14 hours driving… 2 days

Our journey to deliver Marissa’s belongings to San Francisco began around noon on Friday, July 29th, and ended when we finally arrived at her new home on Saturday, July 30th around 4:30 PM.

Most of our 14 hours of drive-time were spent on either I-10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles or on the I-5 between LA and San Francisco. The remaining couple hours were spent on the slow crawl to get onto and then across the Bay Bridge; at least it felt like 2 hours!

Neither interstate has much to offer in the way of scenery, and that is an understatement if there ever was one. The Pacific Coast Highway would have been the scenic option, but also a much more time-consuming and sometimes treacherous route… at least while in a U-Haul and towing a VW Beetle behind. So if you want to get between Los Angeles and San Francisco as fast as possible, I-5 is the way to go. You should bring something along to keep yourselves amused. Luckily Dave had me, with all my dry wit and good humor. And I had my iPod plugged into the low-quality radio the U-Haul truck was equipped with. If you aren’t so privileged, check out the bottom of this page for another option.

One major disclaimer: All photos are taken out of a moving vehicle, through a dirty window. This is not the fault of the photographer, just the way it was.

Day 1 photos and commentary:

I did not know the avenues in the Phoenix area even went into the 300’s

In addition to providing the ‘entertainment’, I also kept an eagle-eye on the rear view mirror to be sure the trailer wasn’t “crossing the line”… a full-time job!

I’ve driven the I-10 route many times in my life as an Arizona native, so I didn’t even think to take many pictures or really think about it much at all… until we hit a road closure… now I had time to think. Plenty of time.

We had to take an alternate route, following a collision on Interstate 10 near Eagle Mountain between Blythe and Coachella Valley. The accident ignited a hay fire and closed westbound lanes. The collision happened around 1:30 PM and we came upon it around 2:45 PM. Turns out the highway was still closed past 10:30 PM on Friday evening. The accident must have been even worse than we had thought for the road to have still been closed. But thank goodness we didn’t wait it out in Blythe (as suggested by the state line border agent). That would have been just pitiful.

Marissa called my cell on Friday night at 10:30 PM: “Mom, how far did you get today?”

Me: “Oh, we left around noon and made it about 150 miles. We decided to spend the night in beautiful Blythe, California… in the hot barren desert, just across the AZ/CA state line. See you later, night night.”

Anyhow, the detour was long but worth it. We went through the middle of Joshua Tree National Park and through an area with hundreds upon hundreds of wind turbines. We made it to Rancho Cucamonga, CA that first day. Not quite as far as we had planned, but nearly 300 miles farther than Blythe!

Once I saw the familiar dinosaur, I knew we were close to LA and could finally stop and rest for the night. “Hi, Dino, grateful to see you today!”

Day 2 photos and commentary:

Day 2 consisted of getting through LA (not as bad as expected – although it was a Saturday and we got a very early start) and driving along the less than exciting I-5. The interstate runs through the San Joaquin Valley. You would think it would be wonderful to drive through one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions.

Although it is less than 1 percent of the total farmland in the United States, the Valley generates as much as 12% of the total U.S. agriculture production. Some of the crops you see growing along I-5 include table grapes, raisin grapes, citrus, almonds, and pistachios. Sounds lovely, but it is just more of the same, mile after mile.

I-5 is a major corridor for trucks. You’ll see all kinds of things being transported, from large equipment to onions, garlic, and tomatoes. We saw lots and lots of tomatoes. I would guess we passed more than 25 or 30 trucks, and saw tomatoes all along the sides of the road.

Then there was the cattle feedlot. You smell it long before you see it. We were not prepared, so I will tell you – be sure to set your air intake to recirculate long before you spot the Fresno County sign. That is where you will encounter Harris Ranch; a large cattle feedlot right next to the highway. Makes you really re-think that burger or steak for dinner.

I know it is difficult to see, but each of those brown or black dots on the picture above is a cow; each just one of nearly 100,000 on the ranch.

One last point of interest is some super large pipes on a hill on the west side of I-5 just north of The Grapevine. They are part of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which you will pass over many times on the highway.

If driving down I-5 is in your future, I found a cool website that offers an audio tour of I-5. It is provided by an organization called Invisible-5.

“Invisible-5 investigates the stories of people and communities fighting for environmental justice along the I-5 corridor, through oral histories, field recordings, found sound, recorded music, and archival audio documents. The project also traces natural, social, and economic histories along the route.”

You can CLICK HERE and download it free to your iPod or MP3 player. Pretty interesting stuff, even though I didn’t find it or listen to it until after my I-5 journey.

Tomorrow… more as we finally arrive in San Fran, move Marissa in, and eat out…a lot!