Building a small RV park.

[Jim]

The Deer Springs RV Campground Initiative

Trish and I have wanted to make a small RV Campground for a long time, but we just didn’t have the time. But lately, our interest has been renewed and I think we’re going to make a run at it.

The site we have chosen is a meadow down at the bottom of our property. It’s not perfectly level, but I had a company come by on Tuesday and take a look at leveling it out. The road coming in must be widened as well. Everything is subject to change of course, but here is what I’m planning at this time.

We hope to have a total of 7 sites, 4 pull through and 3 back in. This give us 6 for rental purpose and 1 for a campground host.

The good stuff: (depending on how you look at it)

• There will be full hookups at all of them
• Charcoal BBQ and fire rings
• There will be a minimum of 40’ between each of the individual RV pads, more in some cases
• The views are wonderful, and the setting is remotely luxurious
• Two huge dog runs, one for small dogs and one for larger dogs
• On site laundry room
• A nice pavilion with large, group BBQ setup
• Killer hiking, fishing and great stock Jeep trails abound. We’ll provide custom maps, GPS coordinates, etc.

The not so good stuff: (again, depending on how you look at it)

• There is no cell service in the area
• No cable and no Internet. I hope to be able to solve the Internet issue but I’m not sure just yet
• There will be no showers or toilets. There is plenty of room for them if we decide later to add them. But with full hookups, the guests should be OK and we don’t want the extra maintenance.

I’m very interested in everyone’s comments, suggestions and ideas. Below are some pictures of the project area.

Thank you all!

 

[BGMAC]

Give me a location. I be there this fall.

 

[Jim]

Give me a location. I be there this fall.

That would be cool! I sure hope it's ready by then!

 

[Tjdave]

Jeep trails, full hookups, space between campsites, beautiful setting. Sounds like paradise to me!

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

I think you've hit on an interesting idea, @Jim; a boutique RV park (meant in a positive way). After this coronavirus pandemic, I think a lot of RVers might be looking for nice, smaller parks with plenty of space between coaches. With the amenities you can offer, it would seem to be a great spot for relatively long-term stays.

Go for it! (I'm learning fast from @Neal how to spend other people's money for them. )

TJ

 

[Jim]

I think you've hit on an interesting idea, @Jim; a boutique RV park (meant in a positive way). After this coronavirus pandemic, I think a lot of RVers might be looking for nice, smaller parks with plenty of space between coaches. With the amenities you can offer, it would seem to be a great spot for relatively long-term stays.

Go for it! (I'm learning fast from @Neal how to spend other people's money for them. )

TJ

I'm actually staying at an RV park now and doing some research. The people are nice and they try hard to be friendly and provide an enjoyable stay. But the sites are poorly layed out, there are no picnic tables and everything has a "hard" feel to it. They advertise "fast" WiFi but it's not fast. It's basically non-existant except for short periods of time when nobody else is online. I'd rather tell people that there is no Internet and let them find a little bit of Internet, instead of telling them it's fast and disappoint them when they find out differently.

But that said, the park (they only have about 5 spots) has some beautiful views and some wonderful areas to hike.

 

[Jim]

Jeep trails, full hookups, space between campsites, beautiful setting. Sounds like paradise to me!

There are a slew of stock friendly trails, for both short and long trips. And there are some "funner" trails that are not going to be stock friendly. So yeah, fun for Jeep enthusiasts of multiple skill sets.

 

[FL-JOE]

It sounds like a great idea. The one and only issue I would have would be if in fact there is "no cell service" as you stated. What if someone were to have chest pains at 2am, fell off their RV roof in the middle of the afternoon, or choked on a chicken bone......

Being without cell service or any way to communicate with the outside world works on cruise ships maybe where emergency services and help is right there, but a remote campground? I'm thinking you would have to have some type of land line available for emergencies.

 

[Jim]

It sounds like a great idea. The one and only issue I would have would be if in fact there is "no cell service" as you stated. What if someone were to have chest pains at 2am, fell off their RV roof in the middle of the afternoon, or choked on a chicken bone......

Being without cell service or any way to communicate with the outside world works on cruise ships maybe where emergency services and help is right there, but a remote campground? I'm thinking you would have to have some type of land line available for emergencies.

Agree completely. And the irony of it all is 8 years ago there was a big push by a cell tower company to get permission to put up a tower on the mountain across from me. And they got it based on the safety argument as the Appalachian trail goes through that area. But then, nobody put up any equipment on the tower. So there you go, I have a cell tower 2 miles from my house and nobody will use it.

 

[FL-JOE]

I suppose if a camp host was always on the property and had some sort of radio to contact emergency services that could work. I suspect a sat phone would be very expensive. I assume rural neighbors that do not have cell service have land lines?