Last week I got to do the longest drive I have ever done: 5 days going from San Jose, California to Atlanta, Georgia. Why? I volunteered to help friends drive back to Atlanta as they leave California. It was not only a great opportunity to spend time together but also to see my country in a very different way of traveling: on the road!
Stats of the drive
First day: San Jose, California to Kingman, Arizona
Routes taken: California 101 to California 152 to I-5 to California 58 to I-40.
Departure time: 7AM
Arrival time: 4PM
License plates spotted: 30 states + 4 Canadian provinces (incl. Nova Scotia!)
Intra-California leg: San Jose to Bakersfield
Day 1 saw us departing San Jose, as you saw above, at 7AM. As I had arrive the night before from the East coast, that was not too early for me at all.
Car loaded, we took some back roads (routes 101 and 152) to get onto I-5 at Los Banos. On the way there, we passed the town of Gilroy, which I am told is the world capital of garlic. Garlic IS in the air, even when the windows in the car are closed. Wikipedia says it is “the southernmost city in the San Francisco Bay area” but that seems a REAL geographical stretch to me (maybe it is a geological thing). Don’t believe everything you read! (The irony of that statement is not lost on me…) In any case, there were a large variety of crops like walnuts, almonds, and others confirming that this Central Valley indeed is a key source of produce.
I-5, I must say, is one tedious interstate to drive with the trucks and high volume of vehicles. I was glad when we got off it to head towards Bakersfield where we would take route 58 on the way to connecting with I-40 which would carry us, not only to the state border, but eventually all the way to Amarillo, Texas.
Southeastern California, Barstow and Route 66
After passing well-known Edwards Air Force Base, soon enough we hit our lunch stop at the crossroads of I-15 and one of the endpoints of I-40: the town of Barstow, California, right on Route 66. It was our first stop on Route 66. We were not trying to stick to Route 66 as we had days of driving to do but it was cool, at a couple of places, to see this famous route that carried so many out west in the 20th century.
To get to the border with Arizona, we first had to pass the Mojave area with the eponymous desert, Edwards AFB, and other facilities for military training and logistics. We also saw the lot where many airplanes are parked to not clutter airport space – it was odd to see so many planes in the middle of nowhere!
Hot Needles packing heat
It was a peculiar area and, of course, very hot. Temperatures hit 108F (42C). We thought that was outlandish but we were about to learn how reasonable 108F was.
As we took a southward turn on I-40 to go below Goose Lake…
… we passed the town of Needles and reached 120F (49C).
Yea, that was hot; the car windows were very hot to the touch – from the inside of the air conditioned car… “Needles” to say (LOL), we did not get out of the car… But we enjoyed the views as usual.
The road traveled
We made it to Kingman where we stayed in the central (and older) part of town; more on that in the next post). We stayed at a Best Western that re-defined that brand for me – I was impressed with the cleanliness and freshness of the room and other facilities (I got nothing from saying that – that is just sharing my experience with you!).
To wrap up day 1, I will share a couple of pictures from the road and the vistas of southeastern California.
Let’s see what happened and what was the destination on day 2 of this cross-country drive!
