Date:         Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:18:52 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Subject:      Fryeday Off Topic RVer list of National Parks.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Great info, Mr. Joel.

  Especially useful to know which campgrounds are "preferred" or considered appropriate by/for the motorhomers who seem to have written the reviews.  That way, those of us who prefer quiet to the background noise of Onans and Briggs and Stratton can stay away from the BFMHs by avoiding those campgrounds where they are likely to congregate..
   "exploration by Dingy"..never heard that one before, I guess that means the smaller car most of the behemoths seem to tow along..
    Having spent a large portion of my life adjacent to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, I could certainly tell some good "Parkie" stories..The National Park Service is sometimes a haven for oddballs, but they do a good job usually..
  Don Hanson

One story: Delete now if easily bored..

  One spring before Mem. Day, we (my S.O. and I) went through Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks in our little camper truck, headed to near West Yellowstone for a  weekend outing of flyfishing and a bicycle ride around Yellowstone before the summer traffic arrived.  We camped overnight outside the park, to fish the Madison River, then mounted the bikes and rode  from camp into West Yellowstone to enter the park there and ride the Northern loop road, about 60 miles, I recall.
  We rode  up to the entry station behind a bunch of campers in various rigs..and presented our Golden Eagle park entry permit..The Parkie working the gate said 
  "Ok, that'll be an extra $4 for an additional vehicle..." 
   I go.."Wait a minute, a Golden Eagle Passport is good for the whole family, all year, one fee admits everyone..Look at that family at the next gate..Mom, Dad, Granny and 4 kids.. They just got through on their Golden Eagle, without any extra fee, and they are towing a car with 6 bicycles on top of it" 
   He says.."Yah, but you are on two separate bikes, so I gotta charge you an extra vehicle fee"  
  I go, "Well, just last night, we came through the South Gate, in our Datsun, with these same bikes on top, and used this same Golden Eagle, with no extra fee. What's different about us now, besides whe don't have the truck along? You mean you'll make us ride our bikes back to camp and get the truck, or else we have to pay this "extra fee"? 
 "Rules are rules" says he...
  So, we sit there, thinking, as traffic builds behind us.
."Aha", I think.  "Marie, come here and sit on my top-tube..hold your bike by the bars and drag it along"  She does, and we roll a couple of inches ahead..
  "Ok, pal, Now we are two people in one vehicle, towing a trailer"  "Here's our Golden Eagle"  "Forget about any extra vehicle fee" 
 He caved-in and didn't double charge us.
.The following Monday, I called our acquaintance who was the Head Smokey in Yellowstone at the time and mentioned this "odd-ball discrimination" against bicycles.  He changed that admittance policy right away. 
 We often, later that summer, saw the same oddball Gate Parkie as we entered and left the park..always waved gaily to him and he always Rolled his eyes!
  Don Hanson