It seems like ALMOST every park I’ve called in the Bay Area has been answered by a RUDE person. I’m so sick of it! This isn’t the first year it’s happened either. I can’t stand California for this reason… Not only this reason, but mostly!

There’s a chance we will have to go back out there this year to work on that dreadful eyesore called Sutro Tower. I just noticed I’m drinking my coffee out of a Sutro mug. Yuck.

Rent out there is about 3x what we usually pay in a month! (Not to mention groceries cost 3x as much as the rest of the country… Eggs are about $6/dozen!) And you only get a tiny parking spot, not even wide enough to open awnings, barely wide enough to open slides, and just long enough to squeeze us in, but good luck walking behind the camper! I realize that this is just the norm, and it’s not exclusive to Candlestick RV Park, where we’ve stayed the past two years.

Example:

Abe’s RV Park, where we are currently: $475/month, an actual calendar month.

Candlestick RV Park: $1350/28 days in 2014. $1500/28 days in 2015.

Regardless of the price, and the size of the space, I’d like to live somewhere that is not in the ghetto, where I feel safe walking outside the gates with my tiny puppy alone. I’d also like somewhere with even just a hint of green grass, something other than dirt patches used as kitty litter boxes for the dozen or so stray cats that live in the park. And honestly, I really look forward to going to the NHRA race in Sonoma! We went in 2014 and had a blast and met some awesome people. We wanted to go again last year but it was so difficult getting the camper into our spot that Allen really didn’t want to fight to get it back out and in again… So we didn’t go. It’s really the one thing I look forward to out there. (Besides Carmen… You know we love you! AND Carmen is the only reason we even had a spot at Candlestick last year… Which is looking like where we might end up again this year if she can pull some strings for us…)

But in hopes of finding something we would like better, I did some looking yesterday and found a few RV parks in the area that I hadn’t called before. RUDE! So I’m going to put them on blast here. I’m sick of people being nasty for no reason. It’s really uncalled for.

With the exception of Golden Gate Trailer Park… He was nice, just explained that they are an older park and can only accommodate up to 40′ RVs and he doesn’t have space anyway. I had my hopes up for this one. It’s right next to a BevMo, I mean how perfect?! Anyway, nope.

After that I called the Larkspur RV Park, or what I thought was the number for the Larkspur RV Park. It was the number on the very minimal website I found after all. When I looked at the Novato RV Park, it said “check out our sister park for longer stays”, which was the Larkspur. The woman who answered the phone said yes, they have a big enough spot so I said “Great! Where exactly are you at? All I found online was a phone number.” She said in Novato… Oh, I thought I called Larkspur RV Park…? Oh, no they don’t have room over there. I said, well we won’t be there probably for about a month or two, I was just seeing if we could possibly fit. No. Well, okay then. On to the next!

The Silver Penny RV Park. Sounds a little sketch, I know, but I’m grasping for straws here, it’s San Francisco… I get a grunt after about 4 rings. Me: “Um, hi, is this the Silver Penny RV Park?”… Grunty Guy: “Yeah”… Me: “Oh okay, I was just wondering if you possibly had a spot big…”… Grunter: cutting me off “If you’re calling about an opening, no, we don’t have any.”… Me: “Oh, well we won’t be out there for probably a month or two, I was just trying to see if…” … Guy: cutting me off again “It’s all permanent residents here.” Hangs up. Me: “Oh my god, I hate San Francisco.”

Marin RV Park. I think this one is just down, or up, the road from Golden Gate Trailer Park (I’m tempted to call that guy back and pretend like we are only 40′ long)… Okay, so this B… She actually answered the phone “Marin RV Park”, which was a step up from grunty Silver Penny guy. So I say my line “Hi, I was wondering if you possibly have a spot big enough to fit a 43′ 5th wheel?” … B: “Forty-THREE foot??”… Me: “Yes, 43”… B: *exasperated sigh* “What dates?”… Me: “I don’t have exact dates yet, we’ll be doing some work in the area, I’m just trying to see if we could even fit our camper right now, it probably wouldn’t be for about another month or two.”… B: “No, we don’t.”… Me: “No, you don’t have spots big enough?”… B: “We don’t have any long term spaces.”… Me: “Oh, what’s considered long term?”… B: “Months. A Month. We don’t have any open.” … Me: “Even if we won’t be there for a couple months? You’ll never have a spot open?”… B: “No.”… and hangs up. Oh. My. God. Like I said, B.

There’s a nice looking place in Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point RV Park) but they have a rule that you can only stay 28 days, then you have to leave for one night before you come back. What?! What are we supposed to do with that? Make a once a month Walmart trip and sleep in the parking lot? Sike, it’s California, I’m sure they have some kind of law where you aren’t allowed to overnight in a parking lot… Oh wait, if that was the case, none of the RV Parks would be legal!!! Rip off sucky place that is the Bay Area.

This other place, Treasure Island RV Park, I called the year before last. Super trashy looking from Google Earth view. But anyway, I thought I’d give it a shot. That guy said after 28 days you have to apply for residency to the state of California! Oh, and we would BOTH have to pass a credit check and put down a month’s deposit. This isn’t a damn apartment! Sorry, I was doing so good about my language. 

Last year we drove over to San Francisco RV Park in Pacifica just to look. It’s about like Candlestick, but foggy and cloudy ALL the time, whereas at least Candlestick is sunnier than the rest of the city most of the time. It’s within walking distance of some stores and restaurants, so at least I wouldn’t feel so stranded. It’s right on the ocean. You may have seen the videos on the news recently about parts of Pacifica falling into the ocean… That’s happened here before and the park keeps shrinking in size. No thanks! I’ll pass!

There’s also one in Vallejo (Tradewinds) but they make you leave whenever there is a big convention. California is just nuts… I’m sorry but I don’t like the state as a whole. Oh, and here’s another example…

A guy Allen works with got pulled over last year and the cop asked what he was doing in California, he lived in Nevada but he was working in California. He does tower stuff too. He told the cop he was working. The cop asked how long he’d been there or something like that and Shane told him. Turns out that if you work in California for more than a few days you are supposed to file and pay taxes there.

Also, California is the only state I’ve ever been to that has a check point at the border like it’s a separate country! That’s so ridiculous to me!

Now, I did my time in the city, 4 years for college at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, but I’m just over it now. Some people love it and that’s great. For them. Not for me. I need some space and somewhat of a value for my money and nice people!

Anyway, in conclusion… Allen and I eventually want to buy and run an RV park ourselves. I really think the backbone of the business is how you treat your customers. It makes all the difference in the world. Also, what ever happened to having some common decency??