Forest Service Trying to Reduce Senior/Access Pass Holder Discounts

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-28744.htm

Some background...I know most of our readers are well aware of the following, but for those of you who aren't:

There are currently two discount passes available from the government for federal recreation areas: 1)The Senior Pass (the old Golden Age Passport) and 2) the Access Pass (the old Golden Access Passport).

The Senior Pass is available for all U.S. citizens who are age 62 and older; the Access Pass is available to all U.S. citizens who are permanently disabled. These two passes allow free entrance to federal recreation areas that have an entrance fee (such as National Parks) and allows half-price on some Expanded Amenity Fees such as camping.

As an example, if a Pass holder were to visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, they could get in free instead of paying the $25 entrance fee, and at the non-concessionaire campgrounds, Mather and Desert View, instead of the full campground fee of $18 for Mather and $12 for Desert View, they would pay $9 and $6. (Trailer Village is a full service RV park run by a concessionaire, and they don't honor these two passes for half-price camping.)

The same is true at other federal recreation areas: If there's an entrance fee, pass holders don't pay it, and can camp for half-price.

Well, now the Forest Service has proposed that this 50% discount be reduced to 10% for all concessionaire-run campgrounds (and many, if not the majority, of USFS campgrounds are run by concessionaires). The entire proposal can be read at the above website.

You can see, I'm sure, where this is headed...if the USFS gets away with reducing camping fees (and other Extended Amenity Fees) from 50% to 10%, can the other federal agencies be far behind?

What's next...is the National Park Service going to quit honoring the passes for free entrance to their parks?

At the above website, there is a link to the Regulations.gov website where people can leave a comment...the direct link to the comment site for this proposed legislation can be found here.

I hope everyone will take the time to leave a comment at this site and write, telephone, or email your U.S. Senators and Representatives to put a halt to these regulations!

I don't know who's idea this was, but I can say that they can't see the forest for the trees. If this proposal is passed, we...and many other campers...will not stay at these campgrounds. So, instead of receiving 50% of the camping fee, they will receive ZERO percent from us! Now, how is that a good thing?

Maxx's Surgery

Maxx came through surgery OK today...whew! He's still a bit groggy, so he's currently sleeping it off in his bucket (the vet does surgery at 8 AM before they open at 9, and since they close at noon, the animals haven't completely worn off their anesthesia by the time the owners have to take them home). The vet gave us some antibiotics for Maxx and wants to see him again tomorrow morning to check the sutures on his butt where they removed the tumor.

We'll have to pick up some more antibiotics on January 1 (I guess it'll have to be the 2nd since they probably won't be open on New Year's Day) for another 5-day round because of his teeth which were in bad shape. He may have to end up having some removed (he had three removed in 2006 at the vets in Burns, Oregon when we were volunteering at Malheur NWR).

Depending on what the vet says tomorrow, we may be heading down to Yuma soon so that Earl can go to a dentist in Algodones to have a new partial made.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leafy aster

Symphyotrichum foliaceum

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...hope y'all have a great day and eat lots of turkey!

We'll be leaving here (Running Lizard RV Park) tomorrow and heading out to BLM land near Quartzsite to park for a week or so. Maxx has surgery on December 1 to have a tumor (non-cancerous) removed, and while he's under, his teeth will be cleaned. Hopefully, he'll make it through surgery OK...I worry about his undergoing surgery at his age and his having heart problems due to Valley Fever, although he's doing pretty well.

We signed up for an annual spot at an RV park in Salome, about 16 miles east of Quartzsite...Gateway Ranch RV Resort. We thought we'd give it a try before our name comes up for a lot at the Escapees park in Sutherlin, Oregon to see how we like it (we're currently #33 on the list, which means we probably have at least a year, perhaps more, to wait until we're at #1).

I'm going to be cooking a turkey breast today plus all the fixin's. Since we only eat the breast on a turkey, anyway, and it's difficult to find a small turkey, the breast fits the bill for us...not to mention the oven and the refrigerator!

Pussy-toes
Antennaria rosea

I've finally gone over to the dark side and set up a Facebook page! You can click on the link at the left-hand side of the page, or click here to be taken to my page.

We had a nice visit yesterday from friends Mike and Mary (who live across the street from the house we used to own here in Quartzsite). On Monday, we had lunch with Boomers Donna and Bob. We had not met them before, but it's always great to meet new friends!

Otherwise, we've had a pretty quiet stay here. We've made one trip to the new Wal-Mart in Parker...it's a bit farther to travel than going to the Albertson's in Blythe, but it's also a lot less expensive to buy food there. We do shop at the Blythe Ranch Market, next to K-Mart. It's less expensive than Albertson's, but they don't carry a lot of the stuff we usually buy.

This morning we were sitting at the table working on our computers when we saw a Gila Woodpecker sitting on the fence behind us eyeing the hummingbird feeder on the back window. Pretty soon, it flew over and hung from the feeder, dipping its long tongue in the holes, lapping up the sugar water. The picture didn't come out too well because I was shooting through the window and the feeder is in the shade.

We took Maxx to the vet yesterday to have blood drawn for another Valley Fever titer...results should be back by the end of this week. We also had the vet check the lump on Maxx's rear end...he's had a lump there for quite some time, but it's gotten a lot bigger within the past month or so. The doctor said it's a tumor, most likely a benign one. So we're going to have it removed on December 1 and, at the same time, have Maxx's teeth cleaned.

Happy Halloween!

Monday when we left Pahrump, we headed southwest on SR-372 (Nevada) and SR-178 (California) to Shoshone. From there, we picked up SR-127 south to Baker where we stopped to fill up with diesel and have lunch at the Famous Pancake House (which we think used to be a Denny's...or, at least, something other than a pancake house).

We then drove south on Kelbaker Road through the Mojave National Preserve, stopping for the night at a boondocking spot about a half mile or so north of I-40.

The Granite Mountains:

Tuesday, we made it to Quartzsite. No one was at the small RV park where we wanted to stay, so we called and left a message on their voice mail and parked out on BLM land west of town for the night. The next day, we moved over to Running Lizard RV Park where we'll stay until near the end of November.

White mariposa lilly
Calochortus eurycarpus

Well, here we are still at the Escapees park in Pahrump!

We were planning on leaving last Monday, but the wind picked up and was supposed to blow through Wednesday, so we decided to stay another week. While we were here, Earl took the truck into town to get the oil changed at the Grease Monkey. Other than that, we had another quiet week.

This park has a nice, very large, dog run not too far from our site where we take Maxx for his "walks." The couple across from the dog run has a Boston Terrier that is often out in the run at the same time as Maxx, so Maxx has another dog to play with (although, at 14 years, Maxx isn't much into playing). Earl got to talking with the couple and told them about our plans to spend some time in Yuma this winter so that we can go across the border to Algodones for Earl's dental work. They gave us the name of the dentist they use as well as an eye doctor they've used. I will solicit other recommendations on some of the RV lists to which I belong, but this is a start.

We WILL be leaving Pahrump today...the wind is nice and calm. We're probably going to head toward Shoshone and Baker and drive through the Mojave National Preserve to I-40. From there, we'll head east to US-95 and south to Quartzsite...not all in one day, of course. We probably won't make Quartzsite until Tuesday or Wednesday.