So whatever happened to it all?

If a fan were to write a contemporary story about whatever happened to the Shady Rest, the Cannonball, Drucker's store, et al, I think the basis could be that the hotel eventually became a Bed & Breakfast place-- which really may describe what it was in the series, anyway-- and the train held on, was restored (maybe more than once), and is now one of the attractions at a steam railroad/bed & breakfast/valley farmers park. It's something like the spot of a quasi-reality vacation where patrons can tour the train and engine, the old hotel, and the farms and orchards, not only to observe, but take part in them.

I remember Gilligan's Island did something similar to this in its later movies-- they went back to the island, and (with big help from the millionaire) made it a tourist attraction where visitors could stay in the lodge they had built, or try to live for a short time as the castaways once had, with limited conveniences and no contact with the outside world. But of course, this is only fanfic I'm talking about here with PJ.

But there is quite a problem with the fact that the older adult characters from the series would be dead, and the younger ones, like the Bradley sisters and Steve, would be around 65 - 72. Since Kathy Jo would be about 45, it would seem either to rest on her as being the center-- like her grandmother had once been-- or else to just cut the ties and assume the Bradley/Elliot families have long abandoned the place, or at least the way of life they strove to keep alive, and to have just new names and new histories. As a fan, I favor the former; that is, to keep the old ties through Kathy Jo, who would be something like the CEO of the whole operation. She might actually be the creative enterpriser that Uncle Joe fancied himself. This idea has potential, I think. And did Kate and Kathy Jo actually have the same given name?-- Katherine Jo(sephine)? Finally, where "Kate's" final appearance is Kathy Jo's first-- I always have had a vague feeling of something prophetic, per se, about that scene.

I am an 'old fanfic writer'-- I suppose we've reached the point where this kind of thing is now like an old trend. I've written many Gunsmoke stories and several multi-part Leave it to Beaver's, including flashback stories of how Ward and June met and the births of Wally and Beaver. But a "Whatever Happened to Petticoat Junction" is something I don't really know about as to feasibility, or even the slightest interest. Any thoughts about it?