Yosemite Follow Up

[ajhaig]

After reading JDUB's post about climbing Priests Grade in first gear, a telephone consultation with Harry and seeing Richard's elevation maps we decided not to drive the bus to Groveland. We went south to Chowchilla and parked the bus at The Lakes RV Resort and drove our Suburban into Yosemite.

The drive from Chowchilla to Yosemite is longer than the drive from Groveland to Yosemite, but is wasn't that bad. The weather was fantastic and we had a great time at Yosemite.

Next stop Monterey - we're staying at the Monterey Fair Grounds.

Many thanks again for all the help.

AJ

[win42]

Great pictures AJ. I'm glad it worked out for you so far. Be sure to visit Big Sur down Hwy.1 in your suburban. It's a great coast view drive, take a picnic lunch (extra for the blue jays & squirrels) one day round trip.

[rff105]

Hope i didn't discourage you. I just wanted to show what a good tool DeLoreme Topo is to be used to let you know what you are getting into. You have to take the graphes with a a grain of salt because it will always maximize the grade difference. If you graph a route with a 200 ft vertical climb it will look the same as a 2000 ft vertical. That's why i said in previous post you always need to use it to compare against mountains you know.

Glad you still got to see what you went for with the kids. My wife wants to do a grand canyon trip in two years. I will be looking for some route advice for a round trip from PA to maximize the experience for the kids (now, twin 6yr boys, 2yr boy and 4mo girl). I will have two weeks maybe three to make the trip if you have any must sees.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

AJ, fantastic pictures. You seem to be having way too much fun.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

You folks are the best thing that could have ever happened to that 91 Marathon.

Lookin good. Be careful out there and keep those pics. coming.

[win42]

Joe & Debbie: We hope you are next to visit our beautiful part of the U.S. There will an opportunity in early May in Pahrump POGVl. Were all anxious to meet you. Busses are for traveling not just wrenching on.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Thanks Harry. We too are looking forward to that.

When that day comes be prepared to help me replace the 3 front stainless panels that are currently loaded with road dings that I will have replacements for on board. Wont that be fun.

The only time I've ever been in your neck of the woods was Barstow, in winter, in uniform, and a long time ago.

[win42]

Joe: Don't buy new panels. Your panels woud have to be really bashed in for us not to be able to repair them. We will be able to bring them back straight and polish them to match your other panels. Shirley and I look forward to seeing you and Debbie as soon as it is possible for you to make the trip.

[Jerry Winchester]

AJ,

I'm glad it worked out, but I hate to think my post kept you from experiencing the trip to Groveland. We really enjoyed the town and the RV park, but it was an eye opener (didn't look that steep on the map), so maybe it was for the best.

I also have to confess that although I have driven my coach a moderate amount (33,000 miles in two years) and have (2) million mile safe driving awards (truck tractor), most of is was in the middle of the country and most of the mountain driving I had done was in western Arkansas which hardly counts. Long, steep grades with lots of turns are tough and when I saw the signs on 120 that listed maximum king pin to rear axle lengths (because of turning radius), I knew there was a challenge ahead.

I would like to see a mountain driving session at one of the rallies as I certainly don't know all the rules of thumb for this skill.

[Ray Davis]

AJ,

This may sound really stupid, and I'm almost embarrased to post it. Your picture of the kids and their parents (I assume that's their parents) was a real relief.

Why you ask? Well, you had posted several pictures of these adorable kids, and I assumed you were the grand parents (I thought you'd mentioned that), but I had kinda wondered why the grand parents would be touring all of the US with the grand kids, with no parents? I had envisioned that perhaps the parents had passed away, or split up, or something.

It's good to see that my imagination had gone wild, (and nothing else!). It sounds like you guys are having the trip of a lifetime.

Enjoy,
Ray