"The Grapevine"

Some years ago (when we had Miss Daisy), someone was talking to us about their exhaust brake on their diesel rig... I remember him talking about how it kept their speed constant in mountains. He said something like, "I just pushed '3' and it kept me at a constant speed all the way down the grapevine."

Of course, I didn't know what the "grapevine" was, but I understood it to be a long steep passage in which his rig kept a constant speed with very little effort on his part.

On Monday, we drove the "grapevine", or, I guess what people call the grapevine.

I found this information online (this is talking about the road heading north - we took it south): (http://santaclaritaguide.com/Glossary.html)

From Caltrans, "Most travelers think the portion of I-5 called the Grapevine begins at the north end of Castaic in the Santa Clarita Valley where the freeway begins a northerly climb at Parker Road -- and where the California Highway Patrol closes the freeway when snow or icy conditions northward prohibit safe travel. But this is not where the actual Grapevine is located. What they would be traveling on, instead, is what is most commonly known as the beginning of the five-mile grade where I-5 sharply rises to the north at a grade of 5% -- and the beginning of a 40 mile journey over the Tehachapi Mountains from northern Los Angeles County to the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County.

"After the five mile grade, comes Templin Highway at about the 3,000-feet level. Proceeding north one encounters 22.5 more miles north on a rolling, meandering drive by Frazier Mountain through the Gorman area and the highest point of the drive at an altitude of 4,183 feet, and the summit of this famous drive.

"Continuing northerly from the summit is a slight drop in altitude and in six more miles one reaches Fort Tejon, a state historic monument. Fort Tejon was established in 1854 to suppress stock rustling, which was rampant at that time, and to protect the Native Americans in the San Joaquin Valley. It is here where the actual portion of freeway known as the Grapevine actually begins."

From Sacramento to this point had been fairly flat... Let's just say that it was a LONG ways up...

To the top at over 4000'...

And then a long ways down (with UPS and FedEx trucks along the way with us!).

Ultimately, we arrived at our campground, Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails near Acton (and Palmdale), California.