The longest day
Yesterday, I completed one of my longest driving days: San Jose to San Diego and back in one day. 915 miles, in 14 hours at an average speed of 66mph.
One Day Round Trip to San Diego
I left shortly before 5am on Highway 101 South. The hardest part of the entire drive is the 152 connector from Highway 101 to Interstate 5. It is a two way rolling road with big trucks and where people drive at high speeds. After about 65 minutes, I reached Interstate 5.
At about 2-2.5 hours I passed the Kettleman City’s pitstop. This is another landmark for those driving through the boring Central Valley. Kettleman is a small place with a few gas stations and restaurants, including an In and Out burger.
Overall the Central Valley passed quickly. It was covered in an eerie fog or smoke from the California wildfires. I made good progress and arrived after 3.5 hours at the foot of the Grapevine. It was time to fill up the tank and do some stretches.
San Jose to San Diego
I didn’t need any food or drinks as I had packed a nice cooler with Red Bull, Haribo, healthy bars, peanuts and a breakfast sandwich. I was ready to keep on going.
The Grapevine, the Valley, Downtown Los Angeles and Orange County passed quickly under my wheels. I hit a bit of traffic near Camp Pendleton, just before I exited on to Highway 76 to switch to Interstate 15. Almost exactly 7 hours later, I arrived at my destination.
After a nice lunch, three and a half hours later, we were back on the road back home. This time I had a co-pilot who helped me for a few hours through the Central Valley at night. This time we did stop at Kettleman City at the In and Out for a cheese burger and animal style fries. A little before 11pm, we arrived exhausted back home in San Jose.
The drive back from Palm Springs was a long drive back home. The round trip to empty the dorm in Los Angeles was a monster trip. This one-day trip beat them all: 14 hours of driving in one day.