I'm will to bet most of us grew up playing in a sandbox. I know I did. As an adult some of us may look a little funny playing in a sandbox with our Tonka trucks. But what if the sandbox was adult sized and Tonka trucks were full sized diesels playing in the sand. Ever since my first quad, I've wanted to ride in the dunes and lucky for me, I had the oppurtunity to do just this last fall.
I haven’t been on a sport quad in 6 years since I bought a 2001 Yamaha Raptor when they were first released. Heading into this adventure, I didn't know what to expect. Not to mention I was riding on my own, not the smartest thing in the world to do.
After a good amount of research, I decided to rent a quad that day and not reserve ahead of time since I would be riding on a weekday. Just getting down to Pismo was a challenge. I had a co-worker with me until Thursday night. She didn’t have to be at the airport until 9pm. This meant we could catch the World Series game (Go Red Sox) at a bar in San Francisco. Well, one beer soda led to another and the next thing I know it’s been a good number and I had to bring her to the airport since it was now 9pm and we’re still at the bar.
After I dropped her off, it was time for a fill up, grab a large coffee, a snack and begin my journey. I had a 3.5 hour ride in front of me at 9:45 at night. My body is still on east coast 12:45 time. Luckily I had nice comfortable car for the trip. Check out my GPS…top right corner for the max speed…
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Since it was dark when I got there, I didn’t get to catch the view out of my room…but come morning, I got to see what I missed. Nothing like waking up to the
Pacific Ocean.
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After breakfast it was time to get riding. I immediately drove over to the beach and down to the beach's main entrance. Basically you take right, drive an 1/8 of a mile and your’re at a gate where you pay to drive down onto the beach.
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Here’s one of the rental places, to the right. You can see the quads stacked up. This photo kinda looks a little West Virgina'ish..
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Once my “taxi†showed up, I knew I was in for a good time. Four of us had to sit in this truck while dragging a trailer down the beach. Nice big fiberglass baja fenders and enough mud on the window meant I couldn’t see out. What a great ride just to the staging area! He was on the beach into the water, up down and around just trying to find a smooth path. It was high tide so the beach didn’t have much smooth sand.
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Here’s the trailer where we get our helmets and watch the video. It was still early in the morning and not many people were out.
![]()
I loved watching the traffic coming out onto the beach. I was amazed at the trailers/rv’s people would tow out. It was unreal. Most of the trucks were lifted and huge. I really felt as if I was in heaven and I hadn’t even thrown my leg over a quad yet.
![]()
I haven’t been on a sport quad in 6 years since I bought a 2001 Yamaha Raptor when they were first released. Heading into this adventure, I didn't know what to expect. Not to mention I was riding on my own, not the smartest thing in the world to do.
After a good amount of research, I decided to rent a quad that day and not reserve ahead of time since I would be riding on a weekday. Just getting down to Pismo was a challenge. I had a co-worker with me until Thursday night. She didn’t have to be at the airport until 9pm. This meant we could catch the World Series game (Go Red Sox) at a bar in San Francisco. Well, one beer soda led to another and the next thing I know it’s been a good number and I had to bring her to the airport since it was now 9pm and we’re still at the bar.
After I dropped her off, it was time for a fill up, grab a large coffee, a snack and begin my journey. I had a 3.5 hour ride in front of me at 9:45 at night. My body is still on east coast 12:45 time. Luckily I had nice comfortable car for the trip. Check out my GPS…top right corner for the max speed…
Since it was dark when I got there, I didn’t get to catch the view out of my room…but come morning, I got to see what I missed. Nothing like waking up to the
Pacific Ocean.
After breakfast it was time to get riding. I immediately drove over to the beach and down to the beach's main entrance. Basically you take right, drive an 1/8 of a mile and your’re at a gate where you pay to drive down onto the beach.
Here’s one of the rental places, to the right. You can see the quads stacked up. This photo kinda looks a little West Virgina'ish..
Once my “taxi†showed up, I knew I was in for a good time. Four of us had to sit in this truck while dragging a trailer down the beach. Nice big fiberglass baja fenders and enough mud on the window meant I couldn’t see out. What a great ride just to the staging area! He was on the beach into the water, up down and around just trying to find a smooth path. It was high tide so the beach didn’t have much smooth sand.
Here’s the trailer where we get our helmets and watch the video. It was still early in the morning and not many people were out.
I loved watching the traffic coming out onto the beach. I was amazed at the trailers/rv’s people would tow out. It was unreal. Most of the trucks were lifted and huge. I really felt as if I was in heaven and I hadn’t even thrown my leg over a quad yet.
