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State parks are no longer motorcycle friendly

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Actually. That would be a good protest. While it may slightly costly, imagine them having to find alternatives.

Sent by my NSA monitored Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
 
The Bruce said:
Primitive camping in CO is a spot in the NF or BLM lands. Just pull off the road and set up. Plenty of free primitive camping. Cost of camping is getting pretty crazy. The problem in TX is the missing public land were one can pitch a tent without cost.
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**** even commiefornia has free camping on the national forest lands here. And the "yellow post" campsites.
 
you got it all wrong. they are very motorcycle friendly. at 5 bucks a day per bike plus a per head charge, they laugh all the way to the bank.
the MILD HOGS (over 60 year old riders) did Garner last year and most are retired and on a fixed (limited) income, we will never do a state park again due to the cash register sound as you drive up.
i live about 2 miles from GOVERNMENT CANYON state park, and was planning a tune-up camping trip but for no electricity, no water, primitive camping trip 30 bucks per night seemed a bit much. plus the women inside the money shack, were real *****es (all except one which busy stuffing her face). there were four of them.
i know , i know they work for the government and as such they treat the lowly state resident (tax payer) like crap.
i could go on and on, why beat a dead dog.
now, feral facilities are total opposites. with the senior discount card, camping is 1/2 price.
 
viffer07 said:
you got it all wrong. they are very motorcycle friendly. at 5 bucks a day per bike plus a per head charge, they laugh all the way to the bank.
the MILD HOGS (over 60 year old riders) did Garner last year and most are retired and on a fixed (limited) income, we will never do a state park again due to the cash register sound as you drive up.
i live about 2 miles from GOVERNMENT CANYON state park, and was planning a tune-up camping trip but for no electricity, no water, primitive camping trip 30 bucks per night seemed a bit much. plus the women inside the money shack, were real *****es (all except one which busy stuffing her face). there were four of them.
i know , i know they work for the government and as such they treat the lowly state resident (tax payer) like crap.
i could go on and on, why beat a dead dog.
now, feral facilities are total opposites. with the senior discount card, camping is 1/2 price.
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Yes, I too like the Corp. campsites ('cept for.when the gubberment shuts down). BUT, the Texas State Parks are nice too. I don't think the policy of excess vehicle fee was intended to be a anti-motorycycle, it was just an unintended consequence.

Please contact the officials in the park.system with your views and help get this policy revised. The intention of this policy was to address overcrowding in a parking space, but it missed the mark. The policy needs to address the footprint and not the number of vehicles. Please share your views with the "powers that be" as well.
 
BeemerlessBob said:
What's a yellow post campsite?
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It's a national forest service thing. Campsites that are marked with yellow posts off in the middle of nowhere. The ones out here are usually 10 miles up a forest service road.

Primitive sites with usually a fire ring and table. And free to boot.

I've only paid for camping once out here so far.

Even if I don't stay at a yellow post site I'll just go down a forest service road and find a clearing somewhere.


Sent from my iPhone
 
Willis creek park near Granger Texas was reasonable. $50 for huge group site with three grills,large canopy with five or so picnic tables,and way away from the other areas. Will post a few pics tonight when I get home. Hardy I think paid $9 for his camper site. Each one had a covered picnic table and fire ring. Electric and water. I will be using this park again really soon for another M@G@E@R in that area.
 
I have been keeping up an (email) conversation with the Director of Parks Assistant, Kevin Good. Today's conversation was about having the Excess Vehicle Fee applied, but then not requiring the vehicle (in our case a motorcycle) to be parked in the overflow parking area. Among other things, today I basically mentioned that...

The bottom line (from my perspective) is that it makes no sense to charge the fee then leave the vehicle(s) at the campsite. It also makes no sense to charge the fee when the vehicle(s) are not creating the safety issue that the fee is intended to address.


His (email) reply was...

I agree with both your points!
I believe my boss, Brent Leisure may have told you that our Business Rules team will be addressing this issue next week. I don't believe there is any opposition among management to changing this rule to more equitably address motorcycles while still addressing the real issue (too many cars/trucks/RV's trying to fit on too little pavement). There are some implementation issues that will have to be addressed in order to do this, as the fee is automatically generated by the computerized registration system, but we should be able to get this worked out in the next few weeks - certainly by the time prime riding time arrives.

Stay tuned.
Kevin
 
Carl, that is great! How much would you charge to get tolls changed? Lol

Sent by my NSA monitored Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
 
A somewhat uninspired update to share. I sent the following email earlier this morning...

Happy New Year. I know it is just after the holiday break and you are most likely playing "catch up" after the season, but I was wondering if you were in a position to provide any information from the Business Rules Team's meeting from December. Especially as it pertains to the Excess Vehicle Fee discussion.

Also, I wanted to ask if the public is invited, or generally allowed, to sit in on the quarterly, TPWD Commission meetings. I believe there is one scheduled for later this month.
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I received this reply...

Hi Carl,

The Business Rules team did discuss the Excess Vehicle Fee at length and they will be making recommendations to Brent Leisure soon. The team must consider several factors, including potential revenue impacts and possible "work-arounds" or alterations to a registration system that was not designed to waive fees that are programmed into the system. I can assure you that the team is continuing to work on the issue, but we do not have anything we can share at this point in time.

Regarding the Commission meeting, you are certainly welcome to attend these meetings. The next public hearing will be on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 9:00 AM at our headquarters building at 4200 Smith School Road in southeast Austin.
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But, the date Jan23, 9AM is on my calendar. Anyone else? It's at the Park Hdqr off MCKinnie (sp)
Falls Pkwy
 
(I'm not really procicient at quoting stuff.)

WhiskeySmith said:
A somewhat uninspired update to share. I sent the following email earlier this morning...



I received this reply...
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{Quote:
Hi Carl,

The Business Rules team did discuss the Excess Vehicle Fee at length and they will be making recommendations to Brent Leisure soon. The team must consider several factors, including potential revenue impacts and possible "work-arounds" or alterations to a registration system that was not designed to waive fees that are programmed into the system. I can assure you that the team is continuing to work on the issue, but we do not have anything we can share at this point in time.

Regarding the Commission meeting, you are certainly welcome to attend these meetings. The next public hearing will be on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 9:00 AM at our headquarters building at 4200 Smith School Road in southeast Austin.}

That dude majored in obfuscation with a minor in heeba-hobba.
 
Basically go away we don't care about how big your motorcycle is.
 
mikes old virago said:
But, the date Jan23, 9AM is on my calendar. Anyone else? It's at the Park Hdqr off MCKinnie (sp)
Falls Pkwy
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Here is the agenda for the January 23 commission meeting. No mention of Excess Vehicle Fees. :-(

I plan to attend, but was reminded that, while the public is invited to attend this meeting, the annual public hearing is not until August. So, for this one, we just get to sit and listen.
 
Hmmm... Sounds like time for a vacation weekday camp out lol

Sent by my NSA monitored Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
 
Update...

I sent this email to the Assistant to the Director of Parks last week.
Hi Kevin,

Just wanted to check in to see if you had any updates for me regarding the Business Rules team and the Excess Vehicle Fee.

Also, looks like I am camping in Big Bend Ranch State Park the first week of March. Looking forward to riding the area all week.

--
Carl
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And received this reply today.
Hi Carl,
I apologize for being slow in responding, I've been traveling and out of the office.
The business rules group informs me that a recommendation to senior management on a solution to this should be submitted this week. Once it has full parks division approval we will be able to the implement changes. It looks like we may be able to do this without taking any rule changes to the commission, which would take several months to accomplish. I'm still hopeful we can get this done by mid-March.

Hope you enjoy the trip to Big Bend Ranch! Do you plan to do much riding inside the park? There are some great spots that don’t require a lot of technical skills.
Kevin
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BeemerlessBob said:
Sounds promising. He didn't say what the solution was, but I assume it is to our benefit.
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Bob. Never assume anything is to your benefiet when dealing with a politician/government functionary... Especially when they use neutral words and don't spell it out.


Sent from Cheyenne Mountain to confuse the NSA
 
BeemerlessBob said:
Sounds promising. He didn't say what the solution was, but I assume it is to our benefit.
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You are correct, he didn't say what the solution might be and we don't know yet if it will be to "our" benefit. I sent him a reply email to thank him for the update and basically stated my opinion that a change that benefited (aka. "is fair to" ) vehicles of all sizes would be welcomed. Especially if that change could be made without involving the committee.
 
Update...

I asked for an update this week and received this reply...

Hi Carl,
I think we are almost there. After a couple of false starts and detours our Business Rules team has worked up a process that seems to work with the computer registration system, passes muster with the auditors and is workable for park staff that are actually checking folks in. This will get a final review next week by all the Regional Directors, then we should be able to put it in place.
Glad to hear you enjoyed Ray Roberts!
Kevin
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I then asked if any details, or perhaps an overview, of the proposed changes to the Excess Vehicle Fee policy could be shared and received this...

Essentially, it will be that more than two motorcycles will be allowed at a site without triggering an extra fee, but still allowing the park to issue an entry sticker. It just took some doing to figure out how to trick the computer registration system, while still getting it to print a permit.
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