On Saturday morning drove to Fresno on business and took the whole family with me: round trip over 400 miles. Purely by coincidence, today, Sunday, is my birthday, and yesterday I visited my birth place, Fresno, CA. Odd, no?
By far the most astonishing geographic part of the trip was climbing the "Grapevine" en route to Fresno, and driving back down the Grapevine on the way home. Going and coming, going up and going down, the speed limit for trucks is different from, and frequently posted, the speed for automobiles. Also, trucks must stay on the right hand side where there is provided in several places, going up and coming down, a truck safety ramp to act as a brake. Brake testing provisions are available for trucks. In other words the mountain(s) are very steep. Cars are forbidden to go over 70 mph up or down. Coming down, on the way home, I did something I'd never done before except on a motorcycle, and that was using the engine as a brake. That is, clicking off the Overdrive button, which then lights up on the dashboard as "O/D Off", and slows you down without having to use the brake. (Mazda transmissions are good.) At 70 the RPM goes up to 3,000 when ordinarily it would be at only 2,500 RPM or lower. Just as on a motorcyle changing down, coming down a steep hill acts as a brake.
The Grapevine is on the news every winter when it snows. Passage is often blocked for hours/days every winter. What the news doesn't convey at all is the breathtaking beauty of the mountains even in Autumn when there is no snow at all. (Nestled in between the mountains is Lake Castaic, site of some events, such as sculling, in the 1984 Olympic Games.) Son Vincent, 12, took some photos through the windshield. I hope I'll be able to post them here. The months long snow coverage seems to have permanently prevented plants from growing successfully, so in Autumn the higher parts of the mountains almost look like stationary light brown clouds going off in many different directions.
Going North, toward Fresno, after traversing the Grapevine, the land is very flat home to orchards, vineyards and fields of corn. At one vinyard one can purchase one's own brand of wine, with your own label. Too rich for my blood. Besides I don't drink. I'm a drunk.
The six of us had a grand time. But, frankly, it'll take me a day or so to recover. In spite of the beauty of the surroundings I couldn't successfully forget the possibility of crashing and, God help me, dying.
Happy Sunday!
Barry
http://journals.aol.com/bbartle3/Vengeance/
3 comments:
Hey, Happy Birthday!
And yes, I'm back. "Vacation" included a crashed computer. Will bother neither of us with horrendous details. How is your family? And how are you? Other than a year older. Hee Hee. Happens to the best of us. How brave of you to tackle that drive! Imagine the boys were quiet during the scary points???
Happy birthday! The drive sounds exhilirating but I would rather be a passenger than the driver. It gets really scary when the driver closes her eyes! IN NC, roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains have the truck safety ramps as well. I hope that I never encounter a truck that needs touse one of those ramps. I hope that you have had a lovely day.--Sheria
OOhh, I almost missed your birthday, so here I am, back from the mountains myself wishing you the very best of birthdays... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRY!! Like you described, the mountains are steep in NC as well, and I passed many a truck chugging along in the far right lane. The sandy dune-like truck ramps have been used a time or two, so I know they work... I see tire marks all the way in some of them. I did the same thing, gearing down from Overdrive into drive 1, which made the rpms increase. I tried to stay under 70 mph going down (trucks had to keep it at or under 35, I believe), but some of the mountain roads were very long and windy, seemed to go on for miles in one particular area. It was a beautiful sunshiney day for my trip back home. I love traveling to the mountains, and prefer to drive during the daytime only. So Fresno is where Barry was born... why do you say that is odd? For me it was a 4.5 hour trip one way... but I'm glad to be home again.... soon I will post an entry. Happy Birthday, dear Barry, Happy Birthday to yoouuuuu...!! (sung somewhat in tune) bea
http://journals.aol.com/bgilmore725/Wanderer/
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