When we get these thruways across the whole country...it will be possible to drive from New York to California without seeing a single thing.
John Steinbeck
Today we left the Santa Barbara area and journeyed up to the Monterey, Santa Cruz area, though we are staying in a small town called Paicines, about 50 minutes from both of these places. We stopped for diesel and groceries on the way. After that we were on our way.
One of the most interesting parts of travel is taking the back roads, not the Interstates. The Interstates serve a great purpose, they get you and goods places fast but in this speed is lost much of the essence of an area. On the Interstates, all the restaurants are the same, the music is the same, the stores sell all the same goods and sometimes familiarity is comforting. But the backroads tell the real story of America.
Today we traveled along rte 101, which, though not an interstate, is plenty busy with 4 lanes and very like an Interstate. However, it weaves through all the hills, is surrounded on both sides with miles and miles of vineyards and swings by such interesting places as the Madonna Hotel in San Luis Obispo, truly a sight to see. But, after this we traveled along state rte 25 and something called the G13, a county road.
Both travel through territory where not many others travel. We didn’t see many other cars along either of these roads. What we did see were miles and miles of ranches with cows and horses standing in a line to eat because that is how the rancher dumped the hay since there is no grass for them to eat in the drought. We drove on the curviest road we’ve probably ever been on where there was not one instance in the 45 minutes we were on it that Gary was not turning the steering wheel in either one direction or another. There were that many curves as the road wove as close to the hills and mountains as possible without being at a 45 degree angle. You see, the closer the road is to the hills, the more room there is on the other side for fields for farming or ranching. You sure don’t want to waste good land for a road. And, I’m not being sarcastic about that: I know it is true. I’m from Iowa where there was a long argument when Interstate 35 was designed with an angle in for 20 or so miles. This took out lots of good farmland, made triangular farm fields and sliced up quite a few farms. Some farmers had part of their new triangular farm on the east side of the Interstate and some on the other with no easy way to get between them.
But both of these roads were marvelous to travel on. We saw large ranches, large vineyards and huge, massive fields with the vegetables and fruits that will be on the tables of Americans tomorrow. And, we certainly didn’t have to worry about meeting and sharing the road with many other cars. We mostly had both of these road for ourselves, except for the two bikers we saw peddling up a hill along rte 25. And, that’s another great thing about less traveled roads, you get to use your imagination as you wonder what in the world are these two bikers doing out here at 5:00 pm, miles from any place to live as it’s getting dark. Where did they come from, where are they going?
But we finally came to rest in our campground, watching the sun set over the surrounding hills, hearing the cows lowing on the hillside and listening to the doves cooing in the towering trees above.
Ron and I were familiar with the area (Gilroy garlic harvest time), but it took Mary to point out that in only in the Salinas Valley is "road kill" vegetables. She and I were there at October harvest time. I believe one of your pictures is my least favorite veggie--Brussel sprouts. We just saw them roasted (never had that way), so I'll try them again!
ReplyDeleteBrussel sprouts. Yecch. Not my favorite vegetable and it's not because of the taste but because of the feel of the little leaves in my mouth. And, yes, I've tried them fried but they still feel like little bits of wadded up paper. My mother liked them but was never able to convoke the rest of her family that they were good.
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