Monday October 4, 2004 Orange County Trek

Monday October 4, 2004 Orange County Trek

Last Friday, we made the 400-plus-mile journey from Northern California to Orange County. It was a beautiful day for driving, a cool sub-70-degree morning with no fog, an open highway in the southbound direction we were headed along 101 for the 30-odd miles before heading west on Highway 152 over Pacheco Pass to the Central Valley where we picked up Interstate 5—that four-lane, straight-as-an-arrow 80-plus mile-an-hour road that slices California in half from San Diego all the way to the Oregon Border. It continues on to Canada once it leaves California, but that was another trip some twenty odd years ago.

If there were time, 101 all the way to LA and into Orange County would have been a prettier drive. The road runs from one farming community to the next in between the major metropolitan areas along the way: Santa Barbara and the suburban sprawl that clings to the freeway south into LA. All along its length 101 plays hide and seek with the beautiful Pacific. It is a drive that you really don’t want to rush. There is too much to see and take in. You get a taste of the farming communities along the length of the freeway as you drive through Morgan Hill and Gilroy, but the best parts are further south.

Unfortunately, we have places to go and things to do. So we opt for the fast track, Interstate 5. The run from 101 to I-5 is along Highway 152, which has its own pretty sights to recommend it. It starts as a two-lane road thought Gilroy passing one farm after another. The road winds through this hilly farm country with a vineyard on your left, a dairy farm on your right, other fruit and vegetable farms strewn along the road. How do these poor folks get to and from Gilroy. Highway 152 is a constant stream of traffic—cars, SUVs, and minivans, not to mention big 18-wheelers. On a weekend the line of traffic can go for long stretches without a break.

Highway 152 eventually does open up to a four-lane road. This happens at its junction with Highway 165. Once this junction is reached, we pick up speed going from around 45 to 50 miles an hour to over 70. We pass Casa de Fruta, then begin our ascent over Pacheco Pass—one of the deadliest stretches of road in California until they installed waist-high concrete dividers to prevent the head-on collisions that seemed to happen on a regular bases on the pass. When you crest the pass following long sweeping curves you begin your descent into the Central Valley. Along the way you pass an enormous man-made reservoir, San Luis Dam Complex, that has over the years steadily been drained of its water. It once had an enormous body of water all held back by a huge earthen dam. The water level once up close to the roadway is well below these days. Once beyond the dam, which looms large in your rear-view mirror as you head east, you race toward Interstate 5.

Once southbound you get into a steady high-speed run passing slower trucks and cars sometimes in the left lane, sometimes in the right. After about 30 miles we typically stop at the Apricot Tree a small restaurant on the western side of the highway for breakfast. We typically get there between 10:30 and 11:00. We make it at 10:45 this trip. Breakfast and a fill-up and we’re on our way once more. From this point on, the land on either side of the highway is flat for as far as the eye can see. There are farms that seem to stretch for miles. Twenty or so miles south of the Apricot Tree, is Harris Ranch another stop along the road for food, fuel and rest. Forty miles more and you pass Highway 41, another food, fuel, and rest area—it features an In-And-Out Burger that is always mobbed. Highway 41 is the first east-west road that will take you west to the coast. There are only a few,

The next major east-west road is Highway 46 which runs west to Paso Robles on the coast. From 46, Highway 5 runs toward the Grapevine, the last barrier that keeps the Central Valley from intruding on Southern California. Once over the Grapevine, you’re in the suburbs of Los Angeles. By this time it’s close to 2:00 and we’re getting a bit tired of being cooped up inside a fast moving car. Another hour and we hit LA traffic right before the rush hour. We leave Interstate 5 and merge onto the 405—down here, freeways are referred to with the definite article. The 405 moves fast until you reach the 101 where it slows as you begin a climb just after the Sherman Oaks Shopping complex. We’re in the car pool lane and move swiftly past four lanes of slow and go traffic. As we pass the Getty Center off to the right of the 405, the car pool lane eventually plays and out we’re stuck with everyone else moving at that slow and go pace past the junction with Interstate 10 and past LAX. Just beyond the airport, the car pool lane picks up again and we’re moving at the limit.

Driving south to Long Beach the entire freeway moves but just after Long Beach the regular lanes drop in speed with the car pool lane still moving at close to the limit. We pass the 710 then the 605 and suddenly we’re in Orange County: Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, John Wayne Airport, Irvine, and finally the 405 rejoins the 5 at the Y and what looks like eight lanes of traffic—I’m usually to preoccupied to count—moves at a slow-and-go pace, car pool lane included, which eventually plays out a mile or two after the Y. Our destination in Mission Viejo and some Marriott Hotel off the 405. We make it just after 4:00 and pulling into a motel parking lot never felt so good.