Back in 2016, Mark Lemoyne was at the tail end of a long and stressful career in politics.

I was very much engaged in the public policy arena, worked several years in the Michigan State Senate,

and then I was a lobbyist at the state and federal level working in the industries of retail and

healthcare.

And after 24 years in that industry, my wife and I hit what we call the Midlife Reset

button.

As a part of that reset, Le Moyne met up with an old friend to get some advice on what to do

next.

And it led to an unexpected outcome.

He says, if I could do anything in the world, what would it be?

And with no hesitation, I told them, you're going to think I'm crazy, but I've always

wanted to own an operated campground.

And rather than laughing at me, he continued with the challenge of, well, then you've got to do

that.

And within six months,

my wife and I sold the house, a second car, furnishings, you know, clothes, different things we

knew we wouldn't need. And we bought a campground and jumped in headfirst. It was like an adrenaline

rush. I remember coming back from the title office, signing a stack of paperwork that was about a foot high,

and literally everything we own, including the 401K, was in the form of a campground.

We had a great sense of accomplishment, but then also looked at each other, just terrified with,

oh my gosh, what did we do?

For the Freakonomics Radio Network, this is the economics of everyday things.

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