[Sanjunair5]

Prologue
This is by far the longest and farthest solo road trip I have undertaken. So how did this trip come about? One desire – to see the sun set on the pacific coast from Pacific Coast Highway! Yes, that’s where this whole road trip got hatched. This means a 750+ mile drive from Phoenix, that’s travelling on the west-south side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Making this East - West trip and skipping the Sierra Nevada range would be a cardinal sin. And then one destination after another got added and it finally became a 2400 miles road trip. Sierra Nevada mountain range runs north – south on the eastern side of California and houses some of the most picturesque scenery that nature has on offer and some of the largest national parks. Lake Tahoe on the north and Yosemite, Kings Canyon (which I skipped) and Sequoia National Park towards the south.

Preparations
This was a solo trip. Obviously there were those should I – should I not dilemmas. All my near and dear ones were worried, anxious, but somewhere they all realized how desperately I wanted to do this and supported me. Finally decided to do it during the Christmas break. Advises and tips poured in from every corner. An office colleague loaned her sleeping bags, another road warrior in office guided me about roads along the Sierra Nevada range and what one needs be cautious about in winters, driving with chains if needed, about carrying lighters/candles/knives, food, water, clothing etc. etc.. I did my research about the weather, directions and over a week or so gathered things I needed to carry.
Now, what is a road-trip without the right vehicle? They (or rather Siddhu!) say a good lather is half the shave. Similarly I think the right vehicle is half the road trip. I think it couldn’t have gotten better than this!!!

A mustang convertible!! (3.7L V6, 305 Horses, rear wheel drive)!


Before starting off plan your trip well, but don’t plan all the details, be flexible, things will happen and be prepared for things that you haven’t prepared for. These impromptu things that you do are the experiences that will stay with you. Experiences create memories. And road trips are all about memories.

So day 1 – Phoenix – Vegas – Carson City (near Lake Tahoe). I think I am all set when some last minute emergencies come up and delays my trip by about 2.5 hours. From then on it was catch up on day 1. I had about 12 hrs of driving to be completed on Day 1. Phoenix to Vegas is 283 miles on US – 93 N. Hoover dam happens to be on way. This dam named after US President Herbert Hoover, also happens to be a major tourist destination.

Traffic was permitted atop the dam earlier and was a part of US 93...


...till security concerns after 09/11 led to the construction of this by pass.


I was already running late and hence did not spent a lot of time in Vegas (!). I continued my journey up north on US – 95 N.

My partner in crime!


Beauty of road-trips, you will end up on roads like this!


Mustang makes an ideal vehicle such solo trips, its fun, it torquey, and always there!


After I left Vegas for most part I was the only one on the road. While it certainly was not scary it did keep me awake. If you ever get a chance to be at a place where yours is the only thumping heart, do stop and enjoy the tranquility it brings.
At sometime close to midnight (I still hadn’t reached Carson City as I had planned) I passed through some unsurfaced roads. Visibility has really dropped and it was very foggy.

This was all I could see.


I was driving with my high beams on long after the foggy zone (without realizing I had my high beam on) and on the way I was pulled over by a cop. The good guy that he was, only warned me and wished me Merry Christmas! My journey continued to Carson city just a little north of South Lake Tahoe. It was already snowing by the time I reached. It being 24th night all restaurants and shops had already closed. This puny little motel I was checking into seemed to be the only thing open in the area.



I was hungry and there was nothing open in the areas. The girl at the counter of the motel – Savoy – was kind enough to offer me food (actually cook something for me!). I am convinced there are still a lot of good people in this world!

It was a seriously old motel! My bet - the alarm clock is about 40 years old!


By the time I woke up early in the morning there was snow on my car!

Day 2 – Lake Tahoe - From the Motel I was to drive upto Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is a large fresh water lake in the Sierra Nevada ranges at an altitude of 1897 meters above sea level. It is a major tourist destination throughout the year with skiing, casinos forming a major part of the economy. The drive up from Carson City to South Lake Tahoe is beautiful and scenic. There was snow on the road, though because of warmer temperatures snow had started to melt making the road slushy rather than slippery. It being Christmas day roads were relatively less crowded.

This is the quaint Carson City


On US 50 on the way to South Lake Tahoe


The road kept winding up and down


Can you see the house? I met a lot of people who owned cabins in Lake Tahoe and came frequently on vacations!


Finally I was almost at the level of lake, but there was more climbing to be done to reach the trailheads.


I went on couple of trails – one at Eagle Point and another at Emerald Lake. The trail at Eagle Point leads to this majestic seat that gives and impressive panoramic view of the lake. The trail was pretty much ice capped, but was doable without any snow gear.

The SEAT!


...and the view from the SEAT!


Going further up from Eagle point takes you to Inspiration Point and Emerald Bay state park. From there you can walk down Lester Beach road to the Emerald bay. You start seeing tall coniferous trees and interestingly there are several species of coniferous trees that grow at the same location. From a distance they all look similar, but once you get close enough you will realize they are different.

It is a steep walk down to the park, but once you reach the beach, it is impressive


This ramp extended into the Emerald Bay


...Part 2 - SFO - Yosemite - to follow...

[moralfibre]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line (The "Assembly Line" Forum section) (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/announ...m-section.html) to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.

[Sanjunair5]

Day 3 San Francisco - San Francisco is culturally rich and diverse and it can just be breathed the moment you are in the city. Chinese form the largest ethnic minority and that too can be seen easily, every second person you see is a Chinese.
How big and busy the city is can be seen from the number of toll gates at the entrance to the city.

How many can you count? There are 18!!!


The first picture of SFO that comes to mind is the Golden Gate bridge. I did a spend lot of time in and around the bridge.

This is the view of Golden Gate from Merin Headlands in the night.


This is the view from the same place in the morning.


This is really up, close and personal with Golden Gate!


If you get down to Kerby Cove camping ground you get a very different view of the bridge.


Besides Golden Gate I explored Union Square, China Town and the Fisherman’s Wharf. One can easily spend a day at the Fisherman’s Wharf and still not want to go back. There were so many things going on at the same time that one can just sit and be amazed.

There was this street performer who had come all the way from Canada ...


...there were Segway tours, musicians, restaurants, stores and more. I bought this at the Fisherman’s Wharf!


Why there are so many China Towns in the US? Chinese have been migrating to US from the 1800s and form the largest ethnic minority group in the US. And their cultural uniqueness, language barriers etc. led to the creation of China Towns which eased their transition into mainstream American culture. The China Town in SFO too is huge.

Like everywhere else it is crowded, stores are stocked to the brim with ethnic stuff including dry fish, ethnic Chinese edibles and other things.


They too dry their cloths the way we do!!


CROWD!!


At some places there are only Chinese boards, no English!


Union Square was very very crowded.


They say retailing is all about location, location and location. NM has the best I must say!


Day 4 – Yosemite - From SFO I drove to Merced, a city outside Yosemite and I checked into a small motel. Merced is named after river Merced which runs through Yosemite. Merced lies about 50 miles to the west of Yosemite and is known as Gateway to Yosemite. Followed my routines and feasted at McDonalds (!) for dinner. On all the days I spent some time each night planning for the next day. I had a minor scare when my iPad map showed that Yosemite is 3 hours from the hotel I was at. I was pretty sure when I looked it up earlier about 50 miles. But not wanting to get worked up on it I decided to leave the hotel at 6AM in the morning. Once I started driving my GPS showed that I was only about an hour from the park. That was a relief. Driving out of the Merced was like a typical drive through US country sides. Sparsely populated with few houses here and there, farming seemed to be the main economy, and the occasional motel and gas stations. You know it is country side when you see gas stations with only one pump.

I drove for an hour or so through roads like these.


The pony was raring to go!


And then roads like this going up about 1500 meters or so into the park


My pony said bring it on!


Yosemite is known for its large monolithic rock formations - the El Capitan and Half Domes – and waterfalls.

First rock formation I see in the park, but this was only a trailer!


The movie - El Capitan! The gargantuan thing has to be seen. Imagine standing next to a 150 feet tall tree and seeing this rock towering way above the landscape miles away! IT IS HUGE!


Yosemite is a popular hiking and camping destination. Though many trails inside the park are closed during winter. I hiked on the Vernal and then Nevada falls trails. It is fairly long and climbs up about 500 meters.

Here I am standing on a frozen pool!


There were several warning signs like this throughout the park!


The hike to Vernal Fall started off like this.


And soon became narrower and though not risky, I would say less comfortable


I hiked further up from the Vernal Fall and reached Clark Point. You could see Nevada Falls from here, but the trails are closed for winter.


But from the Clark Point you could descend to Vernal Falls. Part of it was already frozen and it was amazing to see water frozen in its tracks!


Right behind the Vernal Fall is the Emerald Pool. The top of the pool was frozen and you could actually walk over it and see water flowing underneath! People in the pic are standing on the frozen pool!


There are many other waterfalls all of which flow into Merced river with Vernal and Nevada being the primary ones. This is glacial water that flows almost through out the year. The origins of Yosemite and the glacial ice can be traced back to the ice age. Did you know that only 1% of the glacial ice on earth is found outside the polar regions!

I hiked for about 10 miles at Yosemite and was mighty tired by day close. I just wanted to get to a hotel and crash. I drove to the city of Tulare about 2 hours from Yosemite. I wasn't expecting Tulare to be the modern city it is. I quickly located the closest Chipotle Mexican Grille and satiated my craving for rice!. You can subsist on McDonals for only so long!

...Part 3 - Sequoia - LA - Phoenix - to follow...

[sajusherief]

Man, what a travelogue, one of the best in this forum(to me) !! I was literally traveling with you. The pics are crisp and professional.

[Sanjunair5]

Originally Posted by sajusherief

Man, what a travelogue, one of the best in this forum(to me) !! I was literally traveling with you. The pics are crisp and professional.

Thanks Saju. There is a third part that I will be uploading soon.

[Sanjunair5]

Day 5 – Sequoia National Park - I knew I had very limited time to spare at Sequoia National Park as I had to get to the Pacific coast before sun set. The drive upto Sequoia was fairly steep, almost 2000 meters!

And very scenic! You can see the road winding up the mountain!


As you get closer to the top, the trees are so tall and dense that sunlight barely reaches the ground!


The tallest tree in the forest grows upto 300 feet and some of the trees are as old as 3000 years old!

Measuring the age of the trees is a tricky business


Sequoia trees are inherently resistant to fire, insects, drought and grow tall quickly!


These giant Sequoia trees are truly giant trees and no photos can do justice to what you feel standing in front of them. This is the giantest of them all - the General Sherman tree. The tree measures 36 feet in diameter at the base and is 275 feet tall. It is dead at the top and does not grow in height anymore. It is hard to believe that perhaps my house can fit inside the tree! This is said to be the biggest tree in the world in terms of wood volume.

Named after General Sherman - a big figure in American Civil War


The park is a real wonder and I could have stayed longer, but wanting to see the sun set on pacific coast was the trigger for the trip and I didn’t want to miss it for anything. Though I wanted to spend more time at the Sequoia National Park I had to leave. The plan was to drive to Santa Maria, get on US Highway 101 South before sun set. Santa Maria is 202 miles to the west, about a 3.5 hour drive from Sequoia. I managed to reach Santa Maria just in time to see the sun set. Watching the sun set into Pacific Ocean from a look-out point with very few people around was a very serene and tranquil feeling. This perhaps was the high point of the entire trip.









Now looking back, that I just managed to do it with may be 10 minutes to spare, it indeed was very close.

Day 6 – Los Angeles - From Santa Maria I drove about 3.5 hours to LA, the highway was extremely busy, but was uneventful. Los Angeles like SFO or NY is a hub of many things – culture, arts, business and is ethnically extremely diverse. Interestingly Koreans and Filipinos outnumber Chinese in LA! Did you know that LA was a part of Mexico at some point of time?! The plan in LA was to explore Santa Monica and Hollywood. Santa Monica is extremely beautiful and felt remarkably similar to South Beach, Miami. The Ocean Avenue did have a lot of similarity with the Ocean Drive on South Beach.

I was there at the beach early in the morning and the beach was relatively free of crowd.


The Pier though was crowded with the ubiquitous street performers, souvenir shops and cafes. Interestingly there was a Bubba Gump restaurant as well. There was one at SFO Fisherman’s Wharf and there is also one at the Bayside Marketplace in Miami.

Amusement rides at the Pier


On the beach there was this war veterans led anti war protest, not really a protest but more about educating general public about the real cost of war. It was all volunteer funded and I thought it was a kind thing.

The crosses were symbolic of war causalities.


From there I went to Hollywood. Walked along the Hollywood walk of fame. After passing many names I had not clue of I finally found a familiar name!

Hitchcock!


I then walked around trying to get as close to the Hollywood sign as possible. I finally went upto Hollywood reservoir to click this picture


I drove to Beverly Hills and then drove along to catch a glimpse of the setting sun one last time. The sun set and it was time to leave. I had a six hour drive in front of me and started on my return journey to Phoenix without spending time to reflect on the journey or to reminisce about the trip, though I would have loved and wanted to stay that little bit longer.
My return journey was uneventful except that at one point of time in the middle of Colorado desert my gas levels dropped to near empty (DTE was 30 miles) and it was beginning to make me nervous. Fortunately enough there was a gas station. And then I hit familiar roads in Phoenix and was home.

A parting shot. This was more than half the trip!

[S@ndy]

Oh dear! I really envy you man! You drove my favourite pony car, and that too in a convertible guise, across such beautiful countrysides and highways. States surely has some spectacular views out there! I am myself planning to go there coming Spring. Two questions, hope you don't mind!

• Was the Mustang, you were driving rented or your own? Can you share the rental costs of a 'Stang?
• One more question, are there toll booth's for the highways like India or vignette-system like the EU countries?

Thanks!

Keep revvin'
S@ndy

[Sanjunair5]

Originally Posted by S@ndy

.... Two questions, hope you don't mind!

• Was the Mustang, you were driving rented or your own? Can you share the rental costs of a 'Stang?
• One more question, are there toll booth's for the highways like India or vignette-system like the EU countries?

Thanks!

Keep revvin'
S@ndy

Absolutely no issues Sandy.
- I rented the Mustang from Enterprise. Their regular rates for muscle cars is $80/day, but you should be able to extract some kind of a discount from them. For this trip I used some loyalty points, some haggling () etc. and paid $490 for the whole week. If you get a chance try this too - https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/misc/...mustang_gt.jsp

- I paid no tolls the entire journey except at 2 places, once while entering SFO - $4 (I forgot where it was) and on Golden Gate - $6.

Do let me know if you need any additional info. And spring will be the best time to do this kind of a trip.

[Joe M]

This is a dream road-trip, Sanju. American roads, the Cities(which I feel are most American), the Mustang, the parks... you did it all !! Thanks for sharing.

[Sanjunair5]

Originally Posted by Joe M

This is a dream road-trip, Sanju. American roads, the Cities(which I feel are most American), the Mustang, the parks... you did it all !! Thanks for sharing.

Dream .... yes! I started thinking about this in April last year, but it took this long for the stars to align! And definitely the cities are as American as they get, but on second thoughts LA has more Mexicans than anywhere else while SFO has more Chinese than anywhere else and as can be seen from their names were Spanish colonies. Chances are that I bumped into more non Americans than Americans. I met folks from various countries - a guy from Australia (who gave up his Wall St job to pursue painting), a family from South Africa (who after a lifetime spent on oil rigs is now consulting in US), a German couple (were into teaching), a girl from Trinidad & Tobago, a student from China and few fellow Indians (who were on missions similar to this!). It helps to chat up with strangers on trips like this and most people love to chat.

[Joe M]

That would be a wonderful experience, to meet people from all corners of the earth on the same trip! It just adds spice to your wonderful cross-country(let me call it so) experience.

My mind too have been bearing the load of a few 'long trip in muscle car' dreams for long time now, including a trip through the coastal Australia, covering Adelaide - Melbourne - Sydney - Brisbane - Gold Coast. But not sure if I can make it a reality any time soon.

[Macfreak7]

Wonderful thread and photos!
As a result it's brought up tons of memories from when I lived in SoCal / Bay Area many years ago. Those fantastic smooth winding roads, beautiful picture postcard scenes, and of course a 6 speed manual in my right hand powering an inline 6. Couldn't get any better.
Only thing is, for whatever reason I never ended up visiting Tahoe. From these pictures it has now become a regret and it's going on the to-do list for my next trip out there.

Well done!

[selfdrive]

Great pictures and account of your trip. The most important thing is that you went ahead and did something you set yourself to do.

It brings back memories of years ago when we were being driven all across the Bay area by a friendly ex colleague (didnt know how to drive back then!) We also ended up seeing a few sunsets on the Pacific coastline. sometimes we take things for granted when we do it, but then we get to know someone else could drive for hundreds of miles to experience the same thing for which we have put in next to no efforts.

Just one request from my side. It would be great if you could put up a map of your trip. Thanks for reviving the memories from my side.

[Sanjunair5]

Here is the route that I followed with approximate daily distance and driving time. My plan was to drive maximum distance on day 1 when I was fully fresh. So I ended I up driving 12 hours on day 1 and 5 or so hours each of the next days.

[PVS]

Excellent travelogue Sanjunair, and that too in a Mustang!! Great photos too!
I used to live in Lake Forest CA, and once did a trip to AZ(Flagstaff, Sedona & Grand Canyon South Rim). Desolate I-40 was a great experience, and while coming also checked out the famous Route 66 between Seligman AZ and Kingman AZ. You should check out Route 66 too - Amazing route!!