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  5. Road trippin': Tracy to Cholame

Road trippin': Tracy to Cholame

An unhurried drive through the central state

This past spring, CT News needed to get from Northern to Southern California, but rather than high-tail it through the Central Valley on State Route 99 or Interstate 5, we veered off to a less-traveled route. Sure, it included a stretch of U.S. Highway 101, but the rest of the drive was pretty peaceful.

Central Valley

cs-00 Road Trippin': Taking the back roads from Tracy to Cholame (Source: Google Maps)
cs-01 Westley Rest Area just south of Tracy offers southbound Interstate 5 motorists a spot to, among other things, stretch their legs.
cs-02 A low-tech sign points the way for motorists leaving Westley Rest Area to return to southbound I-5.
cs-03 A few miles north of the State Route 140 exit, California Aqueduct Vista Point gives motorists a sweeping view down I-5.
cs-04 Having exited Interstate 5 to go eastbound on State Route 140, motorists soon cross the Delta Mendota Canal.
cs-05 A few miles farther along State Route 140, motorists encounter State Route 33, which heads south and around toward Los Banos.
cs--06 Having turned off State Route 33 onto westbound State Route 140, motorists head past the San Luis Reservoir toward Gilroy.
cs--07 Before State Route 140 reaches Gilroy, motorists can veer southwest on State Route 156 toward Hollister.
cs--08 Past Hollister and on State Route 25, one of the state's scenic gems beckons to the west: Pinnacles National Monument.
cs-09 South of the Pinnacles turn-off, a small portion State Route 25 ran out of luck a few years back when it was covered in a mudslide.
cs-10 Caltrans engineers are trying to determine what the best approach is to correcting the short, buried stretch of State Route 25.
cs-11 Roadside amenities can be few and far between on State Route 25, which runs parallel with Highway 101 to the west and I-5 to the east.
cs-12 As it makes its way down to a dead-end at State Route 198, State Route 25 crosses counties, from San Benito to Monterey.
cs-13 At the southern end of State Route 25, motorists can go left toward Interstate 5 or right toward U.S. Highway 101.
cs-14 As it heads west the intersection of State Route 25 toward San Lucas, State Route 198 boasts pleasantly bucolic views.
cs-15 Between San Lucas and Paso Robles on U.S. Highway 101, motorists can take a quick exit to stop and check out the oil fields.
cs-16 At the Camp Roberts Rest Area for southbound U.S. Highway 101, motorists can get out and safely examine one of the state's mission bells.
cs-17 The Camp Roberts Rest Area also features one of Caltrans' newly installed charging stations for electric vehicles.
cs-18 At the Shandon Rest Area on the south side of State Routes 41 and 46 just west of Cholame, a display case honors James Dean,
cs-19 James Dean, a matinee idol from the 1950s whose fame has endured and even strengthened long after his death, died in a car crash.
cs-20 Movie star James Dean met his end here, on Sept. 30, 1955, when he crashed his sports car. He was 24 years old.