An epic Day 1

Detour 1 - Timbercove - Highway 1 pavement repair.  We are sent up Ft Ross Road to the ridgetop and then back down to Highway 1 via Myers Grade.  This is a pretty alternative and added only a few minutes driving time.  

The drive was then uneventful until the base of the Grapevine, that stretch of Interstate 5 between Los Angeles and Bakersfield.  Literally at the very spot where the road starts its ascent a pebble dings the windshield.  At the top of the hill there's a nice rest stop and we stop and stretch.  About an hour and a half remains to Rose, Nic, and Ofelia with an ETA of 8:00. 

Detour #2 - There's a flashing sign about Interstate 5 being closed.  We come up to Highway 138 and trucks and cars are parked on the side of the roadway.  The right two lanes are a parking lot.  The offramp is plugged with vehicles.  Mistake #1 - we continue on Interstate 5.  About 5 minutes later we come to a deadstop.  For about the next two hours we creep the mile to where we're turned around at the Pyramid Lake visitors center.  Back we go to Highway 138.

Highway 138 is jammed and after creeping east for about a half hour we come to intersection where we can turn south to where we can rejoin Interstate 5 near Santa Clarita.  After about a thirty minute drive we get to a last turn onto the road that rejoins the freeway.  Traffic totally stops.  We creep forward for about an hour.  Someone turning around tells all that a truck has overturned and there's no way through.  That ends up being mistake #2.

We turn around a head back towards Highway 138.  We rejoin Interstate 5 at 3am,  some eight hours later.  We check in at our hotel at 3:30am and go to bed at 4am.  Thus ends day 1.

Breaking News

Aug. 31, 2022 Fire burning near Castaic shuts down 5 Freeway, prompts evacuations amid triple-digit heat A wildfire near Castaic has prompted mandatory evacuations and the closure of all lanes of the 5 Freeway as triple-digit temperatures hit Southern California. The Route fire, burning along the freeway near Lake Hughes Road, has grown to about 250 acres as authorities ordered evacuations for the Paradise Ranch Estates mobile home park, Northlake Hills Elementary School and other structures south of Templin Highway. Two firefighters were transported to a hospital with minor heat-related injuries.