So we left Bakersfield around 7:30 am...a 300 mile route by going via I-5. Both US-99 and I-5 have their problems...but on the advice of Nancy Kissack, we went I-5 because the condition of US-99 in and through Atwater, where she lives, is REAL BAD due to construction where, as she says, the concrete barriers are on both sides of your vehicle with just inches to spare...which has lead to many wrecks over the past few weeks. Well, I HATE the concrete barriers on both sides...one side is ok, but both is something I try to avoid even in a car.
We arrived just before 2 pm, shook up from the numerous spots along I-5 that need desperately to have work on them. Let give you one example. I see a sign which says, "Road Work Ahead" (and I immediately think someone needs to change that sign to "Road Work Needed" because the road is in bad shape.) I see another sign about 2 miles up the Interstate which says, "Road Work Ahead". I see another sign about 3 miles later which says, ""Road Work Ahead". I think you get the drift. About 10-12 miles down the Interstate from the first sign, and now passing 3 or 4 more signs, we come to the 'Road Work'...it was a REST AREA which has been torn down, and in the process of being rebuilt. THAT is the ONLY road work we came across during this 12 miles stretch...all the while, getting shook up from bumps, potholes, and even what seemed to be frost heaves in an area where it does not snow, it does not have hard freezes, but there are dips in the roadway which are just like frost heaves of Alaska Highway fame. How does the state which boasts to be the world's fifth largest economy have such crappy roads??? I am embarrassed by my "home state", and it just goes to show that they are more concerned about a rest area, than 12 miles of crappy roadway. And EVEN when the road is in good shape, it seemed that each time we came upon the smallest bridge over the roadway, that they can't make the roadway and the bridge meet...so it is a BANG as you get on the bridge, and a BANG when you get off the bridge.
In a few days I will try to write a blog to include pictures from the past two days of travel. We are just glad to be back in my sister's backyard, and looking forward to someone's 92nd birthday next weekend. 🙂
ps: Indy was very happy to be back in the green, lush backyard, and among her Aunts and Uncle and of course, Cousin Parker.
Just think how nice the roads could be if they did not waste so much money on other things!
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I happily left California in 1986...nearly 40 years later and it is so much worse.
DeleteI've heard I5 is worse now, but it's still better than 99!!! Glad you made it okay. I also think they just put those signs out so people will slow down, since they don't have enough CHP patrol vehicles. It only makes people go faster!!! Glad you made it safely!
ReplyDeleteSaw two CHP looking for speeders...another two at on wreck between Tracy and Stockton. It sure is hard to go 55 in Cali, I like 63 so much better, but I think I did a good job keeping it down to 57 or 58 (without GPS I can't be sure exactly the speed...I know my speedometer says just a couple of mph more than I am really traveling.) THANKS so much for the advice.
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