CA Sketchcation: "What do YOU Think the Speed Limit is Here?"
We've reached the final full day of the trip! The Mission: Drive inland up to San Francisco so the next day I could drop off the car and fly home. I decided to make things interesting and find an attraction along the way. I found a circa 1934 gas station that is the part of a small museum in Coalinga that has been refurbished (thanks, Internet!). So I set my GPS for Coalinga, driving up Route 5. My first sketch of the day was from a conveniently located rest stop.
My last *real* sketch of the trip is of that gas station, adorable and in the middle of nowhere.
But the trip didn't end there. I was meeting a friend for dinner in Santa Cruz, so I checked googlemaps and my GPS and they concurred it would be faster for me to take 198 than route 5. Turns out, 198 is a super windy road through the mountains with no cell service. It definitely took me a little longer than I think GPS expected it would. I kept wanting to go the speed limits on the curves (often 25 or 35), but occasionally other cars would catch up to me, going breakneck speeds at all points of the windy road, blind curves and all. So I did a lot of pulling over to let people pass, and gasping with horror as they flew by me, passing on some of those blind curves. NUTS. California drivers are NUTS. It was a really beautiful road though, and while there weren't any great places to pull over to sketch, I managed a few photos at the few places I COULD pull over. Eventually I made it through to 101, and later to Santa Cruz and then San Francisco. And that was my trip! I had a great time, and loved the sketch format.