We are at the boat launch parking area for Shoreline Park, on Shelter Island (map).
We've been here since before lunch, and we just finished dinner. Louise had to teach tonight by teleconference, so we decided to eat in. I had a nice steak in the fridge that we needed to grill before the onslaught of rubber chicken at TrawlerFest, and what better place to grill than a public park.
Shortly after arriving, we had a nice visit from local reader Kevin, who had been kind enough to do some footwork for us, scoping out potential overnight spots before our arrival. He was again helpful in filling in some of the details of the local history in the neighborhood. We always enjoy being able to put a face to some of the folks we encounter regularly on-line.
We had a pleasant afternoon in this great spot. Across the bay, we can see the San Diego skyline to the north (and it's quite glittery right now, at night), and North Island Naval Air Station to the east. Navy patrol boats and helicopters buzz around all day long, and one of the giant carriers (I can't make out the CVN number or name from here) is in port. This afternoon the Carnival Spirit slipped past us on its way to, no doubt, the Mexican Riviera, just as the much smaller Ryndam did yesterday. In the darkness, I saw a destroyer come home, completely blacked out save for the mandatory navigation lights.
As I was walking the dog while Louise was on her call, a car pulled along side me. New readers Tim and Kathy, new full-time RVers visiting San Diego in their car, had noticed all the rigs here on Shelter Island. They whipped out their BlackBerry and Googled "Shelter Island RV Parking" (much as I had done way back when I started looking at TrawlerFest here), and, lo and behold, this very blog is the number 3 result. I honestly do not know what we are doing here that causes Google to index us so high.
In any case, while they were staring at our blog on the BlackBerry, they spotted Odyssey across the parking lot, recognizing it from our header photo. Now, this is getting to be spooky -- I type a few words one day, and random people find both our blog and our actual rig, live and in person, via mobile internet, the next day. They were very nice, and we hope to meet them again on the road.
Now that dinner is over, the dishes are done, and Louise is finished with her call, we are relaxing with a glass of wine and a harbor view. In a little while, we will stow the dish and slip back over the causeway to another stealthy overnight spot (scoped out for us by Kevin) well before the posted 10:30 closing time. I expect we will end up right back here for most of the day tomorrow -- it's a great spot. With our parking anxiety mostly behind us, I expect it to be a relaxing day -- if the weather's nice, we might even put our chairs out.
Photo by jcolman
Wicked blog guys, you've helped me out a lot already. We're about to embark on a 2.5 month RV trip through the US and you've given me loads of spots to crash already.
ReplyDeleteOne question I've got - are you able to share Kevin's San Diego spot that you mention in this blog? No worries if you can't, I understand they can be like good fishing spots
Cheers and hope to catch you guys on the road!
@Fisher: Thanks for the comment. I'm sorry to say that I simply do not recall -- it's been a while. I did review the posts around that time for clues to no avail.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you, though, that we did spend a night or two on the street in the area just northeast of the causeway, on what used to be part of the naval base (now high-end retail and condos). So perhaps that was what I was referring to in this post.