Shh….very quietly, we got up at 6AM this morning & left Moreno Valley by 6:30 to head towards Monterey, CA. We hooked up Saturday night because we wanted to make certain we did NOT run into any of the infamous Los Angeles traffic. We woke up to fog and a bit cooler temperatures. So we didn’t get a very good view of some the surrounding mountains. Of course it is cooler on the day we leave instead of the record highs we had! Even at 7AM on a Sunday morning, there was right much traffic. Where were all these people going so early!? Looks like some old car collectors were out for a road trip! We drove almost 80 miles through the ‘concrete jungle’ before FINALLY getting out into open country through the San Gabriel Mountains
The fog had lifted & it was a beautiful day. We are just so glad to be leaving southern CA! I just love being able to see mountains again!
But we knew the route we were taking was going to take us over the famous ‘Grapevine’ through the Tehachapi Mountains. We had been over the Grapevine in 2004. Gosh, that was 10 years ago! The Grapevine is a constant 6% grade up for about 5 miles and then a constant 6% grade for 5 miles down! Good thing we have the exhaust brake on the truck! (Didn’t have it on the old truck & I do remember the white knuckle drive!) Handled going up like a breeze! The Tehachapis form a geographic, watershed , and rain shadow divide separating the San Joaquin Valley to the northwest and the Mojave Desert to the southeast. The Tehachapis' crest varies in height from approximately 4,000–8,000 feet and they are southeast of Bakersfield, CA. Up we go! It was very scenic after spending so much time in the desert and I was just clicking away with the camera.
The Grapevine canyon was named after native grapevines. It is one stretch of highway known to overheat trucks. It's located along I-5 in Southern California and links the southern part of the state with the San Joaquin Valley to the north. Varying 6 percent (or more) grades are faced when heading north on the 40-mile pass. Thanks to the utilization and freshening up of an existing highway, the southbound descent on the Grapevine drops traffic into the Los Angeles basin in a safer manner. This was done to reduce the number of runaway trucks as much as possible. With summer temperatures averaging in the mid-to-high 90s, it's definitely a pass that can lead to roadside meltdowns. Winter snowfall has been known to shut down this section of highway as well.
Since we got up so early, we decided to stop and fix breakfast further down the road. So we stopped at the rest area at the top of the Grapevine. It was really pretty up there! It was sunny, 56 degrees, and breezy. The perfect spot to have breakfast with a view!
Well, “what goes up, must come down”! Got the tow mode on in the truck? Got the exhaust brake engaged? All secure? Let’s go for it! It was just as pretty going down as it was going up and we had no problems. Shucks, we have done a 14% down hill grade in Utah so this was like going over ant hills! There was a view of the valley as we came down and entered the San Joaquin Valley. Just look at all that big sky!
As we drove up the valley, it was just acre after acre of crops as far as the eye can see. Most of it was green but there was still evidence in some areas of the drought CA is still having. The federal Central Valley Project & the State Water Project rely on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to bring water to central and southern CA. So you pass right by some of the aqueducts right along the interstate. It still amazes me at this accomplishment! The water system spreads out like a spider web. Man has definitely tamed the desert valley. Plus we passed a concentrated oil field. There must have been over a hundred oil pumps close together over a large oil field. Haven’t seen anything like that before.
We turned off of I-5 and headed East. It was a road that wound through more open country, then low sparse mountains and not many small towns. The road took us up and down & we found ourselves among almond groves. Note the contrast of the green almond trees up against the brown mountains. For the type of road it was out in the middle of nowhere, we were amazed at the amount of traffic heading West! And a large majority of it was RVs! Maybe the weekenders were heading home. It was still interesting scenery.
However, one section of our drive took us through ‘wine country’. There were vineyards all over both sides of the road & wineries advertising their tasting shops. Just still amazed at how green the vineyards were and they are basically in the desert! This picture looked like quite a place! There were several vineyards and the entrance up the hill was paved and lined with tress and bushes all the way up. Must be good business in grapes and wine!
We only stopped for one night at Camp Roberts in Bradley, CA. It used to be a nice Army base that was well used WW II. In 1971 it was turned over to the California National Guard and looks like it has definitely gone down hill from there! There are lots of abandoned buildings, some of which look like the old brown weathered ones right out of a western ghost town. The grounds are mostly dirt and weeds. The whole place just looks so old and run down. You have to drive through the worst looking areas of the base to get to the very small campground. All but 3 of the sites are full with ‘homesteaders’ (semi-permanent people allowed to stay for extended periods). Much of the campground is over gown, there are some really trashy looking trailers, and one site even has dirty clothes and junk around their trailer. It is one of the worst campgrounds we have ever stayed in. But at $10 a night, I think we will survive. Mark this one off our ‘return’ list!!
The campground is right beside the interstate, so you do get road noise from all the trucks going by. But we have some surrounding views of the area since we are out in the open. I did manage to meet the ‘camp host’ while walking around the campground……yep, this little guy. I am always on the lookout for wildlife!
The winds are just really strong this evening! The trailer is really rockin’!! I sure am looking forward to being in Monterey again!
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