Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW for a little Auto Adventure love. One of the greatest joys of living in California is the highway system; except for the Autobahn in Germany and some mountainous stretches in Europe, driving is not as exciting anywhere else on Earth. Highway 1, otherwise known as the Pacific Coast, Cabrillo, and Shoreline highways. Aside from the loping, banked curves and absolutely stunning vistas, Highway 1 meanders the entire length of California right along the coast, allowing a person to drive the entire way purely for pleasure. Hit the jump to see some shots from my adventure down the coast from Monterrey to San Luis Obispo!

First.. lets recap the story behind the adventure. It all started with a friend coming up to visit from Long Beach for Halloween. Well, it turns out one of her friends has a special someone up the coast in Monterrey at the Air Force base, and asked my friend to give her a ride.

Now, for those of you without a map handy, Monterrey is a good two and a half hours north of San Luis Obispo (where I am) and thats already three and a half hours from Long Beach, more if you actually drive at a normal clip or hit traffic (and you usually do). Luckily I only had to participate in the second leg. Anyway, they arrived here to pick me up and we set off North on the 101 towards Salinas. For those of you who have never driven on the 101 between SLO and Salinas… you’re not missing much. The rolling, empty hills get real old real fast, and the cloudy rainy day did nothing to improve the vistas. I promptly fell asleep.

I woke up just outside Monterrey. After dropping off my friends suitemate with her Pilot man, we switched places, and I took over the captains chair. The whip? An early 2000’s Chevy S-10 pickup. Not exactly the ideal road trip vehicle… or cruising vehicle… but whatever. Anyway, we set off again after only a bathroom break, although I was fresh while my friend was exhausted after the marathon run from Long Beach to Monterrey. I quickly grew frustrated with the jam packed single lane abortion of a highway (the 68 between Salinas and Monterrey) and decided to take Highway 1 back, assuming (incorrectly) that there would be a turn off at some point for the 101. I confidently surged forward, oblivious to my mistake (genius didn’t consult a map).

Anyway, thats when the adventure really begins! The trip started out great, I knew the 1 would take longer, but the views were incredible. check out the Gallery for all the shots…

The drive was the best part though, sharp turns with fierce banks and windy straightaways made me feel like a gumball driver, or the dude in Grand Turismo 4, even in the less than agile truck. There was something satisfying about flooring it through the straights, only a few feet from a massive drop into the ocean, rain clouds threatening to turn the whole thing into a wet drifting competition once I hit the curvy bits. If you ever want to have a good time driving, simply for the pleasure of driving, I HIGHLY recommend the stretch between Monterrey and Cambria. You pass along windy coastal stretches, wooded straights in Big Sur, and then through meandering switchbacks along the coast again. It makes for white knuckle driving– the best kind.

If that’s not adventurous enough, then there’s the added thrill of nearly running out of gas, driving nearly 110 miles without seeing a single gas station and then paying over 5 bucks a gallon to make it to the next town, since we had only fumes left in the tank. (I actually woke up my friend at one point, warning her about the rather low levels of fuel– freakout? You bet she did.) It didn’t help that there wasn’t any cell phone service or call boxes either, combined with the onset of darkness and rain… it made for an extremely fitting Halloween! Nearly hitting a deer was the icing on the cake… I pulled around a full 180 turn only to light up an extremely stubborn or stupid deer that refused to get out of the way no matter how many times I flashed the lights at it. If you decide to have an adventure of your own, be careful folks!

We arrived safe and sound in San Luis Obispo, finishing the Monterrey to SLO leg on the 1 in only three and a half hours-it was well worth the extra hour!  Hope you guys enjoyed that little adventure! Be sure to head down to the forums to discuss the ride with me, and as always check out the gallery for all the pictures! This is Dr. VW– out.