December '05 Newsletter

We've stayed close to home this fall, as is evidenced by a lack of trip reports in this newsletter. Arizonans enjoyed a lovely, extended warm autumn. Unfortunately the drought may have returned and this year the ski resorts are not open yet due to lack of snow. The combination of Turkey day passing, Christmas carols on the radio, and our first night with temperatures in the high thirties convinced us it was time to light our fireplace pilots and adorn our shaggy, old, fake Christmas tree with ornaments and strings of lights that never seem to work without repairs.

The cooler weather has encouraged us to get out and continue our mesquite bosque clearing project. Our property is covered with a dense thicket along the riverbank, some of it dead and down, all of it a potential fire hazard. We've been thinning this out to lessen the danger in the hotter, drier summer months. The goal is to create 50' or more of defensible space around our house. The local citrus trees are loading up with fruit again. Our solitary lemon tree has rapidly ripening fruit, which is starting to turn yellow. This tree has several different types of lemons grafted onto hardy stock, so we usually have more lemons than we know what to do with from December until late April. Come and get 'em.

Once a year, usually the first weekend in November our local Braggin Rock Club hosts Rockarama, a three day rock show. Karen visited from Sedona and after checking out the rocks, four of us went to Rock Springs for their monthly afternoon barbeque "Hogs in Heat". It was our first visit and it was quite enjoyable. The live band was pretty darn good and the barbeque was even better. Bob was not thrilled with the idea of trying Bradshaw Mountain Oysters but Suz will not pass up an opportunity to sample unusual or ethnic foods. Before long all four of us had sampled the little nuggets and we all agreed that they were nothing to write home about.

The following week, BCC hosted their 3rd annual Veterans' Day parade and fireworks extravaganza. Another clown from BCC and four clowns from the Wester Jesters, a Sun City West clown club, joined Suz in the parade. Karen came down from Sedona again, Susan Lassiter and Mike Blevins came up from Goodyear, and Marsha Middleton surprised us showing up after the parade but before pizza with a death by chocolate cake treat from AJ's fine foods. Mike and Bob shot a load of digital parade pictures. You can see Mike's on-line for a time at his website. We watched the fireworks display from our backyard, spectacular again, and enjoyed a roaring bonfire before and after.

Bob bought himself a faster digital camera for Christmas. His 5 megapixel Minolta was three years old now and the electronic cameras continue to rapidly improve. He already loves the new Canon Digital Rebel XT (8 megapixel, large buffer for taking a rapid series of shots, up to three frames per second). If he could have found a way to jam 60 megs of memory into the old one he probably would have kept it as it has been an excellent camera. Scott and Tennille believe the old one is high tech enough for them, so it has found a new home. We will be going to Tennille's graduation in Tucson in a few weeks. Then they are going to come up and stay with us for a couple of days.

Suz has appropriated the ATV for around town errands and yard sale visits. She has made a lot of friends in our little town. She substitutes for a Bunco game once a month during the fall and winter. When one of the ladies was late last month, Bob was even pressed into service, unshaven and in shorts and frowsy T-shirt, and became known by the neighborhood guys as the "Bunco Queen". Suz has been working a lot at Meals on Wheels both in the kitchen and delivering. Her specialty there is dirty dishes. She still goes down to town a couple of days a month to volunteer at the food bank she has been involved with for the past 5 or 6 years.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful feast for the second year in a row at the Prescott home of Paul & Phyllis Lupo. Their daughter Bethany will be getting married in January so we expect to see more of them in the near future. We will again be spending Christmas Eve in our old neighborhood with our dear friends the Coles. Bill's health has not been too good this year, so it is especially important for us to go down. Christmas Day we are invited to dinner at the home of the Loiselles', BCC friends who we are just getting to know. Suz hit it off with them immediately and then found out they are from Duluth, not far from where she grew up.

All in all it was an interesting and rewarding year with a few sad moments. Bob lost his best friend to heart problems and a godmother to old age. We welcomed a few new babies into our family and circle of friends. We helped another close friend struggle with cancer. We learned a few lessons, said more prayers, softened a few hard edges, and laughed more than last year. Life is good and we continue to marvel at how we are blessed!

2006 River Permits and Trips:

It's that time of year again, no not the holidays, the river permit application season. A few folks have begun asking us what trips we would help organize next year if one of them scored a permit in one of the many lotteries. After many years of our annual messages, we're certain most of you realize that a river trip is impossible without a permit and that the dynamics of obtaining a non-commercial permit for a launch date require active participation by all. Most of these lotteries require interested parties to submit an application during December or as late as the first couple of weeks of January. You can find the lottery application specifics on our website.

So what rivers would Susan and I like to raft next year? We do not expect to have time for a spring rafting trip because we are off to Turkey with a large group of friends during the optimum Salt River flows. We are also going to Canada and northern Minnesota from mid-July to the end of August. This means we are up for any Grand Canyon trip plans in May, June, September, and October. We would certainly commit to a two week Middle Fork-Main Salmon River trip in early June (the permit would have to allow your group to be on the Main Salmon before June 19, ahead of their permit season). This trip is at least as enjoyable as a Grand Canyon raft trip and the month of June sure is a lot cooler in Idaho.

As usual the key missing item for all rafting trips is the permit, which is usually awarded through a high interest lottery. If no one is successful drawing a Middle Fork permit then we would consider doing a group trip on the San Juan, Yampa, or Cataract Canyon at that time. Be sure to apply to those agencies as well for the same early June starting time. PLEASE assist with the permit situation by entering the Yampa, San Juan, Middle Fork, and the first Grand Canyon lottery if you want to join us on a trip next summer.

If any of you have questions or suggestions about any of this, we would enjoy talking to you about one of our favorite outdoor activities.

Grand Canyon Rafting/Waitlist:

The changing situation at Grand Canyon will be of special interest to those of you who are on their waiting list. The National Park Service is in the process of completely eliminating the waiting list in favor of a lottery system as part of their new Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP). The number of non-commercial launches will be doubled, with half of the trips scheduled through 2011 to successful waiting list people and the other half going into annual lotteries of about 250 trips a year. This is very good news because the non-commercial use should be nearly doubled bringing commercial and non-commercial use to 50:50 parity.

It appears that very soon the NPS will be contacting those of you on the waiting list and offering 600 trips scheduled evenly over the years through 2011 (some, if not most, of the 2006 launches were scheduled in the fall of 2004). This scheduling is supposed to be complete by the end of February and will be known as Phase I. The NPS expects most of these trips to be taken by individuals with low waiting list numbers. After that is complete, they are going to encourage all remaining individuals to pool their efforts to obtain a lower waiting list number (for example: 3 people who have waited for 10 years total would be equivalent in the revised waitinglist to a single individual who had waited 10 years). When this is done, a phase II allocation of 600 more trips uniformly spread over the years through 2011 would occur, with the people who had pooled their interest expected to get a lot of those dates. A major problem with this plan is that it remains unclear how anyone would find others on a secret waiting list. Additionally, who would be the permit holder for this group permit.

If one still didn't have a scheduled launch date at that point (remember there are 8000+ people on the waiting list and only 1200 dates offered) the NPS plans to buy you out (pay back any fees you paid) or give you a preference position in the coming weighted lotteries. These weighted lotteries would allow people who were on the waiting list up to five chances in the lotteries while those not on the waiting list would have only one chance. As far as I can tell it is currently unclear whether these extra chances would be for one year's lottery or until you successfully obtained a permit for a launch date.

This is a very complex plan with lots of undefined areas that we are hoping the NPS will have resolved when they contact everyone on the waiting list. To protect your interests, you might want to visit the NPS website and wade through the huge amount of verbiage associated with the "Final EIS Executive Summary" or even the complete document (it is quite voluminous and can be ordered on CD). If you are on the waiting list, you should be aware this is going to happen in the first half of 2006 and keep involved.

2006 MG Trip Plans:

Start	Finish	Trip Name	Group Size	Comments
4/3/06	4/14/06	Aegean Turkey & Cappadocia We currently have 16 people committed.	20	Coordinating with a tour operator we will travel by first class bus and air. Stay in upscale hotels for twelve days throughout western Turkey. Fabulous Roman and Grecian sites will be visited surrounding Pamukkale, Bodrum, and Izmir. Additional sightseeing in Cappadocia and exotic Istanbul. Cost is expected to be $1,375.00 plus a couple of meals and any gratuities (double occupancy). Contact us for a full trip description. If interested $50.00 deposit now, $300.00 by December 15, and balance by January 15, 2006.
May June September October	May June Early July September October	Grand Canyon Raft Trip Need a permit.	8-16	The rumor mill has the NPS issuing 200 or more new trips in early summer of 2006 using a lottery. This may be your chance to get on a Grand Canyon raft trip. Organized for individuals with rafts and some without. Let's get permit applications sent in as soon as the details become known.
June	June	Idaho Raft Trip San Juan, Yampa, or Cataract backup plan. June 5-12 start date? Interested people need to enter lotteries.	16	If you wish to join this trip we'll need your help during December and January applying for a Middle Fork permit. Two weeks in Idaho on some of the world's best whitewater (Middle Fork and Main Salmon. Organized for individuals with rafts and some without. Possibility of flood flows.
7/15/06	7/23/06	Canadian Rockies Van Trip Limited space available.	12	We'll meet in Calgary, camp in the excellent National Park campgrounds of Jasper, Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho. Columbia Icefield walk. Travel will be in a rental van supported by our Toyota truck. Expect lots of dayhiking and unexcelled photo opportunities.
8/20/06	8/26/06	Boundary Waters Canoe Trip Trip is full with a short waitlist.	9	Susan wants to go home to Minnesota and has never canoed the Boundary Waters. We will meet in Ely. Transportation will be arranged to and from the area of interest. Since gear and canoes must be portaged several times on most loops, good physical fitness is required.

If you need more specific information on any trip we have planned, please contact us. We always generate a trip description with itineraries and all of the information one would need to help make a travel decision.

• Additional information, including our reservation and cancellation policy, is available upon request.
• Pre-trip information is mailed to all participants approximately a month prior to the trip.