Gribblenation

The fourth route I took this past Monday was Sign County Route J18. Sign County Route J18 ("J18") is a 26.5 mile route spanning San Joaquin Valley from I-5 east to CA 99.  From I-5 J18 starts at exit 423 along Stuhr Road. Sturh Road looking east towards Newman across San Joaquin Valley. J18 crosses CA 33 just north of the city limits of Newman. East of Newman Sturh Road ends and J18 east takes a left turn on Hills Ferry Road.  Hills Ferry Road quickly crosses the San Joaquin River into Merced County becoming Kelley Road. J18 turns right on River Road over the Merced River.  The 1910 Merced River Bridge is located next to the modern bridge on River Road.  The 1910 bridge is heavily vandalized and obviously not very well cared for with holes in the asphalt surface.  River Road east of the Merced River is in terrible shape and can't really practically be drive at speeds higher than 45 MPH comfortably.  River Road has seve

On the way home I decided that I was tired of traffic on the busy Bay Area freeways and decided something much more scenic to cross the Diablo Range; California State Route 130 over Mount Hamilton. CA 130 is a 22 mile state highway running from US 101 in San Jose to the top of Mount Hamilton at the Lick Observatory.  CA 130 was signed first in 1964 during the California Highway Renumbering and was previously unsigned Legislative Route 115 which was adopted back in 1933.  CAhighways.org has a reference to LRN 115/CA 130 and maps from 1963/1964 show the difference in the designations. 1963 State Highway Map 1964 State Highway Map CAhighways.org on CA 130 CA 130 eastbound starts at US 101 along Alum Rock Avenue.  There is some CA 130 shields on guide signs along US 101. Unfortunately the City of San Jose seems to think that CA 130 doesn't need to be signed along Alum Rock Avenue.  Back in 2011 the Alum Rock portion of CA 130 was turned over to the City of Sa