California Spanish Missions Trip

California Spanish Missions Trip

The Rules

"The twenty-one Spanish missions were established from 1769 to 1823 and extend from the coastal seaport of San Diego to the Sonoma Valley. All the Missions are beautifully restored to capture the era that defined the character and culture of California. Complete the tour of all 21 in any order within a single calendar year and receive a specially designed plaque commemorating your accomplishment."

A descriptive list of the missions can be found at: http://Californias-Missions.org

I had to complete a passport book from SCMA detailing all 21 locations. I added a photo of my motorcycle at each of them as evidence. I then submitted the completed passport book to for review and approval of my photos, they will return it to me at the Annual Awards Banquet next March. At that time, they will present a CA Missions pin and plaque in recognition of the accomplishment.

Trip Map - Overall

 WHY?

One of the objectives I had for 2017 was to complete three of SCMA’s five sanctioned rides to achieve the “Triple Crown” award. I had originally planned to do the this ride immediately followed by the “Four Corners TRUE-X” and “Three Flags Classic” rides. I decided that this was the easiest of the five rides since I could complete the entire trip in 4-5 days for just this portion of the trip.

I found out that I would be attending training in the Los Angeles area in mid-April. I asked my wife Trish if she wanted to go with me and she indicated that she had other activities scheduled for that week so that she wouldn’t be going. I then decided that I would split this trip off from the rest and wrap it around the four days of training.

The original plan was to start at the northern-most Mission in Sonoma and complete the trip in San Diego.

Day One – Friday, April 14th

I left the house around 11:00AM which was about two hours later that I had planned. It took me longer to get packed and get the bike loaded that I had planned. I initially drove south to Barstow, CA before heading west to Barksdale. I then proceeded north to in Fairfield, CA which is 35 miles northeast of San Francisco where I arrived at the hotel around 11:00PM. I covered 580 miles with 3 gas stops with nearly 12 hours of travel. The ride through Tahachapi Pass was interesting since the temperatures dropped into the mid-forties with strong head winds. I had to stop twice to put on winter gear. Even with that it was still cold. Most of the stops were to change my outer clothing because of temperature changes. I had problems late in the day with my hands cramping because of fatigue and the cold.

Day Two – Saturday, April 15th

Mission San Francisco Solano

I left the hotel at 8:30AM and arrived to the first Mission in Sonoma around 9:15AM. I then began the trip south to visit a total of nine missions on this first day. I arrived at the hotel in King City at 8:30PM. I covered 325 miles on another 12 hour day. I used my cell phone for directions between each of the stops. The major problem was that the battery kept dying on me. I had to stop and recharge a couple of times. The highlights were crossing the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges in the morning. Mission number 5 was in the San Jose area in the middle of a college campus. I had to ride through some barricades to get a picture of the motorcycle in front of the Mission.

Golden Gate Bridge

I had an interesting conversation with a California Highway Patrolman about 30 miles north of Monterey. I had pulled off at an exit to put on warmer riding gear since I was close to the coast. He thought that I might be having problems but when I explained what I was doing, I described the trip that I was on. We parted ways as I headed to Mission #8.

Here are the missions that I visited on Day One:

1	Mission San Francisco Solano (9:15AM)
2	Mission San Rafael Arcangel (10:00AM)
3	Misión San Francisco de Asís (11:00AM Golden Gate Bridge)
4	Old Mission San Jose (12:15PM crossed Bay Bridge)
5	Mission Santa Clara de Asís (2:15PM)
6	Mission Santa Cruz (3:30PM)
7	Mission San Juan Bautista (4:45PM)
8	Carmel Mission Basilica (5:45PM)
9	Mission Soledad (6:45PM)

Day 3 – Sunday, April 16th (Easter Sunday)

Mission San Antonio de Padua

I left the hotel and arrived at the first of the 7 missions at 8:00AM. The Mission San Antonio de Padua is in the middle of the US Army Fort Hunter-Liggett. While I was getting my pictures, there were a few families coming in late for the Easter Mass. The interesting fact that I discovered was that these Missions are still active and are not just museums.


Old Mission Santa Barbara

I took a break at Mission #6 in Santa Barbara. The mission is located on a hill with a view of the ocean. There is a park area next to it, so I stretched out under a shade tree and took a quick nap. Since this was Easter Sunday, there were many families that were picnicking, kite flying and Frisbee tossing. I arrived at the hotel in Ventura at 4:30PM and covered 245 miles with one gas stop.

I still had to struggle with power for my cell phone but discovered that the cord was being stretched too tight. One I discovered that, it worked much better.

This is the list of seven missions that I visited today:

1	Mission San Antonio de Padua (9:00AM)
2	Mission San Miguel Arcángel (10:00AM)
3	Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (12:00PM)
4	La Purisima Mission State Park (1:00PM)
5	Old Mission Santa Ines (1:30PM)
6	Old Mission Santa Barbara (2:30PM)
7	San Buenaventura Mission (3:45PM)

Day 4 – Monday, April 17th

Mission San Fernando Rey de España

This was the shortest day and this was by design. I did this because I didn’t want to deal with the Los Angeles traffic and my training didn’t start until Tuesday morning in El Segundo/LAX area. The weather was overcast and comfortable. I left the hotel around 10:00AM and I arrived at my destination hotel around 2:00PM after covering 125 miles.

The two missions that I visited were:

1	Mission San Fernando Rey de España (11:45AM)
2	San Gabriel Mission (12:45PM)

Day 5 to 7 – Training

I really hate riding in the Los Angeles area because of the traffic so I left the bike parked at the hotel. My training was only a block from the hotel and there were plenty of restaurants in a three-block radius. I ate at the hotel several times as well.

Day 8 – Friday, April 21st

Mission San Luis Rey

I completed my training shortly after noon and hit the road heading for the final three missions. This was a hot, sunny day which continued to get hotter as the afternoon wore on. My GPS gave me bad directions to the Mission San Luis Rey and I ended up having to backtrack about 5 miles in heavy traffic and temperatures in the 90’s. I decided to check into my hotel before going to the final mission and waiting for rush hour to pass. I took a shower and a short nap. I visited the final mission around 7:30PM.

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala

On the way back to the hotel, I had dinner at one of my favorite Sushi restaurants before calling it a day. I covered 180 miles in about four hours. The last three missions were:

1	Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano (1:30PM)
2	Mission San Luis Rey (3:30PM)
3	Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala (7:15PM)

Day 9 – Saturday, April 22nd

I spent the night in Rancho Bernardo which is where my employer has its largest R&D facility. Over the past 40 years, I have spent a great deal of time there and have many friends that live in the area. I had breakfast with a group of them before hitting the road around 10:00AM. The trip was uneventful although crossing the Mojave Desert had temperatures in the mid-90’s. I arrived home at roughly 3:15PM.

TRIP RECAP

I transmitted the pictures to Walgreen’s for processing. Around a week after I completed the trip, I pasted the photos into the Passport Book to properly document the trip. The SCMA organization requires this documentation to prove that I completed the trip in accordance with the rules.

The trip covered nine days, 1,795 miles, 48 gallons of premium gas at an average cost of $3.55 per gallon. My gas mileage was 37.7 miles per gallon.

I decided that it was a good thing that I split this trip from the other two rides because of the lessons learned from this trip. I discovered that I need an actual GPS device, since my cell phone proved unreliable. The GPS unit will work where the cell phone will , especially when I am outside the US.

I also tried out some new packing techniques that I determined after my 2014 trip. This has reduced the amount of time that it takes to get checked into and out of the hotel in the evening as well as reduce the amount of gear I have to carry in and out daily.

FOLLOW-UP

My wife and I took a trip in July to Wisconsin, where I was able to test out the GPS unit that I bought for the trip in our rental car. Once I figured out how the power cord worked and everything was better than I expected. I also had to experiment with some of the settings to determine the features that I found most useful. I really like the feature of showing me gas stations and restaurants that are ahead of me. It allows me to dynamically add a stop for gas or food into the trip.

The main thing is that I can completely plan the trip on my laptop and then transfer it to the GPS unit. I have gone through the different segments of the trip looking at it on a turn-by-turn basis and cleaning up minor inconsistencies. It is much more detailed that Google Maps and I can program in points on the trip so that I can have a timeline for the trip. I can use this information to determine the approximate times I hit major traffic areas. I used this to determine the optimal start times in order to avoid rush hours it the major cities that I will be passing through. This was another lesson I learned from the 2014 trip.

WHAT'S NEXT?

My next post will be from the first day of the trip on Tuesday where I travel from Las Vegas to the first corner in San Ysidro, CA. Stay tuned for more details.