Ch. 42 – Minnesota or bust
Sunday morning we rushed to get some grocery shopping done, ended up taking our laundry to the campground and used the machines there. We had a full house this weekend and Dad needed rest, and we needed to help check out campers, clean up sites, etc.
Dad had wanted to get started on the way to Minnesota early Tuesday morning, and when he wants to hit the road you better be ready. By 1:00 pm all the weekend campers had left, and our seasonal ones are low to no maintenance.
We offer honey wagon service on Sundays, so Alex and Shawn were running that, Marcus was in the office helping me re-stock, and get people checked out. Willow was cleaning bathrooms with jasmine one of our locals.
Steve and Donna drew the day off., and usually when they are off, they are gone from the place… for good reason, because campers have been known to stop over and bother them, even with a off-duty sign put up. They were also nice enough to run errands like pharmacy pickups, grocery pickup for the other 4 if need be. They also used this time to have some ‘me’ time.
Monday Max and I were going over the notes from the time that we were gone, looking at the finances, schedules… basically just catching up on what all happened while we were on the cruise.
I got the paperwork that would be needed to transfer ownership of the RV like the title, registration, all the owners manuals and such. That afternoon I brought it over to the main campground to give it a final walk through to be sure everything was removed that was ours.
Monday night we loaded up the old RV for one last trip and hitched the jeep up to the back. I had basically stripped everything out of the rv that was not part of the deal, or needed. I had stored the spare set of vehicle towing brackets.
We left at 5:00 am Tuesday morning, driving for a bit, stopping and making some breakfast in a walmart parking lot. Then driving more. We went 600 miles that first day. By then dad was tired, Max was tired as was I.
Wednesday morning I woke up about 6:00 am and started making breakfast. We had 2 more hours of driving before we dropped off the RV, but before we left we packed as much as we could in the Jeep and the back of Dad’s truck. We had packed what we needed for the trip in totes so that we would not forget anything. We checked every cubby, nook and cranny of that RV, front to back and top to bottom.
We got to the new buyer’s house around 10:30 am and showed them everything on the RV, the extras that were not in the manuals, the modifications that were made like the rear beds being able to be split or put together. It was sad closing that chapter on my life, our life, but we had a bigger RV at the campground and were going to get a tow behind trailer in the next few hours. We followed the new owners to their bank and were transferred the funds for the sale, signed over the title, and gave a bill of sale and were on our way.
Normally the trailers that dad and I ordered would have been about a year wait time, but when we called we were flexible with our wants.
Dad and mom got a 16’ with what they call the ‘Big Bed’ and a large front bathroom. I wanted a 16ft with the front bunks, side bathroom and standard bed/dinette in the back, this is the layout that Shawn and Marcus have.
These campers were ones that people had committed to buying and then backed out at the last minute, so it was a take what you get kind of situation. Like Dads had a smaller fridge than ours, but he had a glass top stove, electric and propane water heater, furnace and AC unit. We had a bigger fridge, but only propane water heater, AC and furnace and outside shower. We were able to add the cabinet over the front bunk to ours, we also added bigger battery and solar kit. Both of us ended up with awnings. Dads was already installed, ours was boxed up and we would install it on our own. They had installed the brackets, but hadn’t had the time to install it.
We arrived at the factory about 1 pm and did the walk thru of each of our campers, backed the vehicles in and we were on the road by 2:30.
Before we left, I had placed an order for two more of the small 13ft campers with the basic options, and we would offer them up as rentals inside the campground. They were ones without bathrooms or showers, we did do the option of outside shower, AC, furnace, marine style power connector, and awnings. After the long long trip up there, I was more than happy to pay for delivery.
We got down the road, and on our way back home. We drove until about 10 PM that night, only stopping off once to eat at a truck stop. Our stop that night was another truck stop parking lot.
Thursday morning we got up, got breakfast inside and hit the road. By 1 pm on that Wednesday we were slowing down to make the turn down the back road that lead to the Rocking Horse Acres section of the campground. I had called ahead to have Shawn unlock that back gate, and open it up so we did not have to mess with it, that gate was getting an electric closure soon.
I noticed that Carl and Maria’s camper was in a spot, and hooked up to power, so they must be planning on coming up this weekend or something.
We pulled our campers into their new spot and set them up for the first time. We tested out the stoves, furnaces, AC units. We had hit the truck stop on the way home and filled the water tanks to sanitize them with some sloshing around, so we pumped that all through, hooked up to our well water..
Max, dad and Shawn wasted no time in measuring all the wood needed for converting the front bunk into a crib. We kept all the parts that would allow it to be converted back to factory, and even figured out a way to add and remove the crib rails as needed, as the 13 foot units may sometimes need the crib setup, but not all the time..
Railings for the other campers were nowhere near a project, as it could easily be months before we get that call from the manufacturer.
Everything worked great on both campers, Shawn said that if he could get some help, he could get the awning on my camper, it was just some bolts. Max said he would help in a bit, dad headed up to the office in his truck to go get mom.
“So have you all been holding down the fort these past 3 days? I asked
“Yes, Marcus and your mom get along well in the office. The other girls are warming up to him too.” Shawn said
“I see you got moved back here ok?” Max asked
“Yes, I figured I would do that when I got off Tuesday afternoon. Marcus likes it back here, he can ride his bike, and dare I say get out and play in his little outfits as well.” Shawn said
“Please let me know if anybody says anything about Marcus. Like I said we don’t play petty games around here. Now I think you two will like being back here, as you see, Max’s parents have dropped off their camper too so that means they must be planning on coming up this weekend.” I said
“Yeah they dropped it off yesterday, said the boys would be up this weekend with their friend” Shawn said. “Well I gotta get back to work, those bathrooms won’t be cleaning themselves.”
“OK, thanks for the hard work, have fun swabbing the decks. Somebody needs a diaper change and a nap” Max said.
After a diaper change and a nap, I headed up to the office to see mom. I walk in and see Marcus sitting at the counter printing and folding check in paperwork, swinging his feet back and forth as they barely touched the floor when he sat at the stool at the counter.
“Did you enjoy your trip?” Marcus asked. “It was so neat when Daddy and I went up there to get our camper.”
“Yes the factory tour was neat. It was kinda sad selling my old RV. That is the one I started out with and traveled all over the country in, but my other big RV we made plenty of memories in that as well, and hope to make more in our new little Kamp.” I said, looking around for my mom.
“Your mom and dad are over in the lodge, she brought stuff for the new camper” He said. “I am just getting the stuff ready for this weekend’s guests. Looks like it will be full again. I really like the new part of the campground. Yesterday afternoon since daddy and I both had the day off, I rode my bike all around the loops and I had lots of fun.”
“Glad you like it buddy. This place is kind of my happy place, even though it is a lot of work. I love sharing fun times and memories with my family and friends. Max’s family should be up this weekend too. We may also need to start thinking about doing a little ABDL gathering now that we got it opened up.”
“How many spots are back there? Seems like a lot.” He said
“The two loops have 10 each, and there are 5 others when you add the spots next to the lodge, the workshop and such. There is even space for tent campers too.” I said recalling how many spots we added, I knew it was not a lot as that area was designed as a group or private area. I also knew that there was so much more land that could be cleared and used.
“How has the office work been going? Doing ok with the busy times?” I asked, wanting to be sure that everything was running smoothly. We would start doing our monthly sit-downs with the staff to be sure that we are doing what we need to do to have a happy, healthy work environment for all of our employees and that in-turn helps the campers have a great time.
“It is great, though some people on the phone are rude. One guy was mad about the rates going up again this year and the electric rules. He said you raise them every year. I told him that I would pass his info and feedback along. Your dad called him back when you all got back. Did you really drop half a million into this place?” Marcus asked, trying to see if that was true
“Shhh it was more like 1.5 between purchasing the original part, purchasing the new part, and over the last 4 years trenching new power lines to every site, and getting the needed power grid to satisfy the demand. We built this place to be a premium campground and charge accordingly. I am going to guess who it was, probably the guy with the huge rv on spot 12, that has the extra fridge on the patio and the hot tub. He is the one we have the new rules about, he’s just mad that we are cracking down on these who abuse the power.”
“Yep that was the guy.” Marcus said
“Yeah he’s on his last warning, if he or anybody gives you ANY hassles, let mom, dad, max or I know. He has been told that he will not be permitted to use any outlet but the 50 amp that his camper uses. If he needs to plug in something else, he has to use his 20 amp outlets through his camper. Or he can pay for an extra site” I said
“Yeah your dad told him that too” He said. “Well I am done for the day, going to head back home”
“Thanks buddy, see ya later probably” I said as Willow came in to work the 4-9 shift when we closed the office for the night.
The night person is the one who cleans the office, stocks the store, mops the bathrooms in the office/activity building etc. It is not a sit on your butt shift, even when there is nobody coming in. All of our office workers were great on whatever shift they got on.
Thursday evening back in the Rockinghorse section it was busy… Mom and Dad getting their new camper squared away. The big campfire was a roaring as we all cooked dinner over the campfire. Shawn and I started working on the crib rails for my camper, first measuring again and writing down all the measurements and making plans about what supplies will be needed; can they be done locally or will we need to order parts online. We would work on the project every couple of days, first cutting, sanding, staining and assembling them. It would take us about 2 weeks of just working a few hours every couple of days. Shawn would show me how to do the task, and then supervise me doing it.