With all the serious debate over parking problems, maybe we can use a bit of a laugh. Here's a couple that happened to me at EAA.
One year I flew my plane into Fond du Lac. I often stop there the first day, and take that night to wash the plane, before bringing it down to Airventure, also I stay at the hotel in FLD.
So I got into FLD around midday, grabbed the rent a car, and rushed down to Oshkosh, got there in time to make the seminar or briefing or whichever I had planned. I had a great day, and that evening was happy, but tired and ready to go back to the hotel.
So I went out to the red lot to get in the car for the short drive to FLD. Should be no problem, I'll just grab that rent a car that I drove in a few hours ago.
It then slowly dawned on me that the car part of my day was pretty much a fog and I really had not much of an idea of what the rent a car was, and only short of a notion of where I parked. And no. I could not look at the keys because I don't like to carry them around so they were in the car.
So I am wandering around for an hour our so, hot tired, sweaty and my feet hurt. A guy came by in a golf cart, and I asked for help. He was a really nice guy, spent a half hour of his time driving me around the parking lot. At least the looking went a lot easier when I was sitting down and riding. All I could recall was that it was a small light colored 4 door rental, just like hundreds of others. When the parking cleared out we finally found it about where I thought it might be.
i thanked and apologized to my helper.
He said, "Don't feel so bad, the year before he was working in north parking for GAP, and a guy forgot what and where his airplane was"!. He'd rented it for the trip,flew in, parked, and at the end of the week could not really remember the paint scheme much less N number.He said it was a white Cessna, just like a hundred others there.
They finally found it also. Wish I knew the name of that nice guy in the golf cart. He is more the rule than the exception at Oshkosh. A kind word and a smile sure helps in those times. Remember to pass it on to the next guy.
Hey, I had never lost my plane, maybe just a few mundane rent a cars.