Monterey Route Scouting Trip

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In 2007 the Golden State Region of the Plymouth Owners Club is to host a national show in Santa Maria. We are planning a caravan/tour from the San Francisco Bay Area to the show that will take in a number of the many scenic and historic places on the way. This route finding tour was to address one of the concerns: How to get to the Monterey area without driving for a considerable distance on freeways.

Of secondary interest, the weather web site indicated that the Monterey area was escaping from the heat wave that we were suffering from. A trip to the coast would also be a respite from the brutal record high temperatures.

We met at the usual location for tours to the south. The brakes in Chris Scofield’s 1933 PD Four Door were malfunctioning, so he rode with Leslie and Tod Fitch in their 1933 PD Two Door Sedan. Bob Semichy drove his 1937 P4 Two Door Sedan. Since Bob and Kathy Severin’s 1938 needed a fuel pump they drove in a modern car.

A reasonable route that was not too indirect lead us toward Watsonville before cutting south and east to San Juan Batista. We expect that this will make a good place for a long stop on the tour for people to visit the historic mission and shop at all the antique stores. The next leg of the trip was via the San Juan Grade road to Salinas. The map was not very clear on what we could expect on this section. It might have been dirt or even a jeep trail. Fortunately it turned out to be paved the whole way. What’s more, the pavement was a thin surface of asphalt over a one and a half wide lane of concrete. That narrow concrete strip is exactly the type of construction used in the very early days for highways and unlikely to be used in California for a local road. I checked a 1926 Rand McNally when I got home and believe that this is the original US 101 route from Salinas to San Juan Batista. I will need to do more research to confirm but in any case it will make a fine tour route.

Entering cool air as we approached Salinas was really nice. We passed by the Steinbeck Center, which is under consideration as another stop on next year’s tour. We were lucky on our way out of Salinas since our route was being closed for a parade. We were just about the last set of cars allowed by and I suspect that some of the people lining up on the side of the route thought we were to be in the parade.

Once near Monterey we found that there was a race a Laguna Seca. Fortunately our planned route out of the Monterey area was closed to traffic for the race just after we went through. A little later and we would have been really exploring our options. Note to tour director: Check for special events occurring on your planned route!

Skirting the Monterey area we worked our way north to sample the fare at Phil’s Fish Market and Cafe at Moss Landing. We lingered for quite a while as there was no real need to get home and we knew of the heat that awaited us on the “other side of the hill”.

Finally finished with lunch we set off to verify a different non-freeway route home. Sure enough, as we climbed away from the coastal marine layer the heat set back in. At least the cool air was good while it lasted.