In the summer of 2015 I worked collecting parking fees across the street from a popular trail in a National Forest. Many visitors tried to avoid paying to park their cars. I heard many reasons why people thought they shouldn’t have to fork over $5 to park, including I’m disabled, I’m a veteran, I’m a disabled veteran, I pay taxes, I have an America the Beautiful pass, I’m a senior citizen, I’m a local, and I paid to camp.

Some time after Labor Day when I thought I’d heard it all, in response to my request for $5, the woman driving said, I have a 4th grader.

I suppressed the urge to say, What the fuck’s that got to do with anything? and looked at her blankly (which wasn’t difficult since I honestly had no idea what she was talking about) until she handed over the cash.

When I told my coworkers about the woman and her 4th grader, they were as perplexed as I was. A 4th grader? So what?

Four months later Auntie Em and I visited the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We were on a van tour of the Ajo Mountain Drive, and our driver was a lovely young ranger named Anna. As she made chit chat with us and the couple sitting int he first bench seat, Anna told us she wanted to make a career of working with kids on public (federal) land. She mentioned a program called Every Kid in a Park, and explained this program waived admission fees to public land for every fourth grader in the United States.

In an instant all became clear. The woman with the 4th grader thought she shouldn’t have to pay the parking fee because of the Every Kid in the Park program.

(According to the National Park Service,

To help engage and create our next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates, the White House, in partnership with the Federal Land Management agencies, launched the Every Kid in a Park initiative. The immediate goal is to provide an opportunity for each and every 4th grade student across the country to experience their federal public lands and waters in person throughout the 2015-2016 school year.

Beginning September 1st all kids in the fourth grade have access to their own Every Kid in a Park pass. This pass provides free access to national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and more!

Far down the list of official rules for the Every Kid in a Park pass  it says

…some sites are managed by private operators. They may not honor the pass. Check with the site ahead of time to find out.

If the lady with the 4th grader had checked ahead of time, she would have found the parking lot I worked in was indeed managed by a private operator and did not honor the pass.

As Anna explained the Every Kid in a Park program, I wondered–if I lived long enough, would I eventually understand the reason for everything I experienced?