Day 17 - Sonoma, CA to Paso Robles, CA

California or Bust…

Days 17 – Sonoma, CA to Paso Robles, CA

Monday, November 7^th, 2011

Exiting the River Bend RV Resort at about 8:30 am, we drove about 10 miles to return the rental car at the Sonoma County Airport.  Back on Hwy 101 South we had to make a decision whether to drive way East around San Pablo Bay to avoid traffic and construction or drive South near Oakland… we opted for South because of the time of day and luckily there was not too much stop and go traffic.  In the distance, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and the skyline of San Francisco.  We drove South to I-580 and crossed the Richmond San Rafael Bridge, then driving through Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland… and on to I-880 through Alameda, San Leandro, Hayward, etc.  It is just amazing to see the millions of people which inhabit Greater San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose.  An area only 25 miles wide by 60 miles long has over 7 million people… I guess that is not so much when compared to Greater Los Angeles/Riverside/Long Beach at almost 17 million people.  And to put this all in to perspective, the little city of Marathon where we live has a population of just under 10,000 and five traffic lights. 

Heading East over the Richmond San Rafael Bridge

Double Decker Bridge over San Pablo Bay

View South of San Francisco skyline

Once again, we were glad to get through the traffic of a Metropolitan area.  We were back on Hwy 101 and the cities and towns were fewer and farther between.  Even before getting to Gilroy, the “Garlic Capital of the World”, we could smell it.  We made a quick stop off the highway to pick up some fresh garlic, garlic chips, garlic butter spread, garlic powder and garlic ice cream… okay, just kidding on the garlic ice cream… but we would eat it if they had it.  We continued on to another agricultural region called the Salinas Valley and known as “The Salad Bowl of the World” for it’s production of lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, etc.  You could see the richness of the soil and the farms went on for miles.  The temperatures had recently dropped in this area and there were frost warnings so the fields were full of laborers either picking or covering the crops.

This portion of Hwy 101 is also known as the “El Camino Real Historic Trail” and dates back to the Spanish Colonial era in the 1700’s when it was known as the King’s Highway, however,  it was little more than a horse trail.  Then as early as 1906, the State of California placed mission bell guideposts and signs along the highway as the “first signed automobile route” in the nation.  This section of the road also connects a series of missions, pueblos and presidios.  We saw Mission San Juan Bautista, Mission Nuestra Senora, Mission San Miguel and later in the week Mission San Luis Obispo.  Throughout the day, we were driving through the Sierra de Salinas and Coastal Range… another point of interest was the  small town of San Ardo where there were hundreds of oil wells and tankers sitting on trains waiting to be loaded.  We understand that San Ardo is the hub of the oil industry in Monterey County.

We drove past the City of Paso Robles to Atascadero which is the location of one of two San Luis Obispo County offices.  We had to be at their office no later than 3:30 pm to complete our marriage license application… and as you know by now, we were approved.  We then backtracked 12 miles to Paso Robles to get a rental car for the week.  We arrived at the Wine Country RV Resort about 5pm after a 305 mile day.  This is one of the nicest RV parks we have ever stayed… we were in site #82 which backed up to a beautiful grape vineyard and winery.  We got settled in and did several loads of laundry.  It was nice to know that we had six nights in Paso Robles and that we were centrally located for some day trips, more wine tasting and our wedding on 11/11/11.

County Office in Atascadero

Marriage license in hand... woot woot