Week 320 - Planning vs Reality - 09-30-2012

Planning vs Reality

After five and one-half months in our home area, we are set to get on the road. We know our destination, St. George, Utah for the 26th Huntsman Senior Games. Our sport, Pickleball, will occur from Monday, October 15th to Friday, October 19th. But, we like to get there a week early to meet with friends and practice. Our plan is to get to St. George by Friday, October 5th or the 6th at the latest.

This week we will explain our travel planning steps. Next week we'll show you the reality of how it went. Did we take the path we said? Did we stay the nights we planned to? Did we get there refreshed? Being refreshed and enjoying the trip is highly importantly if you want to always enjoy life on the road. Thankfully, we met Craig. By now, most of you know about Craig's 2-2-2 Rule. To stay fresh, travel 200 or less miles on days you drive, get to your destination by 2:00 at the latest and stay at least two days. Okay, so let's look at the map. It is 528 miles from Atascadero to St. George on the most direct route.

But here's the problem. We have already taken this route and portions of it more than once. So if you take it again, you'll tend to race to your destination and be worn out when you get there. This is especially true when the scenery is sparse as from Bakersfield to Las Vegas. So, we need to find a new route. This is challenging coming out of the Central Coast since we have been in and out so much. But, here goes.

This route adds about 200 miles but we have never traveled on the roads inside the dashed red lines. Plus we get to travel through beautiful Yosemite National Park.

Next we check the weather. The daily temperatures on the first and shortest route are: 98, 100, 90, 106, 91 and 84. Our route is: 98, 101, 77, 82, 84, 84. So as a bonus, it is predicted that our weather will be cooler! Now how far will be drive each day and where will we spent the nights?

Monday: 170 miles to the Fresno Elks. We have stayed there once before. It has level grassy sites with a view of a flood control pond which may or may not have water.

Tuesday: Drive through Yosemite National Park, down the Tioga Pass to Lee Vining: 155 miles to Mono Vista RV Park. This is the only photo we could find on the web. We won't be sure about the park until we get there. So, no reservations, just drive there and decide one night or two. Why two? First, they have cable TV and Wednesday night is the first presidential debate; you gotta be an informed citizen and keep up! And second, we'll try to convince the park owner to let us create a website for their park.

Thursday: 132 miles to Tonopah, Nevada. This small town of 2,478 people is known as "Queen of the Silver Camps". It appears to be the last town of any size prior to getting to Utah. A Google search for camping in Tonopah came up with a Ramada Inn and a casino with RV parking. Where will be stay? We have no idea. But, they have an Elks and we will call them to see if they have RV parking. It could just be dry camping in a parking lot; that's okay, we've done that many times. If we stay, this will be the 85th Elks lodge that we have camped at.

Friday: By Friday morning, we have 318 miles to go to get to St. George. Hiko Nevada, a town of almost no one, is about half way. So, we will drive there and figure out what to do. Best guess is start early so that when we find nothing, we can rest a little and drive on until we find something or reach the St. George Elks. We stayed at the Elks last year. The setting is beautiful and they have a covered area where we can set up our Pickleball net for practice.

So that's the plan and next week we will bring you reality.

Have a great week and enjoy the trip. We know we will.

Love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy.

By Pete . Ellen Mattson