Highway 33 to 198: Avenal, Coalinga to Salinas River Valley

Left Los Angeles yesterday evening to get a few miles out of town to miss Monday morning rush hour traffic, and woke up this morning in Buttonwillow, CA. A few miles north on Interstate 5, we decided to seek out tacos a few miles to the west, first here in Avenal, CA. Taqueria not open, we decided to try the next town down the road.

We then traveled up Hwy 33, running parallel to I-5, towards Coalinga, CA. Above and below are some shots I took around 7:50 am.

Breakfast at Taqueria "La Piedad" in Coalinga. Hibiscus Agua Fresca, Adobada, Cabeza and Carnitas tacos, with salsa rojo & verde.

Highway 198, heading WNW towards King City on Highway 101. Peaceful two lane highway with nobody tailgating us because we're not exceeding the speed limit by 35 mph.

Plenty of evidence of recent rock & mud slides along these roads.

There was a fire here last July, and flooding just a few days ago. This is roughly 30 miles inland from the south end of Big Sur. King City is about 15-20 miles due east of Tassajara Hot Springs.

From the high point of Hwy 198 you can see a long thin line at the base of the mountains: that's the morning fog creeping up the Salinas River Valley.

On Hwy 198, fairly close to 101.