More often than not, if you ask an owner of a campground/RV park if they were campers before they owned their park, they’ll say yes. We suspect most of them will say they camped with an RV.
One the most popular weekly columns at RVtravel.com is by Machelle James, who is building an RV park from scratch with her husband AJ. The 15-acre park will be located in Heber-Overgaard, Arizona, in the beautiful White Mountains 140 miles from Phoenix.
It’s been an ordeal at times, as Machelle has reported in her column, but she and AJ keep on fighting to make their dream come true. Read her latest column here.
Heaven knows there is a huge demand for new RV parks these days. So, our question: Do you dream of owning an RV park? Please leave a comment no matter how you respond.
And remember, if you’re on a slow connection, it could take a few moments for the poll to load.
Bad enough dealing with the occasional entitled person, I can’t imagine doing it on a continuous basis.
At one time I thought it would be cool to own a campground. Then I took the time to observe what goes on in campgrounds and all the work it takes to maintain one and I decided it was not that cool. BTW- I hear Bob Adams sold Gettysburg Campground. Bob put his heart and soul into making that campground nice. I hope he profited from the sale, he deserves it.
We look back and wish we had owned a campground when we were young but now we are just content to stay in one. Having been Camp Hosts we can see how much work, money and aggravation campground ownership can be.
Yes and now NO! Thought it would be awesome. Then spent several months as a campground host. Picking up after people or paying someone to do so,not my cup of tea!
Yes but with age and health it’s only a passing thought now. I always thought a 55+ would be nice.
My family owned a Florida tourist court the Giants Camp in Gibsonton FL in addition to cleaning the bathhouse, most trailers back then didn’t have much of a bathroom, we also had cottages to clean. I wouldn’t trade the experience but I also wouldn’t ever do it myself. Our biggest problem was always bad behavior by guests.
No, but I am considering having a space of my wooded property rent ( $10 ) a night or two. I already have guests from people doing cross county bycycle trips.
I realize the campground shortage so an overnight might help someone out.
I live in a great area with a lake near the Shawnee National forest.
Join the Boondockers Welcome organizaton.
Thanks, I’ll look into it, Gigi
NO WAY! I’m VERY happily retired and, successfully running an RV campground requires an incredible amount of nonstop work.
I would love to own and run a campground, but only if it were a “no humans allowed” campground. “Dogs only” would be best for me!
My wife and I will become camp hosts for the first time at a friends pack station in the Yosemite area this summer, I’ll reserve my answer until after we have this experience!
Happy RVing and hope to see you down the road!
When my wife and I were much younger, less experienced and foolish we thought we wanted to build and own an RV park. That was after we bought our brand new 79 13′ Scamp trailer and traveled 13,500 miles with it behind our 73 Fiat 124 wagon, on 72 days of leave from the Navy. We knew that we could build a better park.
Now, we’re much older and somewhat wiser. We want no part of owning one. Retired folks life suits us well.
I couldn’t find the “Not on your life!” button, so option three will have to do.
If I had that dream, it would be in the nightmare category. I would be so happy when I woke up and found out it was just my imagination!!
Stay safe, Joe
My wife and I have owned our small (30 site) campground for 15 years. I would say that 99% of our customers are people that are happy to be here and those that aren’t probably aren’t happy anywhere. It is certainly a busy lifestyle. There is always something that needs to be done and it keeps us active all day long. We sure sleep good at night. Now that we are in our mid sixties we are beginning to consider what changes we might make to ease us into retirement but we still do enjoy visiting with folks from all over.
I’m in my 60s and recently retired from a business I owned for 35 years so I don’t want to be tied down anymore. This way I can enjoy my time at someones campground where I don’t have to fix or maintain anything.
Own a campground ? Only if I could hire someone else to run it. However, buying a space at an Escapees or Airstream village would be nice.