1 00:00:03,634 --> 00:00:05,734 - The views expressed on this program are those 2 00:00:05,734 --> 00:00:08,333 of the producers and individuals appearing on this program 3 00:00:08,567 --> 00:00:10,634 and do not necessarily reflect the views 4 00:00:10,634 --> 00:00:12,333 of the Sun Prairie Media Center staff. 5 00:00:12,500 --> 00:00:14,500 Its video service providers, or the staff 6 00:00:14,533 --> 00:00:16,867 and elected officials of the city of Sun Prairie. 7 00:00:28,133 --> 00:00:30,166 - You have found authentic business adventures, 8 00:00:30,166 --> 00:00:32,467 the business program that brings you the struggle, stories 9 00:00:33,066 --> 00:00:36,133 and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. 10 00:00:36,734 --> 00:00:39,133 Downloadable audio episodes can be fun in the podcast thing. 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,133 fun@drawincustomers.com. 12 00:00:41,834 --> 00:00:43,934 We are locally and written by the Bank of Sun Prairie. 13 00:00:44,100 --> 00:00:46,667 And today we're welcoming slash preparing 14 00:00:46,667 --> 00:00:49,667 to learn from Rachel of Lake Road Campground. 15 00:00:49,834 --> 00:00:52,000 So Rachel, how's it going today? Hi. 16 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:53,567 - It's going great. - I'm excited. 17 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:56,000 'cause today in WISCONSIN we have beautiful weather, 18 00:00:56,300 --> 00:00:57,667 perfect time of year 19 00:00:57,667 --> 00:01:00,100 to talk about campgrounds in WISCONSIN. Yes, a 20 00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:02,266 - Little stormy, but between the storms little, 21 00:01:02,867 --> 00:01:03,867 - It's a little stormy. It's the best 22 00:01:03,867 --> 00:01:04,266 - Time to go. Yes. 23 00:01:04,567 --> 00:01:08,100 - So tell us the story. Yeah. What is Lake Road Campground? 24 00:01:08,533 --> 00:01:12,667 - So Lake Road Campground is a 23 unit RV park 25 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:14,667 and it's located Intello, WISCONSIN, 26 00:01:14,667 --> 00:01:15,934 which is about 20 minutes north 27 00:01:15,934 --> 00:01:18,500 of LA Cross on the Mississippi River. 28 00:01:19,100 --> 00:01:20,934 All right. So you can see the Mississippi from our 29 00:01:20,934 --> 00:01:24,500 campground and we have two cottages that we rent out as well 30 00:01:25,066 --> 00:01:26,133 and a little bathhouse. 31 00:01:26,834 --> 00:01:29,133 And then you can bring your RV or we have a tent site 32 00:01:29,367 --> 00:01:31,867 and come and enjoy beautiful tremolo, 33 00:01:32,033 --> 00:01:34,000 the beautiful Mississippi River, lots of lakes, lots 34 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:35,834 of fishing, and nice fun. Yeah, 35 00:01:35,834 --> 00:01:36,834 - It's beautiful. 36 00:01:36,834 --> 00:01:37,433 And how long have you had it? 37 00:01:37,834 --> 00:01:40,066 - We are going into our third season. Nice. 38 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:42,100 - Alright. And tell me, 39 00:01:42,100 --> 00:01:43,667 did you start this from scratch or you bought 40 00:01:43,667 --> 00:01:44,667 - It? 41 00:01:44,667 --> 00:01:45,233 No, we bought it. Okay. We bought it. Yep. 42 00:01:45,266 --> 00:01:46,900 So a family owned it before us 43 00:01:47,634 --> 00:01:50,834 and really poured a lot of their hearts into it 44 00:01:50,934 --> 00:01:52,367 and made it really beautiful. 45 00:01:52,467 --> 00:01:55,634 And so they fell in love with campgrounds, 46 00:01:56,133 --> 00:01:57,033 realized it's what they wanted to do. 47 00:01:57,100 --> 00:01:59,634 So they purchased a much, much bigger campground 48 00:02:00,734 --> 00:02:02,133 in a different part of, of the state. 49 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:04,934 And so they were looking for a family who would take it over 50 00:02:04,934 --> 00:02:06,000 and love it as much as they did. 51 00:02:06,066 --> 00:02:08,100 So we were very lucky to find them. 52 00:02:08,266 --> 00:02:10,000 - So were you looking for a campground to buy? 53 00:02:11,266 --> 00:02:15,934 - So it all began in Minnesota. Okay. 54 00:02:15,934 --> 00:02:17,100 Okay. So follow me back 55 00:02:17,100 --> 00:02:18,433 - To, so on the other side of the river. Yeah. 56 00:02:18,433 --> 00:02:19,433 - The other side of the river, 20 minutes 57 00:02:19,433 --> 00:02:20,100 north of the river. 58 00:02:20,867 --> 00:02:23,734 My family planned a, my family's from the Twin Cities 59 00:02:23,867 --> 00:02:25,100 and we're from the Madison area. 60 00:02:25,634 --> 00:02:28,333 So we planned to meet Midway and do a camping trip. 61 00:02:28,467 --> 00:02:30,700 And so we decided on Winona and 62 00:02:30,700 --> 00:02:31,734 because we just love that area, 63 00:02:31,734 --> 00:02:34,667 it's just beautiful along the Mississippi River Bluffs. 64 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000 So we camped at a beautiful campground in 65 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,266 Winona, right on the river. 66 00:02:38,533 --> 00:02:40,266 And I just like, that was it for me. 67 00:02:40,433 --> 00:02:43,433 I was like, this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life. 68 00:02:43,634 --> 00:02:46,266 I just wanna buy a campground right here on the river. 69 00:02:47,066 --> 00:02:48,500 So then a year 70 00:02:48,500 --> 00:02:52,433 or two later, I just randomly out 71 00:02:52,433 --> 00:02:53,900 of the blue was Googling, you know, 72 00:02:53,900 --> 00:02:55,333 our campground's for even for sale. 73 00:02:55,333 --> 00:02:56,634 Like, how do I even find out? 74 00:02:56,934 --> 00:02:58,333 And there was this little campground 75 00:02:58,734 --> 00:03:02,066 for sale on the Mississippi River, 20 minutes south of 76 00:03:02,066 --> 00:03:03,333 where I fell in love with the idea. 77 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,767 And I was like, no, like this can't be, 78 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:08,266 this can't be real, huh. 79 00:03:08,500 --> 00:03:09,934 And I told my husband about it 80 00:03:09,934 --> 00:03:12,700 and I was like, like, it's crazy. 81 00:03:12,700 --> 00:03:14,000 Right? Like, it's crazy. 82 00:03:14,734 --> 00:03:18,867 And so we reached out to them and we scheduled a meeting 83 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:21,767 and I just told my husband like, we'll just go, 84 00:03:23,233 --> 00:03:24,133 - We're just gonna look at this 85 00:03:24,133 --> 00:03:25,467 puppy. We're just gonna look 86 00:03:25,467 --> 00:03:27,567 - At it on the way north. 87 00:03:28,033 --> 00:03:29,066 I think it was for Thanksgiving. 88 00:03:29,100 --> 00:03:30,266 So we were going home anyway, 89 00:03:30,333 --> 00:03:31,533 so it's just a little out of the way. 90 00:03:32,166 --> 00:03:33,300 And we go and we look 91 00:03:33,367 --> 00:03:36,066 and oh my God, I just, I just fell in love 92 00:03:36,066 --> 00:03:37,266 with it and it's just beautiful. 93 00:03:38,233 --> 00:03:41,834 And so long story short, that was how we stumbled upon it 94 00:03:41,834 --> 00:03:43,300 and we just kind of kept pursuing it. 95 00:03:43,300 --> 00:03:45,533 And it was, it just kept like in the back of my mind, 96 00:03:46,066 --> 00:03:47,700 wouldn't wouldn't leave me alone. 97 00:03:48,834 --> 00:03:50,734 And there we go. We ended up doing it. 98 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,634 - I love the entrepreneurial mind where you're not like, 99 00:03:53,834 --> 00:03:55,300 Hey, we should visit here more. 100 00:03:55,500 --> 00:03:58,066 No. You're like, no, we should buy the campground. 101 00:03:58,133 --> 00:04:00,700 - Yes. I always tell people I wanted to camp more, 102 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:04,000 but I couldn't afford like an RV and a truck to pull the rv. 103 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,533 So instead I bought a campground. 104 00:04:06,066 --> 00:04:08,567 - That's funny how it's cheaper or maybe it's not. I 105 00:04:08,567 --> 00:04:09,567 - Mean, can I make money? 106 00:04:09,567 --> 00:04:11,567 You know, it pays for itself as long as it's cash flowing 107 00:04:11,567 --> 00:04:12,934 - Revenue, cash flow. 108 00:04:13,266 --> 00:04:15,634 I love that. Yeah. So tell me a story about the, 109 00:04:16,166 --> 00:04:19,934 the sites I'm picturing campgrounds that have like, 110 00:04:19,934 --> 00:04:21,000 the campers have wheels, 111 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,100 but they also have decks 112 00:04:22,033 --> 00:04:23,700 and stuff like that. Yeah. So is it permanent? 113 00:04:23,700 --> 00:04:26,033 - Sure. So good question. So since we're right on the river, 114 00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:30,000 as a general rule, I only buy properties in floodplains. 115 00:04:30,266 --> 00:04:33,000 - Oh, they're cheaper that way. My 116 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,467 - House is in a floodplain in black earth 117 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:36,867 and my property in on Mississippi's. 118 00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:38,266 So since we're in a floodplain, 119 00:04:38,266 --> 00:04:39,500 we can't have any permanent structure. 120 00:04:39,867 --> 00:04:41,300 All right. So the cottages 121 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:43,000 and the bathhouse are grandfathered in, 122 00:04:43,333 --> 00:04:45,734 but if we were to build, everything has to be removable. 123 00:04:46,033 --> 00:04:49,000 And in our first season owning the campground, sure enough, 124 00:04:49,033 --> 00:04:50,834 as you may remember, we had a lot 125 00:04:50,834 --> 00:04:51,934 of flooding up in Minnesota 126 00:04:52,233 --> 00:04:54,100 and that water comes down the Mississippi, 127 00:04:54,133 --> 00:04:55,467 down the lock and dam system. 128 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,867 And so we did flood and we had to do a small evacuation 129 00:04:59,133 --> 00:05:00,567 - Or a small evacuation. 130 00:05:01,033 --> 00:05:02,066 - Just had to pull everybody out 131 00:05:02,066 --> 00:05:03,333 for a couple of weeks and then bring 'em back. 132 00:05:03,333 --> 00:05:06,834 So, all right. But yeah, so the, it's 23 sites 133 00:05:07,233 --> 00:05:09,333 and so they're all movable. 134 00:05:09,867 --> 00:05:12,033 We do have some that have little stairs that you can use, 135 00:05:12,033 --> 00:05:13,500 but nothing can be really permanent. 136 00:05:13,500 --> 00:05:15,100 Okay. Everything has to be kind of be able to move. 137 00:05:16,333 --> 00:05:18,700 But it's a small, you know, I, I knew, 138 00:05:19,066 --> 00:05:20,100 'cause I have a career and I, 139 00:05:20,100 --> 00:05:21,767 we have a family here, we're two hours away. 140 00:05:21,767 --> 00:05:23,000 So it had to be something small 141 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,934 and manageable that we could handle 142 00:05:25,934 --> 00:05:27,033 and not feel overwhelmed. 143 00:05:27,266 --> 00:05:28,634 And so it's very small. 144 00:05:28,634 --> 00:05:31,033 It's like a acre and a quarter or something like that. 145 00:05:31,867 --> 00:05:35,100 And, and everything is operated remotely. 146 00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:37,367 People come and they check themselves in, they book online, 147 00:05:37,667 --> 00:05:40,266 check themselves in through some photos that they send us 148 00:05:40,667 --> 00:05:41,934 and we give 'em the code 149 00:05:41,934 --> 00:05:43,100 for the bathhouse and things like that. 150 00:05:43,634 --> 00:05:46,066 Our cottages, we use Airbnb and VRBO 151 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:47,834 and book on our website. 152 00:05:47,900 --> 00:05:49,100 And then we just travel up 153 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:50,767 whenever we need to turn over those cottages. 154 00:05:50,767 --> 00:05:52,300 So we clean 'em out and get 'em ready. 155 00:05:52,934 --> 00:05:54,133 So it was low enough maintenance 156 00:05:54,133 --> 00:05:56,000 and small enough manageable that 157 00:05:56,467 --> 00:05:59,100 it has really turned into like, we go up every weekend 158 00:05:59,100 --> 00:06:01,467 with our family, we do a little bit of cleaning 159 00:06:01,467 --> 00:06:03,233 and maintenance and then we get to go kayaking 160 00:06:03,233 --> 00:06:05,734 and we get to go canoeing and we get to do fun things. 161 00:06:06,033 --> 00:06:08,300 - A fun business. Yeah. - Who knew? Yeah. 162 00:06:09,066 --> 00:06:12,033 - So the people I mentioned, you have regulars that were 163 00:06:12,033 --> 00:06:13,266 with the previous owners. 164 00:06:13,333 --> 00:06:16,033 Yep. Was there any transition? Yeah. 165 00:06:16,100 --> 00:06:18,133 Or people that just like, ah, 166 00:06:18,300 --> 00:06:20,533 I don't like Rachel or something like that. I don't know. 167 00:06:20,533 --> 00:06:22,634 - I haven't had that yet. But we, you know, 168 00:06:22,834 --> 00:06:24,333 whenever there's a transition there is always, 169 00:06:25,100 --> 00:06:26,233 they're feeling you out. 170 00:06:26,233 --> 00:06:28,100 They don't know what your style's gonna be. Sure. 171 00:06:28,100 --> 00:06:30,700 Or maybe, you know, maybe they weren't a fan of whoever was 172 00:06:30,700 --> 00:06:32,533 before you and so they're gonna give you a chance. 173 00:06:32,867 --> 00:06:34,033 You know, there's always that. 174 00:06:34,934 --> 00:06:39,066 But we do have a large part of our sites are seasonals 175 00:06:39,066 --> 00:06:41,533 and so they do purchase and stay the entire season. 176 00:06:41,667 --> 00:06:43,834 So that also helps with stability. Wow. Okay. 177 00:06:43,934 --> 00:06:45,567 And gave me a lot more confidence kind 178 00:06:45,567 --> 00:06:47,233 of going into it again, cash flow wise. 179 00:06:48,066 --> 00:06:49,700 And then we only have a handful of sites 180 00:06:49,700 --> 00:06:51,300 that are turned over kind of nightly. 181 00:06:51,634 --> 00:06:53,533 Okay. And so that gives me a lot of stability, 182 00:06:53,734 --> 00:06:57,233 but making sure we have those sites filled is important. 183 00:06:57,634 --> 00:06:58,934 And people love it though. 184 00:06:59,100 --> 00:07:00,934 'cause we have folks who live there. 185 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,133 We had a family stay with us who were building their home. 186 00:07:03,333 --> 00:07:05,066 And so they had, they sold their other house 187 00:07:05,100 --> 00:07:06,467 and they were still building their new home. 188 00:07:06,567 --> 00:07:08,100 So they stayed with us all summer with their kids. 189 00:07:08,700 --> 00:07:09,634 - So they had a camper and 190 00:07:09,734 --> 00:07:10,734 they just essentially lived there. 191 00:07:10,900 --> 00:07:12,634 Yep. Yep. Oh, how clever is that? Yep. 192 00:07:12,667 --> 00:07:14,033 - And then we have somebody else living there. 193 00:07:14,700 --> 00:07:17,033 We get a lot of workers. So we have people laying fiber 194 00:07:17,233 --> 00:07:19,000 and it's cheaper to have a camper 195 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:20,066 and take it with you to your jobs 196 00:07:20,066 --> 00:07:21,567 instead of paying for hotels. 197 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:25,233 So we usually, every season we get a few of those. Wow. 198 00:07:25,533 --> 00:07:27,467 So we've been able to accumulate kind 199 00:07:27,467 --> 00:07:31,100 of like our steady income study folks who kind 200 00:07:31,100 --> 00:07:33,333 of come down on the weekends and just camp and enjoy. 201 00:07:33,333 --> 00:07:35,634 Then we have some workers and a couple people living there. 202 00:07:35,634 --> 00:07:38,000 And then everybody else are the sort of overnighters 203 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:39,700 that come on the weekends. All right. 204 00:07:40,066 --> 00:07:42,000 - Tell me a story about logistics. Yeah. 205 00:07:42,066 --> 00:07:47,000 With the, the power, the water in the not so nice water out. 206 00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:51,000 Yeah. So does each campsite have drainage 207 00:07:51,066 --> 00:07:52,066 or Yeah. However that is. 208 00:07:52,066 --> 00:07:54,066 - Yeah, it's a good question. So again, 209 00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:55,767 'cause we're right on the river, we do 210 00:07:55,767 --> 00:07:57,033 not have a dump station. 211 00:07:57,367 --> 00:07:58,367 - Oh, you do not. Okay. 212 00:07:58,367 --> 00:08:00,133 - We do not. Nope. So I don't have to mess with any 213 00:08:00,133 --> 00:08:02,300 of the gray water or Blackwater stuff. 214 00:08:02,700 --> 00:08:05,700 We have a service that comes around as many times 215 00:08:05,734 --> 00:08:07,100 as we need, but they come weekly. 216 00:08:07,166 --> 00:08:08,266 We're on their weekly route. 217 00:08:08,934 --> 00:08:11,000 And if you need a pump out for your gray water tank 218 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,467 or black water tank, they come prob usually while you're 219 00:08:13,467 --> 00:08:15,066 gone and they take care of it for you. 220 00:08:15,100 --> 00:08:16,533 And by the time you come the next weekend, 221 00:08:16,834 --> 00:08:18,500 your camper is nice and empty. 222 00:08:18,734 --> 00:08:20,300 - So they're going site to site. Okay. 223 00:08:20,300 --> 00:08:22,700 It's not some big tank or anything. Okay. Interesting. 224 00:08:23,834 --> 00:08:25,634 And how big of a deal is that? 225 00:08:25,667 --> 00:08:27,033 Are they a attaching a hose to a camper 226 00:08:27,033 --> 00:08:28,133 truck? I don't aer it's 227 00:08:28,133 --> 00:08:29,133 - A truck. 228 00:08:29,133 --> 00:08:30,834 It's a truck. Yep. And so your camper, on the exterior 229 00:08:30,934 --> 00:08:33,834 of your camper, there are your blackwater outlet 230 00:08:33,867 --> 00:08:36,033 and your graywater outlet and then your freshwater outlet. 231 00:08:36,734 --> 00:08:38,100 And so they come in 232 00:08:38,100 --> 00:08:39,867 and they just hook up to your blackwater, your gray water. 233 00:08:40,133 --> 00:08:42,266 Some people have the delightfully named honey wagon, 234 00:08:42,266 --> 00:08:46,033 which is like an overflow for your, one of those two. 235 00:08:46,133 --> 00:08:47,567 And so they'll clean that out for you. 236 00:08:47,667 --> 00:08:49,066 So it's lovely. Lovely. Alright. 237 00:08:50,033 --> 00:08:53,467 - So when you are living there, is there no such thing 238 00:08:53,467 --> 00:08:55,100 as a 20 minute shower or anything? 239 00:08:55,100 --> 00:08:56,100 Anything like that? Because 240 00:08:57,100 --> 00:08:58,100 - Sure. 241 00:08:58,100 --> 00:08:59,066 So we have a bathhouse 242 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,734 and the bathhouse has a water heater. 243 00:09:02,934 --> 00:09:06,000 We have well water, so unlimited amount of water, 244 00:09:06,033 --> 00:09:07,133 whatever much water you wanna use. 245 00:09:07,700 --> 00:09:09,533 And we have a big water heater. 246 00:09:09,533 --> 00:09:11,867 So generally we don't run out of hot water in the bathhouse. 247 00:09:11,934 --> 00:09:14,734 We also have laundry. So we offer free laundry door seasons. 248 00:09:14,734 --> 00:09:16,066 - Oh, I didn't even think about laundry. Yep, 249 00:09:16,133 --> 00:09:17,133 - Yep. 250 00:09:17,133 --> 00:09:18,533 So if you're living there, that was a really great addition 251 00:09:18,533 --> 00:09:21,333 that we added because yeah, you, you 252 00:09:21,333 --> 00:09:22,233 otherwise you're running to the 253 00:09:22,233 --> 00:09:23,734 laundromat all the time and you need quarters. 254 00:09:23,734 --> 00:09:25,100 So if you're living there, if you have a 255 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:26,133 seasonal site, it's included. 256 00:09:26,133 --> 00:09:27,934 And so they just have to bring their own soap basically. 257 00:09:28,634 --> 00:09:32,467 And so, so all of that is like at home, it's bathrooms 258 00:09:32,467 --> 00:09:33,567 that look like a home bathroom. 259 00:09:34,266 --> 00:09:35,934 But yes, if you're using your shower 260 00:09:36,100 --> 00:09:38,834 or your toilet in your camper, you just monitor. 261 00:09:39,033 --> 00:09:42,266 And if you know, you'll have to coordinate a pump out. 262 00:09:42,266 --> 00:09:44,467 Maybe I'm gonna use the bathrooms, you know, 263 00:09:44,500 --> 00:09:45,700 down the way a little bit instead 264 00:09:45,700 --> 00:09:47,066 of using my camper one. Gotcha. 265 00:09:47,100 --> 00:09:48,467 - Yeah. So you just, - Interesting. 266 00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:49,634 You just make those choices yourself. 267 00:09:49,834 --> 00:09:51,533 - All right. Yeah. And do they have water, 268 00:09:51,767 --> 00:09:53,300 a spigot or so like that at each site? 269 00:09:53,300 --> 00:09:55,367 - Every site has a, has a fresh, fresh water spigot. Yep. 270 00:09:55,367 --> 00:09:56,834 Gotcha. Yep. And electric. 271 00:09:57,066 --> 00:09:58,066 - Okay. - Yeah. 272 00:09:58,533 --> 00:09:59,734 - Tell me, this is one of those things 273 00:09:59,734 --> 00:10:02,100 that I've always been curious about since we're in the day 274 00:10:02,100 --> 00:10:03,033 and age when people are mining 275 00:10:03,033 --> 00:10:04,300 bitcoin, doing stuff like that. 276 00:10:04,934 --> 00:10:08,100 And Yes. At a campsite, yes. There's power. Yeah. Right? 277 00:10:08,133 --> 00:10:11,000 Yes. So do you ever have anybody come in 278 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,266 and just like, Hey, I got this camper full of servers. 279 00:10:14,333 --> 00:10:16,033 - I like that business idea. No. 280 00:10:16,233 --> 00:10:17,934 So they pay for their own electric? 281 00:10:18,133 --> 00:10:19,500 - They do. They do. It's site by 282 00:10:19,500 --> 00:10:20,500 - Site. 283 00:10:20,500 --> 00:10:21,867 Each site is metered electricity. Wow. Yeah. 284 00:10:21,900 --> 00:10:24,734 So if you pay for an overnight site, you're paying more 285 00:10:25,266 --> 00:10:27,100 in a nightly sense than you would if you pay 286 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:28,300 for the entire season. 287 00:10:28,433 --> 00:10:30,367 Then that brings the price down nightly. Okay. 288 00:10:30,567 --> 00:10:33,066 So those folks pay metered electricity. 289 00:10:33,066 --> 00:10:35,066 So they have unlimited water since it's just well water. 290 00:10:35,333 --> 00:10:37,000 But the electricity is metered 291 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,367 and they pay for that based on the wat, 292 00:10:38,567 --> 00:10:39,634 just the service price. 293 00:10:40,133 --> 00:10:41,767 All right. And then, but the overnighters 294 00:10:41,767 --> 00:10:42,867 of course don't, we don't meter them. 295 00:10:42,867 --> 00:10:43,867 They just come in and enjoy. 296 00:10:44,133 --> 00:10:46,700 - Gotcha. Tell me a story about the 297 00:10:46,834 --> 00:10:48,066 fun, the stuff that they do. 298 00:10:48,033 --> 00:10:49,734 Do you have park 299 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:51,233 or, yeah, I don't, is there some kind 300 00:10:51,233 --> 00:10:52,700 of boat launch or something like that to the 301 00:10:52,700 --> 00:10:53,700 - River? 302 00:10:53,700 --> 00:10:54,467 Yeah, good question. So we are located 303 00:10:55,133 --> 00:10:57,133 right along the river, but our property does not 304 00:10:57,133 --> 00:10:58,500 have water access. 305 00:10:58,500 --> 00:11:01,834 Okay. So I don't have to deal with any, you know, 306 00:11:01,834 --> 00:11:05,000 boat intake or decks or, or anything like that. 307 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,533 So when you're there, we have a little dog run area, 308 00:11:10,667 --> 00:11:11,734 so it's a fenced in an area. 309 00:11:12,100 --> 00:11:14,000 The idea is where you can like let your dog out 310 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:15,233 and let them run around while you're like getting 311 00:11:15,266 --> 00:11:16,500 set up at your campsite. 312 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,867 And then right next to that is a swing set and a slide. 313 00:11:19,867 --> 00:11:21,367 So there's a little bit for the kids to do, 314 00:11:22,734 --> 00:11:24,367 but we don't have, other than that, 315 00:11:24,367 --> 00:11:26,033 we don't really have a ton to do onsite. 316 00:11:26,367 --> 00:11:29,000 We really are sort of a nice, quiet, peaceful, 317 00:11:29,567 --> 00:11:31,867 just like base camp for you to then go out 318 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,333 and go biking along the great river trail 319 00:11:34,667 --> 00:11:37,033 or you know, go to the wineries that are nearby 320 00:11:37,033 --> 00:11:38,700 or go do some fishing and things like that. 321 00:11:38,867 --> 00:11:42,266 The public boat launch is just around the corner. 322 00:11:42,433 --> 00:11:44,367 You can basically see it from the campground. 323 00:11:45,133 --> 00:11:47,066 So very easy access to the river 324 00:11:47,667 --> 00:11:49,934 and to the lakes that are just down the road as well. 325 00:11:50,066 --> 00:11:53,233 - Nice. So when you went to look at this place to buy it, 326 00:11:54,367 --> 00:11:55,767 what were you looking for? 327 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,066 Mm. Like I think of something, I wanna buy a motorcycle. 328 00:11:58,100 --> 00:12:00,266 Look at the motorcycle. Is it leaking? Is it run nice? 329 00:12:00,266 --> 00:12:01,734 What does it sound like? Yeah, yeah. 330 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,634 What kind of maintenance does it have with a campground? 331 00:12:04,767 --> 00:12:05,533 Yeah. What are you looking at? 332 00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:07,133 I, I don't know what you're looking for. Yeah, 333 00:12:07,567 --> 00:12:10,033 - So it is a kind of a two part purchase 334 00:12:10,300 --> 00:12:12,033 'cause you're purchasing real estate and 335 00:12:12,033 --> 00:12:13,066 so it's a real estate purchase 336 00:12:13,233 --> 00:12:15,367 and you're purchasing the business fair. 337 00:12:15,500 --> 00:12:16,533 So there's both pieces. 338 00:12:17,333 --> 00:12:20,000 So we definitely went through a lot of due diligence, 339 00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:23,500 reviewed financials, looked at the business side of things, 340 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:27,033 and then did a full on appraisal for the property. 341 00:12:27,133 --> 00:12:30,567 They looked for if there had ever been hazardous issues. 342 00:12:30,567 --> 00:12:32,266 Right. Anything, when you're doing a real estate 343 00:12:32,266 --> 00:12:35,000 transaction, you have a lawyer go 344 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:35,934 through your purchase agreement 345 00:12:35,934 --> 00:12:37,033 and make sure everything looks good. 346 00:12:37,100 --> 00:12:41,100 So definitely lots of, lots of that from a strictly sort 347 00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:42,867 of like nuts and bolts perspective. 348 00:12:42,934 --> 00:12:46,533 My husband and I, we, you know, said living two hours away, 349 00:12:47,066 --> 00:12:48,567 it has to be low maintenance. 350 00:12:49,033 --> 00:12:52,000 It has to be, you know, 351 00:12:52,133 --> 00:12:54,100 it's not hard to turn over. 352 00:12:54,567 --> 00:12:58,100 So a campsite can have two or three people go through it 353 00:12:58,100 --> 00:13:00,634 before we need to go and dump the ashes out of the fire. 354 00:13:00,700 --> 00:13:02,867 Right. Like, that's kind of the extent of cleanup. 355 00:13:03,300 --> 00:13:05,000 Maybe if there's trash around, of course we would go pick 356 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,567 that up or sticks that have fallen in the wind or something. 357 00:13:08,066 --> 00:13:10,133 But generally speaking, camp sites 358 00:13:10,900 --> 00:13:12,133 are pretty easy to turn over. 359 00:13:12,333 --> 00:13:13,834 So we knew if we were busy at work, 360 00:13:14,066 --> 00:13:15,233 we have our kid, we've got two kids. 361 00:13:15,233 --> 00:13:18,333 Right. We couldn't get up there. That would be okay. Okay. 362 00:13:18,433 --> 00:13:22,367 And then the cottages, those do need to, you need to go in 363 00:13:22,367 --> 00:13:23,734 and kind of manually turn them over, 364 00:13:24,467 --> 00:13:26,233 but there's only two of them. 365 00:13:26,634 --> 00:13:28,100 So that was important for us. 366 00:13:28,166 --> 00:13:30,367 If we had more than that, that would be too much. 367 00:13:30,467 --> 00:13:32,000 We, it's more than we wanted to do. 368 00:13:32,433 --> 00:13:35,533 So we knew that it would be manageable. 369 00:13:35,634 --> 00:13:37,500 And the previous owners were the ones 370 00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:38,934 who really established the 371 00:13:38,934 --> 00:13:40,367 self-check and self-checkout process. 372 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:44,033 All of the online reservations and everything. 373 00:13:45,133 --> 00:13:47,066 And when we talked to her, she said, you know, you can, 374 00:13:47,233 --> 00:13:48,934 you can operate this whole thing remotely. 375 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:50,567 Nobody has to be here. Huh. 376 00:13:50,700 --> 00:13:52,734 So we have cameras, you know, we're, we're monitoring 377 00:13:52,734 --> 00:13:54,467 and we have the cameras on our phones and things 378 00:13:54,467 --> 00:13:55,700 and we can always see what's happening. 379 00:13:56,900 --> 00:13:57,934 And everything's very secure. 380 00:13:57,934 --> 00:13:59,567 But it's, and it's in a residential area, 381 00:13:59,667 --> 00:14:01,000 which is also really nice. 382 00:14:01,100 --> 00:14:02,467 It's quiet, it's peaceful. 383 00:14:03,033 --> 00:14:04,333 You know, families live up the road. 384 00:14:04,333 --> 00:14:07,100 There's a restaurant right there, it's very close 385 00:14:07,100 --> 00:14:08,867 to the boat launch and the lock and dam. 386 00:14:09,100 --> 00:14:11,066 And it's very, it's, you just walk right into town 387 00:14:11,066 --> 00:14:12,133 and you can go eat at the 388 00:14:12,367 --> 00:14:13,734 restaurants and there's supper clubs. 389 00:14:14,734 --> 00:14:16,533 So it's just sort of the perfect, it's not 390 00:14:16,533 --> 00:14:18,066 so remote that you feel at risk. 391 00:14:18,367 --> 00:14:20,233 It's still very much part of the community. 392 00:14:20,233 --> 00:14:22,133 It's in the village of Tremolo, it's 393 00:14:22,634 --> 00:14:23,634 - Oh, nice. 394 00:14:23,634 --> 00:14:25,700 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So if someone's like, Hey, 395 00:14:25,700 --> 00:14:27,533 we need some marshmallows, it's not like, oh, 396 00:14:27,533 --> 00:14:28,533 that's three hours away. 397 00:14:28,900 --> 00:14:30,533 - No, not at all. You'd walk right up the road. 398 00:14:30,934 --> 00:14:33,066 We've got a Dollar General just up the road. 399 00:14:33,500 --> 00:14:35,567 - Of course. Right. - I mean, lacrosse is 20 minutes away. 400 00:14:35,567 --> 00:14:38,266 So we, we run to Menards all the time and get Sure. 401 00:14:38,333 --> 00:14:41,033 Get stuff, you know, so it's, it's lovely having 402 00:14:42,066 --> 00:14:45,100 you feel remote and it feels you're in the woods. 403 00:14:45,233 --> 00:14:46,033 'cause there's lots of mature 404 00:14:46,033 --> 00:14:47,367 trees and the rivers right there. 405 00:14:47,367 --> 00:14:48,367 And you can hear the barges 406 00:14:48,367 --> 00:14:51,500 and the trains go by like, it's very beautiful and serene. 407 00:14:52,033 --> 00:14:53,767 But anything you need is within 408 00:14:53,767 --> 00:14:55,333 walking distance or a short drive. 409 00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:58,066 - Gotcha. Tell me a story about the appraisal, 410 00:14:58,734 --> 00:15:01,734 because appraiser is typically gonna look at 411 00:15:01,900 --> 00:15:03,934 for real estate anyways, they're gonna look at comparables. 412 00:15:04,533 --> 00:15:05,767 Don't know how many campsite change hands 413 00:15:06,033 --> 00:15:08,100 that often in the lacrosse area. Sure, 414 00:15:08,100 --> 00:15:09,100 - Sure. 415 00:15:09,100 --> 00:15:11,634 So it is an interesting industry, 416 00:15:11,900 --> 00:15:14,533 but there is, once you get into the camping industry in 417 00:15:14,533 --> 00:15:16,700 WISCONSIN, and probably across the nation, 418 00:15:16,700 --> 00:15:19,634 but especially in WISCONSIN, it is its own in like it's 419 00:15:19,634 --> 00:15:20,867 self-contained industry. 420 00:15:20,900 --> 00:15:23,367 So there are your bank people, your real estate people. 421 00:15:23,667 --> 00:15:24,734 Right. Your legal people. 422 00:15:25,133 --> 00:15:27,533 There are the people who know the industry. 423 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,300 - Oh, okay. - Yes. Yeah. 424 00:15:29,333 --> 00:15:31,066 So once you get hooked up with them, you, 425 00:15:31,166 --> 00:15:32,634 you join what's called Waco, 426 00:15:32,634 --> 00:15:34,834 which is the WISCONSIN Association of Campground Owners. 427 00:15:35,166 --> 00:15:36,767 It's our statewide what? It's our 428 00:15:36,767 --> 00:15:37,867 statewide trade association. 429 00:15:37,900 --> 00:15:39,767 And they're phenomenal. There's 430 00:15:39,767 --> 00:15:41,867 - A trade association for everything. Yeah. My goodness. 431 00:15:41,867 --> 00:15:45,066 - Yeah. And they, it's a very well run Okay. Organization. 432 00:15:45,033 --> 00:15:46,734 Well that's great. They do wonderful work. 433 00:15:47,333 --> 00:15:51,066 And so if you go to their convention every year 434 00:15:51,700 --> 00:15:53,867 you meet all of these people, you meet the bank people 435 00:15:53,867 --> 00:15:55,000 and you meet the real estate people. 436 00:15:55,033 --> 00:15:56,266 And all of those people were the ones 437 00:15:56,266 --> 00:15:58,266 who helped us along in our transactions. All 438 00:15:58,266 --> 00:15:59,266 - Right. 439 00:15:59,266 --> 00:16:02,533 Yeah. Did you know of Waco previous to buying? No, no, no. 440 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,300 - The broker who was helping them sell Yeah. 441 00:16:06,734 --> 00:16:09,834 Is the broker who does most a lot of these transactions. 442 00:16:09,834 --> 00:16:11,133 Oh funny. And so he connected us 443 00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:13,100 to the organization and introduced us. 444 00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:14,634 - Alright. Yeah. I'm gonna ask you this. 445 00:16:14,767 --> 00:16:16,333 I don't know if you know the answer or not. Okay. Okay. 446 00:16:16,700 --> 00:16:20,100 How often is there turnover of ownership of a campground? 447 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,834 - I don't know this, but my sense is lots 448 00:16:24,834 --> 00:16:27,500 of campgrounds are family run, kinda like ours. 449 00:16:27,500 --> 00:16:32,133 And so when I went to the Waco Convention last year, I went 450 00:16:32,133 --> 00:16:34,066 to a young professionals group that they have 451 00:16:34,433 --> 00:16:36,533 and I think I was the only person in the room 452 00:16:36,567 --> 00:16:38,100 who didn't inherit it from their family 453 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,500 or like grew up on the campground. 454 00:16:39,867 --> 00:16:41,266 Wow. 'cause their parents owned it. Okay. 455 00:16:41,266 --> 00:16:42,767 And then this is their next generation, 456 00:16:42,767 --> 00:16:44,066 they're learning how to kind of take over. 457 00:16:44,567 --> 00:16:46,000 So a lot of the conversation was like, 458 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,867 how do I get dad outta the office so I can like do the work? 459 00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:51,467 So it was really interesting. But yeah, just, I mean 460 00:16:51,467 --> 00:16:52,867 that's a very small sample size, 461 00:16:52,934 --> 00:16:54,533 but my sense was a lot 462 00:16:54,533 --> 00:16:56,867 of campgrounds in WISCONSIN are family owned run. 463 00:16:57,033 --> 00:16:59,000 - Yeah. That's, I wonder, I guess in my head, 464 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,066 the campgrounds that I've been to, it always seemed like 465 00:17:01,767 --> 00:17:03,934 it's a family thing or there's some 90-year-old woman 466 00:17:03,934 --> 00:17:06,467 behind the counter that you assume was born there. 467 00:17:06,567 --> 00:17:08,066 - Been there. That's right. Probably. Yeah. 468 00:17:08,133 --> 00:17:10,100 - And so I'm just trying to think, like, if I'm a broker 469 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:11,367 for this industry, I gotta make 470 00:17:11,367 --> 00:17:12,734 that one sale every three decades. 471 00:17:12,734 --> 00:17:14,133 Right. And if I don't make that sale, 472 00:17:14,300 --> 00:17:16,100 - Well the other thing I will say is there's a lot, though, 473 00:17:16,467 --> 00:17:17,367 a lot more than you realize, 474 00:17:17,367 --> 00:17:18,734 again, until you're kind of in the 475 00:17:19,133 --> 00:17:19,634 - Industry. Alright. 476 00:17:20,100 --> 00:17:22,000 - So my family for this summer, 477 00:17:22,033 --> 00:17:24,033 we're planning a big trip out to MONTANA 478 00:17:24,634 --> 00:17:26,934 and I'm now, I know to like look 479 00:17:26,934 --> 00:17:28,000 for the private campgrounds. 480 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,834 Oh. 'cause that had never crossed my mind. 481 00:17:30,066 --> 00:17:32,000 'cause you can't get into the national PARK CIR. Right. 482 00:17:32,033 --> 00:17:34,066 Like they're, they're full. Right. It's already too late. 483 00:17:34,066 --> 00:17:35,133 I've waited too long. Yeah. 484 00:17:35,133 --> 00:17:36,500 - You didn't reserve it five years 485 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:37,834 ahead or something. Yeah, exactly. 486 00:17:37,834 --> 00:17:39,233 - Yeah. So I'm like, well, I'll just look 487 00:17:39,700 --> 00:17:40,934 for the private campgrounds. 488 00:17:41,066 --> 00:17:43,033 And there are so many, I mean, 489 00:17:43,033 --> 00:17:44,634 there's just so many private campgrounds. 490 00:17:44,867 --> 00:17:46,000 All right. Everywhere. Yeah. 491 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:48,934 - How do you determine if it's a good private 492 00:17:49,100 --> 00:17:50,100 campground or not? 493 00:17:50,433 --> 00:17:52,033 - Well, it's very similar to hospitality. 494 00:17:52,100 --> 00:17:54,533 So when you're booking a hotel, you probably check reviews. 495 00:17:54,734 --> 00:17:58,000 You're probably seeing how many stars they have, right. 496 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:01,333 On TripAdvisor or any of those booking sites. 497 00:18:02,033 --> 00:18:04,266 And just like you use probably Airbnb 498 00:18:04,266 --> 00:18:06,367 and vrbo, there are campground 499 00:18:06,867 --> 00:18:08,033 specific apps that you can use. 500 00:18:08,667 --> 00:18:11,367 And so they all have a rating system. You can leave reviews. 501 00:18:11,834 --> 00:18:13,567 So it's, it's very similar to booking your hotel. 502 00:18:13,567 --> 00:18:15,834 You're looking for something that people say is like, clean, 503 00:18:15,867 --> 00:18:17,133 well kept safe. 504 00:18:17,467 --> 00:18:18,533 Are you looking for something 505 00:18:18,533 --> 00:18:20,000 that has a lot of kid activities? 506 00:18:20,133 --> 00:18:21,133 Right. You can go find that. 507 00:18:21,133 --> 00:18:23,033 If you're looking for something like ours that's quieter 508 00:18:23,033 --> 00:18:25,233 and doesn't attract lots of children, there's those, 509 00:18:25,433 --> 00:18:28,634 you know, so you can really kind of start to navigate 510 00:18:28,634 --> 00:18:30,934 and think about like, what's the type of campground I like? 511 00:18:31,166 --> 00:18:33,033 And then that's how you can kind of whittle it down 512 00:18:33,033 --> 00:18:34,567 and then kind of go by reviews and see 513 00:18:35,066 --> 00:18:36,066 - Review. 514 00:18:36,133 --> 00:18:37,767 I wanna talk about pricing. Yeah. 515 00:18:37,767 --> 00:18:41,000 Because people are essentially renting a very small spot 516 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,367 of land for a relatively shorter amount of time. 517 00:18:43,433 --> 00:18:45,367 Yeah. How do you figure out what to charge? 518 00:18:46,266 --> 00:18:49,000 - Well that was, you know, purchasing the business. 519 00:18:49,133 --> 00:18:51,100 We had sort of the established rates. 520 00:18:51,333 --> 00:18:53,233 So that was kind of, we didn't start from scratch, 521 00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:56,367 but you do kind of a market analysis. 522 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,100 We have some of the lowest rates in the area strictly 523 00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:02,467 because we don't have a lot of bells and whistles. 524 00:19:02,467 --> 00:19:05,367 You come and you're getting access to a beautiful area, 525 00:19:06,133 --> 00:19:08,066 but you're not getting the bouncy houses 526 00:19:08,133 --> 00:19:10,467 and the, the, the pools with the big things. 527 00:19:10,467 --> 00:19:13,100 Sure. Okay. And all that kind of stuff. So yeah. 528 00:19:13,133 --> 00:19:17,033 So we, we keep ours moderately priced and affordable 529 00:19:17,133 --> 00:19:19,333 and we just try to kind of increase it with inflation 530 00:19:19,634 --> 00:19:22,634 to kind of adjust for increases in expenses 531 00:19:22,934 --> 00:19:24,033 for us. But Right 532 00:19:24,033 --> 00:19:25,033 - On. 533 00:19:25,033 --> 00:19:26,266 Yeah. Tell me a story about taxes 534 00:19:27,033 --> 00:19:30,100 because there's, is it riverfront? It must be if you flood, 535 00:19:30,634 --> 00:19:33,300 - I, I, our property does not touch the river. 536 00:19:33,333 --> 00:19:34,867 Okay. So I don't have any riverfront. 537 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:36,100 - So you don't have to pay the tax 538 00:19:36,166 --> 00:19:37,300 for being along the water. 539 00:19:37,333 --> 00:19:38,867 Okay. You, you just have to pay the, 540 00:19:39,133 --> 00:19:40,333 we're flooding. Right. I 541 00:19:40,634 --> 00:19:41,867 - Do have flood insurance. Okay. 542 00:19:42,133 --> 00:19:44,133 - Yep. Got it. And what, what kind 543 00:19:44,133 --> 00:19:45,500 of damage are we talking if everybody 544 00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:47,066 moves all their campers out? Yep, 545 00:19:47,100 --> 00:19:48,100 - Yep. 546 00:19:48,100 --> 00:19:49,066 Yeah. So my husband and I got to go 547 00:19:49,066 --> 00:19:51,066 through this two years ago. 548 00:19:51,500 --> 00:19:53,133 - You say you got to, this is enjoy. 549 00:19:53,233 --> 00:19:54,500 So fun. Look at this opportunity. 550 00:19:54,834 --> 00:19:56,533 - So it's a fun story. I also live in black Earth, 551 00:19:56,533 --> 00:19:58,000 which also floods sometimes. 552 00:19:58,900 --> 00:20:00,767 And the year we bought our house was the 553 00:20:00,767 --> 00:20:01,834 hundred year flood back in 554 00:20:01,834 --> 00:20:03,300 - 20 19, 28. Oh, awesome. Is that, 555 00:20:03,333 --> 00:20:04,333 - Yeah. 556 00:20:04,333 --> 00:20:05,533 So that year we also got to go real, what 557 00:20:05,533 --> 00:20:06,533 - Do we gotta - Do? 558 00:20:06,533 --> 00:20:07,033 Lucky. It was so fun. 559 00:20:07,500 --> 00:20:09,333 So I definitely prefer the Mississippi River 560 00:20:09,333 --> 00:20:11,500 because we get two weeks notice. 561 00:20:11,867 --> 00:20:13,533 So it's because of the Locke and Dam system. Wow. 562 00:20:13,634 --> 00:20:15,333 It's never gonna be a flash flood. Okay. 563 00:20:16,467 --> 00:20:18,834 Any rain that we get goes down river. 564 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:20,767 So that's their problem. Sorry, down river. 565 00:20:21,266 --> 00:20:25,033 But if the water is coming in, snow melts too much snow 566 00:20:25,033 --> 00:20:28,767 and it all melts at once up in Minnesota, that collects. 567 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,500 And then the lock and dam system, they alert us 568 00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:32,634 and they let us know and they say, 569 00:20:32,667 --> 00:20:35,367 you've basically got two weeks, we're going to be opening up 570 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,133 and releasing some of the water. 571 00:20:37,467 --> 00:20:38,834 'cause it's getting too much up here. Otherwise 572 00:20:38,834 --> 00:20:40,000 the flooding will be too bad up river. 573 00:20:40,734 --> 00:20:43,767 So we get two weeks, we let folks know that they need to 574 00:20:44,233 --> 00:20:46,133 coordinate, they need to just pull their thing, 575 00:20:46,433 --> 00:20:47,467 pull their RV up, 576 00:20:47,467 --> 00:20:49,467 and we have a parking lot that's up by the lock 577 00:20:49,467 --> 00:20:51,000 and dam where they can go easily park 578 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:53,767 and we just, you know, shut her all down. 579 00:20:54,100 --> 00:20:56,000 So then my husband and I went around 580 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:57,066 after we got everybody out 581 00:20:58,033 --> 00:21:00,066 and you know, you just do a little bit of mitigation. 582 00:21:00,934 --> 00:21:03,000 We hauled all of our picnic tables 583 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,567 to the highest point in the campground 584 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,066 and that is happens to be our site. 585 00:21:08,300 --> 00:21:11,100 And you can tell that the water didn't even get up that far. 586 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:12,033 So it really is the highest point. 587 00:21:12,033 --> 00:21:13,734 So we haul everything kind of up there. 588 00:21:14,767 --> 00:21:18,133 We have to do a couple of things in the cottages. 589 00:21:18,133 --> 00:21:21,166 In the bathhouse you have to like plug the, plug the toilets 590 00:21:21,166 --> 00:21:23,066 and you have to plug so that the water doesn't kind of 591 00:21:23,900 --> 00:21:26,166 une like equalize and then have backflow. 592 00:21:27,533 --> 00:21:29,100 And so we had to do that process. 593 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:33,734 We lifted everything in our cottages as much 594 00:21:33,734 --> 00:21:36,133 as we could up onto sawhorses. 595 00:21:36,266 --> 00:21:38,133 Okay. Just in case water got in. 596 00:21:38,667 --> 00:21:42,567 Luckily it didn't get high enough to get into the cottages. 597 00:21:43,133 --> 00:21:45,333 We did get a tiny bit of water in our bathhouse 598 00:21:45,367 --> 00:21:48,133 and so we had some mucking out to do from there, 599 00:21:48,233 --> 00:21:50,900 but we thought maybe next time we would do more 600 00:21:51,133 --> 00:21:52,367 sandbagging and things like that. 601 00:21:52,467 --> 00:21:54,900 So you, but the nice thing is you have the time. Okay. 602 00:21:54,934 --> 00:21:56,900 So it's the river we know it's coming, 603 00:21:57,233 --> 00:21:58,634 it's just the countdown, you know, 604 00:21:58,634 --> 00:22:00,066 and you go and you do the mitigation work. 605 00:22:00,433 --> 00:22:02,266 And then we have cameras and we just watch. 606 00:22:03,367 --> 00:22:05,100 So that, that year, that's it creeping. Yeah. 607 00:22:05,100 --> 00:22:06,333 That year we just kept watching it 608 00:22:06,734 --> 00:22:07,767 and we would take pictures 609 00:22:07,767 --> 00:22:09,900 and like right on it when it was at this level 610 00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:11,567 for next, you know, so that we know. 611 00:22:12,133 --> 00:22:14,333 And the water slowly comes over the, over the road 612 00:22:14,867 --> 00:22:17,166 and then it slowly makes its way in and it slowly rises. 613 00:22:17,166 --> 00:22:19,433 So we probably had a foot 614 00:22:19,433 --> 00:22:22,500 or two of water just across the whole campground. 615 00:22:23,133 --> 00:22:27,567 Wow. And we had carp would would swim in the campground. 616 00:22:28,233 --> 00:22:31,634 We found snakes, tons of snakes after the water receded 617 00:22:31,634 --> 00:22:33,033 and we kind of went in to clean up. 618 00:22:33,266 --> 00:22:36,033 So lots of wildlife Wow. That followed the river in. 619 00:22:36,133 --> 00:22:37,667 And then sometimes they would die 620 00:22:38,033 --> 00:22:39,033 'cause the water would go back out. 621 00:22:39,033 --> 00:22:41,000 Sure. It would get Stankey. But Yeah. 622 00:22:41,166 --> 00:22:44,734 - Does it, so two weeks notice, that seems like a lot. Yeah. 623 00:22:44,734 --> 00:22:47,133 Yeah. And was that expected? Yeah. 624 00:22:47,033 --> 00:22:48,133 Or did you know that ahead of time? 625 00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:50,333 - Yes, we did. We were aware. Okay. Yeah. All right. 626 00:22:50,433 --> 00:22:52,433 I know my husband's like, why do we keep buying 627 00:22:52,433 --> 00:22:53,634 properties and flood plains? 628 00:22:54,133 --> 00:22:55,433 'cause I love water. Like, I don't know. 629 00:22:55,934 --> 00:22:58,100 - Well, I mean two weeks notice that seems like a lot 630 00:22:58,133 --> 00:23:00,100 for it is like, hey, you gotta move a camper. 631 00:23:00,100 --> 00:23:01,734 It's, that means that somebody could be like, 632 00:23:01,734 --> 00:23:02,834 ah, I'll get there next weekend. 633 00:23:02,867 --> 00:23:04,333 Yeah, it is. It'll flood later. You 634 00:23:04,333 --> 00:23:06,066 - Just, you let 'em know and you say what the deadline is, 635 00:23:06,100 --> 00:23:07,867 how long you need, you have to, to remove. 636 00:23:07,900 --> 00:23:09,500 And if you need help, let us know. And yeah, 637 00:23:09,834 --> 00:23:10,834 - It's interesting. 638 00:23:10,834 --> 00:23:12,066 How do the people that figure that out know 639 00:23:12,066 --> 00:23:14,033 that it's gonna be that timeframe? 640 00:23:14,033 --> 00:23:17,033 - It's the Army Corps of Engineers and Noah. Okay. 641 00:23:17,033 --> 00:23:19,033 So the north, north, north American 642 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:21,166 atmospheric something or other. 643 00:23:21,233 --> 00:23:23,000 Okay. That's the website we go on and we watch 644 00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:24,667 and they track all waterways. 645 00:23:24,667 --> 00:23:26,367 So even the black Earth Creek where we live, 646 00:23:26,834 --> 00:23:28,700 we can see if it's going up and down. 647 00:23:29,033 --> 00:23:30,634 That is flash flood though. So Yeah. 648 00:23:30,634 --> 00:23:33,000 You know, I get five minutes notice as opposed to 649 00:23:33,133 --> 00:23:34,634 - All - Notice on that one. 650 00:23:34,634 --> 00:23:36,700 But yeah, we spend a lot of time on that website. 651 00:23:36,900 --> 00:23:38,467 - How cool is that? Yeah. All right. 652 00:23:38,467 --> 00:23:41,166 Do you have to flag, like this is where the spigot is, 653 00:23:41,166 --> 00:23:43,066 just in case I'm picturing a bunch of sediments 654 00:23:43,066 --> 00:23:44,133 or something like that, covering 655 00:23:44,133 --> 00:23:45,133 - Up? 656 00:23:45,133 --> 00:23:45,567 No, it wasn't too bad. Actually. 657 00:23:46,333 --> 00:23:50,033 Some of our rocks we think got moved, you know, from a site. 658 00:23:50,634 --> 00:23:51,767 Why are there so many rocks over here? 659 00:23:51,767 --> 00:23:52,767 And I, it just the other day, 660 00:23:52,767 --> 00:23:54,100 and I said, I think maybe that was the flood, 661 00:23:54,100 --> 00:23:55,500 like picked some up and carried them over there. 662 00:23:55,634 --> 00:23:57,100 Oh wow. You know, so a little bit of that. 663 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,100 So we're working on, you know, 664 00:23:59,100 --> 00:24:01,066 two years later now we're looking at our driveway 665 00:24:01,100 --> 00:24:02,266 to see if maybe we need to get a fresh 666 00:24:02,266 --> 00:24:03,533 layer of rock, kind of put 667 00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:05,100 - Oh, - Gotcha. 668 00:24:05,100 --> 00:24:06,066 Re flatten it out a little, but Okay. How, 669 00:24:06,100 --> 00:24:07,500 - How that but pretty minimal damage. 670 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:09,000 Is that alright? Yeah. 671 00:24:09,133 --> 00:24:10,133 And when you call people up 672 00:24:10,133 --> 00:24:12,000 and you're like, Hey, in two weeks this place is gonna 673 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:13,033 flood, you gotta move your camper. 674 00:24:13,066 --> 00:24:15,033 Yeah. Are they all upset 675 00:24:15,133 --> 00:24:17,100 or they're like, oh yeah, this happens the thing. Yeah. 676 00:24:17,100 --> 00:24:18,700 - It's, it's in their contract. Okay. Yeah. 677 00:24:18,834 --> 00:24:20,233 And so we let them know when they book 678 00:24:20,367 --> 00:24:22,000 that this is always a possibility. 679 00:24:23,066 --> 00:24:24,533 I mean, you can see the river, it's beautiful, 680 00:24:24,667 --> 00:24:25,867 you know, that's part of the appeal. 681 00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:28,634 But you know, with that comes just your willingness 682 00:24:28,634 --> 00:24:29,734 to put up with a little bit of risk. 683 00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:32,533 - Sure. So that's an accepted, you're next 684 00:24:32,533 --> 00:24:34,100 to the Mississippi River, things 685 00:24:34,100 --> 00:24:35,100 - Happen. 686 00:24:35,100 --> 00:24:35,533 Yeah. I mean we're definitely not the only 687 00:24:35,533 --> 00:24:37,033 campground next to the Mississippi River. 688 00:24:37,133 --> 00:24:38,533 Okay. We're, we're in, unfortunately, 689 00:24:38,533 --> 00:24:40,100 we're in good company when it comes to like, 690 00:24:40,767 --> 00:24:42,533 we're all facing this us and, 691 00:24:42,533 --> 00:24:43,867 and up river in down river Sure. 692 00:24:43,867 --> 00:24:45,867 Depending on when the flooding or where the flooding is. 693 00:24:45,867 --> 00:24:48,066 Exactly. And so we get calls, 694 00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:50,000 are you flooding, are campgrounds, flooding? 695 00:24:50,100 --> 00:24:52,000 You know, so we, we try to help each other out, you 696 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,767 - Know, so I was just in San Diego a couple months ago 697 00:24:55,133 --> 00:24:57,000 and in the ocean doing this little kayak trip 698 00:24:57,667 --> 00:24:59,767 and the tour guide is explaining 699 00:24:59,934 --> 00:25:01,333 how there's all this water erosion. 700 00:25:01,567 --> 00:25:04,100 Yeah. And you can see houses that are Oh yeah. 701 00:25:04,467 --> 00:25:06,700 Right on the edge. And it feels like a bad storm. 702 00:25:06,834 --> 00:25:08,767 That house is just gonna sink in. It could be. 703 00:25:09,100 --> 00:25:10,066 And they're pretty fancy houses. 704 00:25:10,867 --> 00:25:14,100 And this tour guide is explaining how Yeah. Yeah. 705 00:25:14,100 --> 00:25:15,233 That's gonna happen. Yep. 706 00:25:15,867 --> 00:25:18,867 So in the case of this, you keep losing property. 707 00:25:19,767 --> 00:25:22,734 - Well again, we, it, I suppose that could happen. 708 00:25:22,734 --> 00:25:26,834 But the nice thing where we are is, so the, the lock and dam 709 00:25:27,266 --> 00:25:29,000 and, and then the beautiful big river, 710 00:25:29,266 --> 00:25:31,300 and then we have a little inlet. 711 00:25:31,433 --> 00:25:33,333 Okay. So the water you see from our property, 712 00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:34,634 you can see the river, 713 00:25:34,867 --> 00:25:37,033 but the most of the water you see is actually an inlet. 714 00:25:37,033 --> 00:25:38,700 So it's protected. So there's no, 715 00:25:40,166 --> 00:25:41,367 - So it's not washing away. There's 716 00:25:41,367 --> 00:25:42,367 - No washing away. 717 00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:45,066 And we do, you know, where the lock 718 00:25:45,066 --> 00:25:47,367 and dam is, especially with the tugs going up 719 00:25:47,367 --> 00:25:49,033 and down, pushing the barges through the lock. 720 00:25:49,300 --> 00:25:50,700 There is a lot of kind 721 00:25:50,700 --> 00:25:52,734 of stirring up of the sediment and things. 722 00:25:52,734 --> 00:25:54,634 So they dredge every year. Oh 723 00:25:54,634 --> 00:25:55,300 - They do. And they 724 00:25:55,300 --> 00:25:56,333 - Pull sand out. 725 00:25:56,700 --> 00:26:00,333 Yep. Yep. So that's a fun thing to watch all the big, 726 00:26:00,367 --> 00:26:02,266 big figures and the big barges. And 727 00:26:02,834 --> 00:26:05,934 - I'm imagining the scale that that has to happen at 728 00:26:06,433 --> 00:26:07,500 - All the way down the river too. 729 00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:09,033 You know, like we're just one locking down. 730 00:26:09,033 --> 00:26:10,233 There's, it's a whole system that 731 00:26:10,233 --> 00:26:11,133 - Is insane. Yeah. Yeah. 732 00:26:11,133 --> 00:26:13,700 - It's, I think from the Twin Cities down to St. 733 00:26:13,700 --> 00:26:15,700 Louis or something. It's, it's a long stretch. 734 00:26:15,834 --> 00:26:18,500 - Okay. It's gotta be what, 1520 lock and dam? 735 00:26:18,767 --> 00:26:21,100 - Yeah, yeah. Something like that. We're number four I 736 00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:22,100 - Think. 737 00:26:22,100 --> 00:26:22,634 Okay. Yeah. Yeah. 738 00:26:22,667 --> 00:26:25,333 That it's a lot because we, when I was a kid, we used 739 00:26:25,333 --> 00:26:27,000 to take the Great river road. 740 00:26:27,133 --> 00:26:28,834 Yes. We're on the Great river at Okay. 741 00:26:28,834 --> 00:26:31,533 And stop at a few and you stop at little cafes in the towns. 742 00:26:31,634 --> 00:26:32,634 It was always fun. Yes. 743 00:26:32,834 --> 00:26:35,834 - I love that drive. So we, you hop on the great river road 744 00:26:35,834 --> 00:26:38,033 and you go north on the WISCONSIN side, 745 00:26:38,033 --> 00:26:39,567 or you can go north on the Minnesota side 746 00:26:39,934 --> 00:26:42,066 and you get a slightly different experience, you know, 747 00:26:42,066 --> 00:26:43,300 depending on what side you, you go. 748 00:26:43,433 --> 00:26:45,367 And they're both beautiful. I love the WISCONSIN side 749 00:26:45,567 --> 00:26:47,100 'cause of all those small towns and you can stop 750 00:26:47,233 --> 00:26:49,033 and, and enjoy them. It's just beautiful. 751 00:26:49,166 --> 00:26:51,033 - Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. 752 00:26:51,100 --> 00:26:53,867 It was always neat to see when a ship would approach 753 00:26:54,333 --> 00:26:56,700 the lock and be like, oh, we get to watch this. But 754 00:26:56,700 --> 00:26:58,500 - Yeah, you can get up there and there's like an overlook 755 00:26:59,033 --> 00:27:01,700 and we talk to the folks and we ask 'em where they're from 756 00:27:02,467 --> 00:27:04,100 and you know, where, 757 00:27:04,100 --> 00:27:05,500 where are you coming from or where are you going? 758 00:27:05,734 --> 00:27:07,066 All right. And you know, we ask their stories. Yeah. 759 00:27:07,066 --> 00:27:09,066 It's so fun. We bring the kids up there. The kids love it. 760 00:27:09,133 --> 00:27:12,700 And whenever, you know, you can hear the honk of the barge 761 00:27:12,734 --> 00:27:15,000 or the tug or whoever it is, making that honking noise 762 00:27:15,066 --> 00:27:16,133 whenever they're like ready to go or something. 763 00:27:16,133 --> 00:27:19,033 I don't know what it is. My family's thing as we go barge, 764 00:27:19,033 --> 00:27:20,367 like we stop what we're doing, we yell, 765 00:27:20,367 --> 00:27:22,033 barge, and then we keep going. Oh, 766 00:27:22,033 --> 00:27:23,033 - That's funny. 767 00:27:23,734 --> 00:27:25,734 I always think of the little boats and you see a boat. 768 00:27:26,033 --> 00:27:29,133 Just little tiny boats. I mean, I guess any boats. Yes. 769 00:27:29,133 --> 00:27:30,767 Yeah. Compared to a barge is small going 770 00:27:30,767 --> 00:27:31,300 - Through the lock. Yes. 771 00:27:31,634 --> 00:27:33,867 - And you're down. Yes. That far. 772 00:27:33,934 --> 00:27:35,100 We're just waiting for the water to come up. 773 00:27:35,100 --> 00:27:36,233 That seems so creepy to me. 774 00:27:36,367 --> 00:27:38,233 - Yeah. It's so cool though. It 775 00:27:38,233 --> 00:27:39,233 - Is super cool. 776 00:27:39,233 --> 00:27:40,066 It's cool. Yeah. Just like, 777 00:27:40,066 --> 00:27:42,333 please raise the water. Yeah. I hope this works. 778 00:27:42,867 --> 00:27:44,000 - This is gonna work, right? Yeah. 779 00:27:44,066 --> 00:27:46,734 - It'll, it's surreal. Yeah. So surreal. Yeah. 780 00:27:47,033 --> 00:27:50,467 Tell me a story about the campers that you see as far 781 00:27:50,467 --> 00:27:52,066 as the physical, the RVs 782 00:27:52,066 --> 00:27:53,100 that come through there. Yeah. Oh yeah, 783 00:27:53,133 --> 00:27:54,133 - Sure. 784 00:27:54,133 --> 00:27:55,700 So most of them are pretty standard. 785 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,066 I mean there's, once you get into Arby's you realize again, 786 00:27:59,066 --> 00:28:00,734 just like him cross, there's so many different kinds 787 00:28:00,734 --> 00:28:02,100 of Arby's and is it a fifth wheel 788 00:28:02,100 --> 00:28:03,734 or is it just a tra travel trailer? 789 00:28:04,266 --> 00:28:07,066 And so we get all kinds, just like the pull 790 00:28:07,066 --> 00:28:08,567 behind the really, really big ones. 791 00:28:08,567 --> 00:28:10,000 We get big motor homes occasionally. 792 00:28:10,867 --> 00:28:12,266 My favorite though are the ice houses. 793 00:28:13,567 --> 00:28:15,634 - I, that's where you can lift the wheels and all. Yeah. 794 00:28:16,033 --> 00:28:18,567 - So it's like the, they look like they belong like an ice 795 00:28:18,567 --> 00:28:21,266 house, like out on a lake and Yeah. 796 00:28:21,266 --> 00:28:23,467 But they have wheels. And then when you get to a place, 797 00:28:23,467 --> 00:28:25,100 they're these big boxy things 798 00:28:25,100 --> 00:28:26,700 and then they just flatten straight 799 00:28:26,700 --> 00:28:28,033 and they sit flat on the ground. 800 00:28:28,433 --> 00:28:29,367 All right. And you're just like, 801 00:28:29,367 --> 00:28:30,567 how did you even get this in here? 802 00:28:30,934 --> 00:28:32,233 But it's because there's like a hydraulic 803 00:28:32,233 --> 00:28:33,266 and it lifts them back up. 804 00:28:33,867 --> 00:28:35,033 They're just wild 805 00:28:35,033 --> 00:28:36,033 - Looking. 806 00:28:36,033 --> 00:28:37,000 That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. 807 00:28:37,033 --> 00:28:39,300 And they're using those year round? Yeah. 808 00:28:39,333 --> 00:28:41,066 - Yeah. They must. Okay. And they might take 'em out 809 00:28:41,100 --> 00:28:42,033 and use 'em fries fishing 810 00:28:42,066 --> 00:28:43,033 and then they use them in the summer. 811 00:28:43,166 --> 00:28:44,233 Huh? Isn't that smart? 812 00:28:44,734 --> 00:28:48,333 - Tell, I can remember being at a campsite forever ago. 813 00:28:48,433 --> 00:28:50,734 Yeah. And I'm more of a tent camper. Yeah. 814 00:28:51,133 --> 00:28:54,133 So I remember my buddies and I are sitting around at this, 815 00:28:54,333 --> 00:28:55,634 I call 'em golf course campsite. 816 00:28:55,634 --> 00:28:56,934 Yeah. It's just all grass. And 817 00:28:56,934 --> 00:28:58,000 I'm like, is this really nature? 818 00:28:59,367 --> 00:29:02,233 Anyways, we're watching this guy back up his camper. Yeah. 819 00:29:02,333 --> 00:29:03,734 And he's having a rough time. Yes. 820 00:29:03,734 --> 00:29:05,500 - It is - Challenging. And for us, 821 00:29:06,433 --> 00:29:07,867 we're kind of being jerks. 822 00:29:08,100 --> 00:29:09,233 Not meaning to, but like, 823 00:29:09,233 --> 00:29:10,834 we're just drinking beer watching this guy. 824 00:29:10,834 --> 00:29:12,734 Yeah. Yeah. And that's probably not helping 825 00:29:13,233 --> 00:29:14,567 him. I mean it Right. 826 00:29:14,767 --> 00:29:16,133 - It's part of the experience. So 827 00:29:16,834 --> 00:29:17,934 - I'm like, you showed up here. 828 00:29:17,934 --> 00:29:20,767 That's right. And you got this 80 foot trailer, whatever. 829 00:29:20,934 --> 00:29:23,033 And we just threw up a tent. That's, so we a few tents. 830 00:29:23,100 --> 00:29:25,000 So our job is way easier. 831 00:29:26,367 --> 00:29:29,266 How often are people running into things at your campsite? 832 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,367 - So generally people are pretty good. 833 00:29:31,700 --> 00:29:33,033 I mean, they are mean for the most part. 834 00:29:33,100 --> 00:29:36,100 They know what they're doing. You know, 835 00:29:36,100 --> 00:29:39,233 it's only been a couple of times in the last two, two years 836 00:29:39,900 --> 00:29:42,700 that somebody's like, I need help. 837 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,033 Like, will somebody be, oh, 838 00:29:44,133 --> 00:29:46,100 will somebody be on site when I get there? 839 00:29:46,634 --> 00:29:48,133 'cause I'm, I'm traveling by myself 840 00:29:48,166 --> 00:29:49,834 and I have nobody to spot me in the back. 841 00:29:49,867 --> 00:29:51,000 Okay. Fair things like that. 842 00:29:51,066 --> 00:29:52,367 And not having staff all the time 843 00:29:52,734 --> 00:29:54,033 makes it a little challenging. 844 00:29:54,066 --> 00:29:55,066 But we're very lucky. 845 00:29:55,133 --> 00:29:56,734 So my dad is retired 846 00:29:57,567 --> 00:30:00,533 and he's a handyman who can fix anything. 847 00:30:00,834 --> 00:30:02,300 Nice. I promise you. Anything 848 00:30:02,300 --> 00:30:03,734 - He could good person to have in your corner. 849 00:30:03,834 --> 00:30:06,300 - Yes. And I always, I have told him many times I would not 850 00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:08,066 have even thought about buying a campground if you, 851 00:30:08,066 --> 00:30:10,033 if I knew you didn't, you weren't like in my corner. 852 00:30:10,100 --> 00:30:11,300 Wow. And like could fix things. 853 00:30:11,734 --> 00:30:13,767 'cause I would have no idea how to fix many things. 854 00:30:14,634 --> 00:30:18,567 So he gets to live his best retired life in an RV site 855 00:30:18,667 --> 00:30:20,834 that we give him because he's our maintenance man. 856 00:30:20,834 --> 00:30:23,867 And so in exchange for a lovely place to live and, 857 00:30:24,066 --> 00:30:25,300 and park his boat 858 00:30:25,367 --> 00:30:28,100 and go fishing as much as he wants, he, 859 00:30:29,467 --> 00:30:30,734 he gets to be our maintenance man. 860 00:30:30,900 --> 00:30:32,867 But he also was a truck driver with a CDL. Ah. 861 00:30:33,066 --> 00:30:36,266 So he can back up anything. Gotcha. So he's off and on site. 862 00:30:36,266 --> 00:30:38,767 So he has been there a couple of times to help people. Okay. 863 00:30:38,900 --> 00:30:41,266 Get positioned or just spot, I mean, I've spotted people 864 00:30:41,433 --> 00:30:43,767 and you know, tell 'em keep going until they hit something. 865 00:30:44,433 --> 00:30:46,934 And so, but generally everybody's been very good. 866 00:30:46,934 --> 00:30:49,734 We've had very, you know, no, no issues really. All 867 00:30:49,734 --> 00:30:50,734 - Right. 868 00:30:50,734 --> 00:30:53,000 I can remember. So I used to deliver beer forever ago 869 00:30:53,867 --> 00:30:56,033 and it was one of those companies, it was a big company. 870 00:30:56,734 --> 00:30:59,066 So I went there, I got my CDL through them 871 00:30:59,834 --> 00:31:01,367 and it was kind of a pushman, shove 'em out. 872 00:31:02,300 --> 00:31:03,467 I shouldn't have been driving that truck. 873 00:31:03,767 --> 00:31:05,767 I could drive very well in a straight line. Yeah. 874 00:31:06,133 --> 00:31:09,567 Backing up. I took for granted air brakes. Oh yeah. 875 00:31:09,700 --> 00:31:11,867 And so I was backing up into this small town gas station, 876 00:31:11,867 --> 00:31:12,867 which was very tight. 877 00:31:13,266 --> 00:31:14,734 Ended up using the brakes too much. 878 00:31:14,734 --> 00:31:16,934 So I used up all the air, which meant 879 00:31:16,934 --> 00:31:18,033 that I was blocking the intersection. 880 00:31:18,033 --> 00:31:20,834 Oh gosh. Yeah. I didn't mean to Yeah. 881 00:31:21,133 --> 00:31:22,567 But like the air brakes go 882 00:31:23,266 --> 00:31:25,700 and so you have to wait for the air to recharge. 883 00:31:26,066 --> 00:31:27,100 Oh my gosh. And see all these people just 884 00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:28,266 honking, like get out of the road. 885 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,700 I'm like, I would love to. Right. 886 00:31:31,934 --> 00:31:33,300 And I'm doing everything that I can 887 00:31:33,834 --> 00:31:36,000 to get outta the road, but we gotta wave. 888 00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:37,767 Like they don't know a few. No. 889 00:31:37,767 --> 00:31:39,133 - Right. And I would not know, I mean, 890 00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:41,767 my dad just has had, he grew up on a farm. 891 00:31:42,033 --> 00:31:45,033 Yeah. He was in the Navy, was a machinist. Oh wow. 892 00:31:45,033 --> 00:31:46,467 And yeah, I mean he, and then he drove truck. 893 00:31:46,467 --> 00:31:48,700 He was a bus driver. He's just the kind of guy 894 00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:51,033 who can fix and build anything. Yeah. 895 00:31:51,133 --> 00:31:53,834 - Yeah. It is a great respect for people that can back up. 896 00:31:53,834 --> 00:31:56,700 Well yes, it is very rare. Yes. So rare. 897 00:31:56,900 --> 00:31:58,100 So kudos to you guys. 898 00:31:58,867 --> 00:32:00,734 I'm just worried about somebody hitting a water 899 00:32:00,734 --> 00:32:01,767 Maine or something like that. 900 00:32:01,767 --> 00:32:03,500 Yeah. I mean it could happen. All right. Yeah. 901 00:32:03,634 --> 00:32:05,100 So someday we trust people we're flooded 902 00:32:05,100 --> 00:32:06,634 for something else without two weeks 903 00:32:06,634 --> 00:32:08,100 notice. Right? That's right. 904 00:32:08,333 --> 00:32:11,934 - That's fine. - So after your few years, in three years 905 00:32:12,233 --> 00:32:13,233 - Headed into our third season. 906 00:32:13,233 --> 00:32:14,734 - Headed into the third season. Okay. 907 00:32:14,867 --> 00:32:16,867 Tell me about marketing. How do you let people know 908 00:32:17,133 --> 00:32:18,133 for the spots that you have available? 909 00:32:18,367 --> 00:32:20,033 Yeah. How do you get on the rooftop 910 00:32:20,033 --> 00:32:21,767 and yell like, hey we've got, got spots available. 911 00:32:22,367 --> 00:32:24,734 - Yeah, so generally speaking, so I come from hospitality. 912 00:32:24,834 --> 00:32:29,000 I used to run a hotel and so I learned a lot about how, 913 00:32:29,367 --> 00:32:31,567 and it makes sense intuitively when you're traveling, 914 00:32:31,567 --> 00:32:34,066 sometimes you are at home planning your, 915 00:32:34,066 --> 00:32:35,233 your trip and your vacation. 916 00:32:35,500 --> 00:32:37,133 Sometimes you're literally on the road 917 00:32:37,433 --> 00:32:39,333 and you aren't gonna make 918 00:32:39,333 --> 00:32:40,367 it as far as you thought you would. 919 00:32:40,367 --> 00:32:42,066 And so I, I want find a place to stay. 920 00:32:42,433 --> 00:32:45,567 So generally speaking, online marketing is the way to go. 921 00:32:46,367 --> 00:32:48,934 Especially you wanna think about your website, you want it 922 00:32:48,934 --> 00:32:50,000 to be SEO optimized. 923 00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:52,834 Nowadays we're talking about AI optimization as well. 924 00:32:52,834 --> 00:32:55,033 So you wanna make sure when you're building your website, 925 00:32:55,834 --> 00:32:59,834 you are including keywords, phrases, things like that, 926 00:32:59,834 --> 00:33:02,333 that you want the, you know, the Googles of the world 927 00:33:02,433 --> 00:33:05,133 to find when people are searching for campground near me. 928 00:33:05,166 --> 00:33:07,467 So RV sites, campground, right? 929 00:33:07,467 --> 00:33:08,767 You're thinking of all the different words 930 00:33:08,767 --> 00:33:09,934 that people might be searching for. 931 00:33:11,500 --> 00:33:14,567 I also, at the Waco convent, this is an advertisement 932 00:33:14,567 --> 00:33:15,767 for any campground owners 933 00:33:15,767 --> 00:33:17,367 who aren't members of Waco, you need to join. 934 00:33:17,834 --> 00:33:20,533 So when, when I went to the con, the convention, 935 00:33:20,867 --> 00:33:22,133 they had a wonderful guest speaker 936 00:33:22,266 --> 00:33:25,266 who talked about your website needs these five things. 937 00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:26,934 Oh and that's it. Right. 938 00:33:26,934 --> 00:33:29,033 And so it really helped me simplify my website. 939 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,500 Ah, and it was very good. Great advice. 940 00:33:31,500 --> 00:33:33,100 And so I really overhauled my website 941 00:33:33,266 --> 00:33:35,000 and we used a booking engine. 942 00:33:35,133 --> 00:33:36,133 And so that's just sort 943 00:33:36,133 --> 00:33:37,734 of a separate service that you pay for. 944 00:33:38,367 --> 00:33:41,233 And so people can book directly on our website. 945 00:33:41,700 --> 00:33:45,934 And we also use Airbnb, vrbo, hip camp, 946 00:33:45,934 --> 00:33:47,033 all of those kind of third party. 947 00:33:47,033 --> 00:33:48,133 There's quite a few third parties 948 00:33:48,133 --> 00:33:51,734 that either do our cottages or our campsites or both. 949 00:33:52,700 --> 00:33:55,500 And so you're just trying to get as much kind 950 00:33:55,500 --> 00:33:57,934 of digital access to people as possible. 951 00:33:58,367 --> 00:34:00,333 And then in addition to that, we make sure 952 00:34:01,133 --> 00:34:04,066 that our literature is at, so we're very close 953 00:34:04,066 --> 00:34:06,300 to Perot State Park, which is a lovely state 954 00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:07,233 - Park. Oh, beautiful park. Yeah. 955 00:34:07,233 --> 00:34:09,266 - Oh yeah. So that's just down the road from us. Nice. 956 00:34:09,266 --> 00:34:10,266 So we're good friends with them. 957 00:34:10,266 --> 00:34:11,333 We bring them our brochures 958 00:34:11,567 --> 00:34:12,700 'cause they fill up before we do. 959 00:34:12,934 --> 00:34:14,266 'cause they're State PARK CIR in WISCONSIN 960 00:34:14,367 --> 00:34:15,634 are very also very hard to book. 961 00:34:15,834 --> 00:34:18,000 - Oh my gosh. January 2nd you gotta be there. Yeah. 962 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,000 - Yeah. So, but people show up anyway so they show up 963 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:21,266 and they don't have any sites so they send 964 00:34:21,266 --> 00:34:22,300 them to us. So it's a wonderful, 965 00:34:22,433 --> 00:34:23,433 - They show up just cold. 966 00:34:23,433 --> 00:34:25,066 Yeah. They love you got room for me. Yeah. 967 00:34:25,066 --> 00:34:26,734 They'll try, I got a 50 foot trailer. 968 00:34:27,700 --> 00:34:28,767 - Yeah. So they'll, they'll 969 00:34:28,767 --> 00:34:30,000 refer people to us, which is wonderful. 970 00:34:30,467 --> 00:34:31,567 So we try to go around and, 971 00:34:31,634 --> 00:34:32,934 and you know, make ourselves known 972 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,066 and to the community so that they can help us out. 973 00:34:35,066 --> 00:34:38,500 - Gotcha. So do you remember those five things for 974 00:34:38,500 --> 00:34:39,500 - The website? 975 00:34:39,500 --> 00:34:41,066 Yeah, yeah. It was really good homepage 976 00:34:41,567 --> 00:34:42,700 with just kinda your basic 977 00:34:42,700 --> 00:34:44,033 information and a map and your rules. 978 00:34:44,367 --> 00:34:45,700 And then it was like amenities. 979 00:34:45,700 --> 00:34:47,066 You needed a page about amenities, 980 00:34:47,100 --> 00:34:48,300 you need a page about your rates. 981 00:34:48,667 --> 00:34:51,000 And then I don't remember what the other ones were, 982 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:52,767 but like it was just very simple 983 00:34:53,100 --> 00:34:55,033 and just that like, don't waste your time with all 984 00:34:55,033 --> 00:34:56,033 of this mumbo jumbo. 985 00:34:56,266 --> 00:34:57,734 These are the things they're looking for. 986 00:34:57,734 --> 00:34:59,066 Alright. And just use those things. 987 00:34:59,433 --> 00:35:01,100 - So tell me a story about drinking 988 00:35:01,700 --> 00:35:03,233 and people being loud after hours. 989 00:35:03,634 --> 00:35:06,133 'cause Yeah, I've certainly been to campsites 990 00:35:06,133 --> 00:35:08,867 where I've guess I've been to campsites where me 991 00:35:08,867 --> 00:35:10,100 and my crew were the loud ones 992 00:35:10,467 --> 00:35:12,333 and I've been at campsites where you're with your family, 993 00:35:12,500 --> 00:35:14,233 where you're like other people are the loud ones. 994 00:35:14,567 --> 00:35:16,233 Yeah. And you've also been at campsites 995 00:35:16,233 --> 00:35:17,767 where it's not drunk people, it's just kids. 996 00:35:18,066 --> 00:35:21,100 Yeah. Or young kids that are being the loud ones. Yeah. 997 00:35:21,100 --> 00:35:24,066 Yeah. Or dogs. Yeah. Just insert annoying thing here. 998 00:35:24,934 --> 00:35:26,500 Sometimes you're the annoying person. Right. 999 00:35:26,834 --> 00:35:27,867 How do you deal with that? Yeah, 1000 00:35:28,066 --> 00:35:30,233 - Well coming from hospitality made it a little easier. 1001 00:35:30,500 --> 00:35:32,300 'cause I've dealt with many, you know, 1002 00:35:32,300 --> 00:35:33,767 different challenges in my time. 1003 00:35:34,433 --> 00:35:38,066 And so I think the way I approach it is you sort 1004 00:35:38,066 --> 00:35:40,000 of are aware of your surroundings. 1005 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,367 So is there a group of people here 1006 00:35:43,467 --> 00:35:46,100 who are taking up basically the entire campground? 1007 00:35:46,100 --> 00:35:47,767 Are they probably disturbing anybody? 1008 00:35:47,934 --> 00:35:50,233 Do I need to say anything or can I just let it ride? 1009 00:35:50,867 --> 00:35:51,867 We do have quiet hours. 1010 00:35:52,100 --> 00:35:55,367 So if people, you know, I had a, last season I had a group 1011 00:35:55,634 --> 00:35:56,634 that were having a good time 1012 00:35:57,233 --> 00:35:59,100 and it got to be like 11 o'clock 1013 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000 and I think my quiet hour starts at 10. 1014 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,066 But I was being lenient and finally I was just went over 1015 00:36:04,066 --> 00:36:06,100 and I said, you guys, I just need you to just, 1016 00:36:06,100 --> 00:36:07,300 can you just at least turn off the music? 1017 00:36:07,467 --> 00:36:08,567 You know? Sure. Things like that. 1018 00:36:08,634 --> 00:36:10,834 And you're just friendly, keep it light 1019 00:36:11,133 --> 00:36:12,533 and people are, people are lovely. 1020 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,467 I haven't had anybody disgruntled or anything. 1021 00:36:16,066 --> 00:36:18,333 Definitely if we start getting complaints then 1022 00:36:18,333 --> 00:36:20,033 of course we address it immediately. 1023 00:36:21,066 --> 00:36:23,100 But yeah, we just kind of stay aware 1024 00:36:23,166 --> 00:36:26,000 and kind of see if it seems like the kind of thing 1025 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:27,634 that other people would be impacted by. 1026 00:36:27,634 --> 00:36:29,000 And then it's just address it 1027 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,000 - Nicely. 1028 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:30,300 Camp sits are so interesting 1029 00:36:30,467 --> 00:36:33,266 'cause sound seems to carry 50 times farther. 1030 00:36:34,233 --> 00:36:36,934 And if you're in a tent, I mean, yeah. 1031 00:36:36,934 --> 00:36:39,033 There's no, the canvas wall isn't exactly soundproof 1032 00:36:39,900 --> 00:36:41,100 and a camper is not that much better. 1033 00:36:41,233 --> 00:36:45,266 That's a quarter inch of plastic or whatever. Pretty much. 1034 00:36:45,567 --> 00:36:47,634 So yeah, like anybody making noise 1035 00:36:47,634 --> 00:36:50,467 of any kind, it's hurt everywhere. It 1036 00:36:50,467 --> 00:36:51,467 - Is. 1037 00:36:51,467 --> 00:36:52,100 Yeah. And we just, we really pay attention 1038 00:36:52,100 --> 00:36:53,734 to those quiet hours when people are trying to sleep. 1039 00:36:53,734 --> 00:36:54,867 Gotcha. And we've got kids, 1040 00:36:55,066 --> 00:36:56,533 so I mean we're, we're there too. 1041 00:36:56,734 --> 00:36:58,066 Also trying to sleep. Right. 1042 00:36:58,100 --> 00:37:01,133 - Fair, fair. Keep it down. Who's in charge over here? 1043 00:37:01,266 --> 00:37:04,700 Yeah, exactly. Tell me about the, the website. 1044 00:37:05,233 --> 00:37:08,033 Did you essentially, I wanna say inherit, 1045 00:37:08,133 --> 00:37:10,333 but you bought a website from 1046 00:37:10,667 --> 00:37:11,667 - So I did. 1047 00:37:11,667 --> 00:37:16,000 I did. We, we purchased, we got the logo and the website. 1048 00:37:16,700 --> 00:37:20,700 And I, coming from, with my background in hospitality 1049 00:37:20,734 --> 00:37:22,000 and I have built websites 1050 00:37:22,233 --> 00:37:24,834 and have done a bit in marketing, I knew 1051 00:37:24,834 --> 00:37:26,100 that was the first thing that I really wanted 1052 00:37:26,100 --> 00:37:27,367 to just create fresh for myself. 1053 00:37:27,467 --> 00:37:30,333 Ah, okay. 'cause I had a vision for, you know, clean lines 1054 00:37:30,433 --> 00:37:33,033 and just a little bit easier user experience. 1055 00:37:33,634 --> 00:37:36,467 And so I took the information that was on that website 1056 00:37:36,467 --> 00:37:38,834 and I kind of built it into my new website, got a new 1057 00:37:39,333 --> 00:37:40,834 property management system, which is 1058 00:37:41,233 --> 00:37:42,500 the booking engine side of things. 1059 00:37:43,500 --> 00:37:47,066 So that for me was sort of the fun of doing a, 1060 00:37:47,100 --> 00:37:50,066 a business startup is getting to build those assets. 1061 00:37:50,100 --> 00:37:52,300 - Gotcha. Tell me a story about 1062 00:37:52,300 --> 00:37:54,000 with your husband when you're 1063 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,033 like, Hey, we're just gonna check up. 1064 00:37:55,033 --> 00:37:58,266 Yeah. Check out this camp or campground I should say. Yeah. 1065 00:37:58,700 --> 00:38:01,500 How tough was it for him to be convinced? Yeah, 1066 00:38:03,066 --> 00:38:05,634 - So my husband is wonderful. 1067 00:38:06,033 --> 00:38:07,066 - Okay. I have to say, 1068 00:38:07,367 --> 00:38:09,033 - He follows me to the ends of the earth 1069 00:38:09,033 --> 00:38:10,333 and lets me do all these crazy things. 1070 00:38:11,467 --> 00:38:14,533 But he has always, we've always wanted to own a business. 1071 00:38:14,767 --> 00:38:16,700 Okay. So it's always been one of those things, 1072 00:38:16,700 --> 00:38:18,634 especially once I got into management 1073 00:38:18,834 --> 00:38:20,000 and I was really good at it. 1074 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:21,066 And I treat every business that I've 1075 00:38:21,066 --> 00:38:22,133 run as if it was my own. 1076 00:38:23,100 --> 00:38:24,500 And so we've always said someday, 1077 00:38:24,533 --> 00:38:25,867 someday we'll own a business. 1078 00:38:25,900 --> 00:38:28,367 Who knows what it will be. But when we, when we see it, 1079 00:38:28,367 --> 00:38:30,000 we'll know, you know, we'll know it or whatever. 1080 00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:32,333 So he was, it wasn't too hard of a sell. 1081 00:38:33,066 --> 00:38:35,834 I think the thing to be honest about 1082 00:38:35,834 --> 00:38:38,100 and transparent about, when people are thinking about a big 1083 00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:40,233 transaction, a big transaction like this is 1084 00:38:40,233 --> 00:38:42,066 that it is very scary, right? 1085 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,300 I mean, you know, you take on debt, you, you have a, 1086 00:38:45,367 --> 00:38:47,367 a business loan, you know, it's a real estate purchase. 1087 00:38:48,133 --> 00:38:50,700 And so it's scary. All right? 1088 00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:54,500 And you have to really do your due diligence, 1089 00:38:55,433 --> 00:38:57,767 make sure it makes sense, and then check again. 1090 00:38:58,233 --> 00:39:01,467 Because if you make a poor investment, you know, 1091 00:39:01,734 --> 00:39:04,467 it can be cha you know, that becomes a challenge 1092 00:39:04,467 --> 00:39:06,000 for your family 'cause it's a family. 1093 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,066 - Oh no doubt. Right? No doubt. 1094 00:39:07,433 --> 00:39:10,734 - And so I think it's very important to be thinking about, 1095 00:39:11,634 --> 00:39:12,867 you know, what you're getting into. 1096 00:39:13,100 --> 00:39:15,567 You have a, a really good plan for once you get in, 1097 00:39:15,567 --> 00:39:17,033 you've got really good systems already 1098 00:39:17,066 --> 00:39:20,834 that you're thinking about, you know how 1099 00:39:20,834 --> 00:39:22,634 to do really good bookkeeping already. 1100 00:39:22,700 --> 00:39:24,233 Right? Or you work, you find people 1101 00:39:24,266 --> 00:39:25,367 who can teach you those skills 1102 00:39:25,367 --> 00:39:28,033 or who can work with, you know, 1103 00:39:28,033 --> 00:39:30,333 'cause I think a lot of small business owners have a passion 1104 00:39:31,567 --> 00:39:33,934 and then they say, I'm gonna start a business 1105 00:39:33,934 --> 00:39:36,734 because I have this passion in woodworking or whatever. 1106 00:39:37,133 --> 00:39:38,700 But they forget. 1107 00:39:38,867 --> 00:39:40,266 And you know, maybe a couple years go by 1108 00:39:40,266 --> 00:39:41,934 where they haven't been keeping their books 1109 00:39:42,033 --> 00:39:43,533 as cleanly as they could have. 1110 00:39:43,934 --> 00:39:46,734 And without good books you can't read your data 1111 00:39:46,867 --> 00:39:48,033 and understand it and interpret it 1112 00:39:48,266 --> 00:39:50,033 to make good growth decisions 1113 00:39:50,233 --> 00:39:52,100 or to know when it's time to get out. 1114 00:39:52,100 --> 00:39:53,467 And then you need an exit strategy. 1115 00:39:54,066 --> 00:39:56,100 So it's very important when you're thinking about purchasing 1116 00:39:56,133 --> 00:39:57,333 a business or starting a business 1117 00:39:57,333 --> 00:39:59,000 that you know the beginning, middle, and end. 1118 00:39:59,066 --> 00:40:00,533 Like you know all the pieces, you know 1119 00:40:00,533 --> 00:40:02,266 how you're gonna get in, how you're gonna manage it 1120 00:40:02,266 --> 00:40:04,033 and how you're gonna get out if things don't go well 1121 00:40:04,033 --> 00:40:05,533 or if things go well and you wanna 1122 00:40:05,533 --> 00:40:07,000 and you're ready to sell and move on. 1123 00:40:07,867 --> 00:40:10,867 So that was, you know, I think 1124 00:40:10,867 --> 00:40:13,066 because we came at it very pragmatically, 1125 00:40:13,367 --> 00:40:14,767 we asked for help, right? 1126 00:40:14,834 --> 00:40:17,567 I mean we got legal advice, I have other, 1127 00:40:17,567 --> 00:40:19,567 other business owners that I know who I was able 1128 00:40:19,567 --> 00:40:21,133 to ask questions of. 1129 00:40:21,333 --> 00:40:24,266 And I have people who sell, buy and sell real estate. 1130 00:40:24,333 --> 00:40:26,033 And I had them look over it 1131 00:40:26,033 --> 00:40:27,634 and see if they thought it was a good investment, 1132 00:40:27,834 --> 00:40:28,834 you know, and all this kind of stuff. 1133 00:40:28,900 --> 00:40:32,066 So it's definitely about leveraging your relationships 1134 00:40:32,867 --> 00:40:34,867 and making sure that you sort 1135 00:40:34,867 --> 00:40:36,233 of fully understand the full picture. 1136 00:40:36,700 --> 00:40:39,734 And I think once we had that, we felt confident in that. 1137 00:40:40,734 --> 00:40:42,567 You know, my husband is like, I trust you. 1138 00:40:42,700 --> 00:40:44,100 I mean this is what you do. So 1139 00:40:45,066 --> 00:40:45,734 - Nice. Could 1140 00:40:45,734 --> 00:40:46,734 - Be great. 1141 00:40:46,734 --> 00:40:47,700 That's awesome. We'll give it a go. 1142 00:40:49,100 --> 00:40:51,000 - You raised a good point about people being passionate 1143 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:52,367 about their business and then kind 1144 00:40:52,367 --> 00:40:54,100 of forgetting about the paperwork and stuff like that. 1145 00:40:54,533 --> 00:40:57,000 - Very important - Way back when I was, 1146 00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:58,367 I had a copy repair company 1147 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,100 and I remember getting a phone call from a client saying, 1148 00:41:01,033 --> 00:41:02,767 Hey, you're gonna send us that invoice. 1149 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,000 And I remember being on the phone thinking this is probably 1150 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,100 the worst phone call I could get 'cause I'm doing the work. 1151 00:41:10,133 --> 00:41:11,467 Yeah. But I wasn't actually saying, 1152 00:41:11,533 --> 00:41:12,734 Hey, you can pay me. You need to pay me. 1153 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:14,867 - Right. Minor details. Yeah. 1154 00:41:14,934 --> 00:41:17,000 - I was just like, are you a 1155 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,100 moron, James, what is wrong with you? Well 1156 00:41:19,166 --> 00:41:22,867 - I think it's easy to forget those details, especially when 1157 00:41:23,333 --> 00:41:25,133 my journey's just like almost reverse 1158 00:41:25,133 --> 00:41:27,734 where I started running businesses for other people 1159 00:41:28,066 --> 00:41:30,133 and could learn on the job while earning a salary 1160 00:41:30,266 --> 00:41:31,367 and having none of that risk. 1161 00:41:32,467 --> 00:41:35,500 And then I was able to feel confident enough to say, 1162 00:41:35,700 --> 00:41:37,033 I think we could do this risk 1163 00:41:37,333 --> 00:41:39,100 and do it ourselves, you know, for ourselves. 1164 00:41:39,734 --> 00:41:41,834 So I think that's, I think that is sometimes unique. 1165 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:43,500 I think often it's the other way. It's fair. 1166 00:41:43,900 --> 00:41:47,266 But you know, I think there are good resources out there 1167 00:41:47,333 --> 00:41:49,300 for people who are starting businesses. 1168 00:41:50,166 --> 00:41:52,734 The small business development center in Madison 1169 00:41:52,934 --> 00:41:54,033 is phenomenal, huge. 1170 00:41:54,266 --> 00:41:55,767 WIC is really wonderful. 1171 00:41:55,867 --> 00:41:59,100 There's resources like that that offer coaching, training 1172 00:41:59,867 --> 00:42:01,567 classes, a lot of it for free. 1173 00:42:02,500 --> 00:42:04,233 So definitely worth checking out those 1174 00:42:04,467 --> 00:42:05,467 - Resources. 1175 00:42:05,467 --> 00:42:06,133 Yeah. I teach sometimes at wic. That's great. 1176 00:42:06,433 --> 00:42:07,934 And it's, it's interesting 1177 00:42:08,100 --> 00:42:11,033 'cause I'll tell people I just taught a intro 1178 00:42:11,033 --> 00:42:12,734 to business planning class last week. 1179 00:42:12,934 --> 00:42:16,000 Great. And I told the students, I'm like, just figure out 1180 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,300 where you're at from a financial point of view personally. 1181 00:42:18,433 --> 00:42:21,266 Yeah. And then wherever you are, good or bad Yeah. 1182 00:42:21,567 --> 00:42:23,100 Add a zero because 1183 00:42:23,100 --> 00:42:25,333 that's the way you're gonna look at numbers in business. 1184 00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:26,934 Yeah. Interesting. I was talking 1185 00:42:26,934 --> 00:42:28,066 about something, I forget what it was. 1186 00:42:28,066 --> 00:42:31,834 Maybe it was just creating an LLC in Wisconsin's, 150 bucks, 1187 00:42:31,834 --> 00:42:35,133 hundred 60 bucks and they're like $160 whatever. 1188 00:42:35,700 --> 00:42:39,066 And I understand that's a lot of money. Yeah. 1189 00:42:39,233 --> 00:42:41,700 If you're not bringing an income. Yes. Yes. 1190 00:42:42,033 --> 00:42:43,734 But I'm like, you gotta look at this from the point of view 1191 00:42:43,734 --> 00:42:45,500 that you're gonna make money with a thing. 1192 00:42:45,533 --> 00:42:48,567 Right. And I understand there's a point when you're first 1193 00:42:48,700 --> 00:42:49,667 starting your business where you're like, 1194 00:42:49,734 --> 00:42:50,700 I don't know if I'm gonna make money. 1195 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,567 - Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's very fluid 1196 00:42:54,133 --> 00:42:55,667 and it can be very fluid and one 1197 00:42:55,667 --> 00:42:56,667 of the mistakes I think a lot 1198 00:42:56,667 --> 00:42:59,433 of people make is not clearly delineating your 1199 00:42:59,700 --> 00:43:00,834 personal finances from your business. 1200 00:43:00,867 --> 00:43:02,500 - So true. Yeah. So true. Yeah. And 1201 00:43:02,734 --> 00:43:05,033 - A lot of the untangling later that you have 1202 00:43:05,033 --> 00:43:06,233 to do later is very painful. 1203 00:43:07,567 --> 00:43:09,033 So it's much better. First thing we 1204 00:43:09,033 --> 00:43:10,166 did was we got a work credit card. 1205 00:43:10,166 --> 00:43:11,834 First thing we did was get a work bank account. 1206 00:43:11,834 --> 00:43:12,867 Like everything is separate. 1207 00:43:13,033 --> 00:43:14,433 We have never had anything mixed. 1208 00:43:15,066 --> 00:43:17,467 And my every, at the end of every year, 1209 00:43:17,467 --> 00:43:18,567 taxes are super simple. 1210 00:43:18,567 --> 00:43:20,634 We work with our accountant, I send 'em all the paperwork. 1211 00:43:20,634 --> 00:43:23,066 And when we're done, like it has been the easiest thing. 1212 00:43:23,066 --> 00:43:24,367 But again, I learned that on the job 1213 00:43:25,033 --> 00:43:26,166 from managing businesses 1214 00:43:27,066 --> 00:43:30,000 and you don't, if you've never had that experience, 1215 00:43:30,100 --> 00:43:31,834 you wouldn't know why it's important 1216 00:43:31,834 --> 00:43:33,166 to keep all your receipts or 1217 00:43:33,634 --> 00:43:34,634 - Oh, it's a huge deal. 1218 00:43:34,634 --> 00:43:36,500 Yeah. You raised an interesting point. 1219 00:43:36,734 --> 00:43:38,000 So with our call answering service, 1220 00:43:38,433 --> 00:43:40,033 we'll have some potential clients come to us 1221 00:43:40,734 --> 00:43:44,500 and their personal cell phone is also their business line. 1222 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:50,000 And I tell 'em, I'm like, look man, I would love you 1223 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,467 to be our client and if you wanna be our 1224 00:43:52,467 --> 00:43:53,634 client, I'm very happy for that. 1225 00:43:53,634 --> 00:43:55,834 Right. But regardless of if you come with us 1226 00:43:55,867 --> 00:43:58,934 or not, right, separate your business and your personal, 1227 00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:00,500 - I'm just gonna stop you there. 1228 00:44:00,533 --> 00:44:01,900 - Just, let's - Just 1229 00:44:02,700 --> 00:44:03,734 - Forget about us, right? 1230 00:44:03,734 --> 00:44:06,000 Come back to that. Just take the, yes. 1231 00:44:06,133 --> 00:44:08,634 I'm say five minutes for every two hours at whatever 1232 00:44:08,934 --> 00:44:09,934 cell phone store you're at. 1233 00:44:10,100 --> 00:44:11,133 Get another number. Get another number. 1234 00:44:11,266 --> 00:44:13,834 That new number is your personal number, your old number 1235 00:44:13,900 --> 00:44:14,934 that all the business people 1236 00:44:14,934 --> 00:44:16,133 have. That's your business number. 1237 00:44:16,500 --> 00:44:18,900 - So my husband and I use Google Voice. Okay. 1238 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,266 And so that number is a different number, 1239 00:44:21,333 --> 00:44:22,634 but it goes to both of our phones. 1240 00:44:22,734 --> 00:44:24,100 Smart. So then if I'm at work 1241 00:44:24,100 --> 00:44:26,133 and not available, my husband's a stay at home dad, 1242 00:44:26,033 --> 00:44:28,467 so he's got more time and so he answers the 1243 00:44:28,467 --> 00:44:29,467 - Phone. 1244 00:44:29,467 --> 00:44:30,033 Does he agree with that answer? 1245 00:44:30,634 --> 00:44:33,033 - That's an excellent point. I don't, I doubt 1246 00:44:33,033 --> 00:44:34,033 - It. 1247 00:44:34,033 --> 00:44:35,867 Sure. Fair. But that's, that's great, right? Yes. 1248 00:44:35,867 --> 00:44:37,300 Because it's independent. Yes. 1249 00:44:37,333 --> 00:44:38,767 - And that was part of it too. So he 1250 00:44:38,767 --> 00:44:40,033 hasn't always been a stay at home dad. 1251 00:44:40,033 --> 00:44:43,000 He's had, but when we bought the campground, he had a job 1252 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:44,700 where it was very deadline driven 1253 00:44:45,100 --> 00:44:47,367 and he didn't have the flexibility to like go up and clean 1254 00:44:47,433 --> 00:44:48,767 or go help somebody if they needed help. 1255 00:44:48,867 --> 00:44:51,734 So we were able to make the business decision that 1256 00:44:52,066 --> 00:44:53,934 with the income from the campground we were able to replace 1257 00:44:53,934 --> 00:44:54,934 - It. 1258 00:44:54,934 --> 00:44:57,066 Nice. Yeah. So over these almost three seasons, 1259 00:44:57,533 --> 00:44:59,634 what are some things now that you wish you learned 1260 00:45:00,100 --> 00:45:03,066 or knew previous to purchasing the campground? 1261 00:45:03,700 --> 00:45:07,100 - Hmm. Well, I think now being three years in 1262 00:45:07,133 --> 00:45:08,467 and having gone through a flood, 1263 00:45:09,166 --> 00:45:13,934 there are certain like capital things that I'm realizing 1264 00:45:14,033 --> 00:45:16,033 that we really need to start sort of a capital fund 1265 00:45:16,033 --> 00:45:17,834 because we're gonna need to replace, you know, 1266 00:45:17,834 --> 00:45:19,300 and then there's gonna be a roof at some point. 1267 00:45:19,333 --> 00:45:20,767 And you know, there, there's gonna be a lot 1268 00:45:20,767 --> 00:45:21,700 of capital investments that 1269 00:45:21,700 --> 00:45:22,934 will need to happen at some point. 1270 00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:26,700 So that's something that, not 1271 00:45:26,700 --> 00:45:28,100 that I didn't think it would ever happen, 1272 00:45:28,133 --> 00:45:30,500 but it's just, you know, only this many years in 1273 00:45:30,500 --> 00:45:32,533 and be already, I'm like, hmm, I should really, I need 1274 00:45:32,533 --> 00:45:35,066 to start seriously putting money into an account for that. 1275 00:45:35,667 --> 00:45:38,233 So things like that, that, you know, the property is going 1276 00:45:38,233 --> 00:45:40,100 to age and we will need to, to make upgrades. 1277 00:45:40,233 --> 00:45:45,100 But other than that, I mean I really feel, you know, 1278 00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:50,100 I think business is like part skills that you build 1279 00:45:50,667 --> 00:45:52,300 and you know, sort of your personality 1280 00:45:52,500 --> 00:45:54,066 and being, having an entrepreneurial spirit, 1281 00:45:54,166 --> 00:45:55,300 but also a lot of luck. 1282 00:45:55,867 --> 00:45:57,000 - Oh, no doubt. No 1283 00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:58,000 - Doubt. 1284 00:45:58,000 --> 00:45:59,533 So we, I just feel very lucky looking back 1285 00:46:00,133 --> 00:46:01,700 that we've had two strong seasons. 1286 00:46:01,700 --> 00:46:04,033 Our first two seasons we're, we're very strong 1287 00:46:04,066 --> 00:46:05,367 and we were able to pay all of our bills 1288 00:46:05,367 --> 00:46:07,567 and have even money left over and whoop. 1289 00:46:07,667 --> 00:46:09,033 Yeah, I know, right? A cash flow. Woo. 1290 00:46:09,634 --> 00:46:11,133 So, you know, and that is, it's hard 1291 00:46:11,133 --> 00:46:13,033 because when you're building a business from scratch, 1292 00:46:13,100 --> 00:46:15,000 often you, you won't make money the first 1293 00:46:15,066 --> 00:46:16,100 however many years. 1294 00:46:17,066 --> 00:46:21,100 And so being able to figure that out is very challenging. 1295 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:25,033 So I think so far so good things. 1296 00:46:25,033 --> 00:46:27,467 We've only had one flood and not minimal damage 1297 00:46:27,700 --> 00:46:29,500 and it's been a good business 1298 00:46:29,500 --> 00:46:31,000 and it's been really good for my family. 1299 00:46:31,767 --> 00:46:33,100 I have a 14-year-old 1300 00:46:33,100 --> 00:46:35,266 who loves working at the campground and earning money. 1301 00:46:35,567 --> 00:46:38,367 Nice. And you know, he power washes buildings 1302 00:46:38,433 --> 00:46:41,867 and trims trees and he does a, does a great job. 1303 00:46:42,266 --> 00:46:45,834 And then my daughter is the camp hostess. Ah, she's seven. 1304 00:46:46,033 --> 00:46:47,467 Okay. And she loves people. 1305 00:46:48,100 --> 00:46:50,000 So she loves making friends and Oh, 1306 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:51,000 - How cool is - That? 1307 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:52,000 It's really fun. Alright. 1308 00:46:52,133 --> 00:46:54,100 - Yeah. And I imagine you get to know, 1309 00:46:54,233 --> 00:46:56,266 'cause you guys are at the camp around pretty often, 1310 00:46:57,233 --> 00:46:59,000 so you probably get to know people 1311 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:00,133 that are there for the season. 1312 00:47:00,500 --> 00:47:03,033 - We do. We get to know people, we get to know the area. 1313 00:47:03,500 --> 00:47:05,700 That was a really lovely surprise. 1314 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:06,934 I just didn't really think about it. 1315 00:47:06,934 --> 00:47:08,033 But it became our second home. 1316 00:47:08,233 --> 00:47:11,467 But it also is a whole new community to experience. 1317 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:14,100 So it's a new town, it's all new, you know, 1318 00:47:14,100 --> 00:47:16,033 the local business owners all go and introduce myself. 1319 00:47:16,033 --> 00:47:18,367 So I get to meet a whole nother group of business owners 1320 00:47:18,567 --> 00:47:20,133 and managers that I didn't know before. 1321 00:47:21,100 --> 00:47:23,033 You know, their local village administrator is lovely 1322 00:47:23,166 --> 00:47:24,266 and I love talking to 'em. 1323 00:47:24,266 --> 00:47:25,867 You know, like it's a whole nother group of people 1324 00:47:25,900 --> 00:47:27,533 that we get to be part of like this. 1325 00:47:27,634 --> 00:47:29,033 Oh, that's awesome. Another part of our family. 1326 00:47:29,066 --> 00:47:32,066 Family and just that whole beautiful area that we get 1327 00:47:32,066 --> 00:47:35,834 to explore that we wouldn't have necessarily other than a 1328 00:47:35,834 --> 00:47:37,033 trip or two, maybe a year. 1329 00:47:37,100 --> 00:47:38,033 Sure. You know? So 1330 00:47:38,233 --> 00:47:39,233 - How cool is that? 1331 00:47:39,233 --> 00:47:42,867 Yeah. So future, is it expand? 1332 00:47:43,066 --> 00:47:45,333 Is it get a new campground or Good question. 1333 00:47:45,634 --> 00:47:46,867 Just add on what's the plan? 1334 00:47:47,066 --> 00:47:49,767 - Okay, so my new vision that we're, that I, 1335 00:47:49,900 --> 00:47:51,567 I'm working toward Alright. Is when 1336 00:47:51,667 --> 00:47:53,300 - Your husband's like, what? Yeah. Yeah. He's, 1337 00:47:54,100 --> 00:47:55,100 - He's on board. 1338 00:47:55,100 --> 00:47:58,367 He likes it. So our kids are, so, 1339 00:47:58,367 --> 00:47:59,934 like I said, my youngest is seven. 1340 00:48:00,266 --> 00:48:02,567 So my goal is when we're empty nesters, 1341 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,266 someday we'll move in. 1342 00:48:05,300 --> 00:48:06,700 I'll have a job where I can just work 1343 00:48:06,700 --> 00:48:07,734 remote and do anything. 1344 00:48:08,066 --> 00:48:10,266 And we'll go live at the campground all summer. All right. 1345 00:48:10,266 --> 00:48:11,233 In a camper and like rent 1346 00:48:11,233 --> 00:48:12,467 out our house, you know, or whatever. 1347 00:48:12,900 --> 00:48:16,233 And then in the winter when we shut down, we can just go 1348 00:48:16,233 --> 00:48:18,000 and work wherever we want 1349 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,467 and we could like live in a camper in by the beach 1350 00:48:20,634 --> 00:48:22,467 and you know, do all the things. So that 1351 00:48:22,467 --> 00:48:23,100 - Sounds pretty cool. So 1352 00:48:23,100 --> 00:48:24,100 - That's what I'm working toward now. 1353 00:48:24,100 --> 00:48:27,266 I have another entrepreneurial glint in my eye 1354 00:48:27,333 --> 00:48:29,700 for another business that I'm hoping to build 1355 00:48:29,867 --> 00:48:31,033 that will be at a point 1356 00:48:31,033 --> 00:48:32,700 where it will sustain us at that point. 1357 00:48:32,700 --> 00:48:35,467 So I've got 20, 25 years to build a business. 1358 00:48:36,033 --> 00:48:38,100 - 25 years. Yeah. Years. 1359 00:48:38,100 --> 00:48:39,367 You got a 7-year-old kid, you got 11. Well, 1360 00:48:39,367 --> 00:48:41,266 - I gotta get to college. Oh. Oh, 1361 00:48:41,433 --> 00:48:42,433 - Okay. 1362 00:48:42,433 --> 00:48:43,734 That's a, their runway. 1363 00:48:43,834 --> 00:48:45,233 They come back, you know, runways 1364 00:48:45,233 --> 00:48:46,333 getting longer there. Okay. 1365 00:48:47,333 --> 00:48:48,934 - Okay. 15 to 20 years we'll say. 1366 00:48:49,100 --> 00:48:51,000 - All right. Okay. Alright. Interesting. 1367 00:48:51,033 --> 00:48:53,767 Yeah, that is I guess the blessing and the curse, right? 1368 00:48:53,867 --> 00:48:55,033 Of being an entrepreneur where you like, 1369 00:48:55,233 --> 00:48:56,300 I got another idea. I 1370 00:48:56,300 --> 00:48:57,300 - Do, I do. 1371 00:48:57,300 --> 00:48:58,834 But I, I'm really good with long runways. 1372 00:48:58,900 --> 00:49:00,100 Like I need 1373 00:49:00,100 --> 00:49:02,033 to know 20 years from now what we're aiming toward. 1374 00:49:02,634 --> 00:49:05,000 'cause then I can back think of all the things I need to do 1375 00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:06,000 to lay the groundwork now. 1376 00:49:06,066 --> 00:49:08,233 Right on. While, you know, supporting my family 1377 00:49:08,333 --> 00:49:09,567 and the career that I love. Sure. 1378 00:49:09,567 --> 00:49:11,700 - Things like that. So interesting. I'm excited for you. 1379 00:49:11,700 --> 00:49:13,767 Yeah, thanks Rachel. How can people find you? 1380 00:49:14,266 --> 00:49:17,467 - So we are online, lake road campground.com. 1381 00:49:18,367 --> 00:49:19,734 - No dashes. Just all one word. 1382 00:49:19,934 --> 00:49:21,100 - All one word. All. Yep. 1383 00:49:21,900 --> 00:49:25,000 And we're on Instagram and Facebook. 1384 00:49:26,033 --> 00:49:28,533 You can also find our cottages on like Airbnb 1385 00:49:28,533 --> 00:49:30,634 or any of your favorite booking platforms. 1386 00:49:31,433 --> 00:49:33,233 If you're a camper and you use Hip camp 1387 00:49:33,233 --> 00:49:36,100 or any of those, we're on all of those. I believe so 1388 00:49:36,100 --> 00:49:37,000 - What is hip camp? Yeah, 1389 00:49:37,166 --> 00:49:40,100 - It's a booking platform like Airbnb, but for campsites. 1390 00:49:40,100 --> 00:49:43,734 - Gotcha. All right. That's hip. Alright. 1391 00:49:43,934 --> 00:49:46,100 I don't, I'm out of touch with stuff like that. Fine. 1392 00:49:46,100 --> 00:49:47,500 Just, yeah, whatever. Who knew? 1393 00:49:48,166 --> 00:49:50,233 This has been Authentic Business Adventures. 1394 00:49:50,233 --> 00:49:52,533 The business program brings you the struggle of stories 1395 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,033 and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. 1396 00:49:57,133 --> 00:49:59,100 We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie. 1397 00:49:59,567 --> 00:50:01,300 If you're listing or watching this on the web, 1398 00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:02,500 if you could do us a huge favor, 1399 00:50:02,734 --> 00:50:04,367 give it the big old thumbs up, subscribe 1400 00:50:04,834 --> 00:50:07,033 and of course share with your entrepreneurial friends 1401 00:50:07,667 --> 00:50:09,567 and those friends that may need a campground 1402 00:50:09,634 --> 00:50:10,934 to check out in. 1403 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:15,634 Is it Reo Treo? Treo on the Great River Road. It's great. 1404 00:50:15,634 --> 00:50:17,066 Mississippi. Yeah. Is 1405 00:50:17,066 --> 00:50:18,066 - That it? 1406 00:50:18,066 --> 00:50:19,066 The Great River Road along the Mississippi River. 1407 00:50:19,066 --> 00:50:21,000 - Yeah. Yeah. In WISCONSIN. Beautiful WISCONSIN. 1408 00:50:21,567 --> 00:50:23,533 Oh, we'd like to thank you're wonderful listeners as well 1409 00:50:23,533 --> 00:50:26,000 as our guest Rachel of Lake Road Campground. 1410 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:27,033 Rachel, can you tell us us 1411 00:50:27,033 --> 00:50:28,467 that website one more time? Sure. Lake 1412 00:50:28,467 --> 00:50:29,767 - Road campground.com 1413 00:50:29,867 --> 00:50:31,934 - Doesn't get easier than that. Is it on Lake Road? 1414 00:50:32,100 --> 00:50:33,233 - It is on Lake Road. 1415 00:50:33,233 --> 00:50:36,233 - Alright, well it doesn't get easier than that. I love it. 1416 00:50:36,233 --> 00:50:38,333 No it doesn't. Past episodes can be found morning, 1417 00:50:38,367 --> 00:50:39,767 noon tonight at the podcast link. 1418 00:50:39,767 --> 00:50:42,700 Find to draw in customers.com Stankey for joining us. 1419 00:50:42,867 --> 00:50:44,867 We will see you next week. I want you to stay awesome. 1420 00:50:45,233 --> 00:50:48,266 And if you do nothing else, enjoy your business.