West of Santa Barbara the highway runs along the ocean for 30 miles or so and then turns north/inland until about 60 miles further it hits the ocean again for a few miles at Pismo Beach. Then it doesn't touch the coast again until way north in San Francisco.
Along the way there are vineyards, orchards and cattle pastures. In the uncultivated areas the California Sycamore trees are bare this time of year, their ghost like bare branches writhing against the tree clad hills and blue sky.
The area around Paso Robles was once cattle country, but in the last twenty years much of it has been cultivated for vineyards and wine tasting facilities. On either side of the road there are miles of vineyards that start at the highway and roll away as far as the foothills - I can't help but wonder who drinks all that wine! After arriving in the Salinas Valley the grapevines give way to flat fields of every possible kind of produce crops. Much of what we buy in the groceries is grown in this area which stretches from the Coastal Range on the west to the Diablo Range on the east and more than a hundred miles north and south.
North of the town of Salinas the speed limit drops to 60mph due to the dangerous cross traffic along this stretch of 101. Believe the signs, the Prunedale speed traps are well know to locals and the CHP makes a lot of money off of those who ignore the law. Don't ask how I know. Just before the turnoff to San Juan Bautista the road splits an old eucalyptus grove. These groves, found all over Central California were planted at the instigation of sharp operators selling the seedlings in the second half of the 1800s when the railroads were first laid. Much to the land owners chagrin the wood is too twisted to use for RR ties or to have any commercial use. So the groves stand to shelter roadside rest stops, farm houses and resting cattle.
It was a six hour drive from Placentia to Mary's house - that is just the actual driving time, I spent an hour and a half eating breakfast, getting gas, stopping at the drugstore and sometimes stopping to enjoy the view for a few minutes. It is much colder here than in SCalifornia, and the promised rain has not appeared. I hope it doesn't come tomorrow whilst I am driving home.
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We also wonder about all of those vineyards whenever we make that drive! I love it when there are signs that tell the variety of grape and what is planted in the fields—spinach! Red leaf lettuce! Broccoli! Inquiring minds want to know! California is so amazing. Do I sound like I just got here?
It is also my opinion that more vineyards should plant rose bushes at the heads of the rows. Come on! Get with it! I make that drive a lot.
And how about the speed trap at King City? I didn’t know that there was also one in Prunedale. It makes sense. That stretch of road is so scary. It is amazing that there is still cross traffic there. And dontcha look forward to the Vertigo allée? And did you ever wonder why they called it Aromas? (I just looked it up: so named because of the odors of a sulphur spring. And I thought it was because of the cows!) My other idea was to write a handbook of “translations” of Spanish place names: Paso Robles: Pass of the Oaks. Now isn’t that lovely. I’ll try to remember that next time. They should put that in the navigation systems. Soon we will be able to google while we drive.
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