b'Campground Profilefrom page 27 Africa.She told me she wouldnt marry meWehadverybusylives,Marsha unless I visited her country, Cable said,added. adding, I went to South Africa thinkingAs the Cables took over the family I would never come back.campgroundbusiness,theykeptit But the romance on the southern tipgoing, but the park initially didnt gen- of Africa didnt work out and, after ex-erate enough income to cover the costs ploring over 11,000 miles of southernof the many improvements it needed. Africa on his motorcycle, Cable gainedThe gross was less than $80,000 a some mental clarity and realized whatyear for the whole operation when we hewasleavingbehindbackinhistook over, Bill said. hometown of Toronto, Ohio.The Cables continued their teaching MyAfricanepiphanywasatotalcareers while running Austin Lake RV mind changer, he recalled.Park as a side business. He came home and went back to Improving a dam at the park is one of the many infrastructure projects the Cables haveBut seven years ago, when the Cables work at the lake and started substitute recently worked on. leased some of their land to an oil com- teaching. He also started to date Mar-pany, they suddenly earned a significant sha, whom he met in the flying club at ucation classes. certification, since it seemed to fit inamount of moneymuch more than Ohio University. They married in 1971. While it was an exceedingly turbulent well with his summer job at the lake. they ever had before. Bill started taking education classes time in U.S. history, as many college Marsha also made some life changesOur attorney said, Take the money at a branch campus of Kent State Uni- students and others protested the U.S. ofherown.Sheinitiallyobtainedaand run! Marsha recalled with a laugh. versity, and Marsha tagged along for fun involvement in the Vietnam War, Bill bachelors degree in home economicsOf course, having the family camp- to keep him company and also took ed- kept his focus on getting his teaching and interior design, and landed a job asground business in their blood, the Ca-bles did no such thing. They investedthe windfall into their park, paving overamileofroadwayswithlimestonedolomite, adding nine rental cabins and33 additional campsites with concretepads,upgradingpicnictables,anddoingpreventativemaintenanceonelectrical pedestals. They also added aWibit a floating watersports parkandpurchased five pontoon boats and asmall fleet of golf carts.Weve upgraded all of our restrooms,and weve gone green, using propane-fired water heaters, Bill said. Three ofour buildings are now using geothermalheating and cooling.Pontoon rentals are popular at Austin Lake. The Cables also upgraded the AustinLake Dam, bringing it into compliancewith the latest federal requirements. Allof these investments, as one might ex-pect, are translating into steadily in-creased business at Austin Lake RV Park.But while the Cables have invested inthe kinds of improvements that gener-ate year-over-year increases in occu-panciesandrevenue,theimprovements also have created a senseof pride in a family business that hasbeen in Bill Cables family for more thanseven decades, in a part of Ohio theCable family has called home for morethan 200 years.Interestingly, there was a brief timeduringhiscollegeyearswhenBillwanted nothing to do with living andworking in rural eastern Ohio.Whilepursuinganundergraduatedegree in journalism from the ScrippsHoward College of Communication atOhio University, he fell in love with a Ro-taryExchangestudentfromSouthWOODALLSCM.com March 2020-29'