b'Referrals, along with a strong demand for campsites in the area, means Big Meadow doesntFly fishing is just one of many amenities that attracts campers to the Great Smoky Mountain area.slow down much during the summer season. sites in the Townsend area because of of the high levels of maintenance re- enuestreambyofferingRVstorage more land next to their campgroundits proximity to Great Smoky Moun- quired to keep them presentable and along with a variety of services for RV for RV storage purposes in response totains National Park, which is the most rentable. owners who store their rigs at their demand.visited national park in the country. Mostofthepeoplethatrented campground. TheJohnsonscurrentlyhave170There is so much business that the them had never been in one before, We easily add $175,000 a year just unitsinstorage,mostofwhichareother campgrounds in town send us Malcolm Johnson said, adding that it doing storage, Barbara Johnson said, owned by people in other states whotheir overflow, Barbara Johnson said. often took more than a day to make adding that they started small with 10 liketocampnexttoGreatSmokyThe Johnsons further enhance their thenecessaryrepairsandgetthe units and continued to put more units Mountains National Park. Many of theRV sites by offering concrete pads and rentalcampersreadyforthenext in storage. They would like to purchase units are trailers owned by people whopatios. People like those sites not only guests.because its easier for them to level While the Johnsons are consideringtheir RV on a solid concrete surface, investing in park model RVs or other Real Log Park Model Cabinsbutbecauseconcretepadsmakeit rentalaccommodations,theyhaveeasier for people to keep their vehicles created a significant year-round rev-clean inside.If you step onto mud or wet gravelwhen it rains, then you will track thatReal Rustic Log Cabinsback into the unit, Barbara JohnsonTurn-Key!said. People love concrete, and theyDurable and Appealingwill pay more for it.Highly ProfitableTheJohnsonsgraduallypouredPays Off Within 1-3 Yearsconcrete pads and patios over time, asfunds permitted. But aside from in- Park Model Cabinsvesting in larger campsites with con- Starting at $27,900crete pads, the Johnsons said one of Located in Lancaster, PAtheir best investments was purchasing A dog park is one way that Big Meadowautomatic security gates. caters to the needs of its campers.717-445-5522www.LancasterLogCabins.comEveryonewhocomesinhastohave a code, which each camper re-ceives at check-in. So, it forces gueststo come into the office, Barbara John-son said.In addition to enhancing park secu-rity, having automated security gateseliminates the cost of paying someoneto staff the gate on a 24/7 basis. It alsofrees up campground staff members totend to other tasks inside the camp-ground.The Johnsons note that not every-thingtheyhavetriedattheirparkworkedastheyenvisioned,sotheyhad to make adjustments.For example, while they initially of-fered 10 tent camping sites on theirmeadow, they found that trying to ac-commodate tent campers on an openfield with no trees was a losing propo-sition, and they quit offering tent sitesafter about four years.Ourcampgroundisonabigmeadow, and when we opened, therewere no trees. So, it was never a verydesirableplaceforatent,BarbaraJohnson said. We had complaint aftercomplaint.To make matters worse, she said, Ifit rained, people wanted their moneyback. They would also cancel if it wascloudy and they thought it was goingto rain.TheJohnsonsofferedfourrentalcampersforashorttime,buttheyended up getting rid of them becauseWOODALLSCM.com April 2020-29'