Saturday April 5, 2003.
While my friends were sleeping in Asia, I was driving through heaven.
Motoring heaven, that is. Highway 120 from Oakdale to Yosemite National Park is one of the best driving
experiences of my life. Perfectly smooth and winding mountain roads under blue skies with fluffy white clouds.
And I encountered almost no other traffic.
The scenery is breathtaking, and the grandeur of Yosemite National
Park is awesome. From Highway 120 inside the park, I continued on to Highway 41 which leads down the mountain towards
Fresno and back to Highway 99 South.
The drive from Oakdale and up to Yosemite left such a deep impression
on me, that I didn't want to spoil it by driving immediately into the urban ugliness of the highway between Fresno and Bakersfield.
So I stopped for dinner soon after I came down from the heights of Yosemite, and waited for night to fall. Then I could
make a night drive through the urban wilderness of highway 99 south of Fresno, and make it all the way to Tehachapi on Highwy
58 East, on the way to Las Vegas, and well out of the city area.
I put the pictures of Yosemite on a separate page. Below here
are the scenes on the way up to Yosemite.
Miles covered today: 320
Total miles travelled since Seattle: 1305
