Martin and Gina Picke' purchased the park, previously known as Base Camp RV Resort. Martin grew up in New Zealand in the Auckland area and became involved in flying. He then moved to the southern California area to attend college for airplane maintenance. While living in southern California, he met Gina and the two got married and lived in southern California for many years. Through the years, Martin worked as an airplane maintenance technician as well as taught at two of the local colleges. And Gina owned an architectural drafting business and worked at the local Humane society as their dog training department manager.  All they ever dreamed of was to get away from that city life and move to a small town in the peaceful countryside. 

The couple had spent time in an RV traveling through many different states across the western U.S. They fell in love with the RV lifestyle and went about looking for an RV park to purchase. They found a small motel with a few RV spaces, in Merrill in 2015. They leaped at the chance to get out of the hustle and bustle of the life they were living, quit their jobs and bought it. The motel was called the Wild Goose Lodge Motel.

Both Martin and Gina viewed the motel as a steppingstone, and after six years of running the motel, they again started looking for an RV park to purchase. They described running a motel as a 24/7 operation and said it was difficult to get time off to enjoy themselves.

After the motel they owned sold, they saw that Base Camp RV Resort in Lakeview was available to purchase. 

Martin knew the area, as he and his friends from Merrill would go on motorcycle rides through the Lakeview region and to other parts of Lake County regularly. 

“I could see the potential in Lakeview and what it has to offer to the people of the region and to travelers,” said Martin.

The Picke's kept most of the original name of their motel in Merrill by calling the RV park the Wild Goose Meadows RV Park. Martin said he and Gina built a reputation for quality of service when they ran the motel in Merrill and wanted to keep the same quality of service in Lakeview, as well as the Wild Goose name for sentimental reasons. When you visit the park, you can see their old Wild Goose Lodge neon sign hanging with pride in the office window.