KD5NRH

Drove into a few Texas state parks with no ATMs anywhere nearby, no one at the office, and not enough cash for the day use fee. (Usually needed a bathroom, next town was a half hour away, and figured I might as well rest a few minutes at whatever their main attraction was while I was there.) Each time I put whatever small bills I had on me (day use is usually $5-10, depending on the park) in the envelope, filled out the identifying info on the outside of it with a note that I didn't have enough cash on me, but would be glad to pay the remainder if they'd email me instructions on how to pay by mail, phone or web. Most never responded, though one did email me a "Don't worry about it. You're only $2 short and it's more trouble than that's worth to process a partial payment." I think they were just pleasantly surprised that someone didn't simply drive on in without even trying to pay.

I usually maintain the annual State Park Passport that covers the day use fee at most (maybe all?) TX state parks, but haven't traveled as much the last few years due to a job that just went away. Anybody know of an opening for a SketchUp designer, or a magazine looking for a series on bike touring Texas as an over-the-hill, average fitness guy? (Yeah, like you guys wouldn't have already filled that spot. Though seriously, if it would cover the child support, food, bike maintenance, camping/lodging and an extra $400/mo, I'd spend the next few years touring all sorts of Texas destinations and writing about it. Just gotta be home a couple times a month to see the kids, but it would be great to have stories about to tell them, instead of "well, I spent the last week trying to figure out how to get 2000sf of solar on a barn and arguing with suppliers to get the materials in.")