THE ROUTE

[Luca]

dato che a questa discussione partecipa anche Jonathan, che è il nostro prezioso contatto a San Francisco, scriveremo solo in inglese. Se vi viene in mente qualcosa da chiedergli è meglio se lo fate ora.
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Hi Damn Raiders,
Hi Jonathan!

Well, now we have to discuss the final route of our trip.
With Jonathan I have spoked about the possibility to cut off the city of Los Angeles and take a shortest way from Pismo Beach to Joshua Tree.
I think that Los Angeles isn't a Interesting city, is very big and dangerous for us because the hi level of traffinc that is possible to find in.
Cut Los Angeles can be a good thing.

I have made the fist trip in consequence of my Holiday two years ago, I went in those places andfor example I'm sure about the possibility to plant a tent or not, or the existence of fuel pump. I remeber also most of the road:
Our intention is to sleep in the campground of the National Parks that we will find in the route.
In some days we will sleep in motel or in equipped KOA campinground. In Sequoia NP and Yosemite NP is not possible sleep in tent because are Bear activity areas.
Ok, so now we can discuss the final route and the journal steps.

Here is the original trip:

Itinerario Semplificato Raid dei Deserti
Parziali
Totali

3/10 San Francisco - Pismo Beach

· Statale 1, famosa strada costiera dell’Oceano Pacifico
400
400

4/10 Pismo Beach - Upper San Juan



· Seguire la ss 1 fino a San Juan Capestrano, in un colpo solo si attraversano tutte le famose spiagge di Los Angeles , poi girare per la ss 74 e proseguire fino a San Juan. Pernottamento presso il parco.
440
840

5/10 Upper San Juan - Hidden Valley Josha Tree

· Proseguire per la ss 74 fino a Indio, quindi accesso al Joshua Tree National Park, pernotamento all’Hidden Valley.
260
1100

6/10 Hidden Valley Josha Tree - Temple Bar

· Si esce dal parco in direzione della cittadina di Twentynine Palms, si procede in direzione Amboy attraversando il lago secco di Bristol Lake, Svoltare a destra in direzione Essex, costeggiare la HighWay 40. Dopo 20 km girare per la 95 e all’intersezione con la 93 girare a destra direzione Boulder City. Dopo la Hoover Dam si entra nello Stato dell’Arizona, pernottamento presso il campo Temple Bar Marina che si affaccia sul Lake Mead.
409
1509

7/10 Temple Bar - Crand Canyon South Rim

· Seguire la 93 fino a Kingman dove inizia uno dei pochi spezzoni rimasti della Historic Route 66, seguire la route 66 fino a Williams, prendere la 64 e quindi proseguire lungo la route 180 fino a Grand Canyon South Rim. Pernottamento presso il Paarco naturale.
450
1959

8/10 Grand Canyon South Rim - Monument Valley Mexican hat

· Si parte dal Grand Canyon seguendo la ss 64. Giunti alla localitÃ* Cameron ( Riserva Navaho) si svolta a sinistra immettendosi nella route 89 percorrendo il Paint Desert, proseguendo verso nord. All’intersezione con la route 160 si svolta a destra in direzione Cayenta attraversando la mitica Black Mesa (vedi Tex Willer).
Svoldando a sinistra per la 163 arriviamo a Mexican Hat dove si possono ammirare le formazioni rocciose della Monument Valley (Ombre rosse, John Waine).

377
2336

9/10 Mexican Hat – Zion National Park

· Percorrendo la statale 261 fino all’incrocio con la statale 95 dove si gira a sinistra percorrendo il White Canyon. In localitÃ* Anksville si svolta a sinistra proseguendo per la statale 24 fino a Torrey, si gira a sinistra in direzione Escalante,all’intersezione con la statale 89 si svolta verso Long Valley quindi si prosegue fino a Mont Carmel dove si accede al Zion National Park.
440
2776

10/10 Zion National Park – Las Vegas

· Si parte in direzione ovest verso Las vegas seguendo la HighWay 15.
270
3046

11/10 Las Vegas – Dumovin

· Partenza da Las Vegas seguendo la Route 95 fino a Marcosa Valley. Si gira verso sinistra in direzione sud sulla statale 160 fino al Pahrump dove si svolta a sinistra per la ss 372, attenzione! Si accede alla Death Valley, saranno necessarie scorte di acqua e carburante.In questo passaggio si esce dallo stato del Nevada per entrare nello stato California. Si percorre la statale 178 in cemento lungo la depressione della Death Valley fino a Furnace Creek (il nome dice tutto).Da qui la statale 190 ci porterÃ* fuori da questo inferno da 52 gradi all’ombra. Si raggiunge Dumovin dove si pernotta.

380
3426

12/10 Dumovin - Giant Forest National Park

· Partenza da Dumovin in direzione sud fino ad incrociare la SS J41. Girando a destra si arriva al Giant Sequoia National Park dopo aver scalato il Sherman Pass di ben 3000 mt slm. nella foresta di Sequoie giganti (Orsi permettendo).
282
3708

13/10 Giant Forest National Park – Yosemite National Park

· Si parte dalla Giant Forest seguendo la 180 verso valle fino a raggiongere Centerville. Si gira a destra in direzione nord lungo la strada panoramica raggiungendo così lo Yosemite National Park.
270
3978

14/10 Yosemite National Park – San Francisco

Partenza sulla statale panoramica 120 direzione San Francisco.
296
4274

[Jonathan]

Hi from Jonathan!

OK, Luca, this itinerary looks good, now that I see it again. I had been measuring kilometers from KOA campsite to KOA campsite, not from the exquisite locations you have chosen. For those that don't know, KOA is a chain of campsites that honor a 10% discount card we get when we rent the support RV. KOA locations have a variety of accomodations-- from bare campgrounds to lodges with private kitchens and showers. Not all of them have all amenities. though, and not all are directly on the path Luca has planned.

I guess the main question is where we will stay the last two nights in order to avoid the bears!

Another question is, as you know Luca, since I have been asking, are you sure it is no more than 440 km from Mexican Hat to Zion National Park? I have traveled other parts of your route but not this one. I know some folks who have a campout rally every November riding from Tucson to Nogales, so they might know. But of course you have been there yourself so you will know.

Perhaps there is an option, if we go straight from Pismo Beach to Joshua Tree to save a day, of breaking up the journey back from Mexican Hat with another stop at the Grand Canyon or something. Maybe we just stop at a Motel8 and sleep a lot.

I would like to be back in San Francisco early enough on the 14th to take you all to the weekly meeting of the San Francisco Motorcycle Club. They are very friendly. They do an annual "Mods vs. Rockers" with my scooter club that is a lot of fun. They recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of their club (2nd oldest in America), so they really appreciate the entire history of motosport. They would see this Desert Raid as making history and would welcome VespaOnline Raiders with open arms and an open bar. Come have a drink at the end of this adventure, look at the photographs on the wall of moto clubs at Pismo Beach in 1924, and add a photograph to their collection.

Looking forward to it, I'm taking my Rally motor apart again today.

[Luca]

Hi Jonathan,
These are the place that I have seen in my previous trip with RV:
San Francisco-pismo Beach
Hidden Valley - Temple Bar
Temple Bar - Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon South - Monument Valley

At this point in my last trip I go directly to Zion by the low road, I go back to grand canyon and take to Zion. In the Raid we go to the upper road and we can sleep at Brice Canyon, the day after we can go to Zion NP, made little distance and take it easy for this day. (it can be a time-reserve if something go wrong in the past days.
I have attach a map with note to this message.


After Zion there is Las Vegas, dumovin (but we can sleep at Fournace Creek for you birthday)

After this:
Giant Sequoia
Yosemite
San Francisco

We must calculate very well the trip from Pismo to Joshua, it can save to us a day but it may be hard. Maporama say that it is 550 km, for two Raiders can be simple, is not simple in a day for 25 Raiders.
So the possibility is to start the trip very very early in this day and we can arrive in Joshua tree at 8.00 PM.

In all of the National Parks there is a very cheap and scenic camping ground, That I remember only the Campingground in Grand Canyon and the campinground in Sequoia have the shower, the other are clean, with barbecue, but not the shower. The cost is only 5-10$ per tent (not per person!). In my previous trip I sleep in those place with the RV and it was very good! very scenic and very cheap.
We can use the shower of the support RV and a portable hot shower (like this http://www.zodi.com/ ) with biodegradable shampoo.
I Think that we can go to this cheap and beautifoul Campingground in these places: Joshua Tree, TempleBar , Grand Canyon, Mexican Hat, bryce Canyon, Zion and Death Valley. In the other place we must take a KOA campinground or other brand of camping in Sequoia and Yosemite a Motel.

Please see the map in attach, let me know what do you think about it.
Is very important to study the road from Pismo to Joshua, we will do it in the next round! Now I go to sleep!

Bye

Luca

[Jonathan]

Ha ha! I was looking at a different Mexican Hat! The town called Mexican Hat, Arizona is almost all the way to the Mexican border. I didn't know there was one in Utah. What's more, I hear Bryce Canyon is very nice.

The trip to Joshua Tree I was thinking of takes the inland route from San Luis Obispo. The fact that Maporama is reluctant to give the direct route is a good sign because Maporama favors major highways. There are very many lovely backroads in that area which can take us East to Victorville, and from there to Joshua Tree. They vary somewhere between 400 and 460 Km to Joshua Tree, depending on which roads we choose. I will make contact with scooterist friends from that area who have showed me some of these roads on previous visits and determine which is the best way.

Forget what I said about Pismo Beach. Beautiful Highway One down the coast stops at San Luis Obispo. Continuing South to Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara does afford more views of the Pacific Ocean but from busy five-lane highways. I know a nice place we can stay for free at Morro Bay anyway. Is that OK? If not, that's OK too -- Pismo Beach is still just a little ways further, but we will have to come back up if we want to take Cable Corral Road or another road to go due East.

[Luca]

I have planned our trip for the first tree days, these are the real distance and my personal prevision about the realistic time to go for 25 person.



Day 1 - 02 October



Start San Francisco - Fisherman Wharf and take the State road 1

Refill Fuel at Half Moon

Arrive at Watsonville Koa Camping round 146, 6 km


3 hour and half if we are fast



Day 2 - 03 October



Start from Watsonville Koa Camping round

Go to 17 miles drive

-Refill stop at Carmel Highlands Chevron

-Refill on the road with can

Arrive at Pismo Beach "Motel 6" 308.7 Km



It can take 6-7 hour to arrive



Day 3 - 04 October



Start from Pismo Beach "Motel 6"

- refill at Cuyama Chevron

- Refill at Gorman Texaco

- Refill at Pearblossom Chevron

- Refill at lone wolf colony

Arrive at JUMBO ROCKS CAMPGROUND (or Indian Cove) Joshua Tree NP 520 km

The time to do this trip can be vary, I calculate an average speed of 50 km/h if we made 4 refill stops (25-30 min. a stop) and a fat lunch stop (30-45 min.).
So it can take 10-11 hours to arrive in Joshua Camping round from Pismo Beach.
I see the photos in Internet of this road, it is very beautiful. From the sea to the desert across the Pine forest. Very impressive!
Also we drive throw the "old route 99" now named 138.

I think that we can do it, but is imperative to start the trip early in the morning. For this reason is better if we sleep in a Motel, I have find the "Motel 6" in Pismo beach, is the cheapest but is far from the beach! So in the day 3 we must start the trip max at eight o'clock

[Jonathan]

Some modifications to day one:

- Start from Bay Street in Emeryville (where Oakland Bay Bridge begins) because they will host shipping container and would like to see us off.

- From Bay Street to Alice's in Woodside is two hours. We will have 20 other scooters with us for this portion (blocking traffic for us too), thanks to Secret Society Scooter Club on their way to an annual campout in Woodside.

- From Alice's (15 minutes for re-fuel) to Watsonville is another hour or hour-and-a-half. I will measure the beautiful route again this Tuesday.

[petair]

Buon Giorno Luca, Sono Pietro di Watsonville. Watsonvlle? Si Si. Sono iterested interesse en viaggiare con di Vespa Raidda de San Fransisco. Ho un GRADE area en my Casa en watsonvill per tu Vespa familia. Ciao,
peett@yahoo.com
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/50668/

[Jonathan]

New start:
Saturday, 2 October
9AM departure from Clarion Hotel, Millbrae Ave, Millbrae (1 mile South of SFO)
10AM departure from Alice's Restaurant, Hwy 35, SkyLonda (Skyline Blvd)
1145AM arrival at Pete's house, Buena Vista Drive, Watsonville (close to Motel6)

Our man Pete will host the 1st day's reception, along with members of Vespa Club Los Gatos and Vampires SC, with a spread of Mexican food (we can break out the pasta you're shipping from Italy if you prefer to adjust gradually).

[Plipla]

hallo jonathan

h'm Filippo, one of the raiders

thank you for your help in this beautiful adventure :D

next days problably I will ask you some information

see this forum

nice to meet you :D

Filippo (Plipla is my name on Vespaonline)

[Luca]

New start:
Saturday, 2 October
9AM departure from Clarion Hotel, Millbrae Ave, Millbrae (1 mile South of SFO)
10AM departure from Alice's Restaurant, Hwy 35, SkyLonda (Skyline Blvd)
1145AM arrival at Pete's house, Buena Vista Drive, Watsonville (close to Motel6)

Our man Pete will host the 1st day's reception, along with members of Vespa Club Los Gatos and Vampires SC, with a spread of Mexican food (we can break out the pasta you're shipping from Italy if you prefer to adjust gradually).

Hehehehehe!
lot of thanks Pete! Please made one " taco surprise" with very very hot pepper! So we can find who is the most lucky of the Band!

Thanks again!

Luca

Ciao Tutti, son Pete (Pietro). Benvenuto a mio casa di California. Voi piace caldo messicano cibo..Si?

Well if you have any requests the email me at peett@yahoo.com.

Ciao a presto, Pietro