Reader assistance request -- San Diego camping

One of the consequences of having made the decision to, ahem, attend the inauguration, is that we had to cancel out of our scheduled and paid-for attendance at the TrawlerFest event in Stuart, Florida, which started today. Fortunately, I was able to escape penalty on our fully paid conference registration, some $800 worth, by pleading with the organizers to allow us to merely defer our attendance to the next event, in San Diego, California on February 26-28.

That's really too bad, actually, because we liked the seminar line-up and presenters in Stuart better, and I expect we would have seen quite a different collection of boats than we will see in San Diego. But it presents an even bigger problem, one that I did not really have the bandwidth to handle in the rush to make it to the inauguration. To wit, where in the world we will park Odyssey.

For the Stuart event, we had been all set with an Elks lodge just a few minutes away, an easy scooter ride even on Louise's 50cc Honda. We had been very careful to check on that possibility before sending our reservation in for the event. San Diego, however, has no such convenient option.

TrawlerFest will be held at the Kona Kai Resort and Marina, on Shelter Island. This is more or less in the busiest and most developed part of San Diego, and I have already exhausted my list of traditional options. There are no Elks lodges, UU churches, Cracker Barrels, Bass Pro Shops, or even Wal-Marts (not that any Wal-Mart in San Diego is even an option for us) anywhere within scooter distance of the event.

Ironically, the public park on Shelter Island, operated by the port, is chock full of RVs every day. But the park officially opens at 6am and closes at 10:30pm, and all these RVs trundle away every evening, presumably staying on public streets in residential neighborhoods overnight, only to return first thing the next morning. Apparently, there are dozens of folks living in San Diego on the cheap this way.

We certainly don't want to be shuttling Odyssey around every night and every morning to attend the show. In particular, the event ends every evening with a cocktail party, wherein some of the most educational conversations happen (at least in our one previous experience with this event), and we'd like to have a glass of wine or two with new friends who can further our education. Clearly, I don't want to then be navigating a 24-ton vehicle around the streets of a major city at night.

To be clear, we are more than happy to pay for the privilege of parking near the event. I even contacted the resort directly to ask if they could accommodate us at some price, and, in spite of some sympathy from the sales department, the general manager turned us down. (And it is, therefore, a pretty good bet that we will not spend any money in their restaurant or cocktail lounge, other than what has been pre-arranged for the event.) After all, Silver Strand state beach is collecting, I think, $35 a day for dry camping on an asphalt parking lot (albeit on a fairly stunning stretch of beach).

The closest commercial park is a good 7.5 miles away, 20 minutes or so in traffic, and not really doable on the scooters due to the roads and traffic involved. So even though we are willing to pay commercial rates (which, in San Diego, are pretty high), even that is not really an option.

So herewith is my plea to any of our readers in San Diego: We need a place to park within scooter distance of Shelter Island for the four nights starting Wednesday, February 25th. That can be a driveway, the street in front of someone's house, or the parking lot of a business, boat yard, yacht club, hotel, or wherever you have an "in." If you have such a place yourself, or a connection with someone who does, please either post a comment here, or send me an email. And we're not looking for a handout -- we're happy to pay the going rate for dry camping, or more if a power outlet is involved, though long-time readers know we will not require any sort of hook-ups.

I have perhaps another week or so to work on this problem. If I don't find a solution in that time, I will have to call the TrawlerFest people again, and either beg for some of our money back, or see if they will grant yet another deferral to a later event, perhaps the one in Anacortes in May.