The original plan was to drive up on Friday, stay for the weekend and then meet up with Shorty Rossi on Monday on the way back up to Portland. But you know what they say about the best laid plans. Shorty was busy with filming Monday so that was out. At first it was a little frustrating because we didn't plan on being away from the office the extra time but like most things it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because as you found out Ryan's grandfather learned about the passing of his friend on Monday and he was happy we were there to lend a shoulder to cry on.
Thankfully Shorty's schedule freed up on Tuesday and we left Indio at 8am to meet up with him in Venice Beach at 11. The drive should only have taken 2 hours and 9 mins but true to LA form we made it in at 11 on the nose. Also true to LA form we got a parking ticket 30 mins into our stay. I don't know what it is about that city but every time we visit we get a parking ticket! Definitely not a pleasant surprise at $58!!!! Fortunately I realized we were probably approaching that magic time and Ryan went out and plugged the meter for another hour, his phone read 1 min past the 30 mins we'd originally paid for. I guess there is nothing we can do about it but $58 is a tank of gas and money is not flowing as well as we would like, heck it's not flowing enough to give us a wage! But that is a story for another time. 
Our visit with Shorty was a lot of fun, we got to sit in the same seats they use on the show and check out all the artwork and gadgets he has in his office. It's so funny how small everything seems in real life compared to on television. We visited Antique Archaeology, you might know it from that show American Pickers, and it was tiny! I guess my perception is really off since I also thought that the Eiffel Tour was more impressive in photographs. Anyway, we had a great conversation with Shorty, took some pictures and bribed his dog Hercules with treats to get some awesome shots. He literally turned the chamber of the RocLok into a doggy dish, it was pretty cute. Since we were down in the general area, distance means nothing on a road trip!, we drove down the 101 to visit our vendor at the Do It Best in Port Hueneme. Back in March we met the general manager at a home and garden show and they asked to have 10 units to test market. At the time we didn't have a lot of point of sale marketing to offer but by the time we visited again in April they had successfully sold 3 units. Unfortunately it seems like their sales force lost interest and after we left the inventory was moved into a corner of the garden section. Even though the display looked nice enough, it made absolutely no sense. I mean first of all there was no price at all. All the RocLok's were laying right side up so it looked like a shelf of fancy rocks without a purpose. If I was a customer I wouldn't have even bothered looking! Surprisingly despite this they still sold 3 more units.
Planning ahead Ryan had loaded the in-store display with a monitor that plays the video on the homepage of our website. Since we hadn't heard anything from the store since April we weren't really sure if we were going to be setting up the new display or loading up the inventory and taking it back to Portland with us. After getting to the store and talking with the manager we all decided to give it another go and put up the new display but this time I insisted that it be in the hardware section next to the key cutting and locks. With limited space we needed a table to place the display on and the manager asked an associate to grab one out of the back. Obviously displeased by the task the employee wandered around for about 20 mins before acting. At one point he walked over to me and to measure the base of the display and asked what it was for. I explained that it was for the RocLok, describing what it was and to my surprise he retorted with "Are we even getting any more of those things, they are a bit spendy!" with a very disapproving tone and walked off. Needless to say I was unhappy after that so I proceeded to follow him around the store until he finally went into the back room and grabbed a table for us to set up. C'est la vie. His demeanour seemed to improve by the time we left and I was proud of myself for standing up for myself. Anyone who knows me can attest that I can be a push over and that confrontation and me are not friends. After the busy afternoon came to a close we headed up north, rested in Sacramento for the night and drove all day Wednesday to get home. It felt great to wake up in our own bed this morning.
