Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbahubba
how'd it go?
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Really good though I ended up only doing 2 days cuz I was burned out. Traffic was really good both days, was able to do 65+ on highways entire time.
Left Thursday at 7AM and took my first break about 50 miles outside Pasadena around 11AM. About 40 miles away from Pasadena on I-10W there were houses on hills 2 or 3 miles to my right but it turned out they were at the base of this huge mountain and I couldn't see it because the smog was so thick, which was really surprising cuz I've been seeing pictures of clearer skies of heavily populated cities around the world from everyone staying home. Stopped at Dave's Dog for lunch in Santa Barbara, got two bacon wrapped one with sour cream and one with avocados, really good. Everything from Santa Barbara on looked fantastic as it got cooler and the vegetation got less desert-y. A bit north of Santa Barbara I was zoned out and passed through this 50 yard tunnel before I knew it and lowered my window and slowed to create a gap but was really bummed out that was the only one on the whole trip. Once I got past San Simeon on the 1 the road got really good, reminded me of the road to Hana in Maui. I thought Big Sur was a mountain bridge, later found out it was a scenic spot to look at waves crashing, which I got plenty of on the way back down. Went to do the 17 Mile Drive in Monterey but it was closed to visitors. Got to Santa Cruz and decided I was too burned out to continue to Eureka like I planned so turned back and spent the night in the parking lot of Lucky's on Del Monte Blvd in Monterey. Got there just after 10PM and had a hard time nodding off at first but probably got around 3-4 hours in.
Woke up and filled up at the Shell down the road and was back on the road by 630AM. Thursday I didn't stop along the coast cuz I like to just plow through on the first pass but made frequent stops on the way down. One thing that stood out was about 20 miles south of Big Sur there is some kind of camp ground and there were purple flowers that looked absolutely stunning with the sun hitting it just before sunset, the pic I took was at 735AM didn't do it justice. Was also surprised at the number of houses along the 1, I can understand building houses near cities but these were dozens of miles away. Took the 154 past Cachuma Lake back to Pasadena, gorgeous road and scenery. Stopped at Kosmos Burger in Pasadena late afternoon for lunch, got a bacon double cheese and chili cheese fries for only $11 and the portions were so big I couldn't even finish it. Drove inner streets a few miles to the last Shell and was disgusted by the quality of the roads, it looked like they laid it down in the 90s and have only done patchwork pothole repairs ever since. Stopped once at a rest stop about 100 miles outside of Phoenix and the restroom was surprisingly very clean. Got back around 8PM, drove just under 1600 miles.
Overall I really enjoyed my time on the road. Knowing traffic was light was a big motivator and it was 105F here at the time so being in the 60s was a treat. Wed night I only slept about 2 hours so there were hour long periods where I yawned continuously but I managed to plow through. I'm hoping to buy a car in Washington/Oregon in the future so I can drive it back and hit the 299-3-36 ring road in northern Cali and the 1 above San Francisco also looks fantastic.