I’ve seen a few adverts on my social media feeds that there’s a party in the parking lot at the local office of my mega chain RV store. Typically I don’t like going in there, and I particularly don’t like going in to look at RVs. But today we brought friends along and made an exception.

As some of you know I used to sell RVs at Redwood Empire RVs. That was one of the most fun places I’ve ever worked and I often feel stupid for having left, quite honestly.

What made it fun was both great leadership and outstanding co-workers. The customer service attitude of the owners of that RV dealership made us all feel solid about how we treated customers there. We didn’t feel like we were cheating people, we gave good information and people made decisions about their camping future.

Who died in here

When we first went into the “party” we were greeted by a lady who asked if we were there to see RVs or to see RV stuff. She didn’t say RV stuff, I did. And that’s also what I told her so she directed us into the store where the RV stuff was.

A second person politely greeted us as we walked into the fairly large RV store. You know, the one with the RV stuff. So far, so good.

Part of the reason we wanted to go to the supposed party was to look at and butt test RV furniture. You can see anything you want on line but my hind end was on a mission. I wanted to see if I could find an appropriate chair that would work for both office duty and just comfy sitting in our own RV. With this mega corporation’s app, I could see what was in their inventory and it looked like a good selection of items that might work for me.

In fact there was, indeed, a pretty wide selection of RV furniture including several pieces that I thought might work. But there was also a sign asking you not to sit in the furniture.

Wait. What? Don’t sit on the furniture? Isn’t that why you buy furniture?

What’s next? A sign at a restaurant that reads, “don’t eat the food.” Perhaps a sign at the car dealership that reads, “don’t drive the car.” Seriously!

Guess what. My hind end and that furniture got very well acquainted and Peggy even brought me a similar folding table to the ones we have in our own trailer. Yep, this could work.

By this time most salesy places would have had someone looming over me wanting me to buy the chair and the extended warranty and all of that. In this case, nothing. So the four of us continued shopping the store and my friend, Patrick, eventually did get something.

This place has a large world of RVs where there are a few inside and a bunch more outside. We decided to wander around and at least look at the inside RVs.

There was a decent selection of samples from which to choose just in the indoors display. I think they covered each configuration of RV from smaller teardrop to a Class C and some travel trailers including toy haulers.

I had a few impressions of this experience.

One, when I was working at the RV dealership we were told to greet every prospect like an old friend. Yeah, yeah, there was the nice greeter lady in front and she was, indeed, very friendly.

But when we were in with the RVs themselves nobody even looked at us. Not a wave, not a smile, nothing.

And as for smiles, this place had a palpable energy of a funeral home that only served one’s own family. There was no joy, no smiles, the negative and very depressing energy in the place just was oozing from the air like the kind of feeling you’d get during the plague or something.

What was wrong here?

Also, only one or two of the RVs on the indoor show floor were illuminated. Since there wasn’t really any sunshine on this day that made the RVs dark. Oh, I could see that most were plugged in to something, but whoever’s job it was to make the RVs presentable that day may have been on a day off.

I think that person was also on holiday with whomever was in charge of showing the RVs in their best light. There were trim pieces sagging, dirty floors, broken handles and more. And, remember, these were the indoor dogs. I can’t even imagine what was out in the yard.

When we left I asked my friends what their feeling was and they immediately noticed the very negative and quite sad feel of this place. So it wasn’t just me.

Time to go - what’s around

After leaving this place we saw a locally-owned RV dealership next door and just thought we’d turn into the place. What a difference. Then we went inside and it was joyful, positive, upbeat and refreshing. Very refreshing.

I think whoever decided to throw a party at this big chain dealership hasn’t really been to a party yet. Or, if they have, it was a very sad party indeed. Like a wake or something. But it did reinforce what we’ve put together in our RV shopping guide including finding a high-quality locally-owned RV dealership.

On the way home we went to the newest branch of local hamburger chain Laguna Burger. Boy, what a great burger, especially for a chain. And I had the onion petals which were also good but did need some sort of dipping sauce.

Still, their green chile burger was quite good. You can get one in half-pound size or 1/3 pound size so I think Peggy and I both had the smaller Laguna Wimp version.

Apparently the word got ‘round about this new location because they literally stopped the line while we were waiting to place our order so the kitchen could catch up. It wasn’t a very long wait but it was popular. And very positive.

Being a local tourist

Thursday Peggy and I both got the joy of meeting our new doctor. It’s fact that the older you get, the younger younger people look. And our doctor looked like she was in high school. To us. But she was certainly knowledgeable and professional and we feel we’ve chosen wisely.

But on the way to the doctor’s we drove by Buffett’s Candies. This is a local candy shop and the place we passed was a very large and immaculate building so we promised ourselves a trip back after the doctor’s.

On returning we found this shop had just opened but the family had their original shop off Route 66 since 1956.

While all the candies in the shop are made in-house (with a very few exceptions) the new building puts the candy making on display for all to see.

After wandering inside the shop like…well…kids in a candy store we got to speak with Al who was just a joyful person and explained the history of the business, now in the hands of the third generation. Al also had samples which we enjoyed.

In fact the chocolates that he had to sample were among the best I’ve personally had so I’m not surprised that this place has been popular since the Jet Age.

Following our happy visit to the new store we went to the original store where we were further informed about the history of the company and that these Buffetts are, indeed, related to the Oracle of Omaha.

I had fun making this reel for Instagram.

We love playing local tourist and finding new things as well as old things that are new to us. It’s also fun to be a tourist in your own neighborhood. So, if you’re like us and home for a bit, see what you can find in your own town. Consider that people may come from other places to visit your own place and they must find something they enjoy.

This is also an example of why I like locally-owned businesses. You can just feel the better energy in a well-treated team.