5.9.21
People ask all the time, “How do you feel about it all? You’ve done it!”
Well, there hasn’t been a moment of elation, or a cracking open of the Champagne, or a cutting of the ribbon. Maybe the Covid story below has something to do with that….
But moments of ‘Oh my gosh!’, or ‘Wow, we are so lucky….’ and all of these will eventually build up to a ‘Wahoo! at some point, I guess.
Maybe we’re so tired that we can’t find it – or, maybe, when you dream of something for so long, it’s so overwhelming when it happens that you can’t find it. Well….
Just 10 days before our first customer, Jim came down with a bug – but negative on the Lateral Flow Tests – so we thought that, give him 24 hours, he’ll be back up and running again.
When our eldest son, Luke, came down with the same thing – but couldn’t smell anything – a second negative Lateral Flow Test actually turned into both of them having Covid.
Jim went downhill – three, four, five days in, and he still couldn’t muster the energy to do anything.
Thomas and I isolated in the camper on Pitch 5, so the site didn’t suffer. From the moment I woke to the moment I collapsed, the two of us continued with the preparations – having to do the manual work, the ‘can’t quite reach or have the strength to do’ work, on top of the promotions, the feeding, and the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.
Day 10 arrived, and our first customers, Denise and Ken, were everything we needed – understanding, helpful, in love with our site and the sunsets, the deer and the views, which made up for the previous struggles. And my ‘boys’ came out of their isolation.
Tired and not up to his usual energy and strength, Jim returned to work half-a-stone lighter and frustrated he couldn’t keep up. There are improvements, but this will be a long recovery and one we’ll take step by step.
We couldn’t have done it without the help of the parents – their unwavering commitment and willingness to support our risky venture has been so appreciated from the start. It’s impossible to ever thank them enough for it all.
The rewards so far are the amazing comments and reviews! “We’ve really enjoyed it here…. you haven’t seen the last of us,” “Best campsite I’ve ever been to!” “Wonderful facilities – spotless!”
Looking forward, we need the feedback and the word-of-mouth to spread like Covid! Our days are filled with marketing and, of course, keeping things spotless. Today we have an empty site after two weeks of the kind of busy life we’d always planned for. We await the next phone call, the next message on social media, the next booking form!
We’ve built it! Now we’re confident they will come….
Another glorious sunset over Tunnel Hill.