The Festive Fall Season

The summer is over and we are still busy with our Halloween weekends and the fall foliage followers. Our Halloween weekends went off very well - but we still had a few "interesting" things that happened. Some are funny and some, well, not so funny.

The funny first - then I will get up on my soapbox. We had a couple come in with several family members for the Halloween weekend. The took up three to four different sites which we certainly appreciate. The couple in "question" booked later so they were in a different area of the park. The site they had was a back-in site with full hook ups. Luckily for them and us, it was in our field area where there are NO trees. Apparently the gentleman was not very good at backing up because he drive down the road and around several sites so that he could pull into our back in site. Now we have had this happen before, in fact, a gentleman with an airstream trailer tried it and caught one of our 400 pound concrete firepits with his trailer. The firepit ripped the side of the airstream like a can opener. That is why we emphasize the "back-in" part of this site.

Well now, you think he is safe in his site. He missed the firepits by inches and pulled straight into the site. Well upon inspection he was too far from the sewer hook up for his 4 foot hose. Yes, you heard me right, 4 feet. So, back up and pull forward, get out and still to far away. Back up and pull forward, get out and still to far away. Back up and pull forward, get out almost there. Back up and pull forward, get out and finally got within 4 feet of the sewer connection. For all the gas this fellow wasted going back and forth and driving around, he could almost have bought a longer sewer hose. And how did he get a 4 footer? The come in 10, 15 and 20 foot lengths.

OK - now it is time for my soapbox. I am a parent of two seven year old boys. It absolutely drives me crazy when I see parents dragging their young children who are absolutely terrified into the Haunted House that we set up at the park for our Halloween Weekends. I am usually the person that admits and monitors those going in to be sure that we don't allow too many people in at one time. I am always in costume and I enjoy the banter that happens with the anticipation of going into a dark and possibly scary place. I also know that not everyone is scared in a Haunted House. Why the unfraid go in is beyond me. But to physically drag the young kids in just to show them that it is "not so bad" is absolutely beyond me. If the child is afraid, dragging them against their will will not make them less afraid. I told one father that perhaps it would be a good idea if he let his young (6 - 8 year old) son who was near tears change his mind and not go through. His response was "your not his parent so stay out of it". My response was, I may not be the parent, but I own the park so leave the boy out. This may have made it worse for the boy, because then he said "I wasted all that time in line and then you chicken out." I don't know what happened later at the site, but I am sure that they boy took some hazing.

We are a family oriented campground and we want everyone that comes here to have fun and remember their experience in a positive way. I am sure that some of these kids will not have fond memories of their visit to our park and this saddens me.

I hope everyone has a great fall and I will be posting over the winter with some of the fun off season antics that still happen.

The story that motivated the blog

Well, the season is almost over and we were settling in to a nice quiet Friday check in. Only about 70% of the park was rented and we felt like we were going to have a quiet evening. S and I were relaxing and enjoying the quiet evening. I was talking with one of my guests when I watched a fifth wheel go down the wrong way into the park. I jumped on a golf cart and drove down to the site to stop the guest from pulling in the wrong direction. I sent him around the circle and stood by the site to guide him in. Now the problem with "guiding" them in is it is only as good as the driver listens and reacts.

Well he turned in short and got real close to trees that aren't meant to be close to, so I immediately stopped him before he did any damage to his camper and called for back up. I had one of our workampers come down with the sawsall (my favorite tool!) and we began our assault on the trees. Poor defenseless creatures that campers shy away from in fear of damage. Well, I climbed into the tree about 7 feet off the ground and began cutting away. I got through all of the offense branches except the one I was sitting on...when suddenly the branch I was sitting on gave way. Luckily the only thing I hit on the way down was my head. Now, after a few moments of pulling myself together, I got up and tried to pull myself together. It took a few moments, but eventually I got it. I sent the camper around again to get him coming in the correct direction. He took the turn way to close and S saw him and yelled for him to stop before he took out our entry sign. He turned around and I asked him on the way in if he needed help getting into the site. He told me no...the phone wrang and I answered it figuring he was fine. He had been to the site two times so I figured it was all ok. Well I was wrong.

While talking on the phone I heard a "cracking" sound. I thought, that weird, but finished up the call as my radio chimed "M - you better get down here". Well I drove down and my driver had pulled his fifth wheel into a tree on the left side of the site. His wife says to me as I am driving by "we got a hell of a mess here". I look up and the driver has peeled about 30 inches of the roof off his fifth wheel and it is now jammed against the tree. I again get my favorite tool (sawsall) and begin working on the offending branch. It is rather large, so I have to work it our down slowly, a piece at a time. It took a few minutes to get it all cut away from the camper. After removing the branch, my workamper and I install a quick patch of plastic and duct tape to allow the camper to stay without leaks. The weekend proceeded without incident, and I had to absent myself from the park for part of the day on Monday.

Monday arrives and my good driver is having problems. S backs him out of the site and gets him on his way out of the park, except that he only makes in about 20 yards before his fifth wheel comes off the hitch and down on the back of his truck. This is his third incident since arriving at my park. His fiver sat in the main entrance for over five hours waiting for a tow to take it to the dealer. S had to handle the situation since I was away which probably turned out to be a blessing since I would have undoubtly tried to help and probably created more problems for myself....and they wanted my insurance info since it was all my fault. Oh well, we will see how this one comes out.

The beginning...

Our family purchased a campground six years ago with the intent of having a way to build our own future and for me to be able to spend more time with the family. I was used to working 60 - 80 hours per week out of the home and going days without seeing my children (at least not awake). Our thoughts were that even if I was working, the kids would be around and able to see me and that I could always take dinner and lunch breaks with the boys. Speaking of the boys...

Our family is very typical, me, my wife and our two boys. The boys are currently seven years of age and enjoying very diverse interests. J - enjoys sports of every sort. He plays soccer, baseball and football and is eager to play basketball and hockey. H - enjoys building and designing different things including forts, castles and cars and planes.

Now, why am I writing a blog? Well I am interested in writing about the many crazy, frustrating and interesting things that happen to business owners and campground owners. I am hoping to share stories that will be funny and interesting. Stories that will be real...sharing our frustration and joy over successes and failures.

I hope that anyone that happens upon this will find it interesting and humorous.

Enjoy!