed?

 

[midlf]

"The berm is part of Camp Fannins Rifle Range #4."

Eddie, tell us more about the range. How will the noise affect the tranquility of the park? Will automatic weapons, pistols, and shotguns be allowed?

Hey TXDon - Camp Fannin was closed in 1946. Other than finding unexploded ordinance that personnel from Fort Hood take care of, there is no further military activity since before I was born. Google on "Camp Fannin". There is some interesting stuff out there. I was hoping I could find a map of the entire camp but no luck so far. Just a map of the central camp area.