What happens when a full-time RVing family buys 38 acres to create the kind of campground they always wished existed?
In this episode, Kate sits down with Tonja Lesmeister — full-time RVer, campground owner, and founder of Firefly Hills — for a wildly inspiring conversation about RV life, land ownership, and designing spaces that actually work for full-time families.
Tonja shares her journey from hitting the road to homesteading in the Kentucky hills, how she built Firefly Hills to be intentionally inclusive and community-centered, and what the real process of buying and building out a campground looks like (spoiler: it’s not all sunshine and s’mores).
If you've ever dreamed of owning land, building something of your own, or just finding a better way to full-time RV, this is your sign.
🔑 Key takeaways:
- What it really takes (emotionally & financially) to buy land and build something meaningful
- Why most campgrounds aren’t designed for full-time RVers — and how Firefly Hills breaks the mold
- Tonja’s approach to building a “kids-first” campground community
- Her advice for other women who want to create something different
- Plus... a totally unexpected twist near the end involving 👻 the other residents of Firefly Hills
🔗 Connect with Tonja:
- Website: www.fireflyhillskentucky.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/fireflyhillskentucky
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/fireflyhills/
—
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—
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We didn't do this because we wanted a career change.
It was really more about providing something for our
community. So it costs a lot more money
than what you think. Just like any any house project
or anything, it takes longer andit costs more than what you
think. Welcome back to the RV Queens
Podcast, where we are all about women making money on the road.
(00:21):
I'm your host, Kate White, and today I have a wildly inspiring
guest joining us, Tanya Lesmeister, owner of Firefly
Hills, a one-of-a-kind campground nestled in the hills
of Eastern Kentucky. Tanya and her husband launched
into full time RV life several years ago with their youngest
kiddo in tow and ended up buyinga 38 acre farm to turn into a
(00:44):
community focused, homesteading friendly, intentionally
inclusive campground. Yes, she's one of those
incredible humans. In today's episode, we talk
about why so many RV parks aren't built for full timers and
how Tanya designed Firefly Hillsto be different.
We're going to discuss what it really takes to buy land and
(01:06):
build a campground, financially and emotionally.
Tanya will discuss advice for dreamers who want to follow in
her footsteps and build their own campground and the community
creativity in Kids First magic. She's built into every square
foot of her property. Oh, and you guys make sure you
listen all the way through till the end because this
(01:27):
conversation takes a very unexpected turn near the end.
Let's just say Tanya's campground might have some
uninvited guests. All right, my friends, settle in
for an exciting episode. Grab your coffee and let's roll.
Tanya Lesmeister, welcome to theRV Queen's podcast.
(01:50):
I would usually ask You're welcome.
I would usually ask where in theworld you are, but since it's
the peak of camping season, I assume you are at the campground
you own in Kentucky. Absolutely right there in Remind
me of the name of the town. Badeville.
Oh, I'm glad I didn't say it because I would have pronounced
(02:12):
it Badeville. Or if you're local, it's
Badeville. This was reminding me of the
first time we visited Sevierville.
How do you pronounce it? Severville.
It looks like Seaverville outside of Pigeon Forge.
And then you show up and everyone's like Sevierville or I
(02:35):
can't, I can't do it right. Louisville.
That's a better example. Yeah, Yeah.
Say it like there's a marshmallow in your mouth.
That's what people tell me. Are you originally from the
South? No, now we're originally from
Minnesota, Wisconsin. When you say Wisconsin, I can
hear it in your accent just a little bit there.
(02:56):
OK, Tanya. So I've had the opportunity to
meet you in person and also get to know you in the RV queen
circles. And I love your full circle RV
life story going on here. So for listeners that aren't
familiar with you, go ahead and share your back story that led
(03:16):
up to starting Firefly Hills, which is the campground that you
own and operate. So my husband and I launched 4
1/2 years ago as full time RV's bringing our youngest child with
us. We've got older children that
are living their best life and everywhere between New York and
Oregon and in between. And we did the typical moving
(03:37):
every two or three weeks, exploring mostly western part of
the US and sitting around campfires.
You have conversations about howRV parks cater more to your
weekenders, not to your full time RV travelers.
And my husband and I consider ourselves lifetime learners.
(03:59):
We like to always learn and and learn new things and practice
new things. So after we were on the road for
about a year and a half or so, we decided that we were
interested in possibly opening an RV park catering more to full
time travelers. And in one of the groups, I
don't remember which one, there was a thread where somebody
(04:23):
said, hey, you know, ten of us should go in together and buy an
RV park or a home or a farmsteadand build a small RV park at a
full time RV years. And somebody in that thread
said, hey, my parents are considering selling their small
hobby farm in Eastern Kentucky. And the conversation came to a
(04:43):
screeching halt because it got real.
And people, you know, weren't ready that they were dreaming,
right? They were dreaming.
They weren't really there for todo that action step.
So my husband inquired, they sent us pictures and videos and
then we came toured the, the 38 acre farm and we said, sure, we,
(05:03):
we think this would be perfect. And and then we bought the farm
and here we are in Season 2 of Firefly Hills.
Oh, my goodness. OK, quick question.
What originally got your family?Well, you and your youngest into
RV life. What led up to that huge life
change? Yeah, yeah.
(05:24):
So we were living in western Wisconsin as the kids were
leaving the house, going off to college and getting jobs and
things. The house just got bigger and
bigger. And in 2019, we found ourselves
coming back to take care of the house, to mow the lawn, to plow
(05:47):
the snow, things like that. And my husband was working a
lot. He travels for work and I and we
were dabbling in world schooling.
So we were going to different places similar to RV life, but
but you know, traveling to different places around the
world. And there was a conference that
(06:07):
we attended in 2018 and for World Schoolers and I had met
several people there that when they are in the US, their full
time are living in their RV. And I thought that was really
intriguing to me. So when we went to this
conference in 2019, I said to myhusband, I said, hey, we've done
(06:27):
this conference before. Let's invite somebody different
out to dinner each night. Well, my secret ploy was to
invite those who RV when they'rein the US.
And by night #3 my husband's like, there's a pattern.
There's a pattern here. Because I knew I couldn't talk
them into this lifestyle, but I knew that he, if he had the
(06:50):
opportunity to chat with people who were already doing it, he
couldn't get all of his questions answered.
And so it was in that after thatconference and meeting all those
people and spending time with them that I was able to convince
him to buy an RV, sell the house, which is something he
thought we would do, but in retirement.
And he has a mandatory retirement at age 65.
(07:13):
But my father passed away at age67 and my mom at age 70.
And I said, we may not have thatmuch time.
We, we don't know. We don't know how much time we
have on this earth. And so it was that conversation
that and, and the help of these people that I met when we were
world schooling that helped us to, to get launched with our,
(07:36):
with our youngest kiddo who we were already homeschooling.
So that was an easy transition for us.
That is fascinating because I'veheard a lot of RV years, people
that start RV ING full time, kind of like transition over to
work, world schooling, because you, you find out, oh, the
travel lifestyle full time with kids isn't as challenging as you
(07:57):
think it's going to be. You know, there's a lot of
resources, a lot of, you know, ways to figure this life out.
And so even in my mind, I'm like, yeah, sure, why, why don't
we take this whole roadshow overto Europe?
Like we can make it happen. They have the Internet over
there, you know all the things and, and I've never heard that
happen in. Reverse in reverse, right.
And it's it's funny because whenwe do hold events here and we do
(08:20):
have like breakout sessions of, you know, we call them fireside
chats. That is one of them that I like
to lead is if people are interested in world schooling,
because I already have that experience of, of doing that.
And yeah, so that I'm able to help assist people with, you
know, it is, it is easier than you think.
Yeah. And it can be done.
(08:40):
And there is a community out there just like there is in the
in the RV world. A lot of us in the RV community,
I think a lot of us talk and dream about buying land and
starting a campground someday. Just like you mentioned in that
Facebook group. You know, all these people are
like dreaming about it, right? And I think we all just love the
(09:02):
lifestyle and kind of like this ethos of being at a campground
and being in nature with your family and friends.
It's just the best, as you know.So you and your husband actually
took the leap and you did the hard thing, right, that most of
us, like you saw. It was crickets after someone
said here's some property. And you guys were the only ones
(09:24):
that jumped on it. I mean, tell me about those
early days for the rest of us that are dreamers and thinking,
I want to start a campground too.
How did you guys financially prepare, you know, for a big
investment like this? Had you already been thinking in
this direction? Or what should the rest of us,
you know, how should our mindsetand our financial readiness be
(09:46):
if we really want to jump into this?
Yeah. Well, for me, it was a little
bit more unique situation in that my parents had passed away
at a young age and they had created a nest egg that they
hardly tapped into. You know, they thought they had
many more years to enjoy retirement.
(10:07):
And so I did have some help withthat, you know, with the legacy
that my parents left me to be able to launch this, but also
just the, the sale of our house that we had had as well was just
sitting somewhere and we were looking for something to, to
invest in. And we, we didn't do this
(10:32):
because we wanted a career change.
My background is social work, Myhusband's in transportation.
He loves his job and will alwayswork his job until until
retirement. It was really more about
providing something for our community.
So it costs a lot more money than what you think.
Just like any, any house projector anything, it takes longer and
(10:55):
it costs more than what you think.
But we did get a business loan as well and used a local bank to
do that because they want to invest in their local community
as well. And fortunately for US, one of
the board members of the local bank that we used owns a
campground about an hour away ora little bit more than an hour
(11:18):
away. So they really understood our
business plan, you know, better than probably the other board
members. So that probably helped us as
well. Oh, good.
It sounds like the the Domino's lined up well for you to take
the leap. That's great.
What were some of the unexpectedsurprises that you encountered
(11:40):
while purchasing and planning and and building out the
campground? The first unexpected surprise
was the house came with its own manager.
His name is Ralph and he has four legs and fur.
You will see him a lot on our social media.
Yes. So that was the first surprise.
Is that you know? He's a working cat and he mouses
(12:03):
for us. But so besides Ralph, some of
the unexpected surprises, I was surprised how much the neighbors
embraced and support us not knowing us right.
And we're cheerleaders for us. So that I expected maybe a
(12:24):
little bit of resistance becausewe're outsiders.
We're not from here, but they really are.
They're curious. They stopped by my next door
neighbor, Sam. He's in his early 90s and he
drives through the RV park. He's not very mobile anymore.
So he really loves, you know, socializing.
And I said, drive through with your windows down.
(12:46):
If anybody wants to talk to you,they will.
And they're really intrigued because he has a a truly
authentic and deep accent. And they're lovely.
They're lovely people. Mr. Cooper's on the other side.
So that was a pleasant surprise.And then the other thing that
that we didn't realize is we were looking, excuse me, we were
(13:09):
looking for, for property that would be appealing to full time
travelers, but we didn't realizethe extent of all of the outdoor
recreation that was here in thisarea.
This area is world known for itsrock climbing, for instance.
And I, that's not a world that I'm a part of normally.
And so we have, we've had a lot of international people come and
(13:32):
stay with us in our farmhouse, not usually in the RV park.
But that was an unexpected but apleasant surprise being that we
were were world schoolers first.And we also, when we were in a
sticks and bricks, hosted over 50 exchange students and we have
adopted children from another country.
So that that international piecewas always a part of our life
(13:54):
and really important to us. And it it's coming to us here in
Eastern Kentucky, which was a pleasant surprise as well.
A little bit ago you said everything is more expensive and
takes longer than you think. Like any project, any big
endeavor is the same. How about financial surprises
with like the build out or I don't even know, like finding
(14:17):
the right builders. Let's talk about the reality of,
you know, building it out. We are, we're very rural here
and so it's very difficult to find contractors and sometimes
you have one choice, right, or two choices.
That is a challenge here being so rural.
(14:38):
We, for instance, our, our architect that we hired to,
they, they make plans for RV parks.
That's what they do. They wanted a survey that showed
the topography of the land and we couldn't find anybody to do
that, nobody. So that was an added challenge
(15:03):
and cost more because we had to go back and say, you know, your
plan to do this here won't work because there's a huge hill here
or, you know, those kinds of things because they didn't have
that information. And we are at the beginning of
the Appalachian Mountains here. So it is, you know, hilly
Firefly hills. So that was an added challenge
(15:24):
and cost a little bit more because we had to do more back
and forth with edits to that plan.
Stuff that you never think about, you know, until you're in
it deep, right? So now that you've successfully
built out and run this campground plus guest house for
you said two seasons, right? This is our second season, Yep.
(15:44):
OK, what advice do you have for others who are looking at land
and dreaming of starting their own campground?
Yeah, in fact, I just chatted with a friend who's on the early
stages of this just this week. We didn't have this challenge
here, but I having conversationsand being in platforms with
(16:05):
other campground owners. Check before you purchase land.
Check local zoning and permitting to see if they will
even allow a campground in the area that you're looking at.
Some counties have strict stipulations around that or you
have to go through several stepswith the local government.
(16:27):
So that would be one thing that I would highly recommend to do,
do a feasibility study. Either hire somebody to do a
feasibility study or do one yourself.
I we did it ourself because we have that skill set.
So checking to see, you know, isthis a campground that there's
something in the area that attracts people that area or are
(16:51):
you going to be, you know, rightoff the freeway where people
stop by as they're traveling through?
Who are your competitors? What are they charging?
How many of your competitors arethere?
That would be another step to take before you even purchase
the land is to do those those two things and then just
surround yourself with smart people who are really good at
(17:13):
what they do in their area of expertise.
So I'm a social worker, so I'm anatural networker.
I always joke and say I don't know much, but I know a lot of
people who know stuff. So I know I know who to call for
different things. So really, you know, figure out
who your team is going to be andsurround yourself with those
(17:36):
people. And so so that you know who to
go to when you do hit a roadblock and don't know, you
know, you get stuck, right? And that happens.
So we have those people in our life in different areas.
An example is we've got this great mentor that helps us with
financial investment stuff. And so he's great at, you know,
(18:00):
so we bounce ideas off of him and then he says more the
financial side. Well, here's different ways you
could do this and accomplish it.So he's thought of things that
we would have never thought of before and like, oh, we didn't
think about that. Oh, we could get investors.
Oh, we could do, you know, checkwith local banks instead of your
big banks, which I would have thought the other way around.
(18:21):
So those are my bits of advice. And 01 other one is I would, I
strongly encourage people who are thinking about doing this to
work camp at a place that is similar maybe in size or mission
then what you're planning to do and then and then learn from
(18:43):
them. So we've had several work
campers who work camp for us because they want to learn.
And once we learned that piece that this is what they want to
know, then we can be more intentional about, hey, I'm
doing this project. Do you want to help with this
particular project or, you know,ask questions or being mindful
(19:05):
about teaching? I, I'm more, I'm not, you know,
I've not been a teacher before, but mentor, absolutely.
My husband has taught, you know,behind the wheel training and
people how to fly airplanes. And so he's got that teaching
mentality as well. So, and we now have somebody
(19:26):
work camped for us our first summer here.
So this was 2 summers ago. They just opened their small RV
park, a little bit smaller than ours, not far from us in a
neighboring state. And they came and stayed with us
for a week and they, they text us and call us from time to
time. And so that's, it's fun when we,
you know, see that people are successful and we're happy to
(19:48):
share, you know, our mistakes and, and, you know, give ideas
and suggestions because other people did that for us.
That's such good advice. OK, so find a mentor and kind of
like your support group that youcan get advice from as you're
building out your big campgroundproject.
Do the background research, zoning, feasibility studies, and
(20:12):
then also see if you can experience what it's like to run
a campground. For example, work camping
beforehand. That is such good advice.
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(20:33):
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(20:56):
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(21:17):
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OK, so I want to give you some space for a few minutes to just
tell us all about Firefly Hills.Tell us about your setup.
It's very unique. You got a lot going on and the
(21:39):
cool features that you've been intentional about building into
the experience for your guests. We started Firefly Hills not to
make the most money we possibly can.
We really built it to offer something to our community that
we're a part of. So we didn't cram, you know, as
many sites, you know, in our footprint as possible.
(22:02):
And so we were very intentional about keeping our full time, our
viewers in mind, although our weekenders benefit from it as
well. But we have 3 pillars that we
stand by that are important to us.
And first and foremost is that we are intentionally inclusive.
My family and friends make up a very diverse group of people.
(22:23):
We have not always felt safe andwelcomed everywhere we've been.
So we want to make sure that we provided that for others.
So we're an intentional inclusive RV park.
We offer a homesteading experience.
That was something that we heardrepeatedly on the road is people
were missing their gardens, theywere missing teaching their kids
(22:46):
where food comes from. So here we have our our veggie
gardens that our guests can helpthemselves to.
We have herb gardens, we have whiskey barrel planters down in
the RV park that have either a pepper plant or tomato plant
with herbs around it. So you can just pop out your
door, enhance your own, you know, meal that you're making.
(23:06):
We have an orchard and we have chickens on site and our guests
can help with chicken chores as well.
So, so offering that homesteading experiences, our
2nd and then the third was intentionally creating
community. We also run a nonprofit where we
take people on service trips to other countries and offer that
(23:28):
that sense of community there. So we've had lots of practice
doing that and as I mentioned, hosting exchange students.
So that sense of community was important for us and that's
something that a lot of us seek out when we're full time RV ING.
Sometimes it's challenging to make and meet meet and make
friends on the road. So we did things like we did not
(23:51):
put in a camp campfire ring at each site, Although if you're an
introvert and you, you know, you're not a group person,
that's fine. You can certainly rent one.
We'll bring it to your site. But we have a community.
We have community fire pits and we don't host a fire every
night, but we do once or twice aweek.
And we just say if there's a fire burning there, everybody's
(24:12):
welcome. And you can also start one.
Our guests can start a fire. But again, it's open to
everybody and people have met each other that would not never
have met before had we not had that community fire pit.
And then we do other things on site as well.
We, we offer different kind of gatherings here, cater to full
(24:33):
time travelers. We have our next one is this
fall. This is our third Dio de Los
Muertos event. It's a two week event that is so
fun. We offer things for kids,
families and then adults only aswell.
We do a couple of things that are just for the adults on site
so they can still tend to kids, but that do de Los Muertos
(24:58):
event. We do a 1920s murder mystery
game in the house where we encourage people to dress up.
I don't know if you've seen our photos for that, but that was
that's really a fun event. We do trick or treating.
(25:18):
We do the do de Los Muertos activities, having the altar to
honor those who've passed away, which is a really powerful thing
for families. We do the face painting we have,
we bring in naturalist, lots of fun things.
So that's another way to build community is to attend an event
(25:41):
that we host and we tend to hosta couple during the year, but
also some of our full time traveling friends also host
events. And so they have done that at
our location as well. So some of the amenities on site
we have, as I mentioned, the 1920s farmhouse that we rent out
rooms. So that's great if you're a full
time traveler and maybe grandma and grandpa aren't our viewers,
(26:04):
but you know, they want to come visit.
They can stay in the house and, and visit or they can rent one
of our RV's. We have two RV's that we rent
out on site as well. We have a lot of cool spaces for
the kids of and that's our number one reason for people to
extend their stay with us is because the kids are enjoying
(26:27):
and loving the space. So we have the Whimsical woods,
which has our mud kitchen. We have a natural spring down
there. So we always have a couple
inches of water that's flowing through there.
So perfect for making mud in themud kitchen.
And then also down there is our fairy village.
So I do some I I lead kids and adults in making fairy villages
(26:52):
or fairy houses and using their imagination down near the mud
kitchen. The other space that we have for
kids is called the hidden hangout.
And the hidden hangout has a paracord web.
We call it the web that is in the trees.
It's kind of like a trampoline, not quite as bouncy with sides
to it and and bigger that I liketo go down there when it's
(27:17):
quieter and we don't have as many kids on property and just
nature bathe sitting on the web.But kids love jumping on there
and and that's a fun thing down there.
We also have the ninja course. We have the zip line is going
in, we have the surf swing, the net swing.
We have a hammock circle down there.
(27:39):
So you can go, parents go down there to nap.
Kids go down there to hang out with their friends and there's
six hammocks in a circle that are down there as well.
And those two kids spaces were created by kids.
So I pulled, pulled all the kidstogether and, and they I said,
(28:00):
think about what you like, wouldlike, think about what kids a
little bit older than you would like, kids younger than you
would like. And we made a list.
And so I'm slowly working through that list and adding all
those things. We've got cars down there that
are built out of logs that kids can sit in and, and use their
imagination. The kids wanted this, this
(28:20):
correct me. If the kids wanted a campground
down there, they wanted a place to tent camp.
So we have a little fire ring and logs around so they can
pretend like they're tent camping.
So so that's down in the hidden hangout.
Then we also have on property 2 fishing ponds that are stocked
with fish. We have a Gaga ball pit,
pickleball, basketball, and thenhiking trails.
(28:45):
We have the thinking spot, whichis on the north side of our
property. It is a a table and chair.
One chair. It's meant for somebody to go
and just sit in journal on theirown.
We have a Mason jar that has thinking prompts in them, so you
pull them out and they have to do with nature, travel and
(29:05):
inclusion. And so you can go there for a
walk with your family and you can use it as a family
discussion point. You can just think about it or
you can journal about it as well.
So those are some of the things that we have here on property,
but then there's the things off property and some of those
things are really unique too. So the Red River Gorge area
(29:27):
offers, as I mentioned before, the rock climbing.
If you're not a rock climber, there's three rock climbing
schools here that we have used and you know I can connect you
with. There is the off roading.
So there is the Daniel Boone Backcountry by way that has, I
(29:47):
can't remember they they just expanded and added more miles.
I know there was 90 miles in onesection, I believe 60 miles in
another of off roading opportunities.
If you don't have an off road vehicle, there is a place
locally here you can rent a sideby side and have it be guided.
There's underground kayaking here.
So there is a mine here that they hit the water table and it
(30:11):
partially filled with water, which is a really cool
experience and that's nice to dono matter what the weather is
outside. It's the exact same experience
in the underground mine. And then there's also above
ground kayaking. The hiking here is phenomenal.
Kentucky is known, or this part of Kentucky is known for its
(30:31):
waterfalls and natural arches. It is believed that there
possibly could be more arches here than even Utah.
Just so many of them are on private lands there.
There is a group that is documenting that and trying to
record all those live music, music in Eastern Kentucky.
A lot of well known artists comefrom Eastern Kentucky.
(30:54):
There's a recording studio not even in a town, it's just in the
Gorge area so you can listen to live music right now.
I'm aware of three local establishments that have live
music for free and two others that are local that you can pay
to see a little bit bigger names.
And then our restaurants, there's not a ton of restaurants
(31:16):
here, but the ones that are hereare really good.
They're a lot of them sourced locally from local farmers.
And so I enjoy getting good local food that's not
necessarily, you know, your Applebee's and and your chains
like that. So there's zip lining here.
(31:38):
I mean, there's just lots of opportunities for outdoor
recreation. Wow.
Do you feel like you struck goldwith your location and.
Yeah, because when we bought this property, we did not
realize all of the outdoor recreation things that were
here. We knew of some of it, but we
didn't know all of it because wehadn't then to this part of the
(31:59):
then to this part of the state. We've been to like through
Louisville for instance, but notthis part of the state.
And the other thing is that I discovered is that there's only
one other park here that can accommodate a big RV.
So that's another thing that we've done here is we've, you
know, our RV sites are minimum 70 feet deep, so we can
(32:21):
accommodate, you know, big rigs,but that means that you, your
full time RV Rs tend to have bigger RV's, right, Because we
live in them full time and you know, we've got kids.
So this area has not been explored very much for with the
full time RV community because there's, there was really only
one other place that a full a big RV could could park.
(32:46):
So I think that's, you know, it's hard, you know, as a full
time RV R, we've seen amazing things.
We've been to national parks andseen beautiful things and to
provide an opportunity for the full time RV community to
explore an area that maybe they haven't explored before and also
(33:08):
a place for them to rest. So if they, you know, your go,
go, go explore, explore, explore, you could just kind of
slow down and, and rest here fora while.
And the kids, excuse me, the kids just, you know, explore on
site. And I hear from parents
regularly. My kids have not asked for their
(33:30):
electronics. I only see my kids when they're
hungry. And even then they can raid the
garden, right? They can go grab some
blueberries or grab a cucumber or something like that.
So I do think we struck gold. And then we're always listening
to our our RV community when ourguests or work campers are here
(33:52):
and especially my work campers, they'll say, have you
considered? And I love that statement
because I'm like, no, I haven't,but that's a great idea.
Let's see if we can make that happen.
Hearing the description of everything you have going on, I
feel the same way that, you know, you describe people that
have stayed there, say, I can imagine my kids would just play
(34:12):
in the mud kitchen, play by the spring.
And it would feel so good to know it's just all on property
and it's all safe. You know, they're just, I'll
just let them run amok with the walkie-talkie.
It'll be like, see you later, you know, because we're not. 100
site park. We're, we have 15 sites right
now. We do have plans to expand at
(34:34):
some point. The property's 38 acres and
there are, and you know, once parents see where the, the kids
faces are, you can hear the kidsin the distance.
You know which, which is my, I love that sound.
My my site is right made-up fromone of the kids faces.
I can't see them with all the leaves on the tree, but I can
hear them and I love that sound of kids playing in nature.
Me tail, I mean who doesn't? It's the best.
(34:55):
OK, so I I've heard that there is some paranormal activity that
sometimes goes on at Flyer Butterfly Hills.
Have you personally experienced anything unusual yet?
You have. Oh, tell me.
So we did not know we bought a house that has paranormal
(35:16):
activity for a year. OK.
How incredible is Tanya, you guys?
From her family's RV launch story to the hyper intentional
way that she's created Firefly Hills, it's clear this isn't
just a campground for her. It's a community with a whole
lot of heart, right? And listen, we are not done with
this. In the second-half of our
(35:36):
conversation coming up next week, we take a turn into the
wild side of Firefly Hills. The paranormal activity.
Yes, you heard me. Tonya accidentally bought a
haunted farmhouse and as it turns out, she and her family
were already amateur ghost hunters.
(35:56):
You cannot make this stuff up. We also get into her non profit
work in Jamaica, her world schooling adventures and how she
helps others take purposeful intentional travel beyond the
campground. And if you want to watch Tanya
speak about her haunted house and all these other juicy topics
from her haunted house, be sure to watch the full video version
(36:17):
of this episode on Spotify or YouTube.
Thanks for running along my friend, and I will see you next
time for. Part 2.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode and for being
part of the RV Queens community.Remember to hit subscribe on
whatever platform you're listening on.
And guess what? You can have conversations like
(36:37):
I had on this episode with your fellow RV women who are living
intentionally and making money on the road.
Head to rvqueenspodcast.com/community to
join RV Queens circles today. It's a totally unique online
space with a shared prosperity model that's all about community
over competition. I'd love to have you be a part.
(36:59):
All right, guys, I'll see you next week or hopefully I will
see you on the road. You got me.
We didn't do this because we wanted a career change.
It was really more about providing something for our
community. So it costs a lot more money
than what you think. Just like any any house project
or anything, it takes longer andit costs more than what you
think. Welcome back to the RV Queens
Podcast, where we are all about women making money on the road.
(00:21):
I'm your host, Kate White, and today I have a wildly inspiring
guest joining us, Tanya Lesmeister, owner of Firefly
Hills, a one-of-a-kind campground nestled in the hills
of Eastern Kentucky. Tanya and her husband launched
into full time RV life several years ago with their youngest
kiddo in tow and ended up buyinga 38 acre farm to turn into a
(00:44):
community focused, homesteading friendly, intentionally
inclusive campground. Yes, she's one of those
incredible humans. In today's episode, we talk
about why so many RV parks aren't built for full timers and
how Tanya designed Firefly Hillsto be different.
We're going to discuss what it really takes to buy land and
(01:06):
build a campground, financially and emotionally.
Tanya will discuss advice for dreamers who want to follow in
her footsteps and build their own campground and the community
creativity in Kids First magic. She's built into every square
foot of her property. Oh, and you guys make sure you
listen all the way through till the end because this
(01:27):
conversation takes a very unexpected turn near the end.
Let's just say Tanya's campground might have some
uninvited guests. All right, my friends, settle in
for an exciting episode. Grab your coffee and let's roll.
Tanya Lesmeister, welcome to theRV Queen's podcast.
(01:50):
I would usually ask You're welcome.
I would usually ask where in theworld you are, but since it's
the peak of camping season, I assume you are at the campground
you own in Kentucky. Absolutely right there in Remind
me of the name of the town. Badeville.
Oh, I'm glad I didn't say it because I would have pronounced
(02:12):
it Badeville. Or if you're local, it's
Badeville. This was reminding me of the
first time we visited Sevierville.
How do you pronounce it? Severville.
It looks like Seaverville outside of Pigeon Forge.
And then you show up and everyone's like Sevierville or I
(02:35):
can't, I can't do it right. Louisville.
That's a better example. Yeah, Yeah.
Say it like there's a marshmallow in your mouth.
That's what people tell me. Are you originally from the
South? No, now we're originally from
Minnesota, Wisconsin. When you say Wisconsin, I can
hear it in your accent just a little bit there.
(02:56):
OK, Tanya. So I've had the opportunity to
meet you in person and also get to know you in the RV queen
circles. And I love your full circle RV
life story going on here. So for listeners that aren't
familiar with you, go ahead and share your back story that led
(03:16):
up to starting Firefly Hills, which is the campground that you
own and operate. So my husband and I launched 4
1/2 years ago as full time RV's bringing our youngest child with
us. We've got older children that
are living their best life and everywhere between New York and
Oregon and in between. And we did the typical moving
(03:37):
every two or three weeks, exploring mostly western part of
the US and sitting around campfires.
You have conversations about howRV parks cater more to your
weekenders, not to your full time RV travelers.
And my husband and I consider ourselves lifetime learners.
(03:59):
We like to always learn and and learn new things and practice
new things. So after we were on the road for
about a year and a half or so, we decided that we were
interested in possibly opening an RV park catering more to full
time travelers. And in one of the groups, I
don't remember which one, there was a thread where somebody
(04:23):
said, hey, you know, ten of us should go in together and buy an
RV park or a home or a farmsteadand build a small RV park at a
full time RV years. And somebody in that thread
said, hey, my parents are considering selling their small
hobby farm in Eastern Kentucky. And the conversation came to a
(04:43):
screeching halt because it got real.
And people, you know, weren't ready that they were dreaming,
right? They were dreaming.
They weren't really there for todo that action step.
So my husband inquired, they sent us pictures and videos and
then we came toured the, the 38 acre farm and we said, sure, we,
(05:03):
we think this would be perfect. And and then we bought the farm
and here we are in Season 2 of Firefly Hills.
Oh, my goodness. OK, quick question.
What originally got your family?Well, you and your youngest into
RV life. What led up to that huge life
change? Yeah, yeah.
(05:24):
So we were living in western Wisconsin as the kids were
leaving the house, going off to college and getting jobs and
things. The house just got bigger and
bigger. And in 2019, we found ourselves
coming back to take care of the house, to mow the lawn, to plow
(05:47):
the snow, things like that. And my husband was working a
lot. He travels for work and I and we
were dabbling in world schooling.
So we were going to different places similar to RV life, but
but you know, traveling to different places around the
world. And there was a conference that
(06:07):
we attended in 2018 and for World Schoolers and I had met
several people there that when they are in the US, their full
time are living in their RV. And I thought that was really
intriguing to me. So when we went to this
conference in 2019, I said to myhusband, I said, hey, we've done
(06:27):
this conference before. Let's invite somebody different
out to dinner each night. Well, my secret ploy was to
invite those who RV when they'rein the US.
And by night #3 my husband's like, there's a pattern.
There's a pattern here. Because I knew I couldn't talk
them into this lifestyle, but I knew that he, if he had the
(06:50):
opportunity to chat with people who were already doing it, he
couldn't get all of his questions answered.
And so it was in that after thatconference and meeting all those
people and spending time with them that I was able to convince
him to buy an RV, sell the house, which is something he
thought we would do, but in retirement.
And he has a mandatory retirement at age 65.
(07:13):
But my father passed away at age67 and my mom at age 70.
And I said, we may not have thatmuch time.
We, we don't know. We don't know how much time we
have on this earth. And so it was that conversation
that and, and the help of these people that I met when we were
world schooling that helped us to, to get launched with our,
(07:36):
with our youngest kiddo who we were already homeschooling.
So that was an easy transition for us.
That is fascinating because I'veheard a lot of RV years, people
that start RV ING full time, kind of like transition over to
work, world schooling, because you, you find out, oh, the
travel lifestyle full time with kids isn't as challenging as you
(07:57):
think it's going to be. You know, there's a lot of
resources, a lot of, you know, ways to figure this life out.
And so even in my mind, I'm like, yeah, sure, why, why don't
we take this whole roadshow overto Europe?
Like we can make it happen. They have the Internet over
there, you know all the things and, and I've never heard that
happen in. Reverse in reverse, right.
And it's it's funny because whenwe do hold events here and we do
(08:20):
have like breakout sessions of, you know, we call them fireside
chats. That is one of them that I like
to lead is if people are interested in world schooling,
because I already have that experience of, of doing that.
And yeah, so that I'm able to help assist people with, you
know, it is, it is easier than you think.
Yeah. And it can be done.
(08:40):
And there is a community out there just like there is in the
in the RV world. A lot of us in the RV community,
I think a lot of us talk and dream about buying land and
starting a campground someday. Just like you mentioned in that
Facebook group. You know, all these people are
like dreaming about it, right? And I think we all just love the
(09:02):
lifestyle and kind of like this ethos of being at a campground
and being in nature with your family and friends.
It's just the best, as you know.So you and your husband actually
took the leap and you did the hard thing, right, that most of
us, like you saw. It was crickets after someone
said here's some property. And you guys were the only ones
(09:24):
that jumped on it. I mean, tell me about those
early days for the rest of us that are dreamers and thinking,
I want to start a campground too.
How did you guys financially prepare, you know, for a big
investment like this? Had you already been thinking in
this direction? Or what should the rest of us,
you know, how should our mindsetand our financial readiness be
(09:46):
if we really want to jump into this?
Yeah. Well, for me, it was a little
bit more unique situation in that my parents had passed away
at a young age and they had created a nest egg that they
hardly tapped into. You know, they thought they had
many more years to enjoy retirement.
(10:07):
And so I did have some help withthat, you know, with the legacy
that my parents left me to be able to launch this, but also
just the, the sale of our house that we had had as well was just
sitting somewhere and we were looking for something to, to
invest in. And we, we didn't do this
(10:32):
because we wanted a career change.
My background is social work, Myhusband's in transportation.
He loves his job and will alwayswork his job until until
retirement. It was really more about
providing something for our community.
So it costs a lot more money than what you think.
Just like any, any house projector anything, it takes longer and
(10:55):
it costs more than what you think.
But we did get a business loan as well and used a local bank to
do that because they want to invest in their local community
as well. And fortunately for US, one of
the board members of the local bank that we used owns a
campground about an hour away ora little bit more than an hour
(11:18):
away. So they really understood our
business plan, you know, better than probably the other board
members. So that probably helped us as
well. Oh, good.
It sounds like the the Domino's lined up well for you to take
the leap. That's great.
What were some of the unexpectedsurprises that you encountered
(11:40):
while purchasing and planning and and building out the
campground? The first unexpected surprise
was the house came with its own manager.
His name is Ralph and he has four legs and fur.
You will see him a lot on our social media.
Yes. So that was the first surprise.
Is that you know? He's a working cat and he mouses
(12:03):
for us. But so besides Ralph, some of
the unexpected surprises, I was surprised how much the neighbors
embraced and support us not knowing us right.
And we're cheerleaders for us. So that I expected maybe a
(12:24):
little bit of resistance becausewe're outsiders.
We're not from here, but they really are.
They're curious. They stopped by my next door
neighbor, Sam. He's in his early 90s and he
drives through the RV park. He's not very mobile anymore.
So he really loves, you know, socializing.
And I said, drive through with your windows down.
(12:46):
If anybody wants to talk to you,they will.
And they're really intrigued because he has a a truly
authentic and deep accent. And they're lovely.
They're lovely people. Mr. Cooper's on the other side.
So that was a pleasant surprise.And then the other thing that
that we didn't realize is we were looking, excuse me, we were
(13:09):
looking for, for property that would be appealing to full time
travelers, but we didn't realizethe extent of all of the outdoor
recreation that was here in thisarea.
This area is world known for itsrock climbing, for instance.
And I, that's not a world that I'm a part of normally.
And so we have, we've had a lot of international people come and
(13:32):
stay with us in our farmhouse, not usually in the RV park.
But that was an unexpected but apleasant surprise being that we
were were world schoolers first.And we also, when we were in a
sticks and bricks, hosted over 50 exchange students and we have
adopted children from another country.
So that that international piecewas always a part of our life
(13:54):
and really important to us. And it it's coming to us here in
Eastern Kentucky, which was a pleasant surprise as well.
A little bit ago you said everything is more expensive and
takes longer than you think. Like any project, any big
endeavor is the same. How about financial surprises
with like the build out or I don't even know, like finding
(14:17):
the right builders. Let's talk about the reality of,
you know, building it out. We are, we're very rural here
and so it's very difficult to find contractors and sometimes
you have one choice, right, or two choices.
That is a challenge here being so rural.
(14:38):
We, for instance, our, our architect that we hired to,
they, they make plans for RV parks.
That's what they do. They wanted a survey that showed
the topography of the land and we couldn't find anybody to do
that, nobody. So that was an added challenge
(15:03):
and cost more because we had to go back and say, you know, your
plan to do this here won't work because there's a huge hill here
or, you know, those kinds of things because they didn't have
that information. And we are at the beginning of
the Appalachian Mountains here. So it is, you know, hilly
Firefly hills. So that was an added challenge
(15:24):
and cost a little bit more because we had to do more back
and forth with edits to that plan.
Stuff that you never think about, you know, until you're in
it deep, right? So now that you've successfully
built out and run this campground plus guest house for
you said two seasons, right? This is our second season, Yep.
(15:44):
OK, what advice do you have for others who are looking at land
and dreaming of starting their own campground?
Yeah, in fact, I just chatted with a friend who's on the early
stages of this just this week. We didn't have this challenge
here, but I having conversationsand being in platforms with
(16:05):
other campground owners. Check before you purchase land.
Check local zoning and permitting to see if they will
even allow a campground in the area that you're looking at.
Some counties have strict stipulations around that or you
have to go through several stepswith the local government.
(16:27):
So that would be one thing that I would highly recommend to do,
do a feasibility study. Either hire somebody to do a
feasibility study or do one yourself.
I we did it ourself because we have that skill set.
So checking to see, you know, isthis a campground that there's
something in the area that attracts people that area or are
(16:51):
you going to be, you know, rightoff the freeway where people
stop by as they're traveling through?
Who are your competitors? What are they charging?
How many of your competitors arethere?
That would be another step to take before you even purchase
the land is to do those those two things and then just
surround yourself with smart people who are really good at
(17:13):
what they do in their area of expertise.
So I'm a social worker, so I'm anatural networker.
I always joke and say I don't know much, but I know a lot of
people who know stuff. So I know I know who to call for
different things. So really, you know, figure out
who your team is going to be andsurround yourself with those
(17:36):
people. And so so that you know who to
go to when you do hit a roadblock and don't know, you
know, you get stuck, right? And that happens.
So we have those people in our life in different areas.
An example is we've got this great mentor that helps us with
financial investment stuff. And so he's great at, you know,
(18:00):
so we bounce ideas off of him and then he says more the
financial side. Well, here's different ways you
could do this and accomplish it.So he's thought of things that
we would have never thought of before and like, oh, we didn't
think about that. Oh, we could get investors.
Oh, we could do, you know, checkwith local banks instead of your
big banks, which I would have thought the other way around.
(18:21):
So those are my bits of advice. And 01 other one is I would, I
strongly encourage people who are thinking about doing this to
work camp at a place that is similar maybe in size or mission
then what you're planning to do and then and then learn from
(18:43):
them. So we've had several work
campers who work camp for us because they want to learn.
And once we learned that piece that this is what they want to
know, then we can be more intentional about, hey, I'm
doing this project. Do you want to help with this
particular project or, you know,ask questions or being mindful
(19:05):
about teaching? I, I'm more, I'm not, you know,
I've not been a teacher before, but mentor, absolutely.
My husband has taught, you know,behind the wheel training and
people how to fly airplanes. And so he's got that teaching
mentality as well. So, and we now have somebody
(19:26):
work camped for us our first summer here.
So this was 2 summers ago. They just opened their small RV
park, a little bit smaller than ours, not far from us in a
neighboring state. And they came and stayed with us
for a week and they, they text us and call us from time to
time. And so that's, it's fun when we,
you know, see that people are successful and we're happy to
(19:48):
share, you know, our mistakes and, and, you know, give ideas
and suggestions because other people did that for us.
That's such good advice. OK, so find a mentor and kind of
like your support group that youcan get advice from as you're
building out your big campgroundproject.
Do the background research, zoning, feasibility studies, and
(20:12):
then also see if you can experience what it's like to run
a campground. For example, work camping
beforehand. That is such good advice.
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(20:33):
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OK, so I want to give you some space for a few minutes to just
tell us all about Firefly Hills.Tell us about your setup.
It's very unique. You got a lot going on and the
(21:39):
cool features that you've been intentional about building into
the experience for your guests. We started Firefly Hills not to
make the most money we possibly can.
We really built it to offer something to our community that
we're a part of. So we didn't cram, you know, as
many sites, you know, in our footprint as possible.
(22:02):
And so we were very intentional about keeping our full time, our
viewers in mind, although our weekenders benefit from it as
well. But we have 3 pillars that we
stand by that are important to us.
And first and foremost is that we are intentionally inclusive.
My family and friends make up a very diverse group of people.
(22:23):
We have not always felt safe andwelcomed everywhere we've been.
So we want to make sure that we provided that for others.
So we're an intentional inclusive RV park.
We offer a homesteading experience.
That was something that we heardrepeatedly on the road is people
were missing their gardens, theywere missing teaching their kids
(22:46):
where food comes from. So here we have our our veggie
gardens that our guests can helpthemselves to.
We have herb gardens, we have whiskey barrel planters down in
the RV park that have either a pepper plant or tomato plant
with herbs around it. So you can just pop out your
door, enhance your own, you know, meal that you're making.
(23:06):
We have an orchard and we have chickens on site and our guests
can help with chicken chores as well.
So, so offering that homesteading experiences, our
2nd and then the third was intentionally creating
community. We also run a nonprofit where we
take people on service trips to other countries and offer that
(23:28):
that sense of community there. So we've had lots of practice
doing that and as I mentioned, hosting exchange students.
So that sense of community was important for us and that's
something that a lot of us seek out when we're full time RV ING.
Sometimes it's challenging to make and meet meet and make
friends on the road. So we did things like we did not
(23:51):
put in a camp campfire ring at each site, Although if you're an
introvert and you, you know, you're not a group person,
that's fine. You can certainly rent one.
We'll bring it to your site. But we have a community.
We have community fire pits and we don't host a fire every
night, but we do once or twice aweek.
And we just say if there's a fire burning there, everybody's
(24:12):
welcome. And you can also start one.
Our guests can start a fire. But again, it's open to
everybody and people have met each other that would not never
have met before had we not had that community fire pit.
And then we do other things on site as well.
We, we offer different kind of gatherings here, cater to full
(24:33):
time travelers. We have our next one is this
fall. This is our third Dio de Los
Muertos event. It's a two week event that is so
fun. We offer things for kids,
families and then adults only aswell.
We do a couple of things that are just for the adults on site
so they can still tend to kids, but that do de Los Muertos
(24:58):
event. We do a 1920s murder mystery
game in the house where we encourage people to dress up.
I don't know if you've seen our photos for that, but that was
that's really a fun event. We do trick or treating.
(25:18):
We do the do de Los Muertos activities, having the altar to
honor those who've passed away, which is a really powerful thing
for families. We do the face painting we have,
we bring in naturalist, lots of fun things.
So that's another way to build community is to attend an event
(25:41):
that we host and we tend to hosta couple during the year, but
also some of our full time traveling friends also host
events. And so they have done that at
our location as well. So some of the amenities on site
we have, as I mentioned, the 1920s farmhouse that we rent out
rooms. So that's great if you're a full
time traveler and maybe grandma and grandpa aren't our viewers,
(26:04):
but you know, they want to come visit.
They can stay in the house and, and visit or they can rent one
of our RV's. We have two RV's that we rent
out on site as well. We have a lot of cool spaces for
the kids of and that's our number one reason for people to
extend their stay with us is because the kids are enjoying
(26:27):
and loving the space. So we have the Whimsical woods,
which has our mud kitchen. We have a natural spring down
there. So we always have a couple
inches of water that's flowing through there.
So perfect for making mud in themud kitchen.
And then also down there is our fairy village.
So I do some I I lead kids and adults in making fairy villages
(26:52):
or fairy houses and using their imagination down near the mud
kitchen. The other space that we have for
kids is called the hidden hangout.
And the hidden hangout has a paracord web.
We call it the web that is in the trees.
It's kind of like a trampoline, not quite as bouncy with sides
to it and and bigger that I liketo go down there when it's
(27:17):
quieter and we don't have as many kids on property and just
nature bathe sitting on the web.But kids love jumping on there
and and that's a fun thing down there.
We also have the ninja course. We have the zip line is going
in, we have the surf swing, the net swing.
We have a hammock circle down there.
(27:39):
So you can go, parents go down there to nap.
Kids go down there to hang out with their friends and there's
six hammocks in a circle that are down there as well.
And those two kids spaces were created by kids.
So I pulled, pulled all the kidstogether and, and they I said,
(28:00):
think about what you like, wouldlike, think about what kids a
little bit older than you would like, kids younger than you
would like. And we made a list.
And so I'm slowly working through that list and adding all
those things. We've got cars down there that
are built out of logs that kids can sit in and, and use their
imagination. The kids wanted this, this
(28:20):
correct me. If the kids wanted a campground
down there, they wanted a place to tent camp.
So we have a little fire ring and logs around so they can
pretend like they're tent camping.
So so that's down in the hidden hangout.
Then we also have on property 2 fishing ponds that are stocked
with fish. We have a Gaga ball pit,
pickleball, basketball, and thenhiking trails.
(28:45):
We have the thinking spot, whichis on the north side of our
property. It is a a table and chair.
One chair. It's meant for somebody to go
and just sit in journal on theirown.
We have a Mason jar that has thinking prompts in them, so you
pull them out and they have to do with nature, travel and
(29:05):
inclusion. And so you can go there for a
walk with your family and you can use it as a family
discussion point. You can just think about it or
you can journal about it as well.
So those are some of the things that we have here on property,
but then there's the things off property and some of those
things are really unique too. So the Red River Gorge area
(29:27):
offers, as I mentioned before, the rock climbing.
If you're not a rock climber, there's three rock climbing
schools here that we have used and you know I can connect you
with. There is the off roading.
So there is the Daniel Boone Backcountry by way that has, I
(29:47):
can't remember they they just expanded and added more miles.
I know there was 90 miles in onesection, I believe 60 miles in
another of off roading opportunities.
If you don't have an off road vehicle, there is a place
locally here you can rent a sideby side and have it be guided.
There's underground kayaking here.
So there is a mine here that they hit the water table and it
(30:11):
partially filled with water, which is a really cool
experience and that's nice to dono matter what the weather is
outside. It's the exact same experience
in the underground mine. And then there's also above
ground kayaking. The hiking here is phenomenal.
Kentucky is known, or this part of Kentucky is known for its
(30:31):
waterfalls and natural arches. It is believed that there
possibly could be more arches here than even Utah.
Just so many of them are on private lands there.
There is a group that is documenting that and trying to
record all those live music, music in Eastern Kentucky.
A lot of well known artists comefrom Eastern Kentucky.
(30:54):
There's a recording studio not even in a town, it's just in the
Gorge area so you can listen to live music right now.
I'm aware of three local establishments that have live
music for free and two others that are local that you can pay
to see a little bit bigger names.
And then our restaurants, there's not a ton of restaurants
(31:16):
here, but the ones that are hereare really good.
They're a lot of them sourced locally from local farmers.
And so I enjoy getting good local food that's not
necessarily, you know, your Applebee's and and your chains
like that. So there's zip lining here.
(31:38):
I mean, there's just lots of opportunities for outdoor
recreation. Wow.
Do you feel like you struck goldwith your location and.
Yeah, because when we bought this property, we did not
realize all of the outdoor recreation things that were
here. We knew of some of it, but we
didn't know all of it because wehadn't then to this part of the
(31:59):
then to this part of the state. We've been to like through
Louisville for instance, but notthis part of the state.
And the other thing is that I discovered is that there's only
one other park here that can accommodate a big RV.
So that's another thing that we've done here is we've, you
know, our RV sites are minimum 70 feet deep, so we can
(32:21):
accommodate, you know, big rigs,but that means that you, your
full time RV Rs tend to have bigger RV's, right, Because we
live in them full time and you know, we've got kids.
So this area has not been explored very much for with the
full time RV community because there's, there was really only
one other place that a full a big RV could could park.
(32:46):
So I think that's, you know, it's hard, you know, as a full
time RV R, we've seen amazing things.
We've been to national parks andseen beautiful things and to
provide an opportunity for the full time RV community to
explore an area that maybe they haven't explored before and also
(33:08):
a place for them to rest. So if they, you know, your go,
go, go explore, explore, explore, you could just kind of
slow down and, and rest here fora while.
And the kids, excuse me, the kids just, you know, explore on
site. And I hear from parents
regularly. My kids have not asked for their
(33:30):
electronics. I only see my kids when they're
hungry. And even then they can raid the
garden, right? They can go grab some
blueberries or grab a cucumber or something like that.
So I do think we struck gold. And then we're always listening
to our our RV community when ourguests or work campers are here
(33:52):
and especially my work campers, they'll say, have you
considered? And I love that statement
because I'm like, no, I haven't,but that's a great idea.
Let's see if we can make that happen.
Hearing the description of everything you have going on, I
feel the same way that, you know, you describe people that
have stayed there, say, I can imagine my kids would just play
(34:12):
in the mud kitchen, play by the spring.
And it would feel so good to know it's just all on property
and it's all safe. You know, they're just, I'll
just let them run amok with the walkie-talkie.
It'll be like, see you later, you know, because we're not. 100
site park. We're, we have 15 sites right
now. We do have plans to expand at
(34:34):
some point. The property's 38 acres and
there are, and you know, once parents see where the, the kids
faces are, you can hear the kidsin the distance.
You know which, which is my, I love that sound.
My my site is right made-up fromone of the kids faces.
I can't see them with all the leaves on the tree, but I can
hear them and I love that sound of kids playing in nature.
Me tail, I mean who doesn't? It's the best.
(34:55):
OK, so I I've heard that there is some paranormal activity that
sometimes goes on at Flyer Butterfly Hills.
Have you personally experienced anything unusual yet?
You have. Oh, tell me.
So we did not know we bought a house that has paranormal
(35:16):
activity for a year. OK.
How incredible is Tanya, you guys?
From her family's RV launch story to the hyper intentional
way that she's created Firefly Hills, it's clear this isn't
just a campground for her. It's a community with a whole
lot of heart, right? And listen, we are not done with
this. In the second-half of our
(35:36):
conversation coming up next week, we take a turn into the
wild side of Firefly Hills. The paranormal activity.
Yes, you heard me. Tonya accidentally bought a
haunted farmhouse and as it turns out, she and her family
were already amateur ghost hunters.
(35:56):
You cannot make this stuff up. We also get into her non profit
work in Jamaica, her world schooling adventures and how she
helps others take purposeful intentional travel beyond the
campground. And if you want to watch Tanya
speak about her haunted house and all these other juicy topics
from her haunted house, be sure to watch the full video version
(36:17):
of this episode on Spotify or YouTube.
Thanks for running along my friend, and I will see you next
time for. Part 2.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode and for being
part of the RV Queens community.Remember to hit subscribe on
whatever platform you're listening on.
And guess what? You can have conversations like
(36:37):
I had on this episode with your fellow RV women who are living
intentionally and making money on the road.
Head to rvqueenspodcast.com/community to
join RV Queens circles today. It's a totally unique online
space with a shared prosperity model that's all about community
over competition. I'd love to have you be a part.
(36:59):
All right, guys, I'll see you next week or hopefully I will
see you on the road. You got me.
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