Keep on Truckin'
After reading staylenc's Truckin' it brought forth so many memories of
my travels to and from many places in California. My first California
road trip started east of the Mississippi River and concluded in Los
Angeles. It was four days long and I couldn't wait to see that sign
with poppies on it that said, "Welcome to California." The trip allowed
me to get a better understanding and scope of the land mass that we
call the United States. Texas and everything west of it is so massive
that it took up most of the trip. If I wasn't limited by time I would
have spent more of the trip in New Mexico and at the Grand Canyon. I
had commitments in Los Angeles so I did the best I could do under the
the circumstances.
Once I settled into living in Los Angeles, I wanted to explore the state of California. I knew that California had some of the most diverse terrain in the world and I wanted to see as much of I as I could possibly see. After only eight months in Los Angeles , I became enamored with the idea of driving up to San Francisco. I planned and plotted the trip up U.S. 101 but I wish I had done it during the daylight hours. It always excites my sense of curiosity to travel unfamiliar landscapes. Because I took this trip at night, the landscape, the terrain and California's history remained a mystery for a few more years. Little did I know that U.S.101 is part and parcel of El Camio Real. The Royal Way or Road is the passage built by the Spanish to thwart the movement south by the Russians. The passage cuts the coastal ranges of California from it's vast central valley.
Along the El Camino Real, California history takes shape in the form of missions and presidos. They stretch to cover nearly two-thirds of the curvaceous but sometimes flat lands of California. The first mission, San Diego de Acala (1769) is/was one of two permanent and initial settlements by Spain in Alta California. The first military outpost was El Presido de San Carlos de Monterey (1768). This military output was founded at the same time that Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in Carmel. A year after Carmel's Mission was built, Mission San Gabriel Archangel was founded. It is just north of Los Angeles and east of Pasadena. Mission San Antonio de Padua was also built during 1771 in one of the most rural parts of Monterey Country. The completion of San Antonio marked the second mission in Monterey county. Only within the past three years have I visited San Antonio which is north of the city of Paso Robles. San Antonio is far off U.S. 101 on Jolon Road in the valley of the oaks. I tried to go to this Mission once but I thought misread the directions as I drove right by it. On the second try I found the entrance. It sits on a U..S Military base near the Santa Lucia range that separates coast from the Salinas Valley . One of the next trips I constantly dream about includes a ride to San Antonio so that I can see the landscape as I ascend Ferguson-Nacimento Road which drops somewhere into the middle of Big Sur. I want to try this route because I want to return the portal to the Sun and sea at Pfeiffer Beach.
Farther south on U.S. 101, San Luis Obispo de Tolosa appeared on the Spanish map of California in 1772. The bishop and prince of Missions is roughly half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. I remember the first time driving over the Gavoita Pass just north of Santa Barbara in the middle of night and then up and over the Cuesta grade just north of SLO. I had no idea that San Luis Obispo, known for its Nine Sisters, was otherwise so hilly and those Sisters sweep out to a gorgeous blue-green Pacific ocean.
Highway 101 is a beautiful drive in California because it shares asphalt at several junctures with the mythical Pacific Coast Highway or the 1. Just north of the Cuesta grade on 101, PCH 1 splits--Highway 46 is the connector-- off and becomes the essential California road trip and the way to see Big Sur (PCH 1/US.101 also cross the Golden Gate Bridge on the tip of the San Francisco peninsula). The first enclaves north of Highway 46 include Cambria and San Simeon, home of Hearst Castle. Farther north there is a place along the Pacific Coast Highway called Big Sur but Big Sur is much more than a place on a map. It is almost everything I could imagine about the rugged topography of California. It is "Relax Honey, you are in Big Sur." Again I missed this scenic place the first drive north because I didn't drive specifically on the 1. Even though I missed it the first time, it is one of my favorite drives. I always say that I will never drive it until I actually get in car to do it and then I remember that "Relax, Honey" sign. I never saw that sign until someone actually said "Relax, Honey." There is something seductive about the Santa Lucia Range, the small ribbon of road clinging to the cliffs, the forested landscape and the surf crashing the jagged edges of California that makes Big Sur, Big Sur.
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway takes patience. Driving up or down U.S. 101 takes stamina. It seems like everything north of Paso Robles on U.S.101 is mostly flat. El Camino Real was probably chosen just because it sits between the Santa Lucia Range, the Los Padres National Forest on the west and the range in what seems like the very center of the state that forms the vast central valley of California. Perhaps it is best to describe this area as the southern most portion of the Salinas Valley. John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath takes place somewhere in this area. Methinks Steinbeck was saying, in a subtle way that Monterey is dangerously and seductively beautiful. Somewhere in the middle of this fertile valley along the El Camino Highway is Mission San Miguel. The first time ( a couple of years ago) that I visited this Mission, I could not believe that I passed it so many times on trips I made up and down 101. It probably ranks near the top of list as one of most overlooked of the twenty-one missions. I find the landscape quite unique because of its locale. I didn't know cacti could grow as far north as San Miguel? The days can be extremely warm--warm by a foggy San Francisco summer standard-- but the nights, unless there is cloud cover, can seem like a night on the the frozen tundra. San Miguel established in 1797, sits so inconspicuously next to 101 that I had to use a map to find it. It is known as the Mission of El Camino Real or the Highway.
San Juan Bautista in San Benito County ( central California) and San Fernando Rey de Espana in Southern California were founded the same year as San Miguel. There however are several more Missions along El Camino Real that were established well before these three Missions. San Buenaventura (Ventura), San Juan Capistrano, San Francisco, Santa Clara (at San Jose), Santa Cruz and Nuestra Senora de la Soledad are the ones that share this distinction. Four are in the north and two in the south. Oddly enough there is a Mission San Jose (other than Santa Clara in San Jose proper) that sits on land in Fremont, California just north and east of the city of San Jose. I can't say that I remember seeing San Buenaventura along 101 on that faithful voyage to San Francisco. The same can be said about Santa Clara and the Mission at Soledad. Nevertheless I have had the pleasure of visiting all six within the last two years. San Juan Bautista is the only Mission I remember because I saw a campanario during my first trip to Northern California. Even though I remember this, It is difficult to remember which Mission I visited first, San Juan Capistrano in Southern Californa or Mission Dolores in San Francisco? They both rank at the top when it comes to the number of visits I have made to the Missions. San Juan Capistrano is probably my favorite Mission because it smells (the flowers) so good.
There were a few Missions that didn't receive my attention until I realized that I had almost seen them all. Once I passed an arbitrary number on the visit all the California Missions scale I had to see them all. Santa Barbara, the Queen of Missions, was first on my list about three years ago. After visiting Santa Barbara I decided that I would complete the twenty-one Missions on-the-trail-list by adopting a strategy to see as many Missions in one area with one trip. There is too much territory to cover otherwise. The first time I applied this strategy is when I visited San Buenaventura, Santa Ynes and La Purisma in one fell swoop. Incidentally, La Purisma is the only Mission that the state of California operates as a working Mission and state park. I was almost finished the must-see-all the Missions-list. Before visiting the southern most Missions, San Luis Rey, San Diego San Fernando and San Gabriel--I wanted them to be last--, I made sure to drive north of San Francisco on 101 to visit the Missions at Sonoma and San Rafael.
I thought the only Missions left on my check list were those in the southern part of the state. I was wrong and I don't know how I could forget Santa Cruz? I don't know how I could forget the Holy Cross Mission because I am frequently in Santa Cruz admiring the Boardwalk, the Natural Bridges and the surfers along West Cliff drive. Before I topped off my list of twenty-one Missions, I made an excuse to visit San Cruz and the Mission of Hard Luck. It is probably the smallest Mission among what remains of these historical buildings.
If there is a beginning there is most certainly and end. The beginning of the California Mission trail starts in San Diego. It took two days to see the four remaining Missions on my to-see list in Southern California. It takes careful planning to navigate the great expanse of Los Angeles. Even the most carefully crafted plans will change due to the enormous number of freeways and cars in the megalopolis of the west coast. Traffic tossed a wrench my plans. I drove from south western Los Angeles to San Gabriel just east of Pasadena. Before I even arrived in Los Angeles I studied maps and traffic patterns to find the least restrictive route. I also made sure I had plan to get from San Gabriel to San Fernando in the least amount of time. I sorely under estimated the traffic because I nearly missed the opportunity to see San Fernando. I had forty-five minutes to acquaint myself with the Mission of the Valley. I left the grounds just before they locked the gates and walked across the street to the park with orange trees. It seems like this was orange grove at one time.
The following day, only two Missions left. A few miles north of the beginning of the trial I was was near the end of my to-see list. San Luis Rey de Francia reminds me most of buildings I've seen pictures of in Spain. The adobe stands out against the blue Southern California skies. The replica like the original Mission is extremely large. The palm trees stand proudly in front and sometimes dance as the hot dry air the blows across the landscape. It is amazing how the bougainvillea cling to the adobe walls and provide an attractive contrast to the whiteness of the walls which relfect the powerful Sun.
Ah San Diego! I really had a tough time finding this Mission. It is stuck between the freeway and Qualcomm Stadium. Again I studied the map to try to fine the easiest way to the Mother of all Alta California Missions. The map doesn't do justice to actually getting there. But when I did get there I was extremely happy because this was last on my-must-see-list. I wanted to kiss the ground becuase it only took fifteen or so years of doing this to get this is point. San Diego's front portico is just like most of the Missions in the system. I found the lavender in the front garden extremely pleasing to the eye as I tried to size up the tall campanario. From the pictures I had seen, I thought all of San Diego de Acala was on flat ground but it sits up on a hill just above the road. Like all of the Missions, San Diego de Acala has a chapel, a garden and a story. I walked in and found the living quarters of Junipero Serra. All I can tell you for sure is that he was short man with huge ambitions. It would take someone like him to establish a good number of the Missions in California because the terrain is rugged and diverse. I can't imagine walking from San Diego to Monterey as J. Serra did when he established the first Missions in San Diego and Carmel and the first Presido in Monterey for the crown of Spain.
P.S. I topped the whole trip off with a revisit to San Juan Capistrano's Mission just north of San Luis Rey. And it still smells good!
P.P.S. Somewhere in the middle of all these trips I re-discovered that California has roads that come and go east and west. Yosemite was first the place I went east of that great central valley of California. And finally two years ago, I made my first trip to Death Valley. It's a long drive from San Francisco.
Once I settled into living in Los Angeles, I wanted to explore the state of California. I knew that California had some of the most diverse terrain in the world and I wanted to see as much of I as I could possibly see. After only eight months in Los Angeles , I became enamored with the idea of driving up to San Francisco. I planned and plotted the trip up U.S. 101 but I wish I had done it during the daylight hours. It always excites my sense of curiosity to travel unfamiliar landscapes. Because I took this trip at night, the landscape, the terrain and California's history remained a mystery for a few more years. Little did I know that U.S.101 is part and parcel of El Camio Real. The Royal Way or Road is the passage built by the Spanish to thwart the movement south by the Russians. The passage cuts the coastal ranges of California from it's vast central valley.
Along the El Camino Real, California history takes shape in the form of missions and presidos. They stretch to cover nearly two-thirds of the curvaceous but sometimes flat lands of California. The first mission, San Diego de Acala (1769) is/was one of two permanent and initial settlements by Spain in Alta California. The first military outpost was El Presido de San Carlos de Monterey (1768). This military output was founded at the same time that Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in Carmel. A year after Carmel's Mission was built, Mission San Gabriel Archangel was founded. It is just north of Los Angeles and east of Pasadena. Mission San Antonio de Padua was also built during 1771 in one of the most rural parts of Monterey Country. The completion of San Antonio marked the second mission in Monterey county. Only within the past three years have I visited San Antonio which is north of the city of Paso Robles. San Antonio is far off U.S. 101 on Jolon Road in the valley of the oaks. I tried to go to this Mission once but I thought misread the directions as I drove right by it. On the second try I found the entrance. It sits on a U..S Military base near the Santa Lucia range that separates coast from the Salinas Valley . One of the next trips I constantly dream about includes a ride to San Antonio so that I can see the landscape as I ascend Ferguson-Nacimento Road which drops somewhere into the middle of Big Sur. I want to try this route because I want to return the portal to the Sun and sea at Pfeiffer Beach.
Farther south on U.S. 101, San Luis Obispo de Tolosa appeared on the Spanish map of California in 1772. The bishop and prince of Missions is roughly half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. I remember the first time driving over the Gavoita Pass just north of Santa Barbara in the middle of night and then up and over the Cuesta grade just north of SLO. I had no idea that San Luis Obispo, known for its Nine Sisters, was otherwise so hilly and those Sisters sweep out to a gorgeous blue-green Pacific ocean.
Highway 101 is a beautiful drive in California because it shares asphalt at several junctures with the mythical Pacific Coast Highway or the 1. Just north of the Cuesta grade on 101, PCH 1 splits--Highway 46 is the connector-- off and becomes the essential California road trip and the way to see Big Sur (PCH 1/US.101 also cross the Golden Gate Bridge on the tip of the San Francisco peninsula). The first enclaves north of Highway 46 include Cambria and San Simeon, home of Hearst Castle. Farther north there is a place along the Pacific Coast Highway called Big Sur but Big Sur is much more than a place on a map. It is almost everything I could imagine about the rugged topography of California. It is "Relax Honey, you are in Big Sur." Again I missed this scenic place the first drive north because I didn't drive specifically on the 1. Even though I missed it the first time, it is one of my favorite drives. I always say that I will never drive it until I actually get in car to do it and then I remember that "Relax, Honey" sign. I never saw that sign until someone actually said "Relax, Honey." There is something seductive about the Santa Lucia Range, the small ribbon of road clinging to the cliffs, the forested landscape and the surf crashing the jagged edges of California that makes Big Sur, Big Sur.
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway takes patience. Driving up or down U.S. 101 takes stamina. It seems like everything north of Paso Robles on U.S.101 is mostly flat. El Camino Real was probably chosen just because it sits between the Santa Lucia Range, the Los Padres National Forest on the west and the range in what seems like the very center of the state that forms the vast central valley of California. Perhaps it is best to describe this area as the southern most portion of the Salinas Valley. John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath takes place somewhere in this area. Methinks Steinbeck was saying, in a subtle way that Monterey is dangerously and seductively beautiful. Somewhere in the middle of this fertile valley along the El Camino Highway is Mission San Miguel. The first time ( a couple of years ago) that I visited this Mission, I could not believe that I passed it so many times on trips I made up and down 101. It probably ranks near the top of list as one of most overlooked of the twenty-one missions. I find the landscape quite unique because of its locale. I didn't know cacti could grow as far north as San Miguel? The days can be extremely warm--warm by a foggy San Francisco summer standard-- but the nights, unless there is cloud cover, can seem like a night on the the frozen tundra. San Miguel established in 1797, sits so inconspicuously next to 101 that I had to use a map to find it. It is known as the Mission of El Camino Real or the Highway.
San Juan Bautista in San Benito County ( central California) and San Fernando Rey de Espana in Southern California were founded the same year as San Miguel. There however are several more Missions along El Camino Real that were established well before these three Missions. San Buenaventura (Ventura), San Juan Capistrano, San Francisco, Santa Clara (at San Jose), Santa Cruz and Nuestra Senora de la Soledad are the ones that share this distinction. Four are in the north and two in the south. Oddly enough there is a Mission San Jose (other than Santa Clara in San Jose proper) that sits on land in Fremont, California just north and east of the city of San Jose. I can't say that I remember seeing San Buenaventura along 101 on that faithful voyage to San Francisco. The same can be said about Santa Clara and the Mission at Soledad. Nevertheless I have had the pleasure of visiting all six within the last two years. San Juan Bautista is the only Mission I remember because I saw a campanario during my first trip to Northern California. Even though I remember this, It is difficult to remember which Mission I visited first, San Juan Capistrano in Southern Californa or Mission Dolores in San Francisco? They both rank at the top when it comes to the number of visits I have made to the Missions. San Juan Capistrano is probably my favorite Mission because it smells (the flowers) so good.
There were a few Missions that didn't receive my attention until I realized that I had almost seen them all. Once I passed an arbitrary number on the visit all the California Missions scale I had to see them all. Santa Barbara, the Queen of Missions, was first on my list about three years ago. After visiting Santa Barbara I decided that I would complete the twenty-one Missions on-the-trail-list by adopting a strategy to see as many Missions in one area with one trip. There is too much territory to cover otherwise. The first time I applied this strategy is when I visited San Buenaventura, Santa Ynes and La Purisma in one fell swoop. Incidentally, La Purisma is the only Mission that the state of California operates as a working Mission and state park. I was almost finished the must-see-all the Missions-list. Before visiting the southern most Missions, San Luis Rey, San Diego San Fernando and San Gabriel--I wanted them to be last--, I made sure to drive north of San Francisco on 101 to visit the Missions at Sonoma and San Rafael.
I thought the only Missions left on my check list were those in the southern part of the state. I was wrong and I don't know how I could forget Santa Cruz? I don't know how I could forget the Holy Cross Mission because I am frequently in Santa Cruz admiring the Boardwalk, the Natural Bridges and the surfers along West Cliff drive. Before I topped off my list of twenty-one Missions, I made an excuse to visit San Cruz and the Mission of Hard Luck. It is probably the smallest Mission among what remains of these historical buildings.
If there is a beginning there is most certainly and end. The beginning of the California Mission trail starts in San Diego. It took two days to see the four remaining Missions on my to-see list in Southern California. It takes careful planning to navigate the great expanse of Los Angeles. Even the most carefully crafted plans will change due to the enormous number of freeways and cars in the megalopolis of the west coast. Traffic tossed a wrench my plans. I drove from south western Los Angeles to San Gabriel just east of Pasadena. Before I even arrived in Los Angeles I studied maps and traffic patterns to find the least restrictive route. I also made sure I had plan to get from San Gabriel to San Fernando in the least amount of time. I sorely under estimated the traffic because I nearly missed the opportunity to see San Fernando. I had forty-five minutes to acquaint myself with the Mission of the Valley. I left the grounds just before they locked the gates and walked across the street to the park with orange trees. It seems like this was orange grove at one time.
The following day, only two Missions left. A few miles north of the beginning of the trial I was was near the end of my to-see list. San Luis Rey de Francia reminds me most of buildings I've seen pictures of in Spain. The adobe stands out against the blue Southern California skies. The replica like the original Mission is extremely large. The palm trees stand proudly in front and sometimes dance as the hot dry air the blows across the landscape. It is amazing how the bougainvillea cling to the adobe walls and provide an attractive contrast to the whiteness of the walls which relfect the powerful Sun.
Ah San Diego! I really had a tough time finding this Mission. It is stuck between the freeway and Qualcomm Stadium. Again I studied the map to try to fine the easiest way to the Mother of all Alta California Missions. The map doesn't do justice to actually getting there. But when I did get there I was extremely happy because this was last on my-must-see-list. I wanted to kiss the ground becuase it only took fifteen or so years of doing this to get this is point. San Diego's front portico is just like most of the Missions in the system. I found the lavender in the front garden extremely pleasing to the eye as I tried to size up the tall campanario. From the pictures I had seen, I thought all of San Diego de Acala was on flat ground but it sits up on a hill just above the road. Like all of the Missions, San Diego de Acala has a chapel, a garden and a story. I walked in and found the living quarters of Junipero Serra. All I can tell you for sure is that he was short man with huge ambitions. It would take someone like him to establish a good number of the Missions in California because the terrain is rugged and diverse. I can't imagine walking from San Diego to Monterey as J. Serra did when he established the first Missions in San Diego and Carmel and the first Presido in Monterey for the crown of Spain.
P.S. I topped the whole trip off with a revisit to San Juan Capistrano's Mission just north of San Luis Rey. And it still smells good!
P.P.S. Somewhere in the middle of all these trips I re-discovered that California has roads that come and go east and west. Yosemite was first the place I went east of that great central valley of California. And finally two years ago, I made my first trip to Death Valley. It's a long drive from San Francisco.
