I woke up around 7am to find that the rest stop I was at was situated within the same lovely rolling hills I had been driving through before. It was very cold (not as cold as in the desert though), but I was able to quickly get ready and get on my way.
The goal today was to drive on a road called “Yerba Buena Road” near Malibu, which I saw in a video from “Gears and Gasoline” during their scenic drives road trip across the US. I couldn’t get my GPS to route to the road itself, so I routed to Thousand Oaks, the closest city to the road, where I could then just memorize the route to the road.
There’s not really much else to say here, the drive was pretty uneventful and took me along route 154 to Santa Barbara, a road I’ve taken before, last June, but I was driving in the daytime this time so I could really appreciate the views. I took a couple of stops along the way to look at vista points, but other than that it was a pretty straight shot to Thousand Oaks.
I filled up with gas in Thousand Oaks, even though I didn’t need to, since I wanted to be ready in the very slim chance something happened on the road, since it’s not a very travelled road. I found the cheapest gas station in town ($4.20/gal) and headed that way. Though, it seems like everyone else also knew it was the cheapest gas as it was full when I got there, and quickly a line formed behind me.
The act of leaving your car and going inside while the gas pump is still pumping is still weird to me, and it was a bit annoying this time because the woman in front of me started the pump, then walked inside, and didn’t come out for almost 5 minutes, much longer than it takes to refill any car. I didn’t want to idle at the gas station, so I was starting to sweat in the heat (it was now 20 degrees outside and my car was acting as a greenhouse). She eventually came out and took her sweet time finishing up, and I was able to move up, fill up my car, and quickly move for the next person.
Now it was time for the road. I headed out of town and started up the hills towards Yerba Buena Road, which were extremely tight and steep, which my car wasn’t too happy about, but we pushed through. I eventually got to the road and almost immediately came to a beautiful view point, where I pulled over and hopped out to take some photos.
I also wanted to take a look at getting the drone running, but there were three issues: the first was that the controller was dead. The drone wasn’t, but without the controller the drone isn’t much use. The second issue was that there was no cell service, so I couldn’t access the guides on how to finish setting up the drone. The third and final issue was it was hot as balls outside and I couldn’t stay too long without my (albeit not very good) air conditioning.
Defeated yet again by the drone, I carried on my way and enjoyed the rest of the road. It’s only about 11 miles long but it took me over an hour to drive with all the twists, turns, and hills it sports. Some of the turns are so tight and blind that I had to slow down to under 3 miles an hour just to make sure no one else was coming around the corner.
I came across a couple of bikers (pedal bikes!) who were making their way up the mountain, obviously trying to torture themselves. I do not envy them one bit.
I rounded a few (a lot) more corners and crested the top of the mountain, which then provided me with beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean on the other side.
After this, progress sped up a bit as the road was very slightly less twisty turney, and before I knew it I was at sea level and turning onto the Pacific Coast Highway. I parked, found the closest Starbucks (free wifi and a cold drink) which was only 10 minutes away and set off again. I’m currently sitting at that Starbucks, having decided that my goal tonight is the Aliso Creek Rest Area, on the south side of Los Angeles.
I don’t have much interest in staying or visiting downtown LA, so I’ll be driving right through. Unfortunately, I’ll be doing so at prime rush hour, so a 120 mile drive which should only take 2 hours, is going to take 4. I’m hoping to get to the rest area before dark, but we’ll see if LA traffic agrees with that goal.
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LA traffic did not agree with that goal. I sat for 4 hours in virtually standstill traffic, slowly crawling my way through the city. It was one of the most boring things possible, made even worse by the fact that my air conditioning only really works when I’m moving fast. When I’m stopped, it just blows warm air on me from outside.
I eventually made it to the rest stop at around 8pm which was packed, though I managed to find a spot near the middle and settled in for the night. I set up some fairy lights along the top of the car which were a much better source of light than the harsh white light that comes from the headlamp.