I was helping a friend move stuff to Orange County last weekend. We drove down I5 to Orange County on Saturday. Came back last evening. Not a fun thing to do. Images that stayed on my mind:
The sign pointing to Modesto. In the pre-Condit days I didn?t even know Modesto exists.
On a deserted stretch of I5, in the middle of a pistachio orchard - a faded 'Gore' poster with a right tick mark on it, gently swaying in the wind.
A tiny cropduster airplane spreading who knows what in a beautifully scenic farm in the central plain.
As we approached LA, the majesty of Sierra Madre mountains rising up hugely from the arid plains before it. Its not as magnificent from the roads as the mesas of Utah from I70, but is an impressive sight nonetheless as you leave behind a few hundred miles of Central Californian plains.
The ugliness of LA's urban sprawl. I know I should not be passing judgment on a city I spent so little time on - but I found Los Angeles cold and antagonistic. Cities speak to you. I landed on New York and I bounced. I drove into downtown LA and it felt like hostile territory.
The wind. It doesn?t whistle in Orange county, It roars. It feels like it can make your car swerve off road.
152 all the way from I5 to Gilroy where it connects with 101. It is scenic and pretty in a feminine way. The garlic shops that started sprouting up as we neared Gilroy were a bit of a surprise.