Thanks for the welcome 103west43rd. First, the reasons I have not taken it to the dealer are, first I was informed I would need to make an appointment a couple of weeks ahead of time and leave the car for three days, second my experience with dealers fixing rattles has never been good although this is the first rattle I've had in a car since the 1970s.
I looked through the small space below the steering wheel today and saw that the fuse box appears to be located a few inches back from the plastic panel, I may be able to solve my problem by reaching through the fuse box cover opening. I'll give it a try before I embark on trying to remove the larger panel.
Thanks very much for your input!