Date:         Mon, 3 Apr 1995 09:16:15 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David Schwarze <schwarze@superc.nosc.mil>
Subject:      GNATT: Yosemite reservations and trip route


Peoples,
	Well, to those who informed me about Mystix and Yosemite reservations,
you were of course right.  All I can say in my defense is that last time
I made camping reservations in Yosemite Valley, I waited in a long line
exactly 365 days before the reservation at a Ticketmaster outlet.  But,
things change.  I tried most of last week to get through to Mystix on the
phone, finally got through Thursday morning after deciding that I was
going to redial every ten seconds until I got through.  After about 50
redials, it finally rang, and I went through their automated reservation
request procedure.  Of course, there was no camping of any kind available
in Yosemite Valley for the weekend of May 19-20.  I held for an operator,
who apologized for the problems getting in, explaining that people were
making reservations for memorial day weekend.  What I wonder is where all
these people are staying?  Certainly not in valley campgrounds.  The nice
lady explained that there was camping at Wawona and Hodgeton Meadows on
a first come first serve basis, and that was all that would be available,
unless I kept trying back for a cancellation.  And for those of you who
would suggest the Ahwanee (sp?), um... well... it's rather expensive.  :)

Now originally, I had planned to stay in the high country - Tamarack, or
Yosemite Creek, or White Wolf.  Much more rustic, VW type of camping, BUT
(blunder #2) those campgrounds will almost definately not be open until
late May or early June.  It is especially unlikely because of the heavy
snowfall this past Winter.  The Tioga road will also almost certainly be
closed, so it looks like the route will not go up 395 as planned.  

So what to do?  I would hate to consider skipping Yosemite on the GNATT
tour, since it is such a great place, and being close to the Bay area I
was hoping to lure those BA residents with the invisible 200 mile leashes
tied to their bumpers.  :)  OTOH, it doesn't seem very likely that we
will be able to count on having a place to camp in Yosemite.  

One thing I had considered was doing the Western leg BACKWARDS.  This
has some plusses and minuses:

PLUSSES:

	Would be able to be in St. Louis for Busses By the Arch on March
	27th-ish.
	
	By the time we got back to Yosemite, the high country campgrounds
	and Tioga Road would be open (late June).

MINUSES:

	Possible problems linking up with the East coast leg (if there
	is one - I hope so!).

	Might throw a monkey wrench in the schedules of those who had
	planned to join the trip at specific times.

	Might not be the best route for William Warburton, assuming he
	wanted to continue on to the East coast  (but like I said, I 
	haven't heard from him so I don't know what his plans are).

Opinions?  I would sure like to consider doing the loop backwards, the
plusses are rather significant, IMO.

-David

=============================================================================
David Schwarze                  '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat)
SAIC Comsystems                 '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast)
San Diego, California           '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (Da Bruiser?  Soon...)
schwarze@nosc.mil                http://papaya.nosc.mil/~schwarze
=============================================================================