Sacramento to Orange County, Calif.
Distance: 420 miles / 676 km
Time: 7 hours
The Final Leg. I am dispensing with two-lane roads and just going to suck it up and suffer I-5.
I-5 parallels a more impressive work of engineering and infrastructure for much of this drive: The California Aqueduct.
West of the aqueduct and up the hills, the land is brown and dry.
Downhill from I-5 and in the irrigated land, we’ve created an agricultural paradise. In the foreground, orchards or vines of some kind which have died after irrigation ceased.
Zeke with a slice of a Redwood. Apparently, they would cut the trees down with dynamite because they were too big for saws. This section of the tree apparently grew 100 feet up the trunk when the tree was blasted down.
The dates of historical events are approximated given the location of tree rings.
The center of the trunk, keeping in mind this was the center 100′ or so up the tree.
Less than 100 miles to go…
A detail from the last photo I took on this trip. It was very out of place. This element of a classical frieze of some kind, hanging in a Mobile gas station minimart in Santa Clarita, Calif…
Hanging, that is, in the facilities… complete with faux columns, recessed lighting, and a hanging light with gold trim.
And that, my friends, is a fitting conclusion to this classy journey.
A Viking’s Walkabout: | Prologue | Day 01 Calif. to Az. | Day 02 Az. to N.M. | Day 03 N.M. to Colo. | Day 04 Colo. | Day 05 Colo., Kan., Neb. | Day 06 Part 1 Neb. | Day 6 Part 2 Neb. to S.D. | Day 07 S.D., Wy., Mont. | Day 08 Mont. to Alta. | Day 09 Alta. (Banff) | Day 10 Alta. (Grande Cache) | Day 11 Alta. to B.C. | Day 12 B.C. to Yukon | Day 13 Yukon | Day 14 Yukon to Alaska | Day 15 Alaska (Coldfoot) | Day 16 Part 1 Alaska (Atigun Pass) | Day 16 Part 2 Alaska (Deadhorse) | Day 17 Alaska (Prudhoe Bay) | Day 18 Alaska (Fairbanks) | Day 19 Alaska (Anchorage) | Day 20 Alaska (Anchorage) | Day 21 Alaska (Tok) | Day 22 Alaska to Yukon | Day 23 Yukon | Day 24 Yukon to B.C. | Day 25 B.C. (Prince Rupert) | Day 26 B.C. (Prince George) | Day 27 B.C. (Vancouver) | Day 28 B.C. to Wash. | Day 29 Wash. to Or. | Day 30 Or. | Day 31 Or. to Calif. | Day 32 Calif. |