January 28, 2022
To Paso Robles
Just a long, tiring drive today with nothing to show for it. There could have been if we’d taken the effort to stop anywhere for a few road photos, but we didn’t - we just wanted to get the miles behind us? Except for the interminable and stultifying miles across the Central Valley the scenery was spectacular the whole way. California is so huge and diverse!
For what I think must be the first time ever we drove I-5 through the mountains north of Los Angeles and down the Grapevine, a stretch of the freeway I’ve heard of for as long as I can remember but have never experienced. What an amazing, unnerving descent it is driving north and dropping into the San Joaquin valley down this steep, straight grade! I think this is the only time I’ve seen a freeway with runaway truck ramps on both sides of the freeway. It’s chilling to imagine a runaway semi trying to work its way across the faster lanes of the freeway to escape off the left side.
Maybe the greatest surprise though was driving through the rolling, emerald green bare hills east of Paso Robles. Wonderfully beautiful, they remind me of the Palouse and are a sight I never expected to see down here. I imagine this country will be all burnt and brown by midsummer and stunning in a different way, but at the moment it looks especially surreal after coming off of a six week stint in the desert.
We’ll be in Paso Robles for six nights, and will surely make it out to the east to those hills with the bikes while we’re here. For tonight though, we’re pretty content to spread out and enjoy our spacious estate, large enough to fit two or more of the tiny room we stayed in at Borrego Springs.
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