First-time visitors to The Wilds Resorts & Campground may notice how they leave their world behind.
That’s the feeling you get as you get off the beaten path and drive slowly down a four-mile fabulous north woods world of country roads – slow turns, few houses, mostly woods.
Wilds owners Dan and Kellie Francis had that feeling the first time they looked to purchase the property, a feeling that this was the place, that their dream of owning a resort was about to come true.
But it’s not like some plot from a Hallmark movie. They did their homework on resort ownership, talked to dozens of resort owners, and lined up the finances to make the purchase in 2019.
The process started months earlier. “We were probably camping almost every weekend the summer before,” Kellie explains. “One weekend we stayed at a resort and a couple, just a few years older than us, had just bought the place. The husband was building picnic tables and then Dan wanted to build picnic tables.”
Dan smiles. “I worked with my Dad in construction since I could swing a hammer and I did some time on the oil rigs.” Dan also served in the military. “We both wanted a change in our jobs,” he said, “so after that weekend, we talked about it and started searching online for resorts for sale.”
They personally drove by a few resorts for sale in the area but didn’t like what they saw. Then they heard about a resort owners’ group and decided to attend the group’s fall conference. “We wanted to learn about it from other resort owners to see if we would be more interested in pursuing, dropping it, or if we can actually handle it,” Dan said.
They were thinking about building a resort from the ground up on Dan’s parents’ land. “And when we introduced ourselves at the beginning of the conference and said we were considering building a resort from scratch, the room filled with an immediate reaction of ‘oooooooooooh,’ because they knew the amount of work that would entail,” Kellie smiles. “It was like a collective gasp of shock from the group of seasoned resort owners,” Dan adds. “We totally understand that now. Working on an existing one is hard enough.”
They decided to forget the idea of building new, enlisted the help of a realtor, and found the perfect resort close to home: The Wilds.
Ironically, they say the biggest thing that sold them on resort ownership wasn’t the resort itself; it was the community. “The resort community was amazing,” Kellie said. “They don’t see any other resort as competition, they’re just out there to help other resorters. It’s absolutely awesome.”
Their biggest struggle right now is taking the time away from the resort. “We have the time, we can take it because we are our own bosses, but we’re always thinking there’s the next thing coming,” Kellie said.
“Being your own boss isn’t as easy as I thought it would be,” Dan adds. “There’s nobody to bark at ya to do the next thing.”
They do cherish being able to live and work near their hometown of Detroit Lakes. Why stay? “Our kids,” Kellie said. “We have ties here and we’ve always loved this area.”
“I was her first kiss back when we were 14 years old,” Dan smiles.
OK, now we can see that Hallmark movie!
