Road Trippin’ 
with Steve McCarthy

The things you learn out on the Road! Like, in the Sequoia/Sierra Foothills, GPS, Googlemaps, Real Maps and Reality have no real relationship! And to make things even better, it seems like a) every other road is named “Auberry Rd” and b) the locals seem to think it’s GREAT fun to turn street signs 90 degrees. I kid you not! We all discovered this using last month’s Drive to the Center of the Earth directions. Just note, IF you do this drive, just head to North Fork what ever way you can. You’ll get a good meal at the Buckhorn, then, head back to Visalia however you can.
A couple of other notes about last months drive, the Brewbakers brew pub in Visalia is pretty good, but my steak was REALLY tough, esp. for the price, and Bravo Farms was good, but over prices, pretensious and slapped an automatic 18% gratuity on our table of 6. If we’d sat at seperate tables, no such charge! I told the poor waiter that if those are the rules, then he’d been cheated. I WOULD have given him more, but...Rules are Rules! I’d honestly give this place a miss, it’s just not worth the money.

The Day Three Drive takes me back to my old bus driving days, and adds some new roads that are FANTASTIC! Yokohl Valley Road is freaking SPECTACULAR!!! It nay be my new Favorite Road! It certainly ranks up there! Following that is the Dreaded Road to Quaker Meadows.
Constant readers will remember that I drove charter buses in my callow youth, and one run made a Man out of you. Quaker Meadows. It’s all the way at the top of Hwy 190 out of Porterville and has some hellacious hairpins that in a bus...well, lets just say you were a REAL driver if you made them in one cut.
At the top is a neat little place called the Pierpoint Springs Resort. We weren’t ready to eat again, but DAMN, did breakfast smell good there! Past there, WAY past there is a crossroads with another intriguing eatery, the Tapatio Cafe. It’s where Hot Springs Road and Old Stage Road meet. Good place to take a pee break. The place was empty, but it smelled good. Out side, E. Clampus Vitus has erected a monument to the most successful horse rustler in California history, Peg Leg Smith, “El Cojo”. It’s a great story and thank God for the Clampers for keeping the REAL history alive.
From there, it’s off to Woody, then the edge of Bakersfield and up to Tehachapi, Lunch at a new place called Red House BBQ or the old standby, the Village Grill. From there it’s an easy drive home over Angeles Crest.
I was tempted to call this drive the Jerry Dunphy Memorial Jaunt, because in the words of that legendary LA newscaster, we went “from the Mountains, to the Deserts, to the Sea, and to All of Southern California.”


Econo Lodge Sequoia Area
1400 S Mooney Blvd
Visalia, CA 93277

1. Head north on S Mooney Blvd toward W Tulare Ave 0.5 mi
2. Turn right onto W Noble Ave 184 ft
Merge onto CA-198 E/State Route 198 E
via the ramp on the left to State Route63 N 9.9 mi
3a. Turn right onto Yokohl Valley Rd 2.9 mi
4. Turn left onto M-296/Yokohl Valley Rd 18.1 mi
5. Turn left onto M-296/Yokohl Valley Dr 1.6 mi
6. Turn right onto Balch Park Rd/Springville-Milo Rd 6.1 mi
7. Turn left onto CA-190 E 4.6 mi
8. Turn right to stay on CA-190 E 10.1 mi
9. Turn left to stay on CA-190 E 2.3 mi
10. Turn left to stay on CA-190 E 2.7 mi
11. Turn left to stay on CA-190 E 4.1 mi
12. Continue onto Co Route 107 13.3 mi
13. Continue onto Great Western Divide Hwy 2.1 mi
14. Turn right onto Parker Pass Rd 11.9 mi
      Continue on Hot Springs Road
       Hard Left onto Old Stage Rd 1.9 mi
19. Slight left toward Jack Ranch Rd/M-10 Rd 131 ft
20. Continue straight onto Jack Ranch Rd/M-10 Rd
Continue to follow Jack Ranch Rd 5.4 mi
21. Slight right onto CA-155 W/Bakersfield-Glennville Rd 0.7 mi
22. Continue onto Granite Rd 23.5 mi
23. Keep right at the fork 0.6 mi
24. Turn left onto Round Mountain Rd 19.0 mi
25. Turn left onto China Grade Loop 0.4 mi
26. Slight left onto Alfred Harrell Hwy 0.4 mi
27. Slight left onto Old Alfred Harrell Hwy 0.9 mi
28. Turn right onto Mc Mannus Rd 0.1 mi
29. Turn left to merge onto Alfred Harrell Hwy 9.0 mi
30. Continue onto Comanche Dr 4.5 mi
31. Turn left onto Edison Hwy 2.1 mi
32. Continue onto Bena Rd 10.1 mi
33. Slight left onto Caliente Bodfish Rd 4.7 mi
34. Turn right onto Bealville Rd 2.0 mi
35. Turn left onto CA-58 E 4.9 mi
36. Take exit 139 toward Keene 0.1 mi
37. Turn left toward Woodford-Tehachapi Rd 430 ft
38. Turn right onto Woodford-Tehachapi Rd 8.8 mi
39. Turn left onto Westwood Blvd 1.4 mi
40. Turn left onto Red Apple Ave 0.8 mi
41. Continue straight onto W Tehachapi Blvd 1.4 mi
199 mi – about 6 hours 13 mins
Village Grill
410 East Tehachapi Boulevard
Tehachapi, CA 93561
OR
Redhouse BBQ
426 E Tehachapi Blvd, Tehachapi, CA
(661) 822-0772
42. Head east on E Tehachapi Blvd toward S Hayes St 2.6 mi
43. Turn right onto Tehachapi Willow Springs Rd 20.2 mi
44. Continue onto 90th St 6.8 mi
45. Turn right onto CA-138 W/W Avenue D 8.0 mi
46. Turn left onto 170th St W 2.5 mi
47. Turn left onto W Avenue F 8/Lancaster Rd
Continue to follow Lancaster Rd 4.4 mi
48. Continue onto Fairmont-Neenach Rd 1.1 mi
49. Turn right onto Munz Ranch Rd 4.4 mi
50. Turn left onto Elizabeth Lake Rd 1.2 mi
51. Take the 2nd right to stay on Elizabeth Lake Rd 15.0 mi
52. Continue onto W Palmdale Blvd 0.8 mi
53. Merge onto CA-14 S via the ramp to Los Angeles 5.4 mi
54. Take exit 30 toward Angeles Forest Hwy 0.4 mi
55. Merge onto Sierra Hwy 0.1 mi
56. Turn left onto Angeles Forest Hwy 24.6 mi
57. Turn right onto CA-2 W/Angeles Crest Hwy 9.4 mi
You know your way home from here!
Hope you enjoyed the Drive, & we’ll see ya next year!