Posted on by Californiacontrarian

The Grapevine

Today’s piece is specifically for those who think that this blog is purely a slanted political far-right piece of crap . . . I maintain that it is always not a piece of crap. I thought that it might be nice to escape from all of this impeachment nonsense, and go solely for an educational piece. To start, especially for those of you who do not live in California, a little bit of basic geography.
California is very similar to a rectangle – very long and relatively narrow. There are mountains to the east and the long arid San Joaquin Valley in the center. It is in this valley that the majority of crops are grown, and crops equal food. (As you drive through this Central Valley, there are multiple signs that stress that water is the key to growing food, and that when the water is cutoff, bad things happen, not only to farms but also to jobs. We can all thank the Democrats in this state for the sad situation in the Central Valley.) But I digress! 

Throughout the length of the state, from the top to the bottom, including through the Central Valley, runs Interstate 5. However there is a problem for I-5 when it transitions from the Central Valley to Los Angeles. That problem is the steep Tehachapi Mountains which separate the Central Valley from the basin in which Los Angeles sits. In 1970, the long awaited solution to getting across the Tehachapis was finished. Since then I-5, an eight lane divided highway, (four lanes traveling north separated from four lanes traveling south) provides a way that cars, trucks, and buses can now go up, over and through the Tejon Pass, which sits at just over 4100 feet in the Tehachapi Mountains. (Actually at the junction of the southwestern Tehachapi Mountains and the San Emigilio Mountains.) The locals call this “The Grapevine.” Interestingly this nickname was given to this area because of grapes growing in the area, and not because of the winding traversing roads that use to be used. Technically “The Grapevine” refers to the steep 5.5 mile grade at the northern end of Tejon Pass, although what most locals call “The Grapevine” is the entire eight lane divided highway from the Santa Clarita Valley, up, over and through Tejon Pass, down to the San Joaquin Valley south of Bakersfield. Tejon Pass is just over 4100 ft. elevation, and gets hot in the summer and gets closed oftentimes in the winter because of snow. Yes, The Grapevine was closed on the night before Thanksgiving because of snow. It is 6.5 miles from Fort Tejon to the bottom of Grapevine Grade coming down northward after Tejon Pass, and this is potentially the most dangerous area for accidents with inclement weather. Last week while driving south, just starting up the incline, there was a horrendous backup of traffic on the northern downslope. I estimated that the backup was at least 20 miles. Twenty miles of nobody moving across all four downhill lanes. That backup was apparently due to jack-knifed semis on the downhill side because a wind gust blew one semis across a lane line into a second semi. The problem for these travelers is that once they are past Hwy 138, there is no way to get off . . . ”Oops, Google did say there was a backup on The Grapevine, but OMG!”
I now know a lot more about “The Grapevine” than anybody will ever need to know, but wasn’t it fun, not talking about politics? BTW:”Tejon” means “badger,” as one of the early explorers to the area found a dead badger near the bottom of the pass. (Another useless piece of information, except possibly on your future Jeopardy appearance.)

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