Uploaded a new blog to add onto the previous Richmond-San Rafael Bridge entry. Recently I drove I-580 west from I-205 in Tracy to CA 13 in Berkeley. I've been looking forward to this one given the huge amount of historic corridors that were near I-580 such as; El Camino Viejo, Lincoln Highway, US 48, US 50 and of course I-5W. The climb over Altamont Pass in particular is actually pretty damn scenic. Really what has become apparent during all this Bay Area stuff is that I need a dedicated blog for the alignment of US 48 which will likely come at some point this month.
https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2019/03/interstate-580-from-i-205-west-to-ca-13.html
My photo set for I-580 from I-205 west to CA 13 can be found below:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskNNyxgv
Having seen the stretch of I-580 heading toward Tracy here on this forum and now this one, the part which surprises me is the large amount of gorgeous natural growth. It looks quite the attractive drive!
Rick
Usually all that greenery only is a thing in the winter. The entire Diablo Range has a summer/brown to winter/green transition which actually very scenic. My office overlooks some of the higher peaks of the Diablo Range, they are a nice sight to look at this time of year. In the case of I-580 the alignment of the freeway over Altamont Pass in particular is pretty striking. Its a very impressive looking grade that doesn't detract from the surrounding terrain.
How long does the "green season" last? In the southern Willamette Valley, the end of May and beginning of June, on a sunny day, is when you find out why Eugene is called the Emerald City. I have never seen so many shades of green and at such intensity as in the countryside south of Cottage Grove to the Divide (so-called because it divides the Willamette and Umpqua drainage basins). By this point in location, the Valley is getting narrower so the hillsides offer themselves as nature's display case quite well.
Once the summer heat kicks in, the green becomes more and more brown. So dull compared to the most vibrant part of the year!
For some more "green hills of Earth" looks, take SR 38. Robert Heinlein wrote a short story called "The Green Hills Of Earth" back in 1947. Here is a synopsis of the plot from Wikipedia and it is a sad story about a man who was unable to see home.
It is the story of "Noisy" Rhysling, the blind space-going songwriter whose poetic skills rival Rudyard Kipling's. Heinlein (himself a medically retired U.S. naval officer) spins a yarn about a radiation-blinded spaceship engineer crisscrossing the solar system writing and singing songs. The story takes the form of a nonfiction magazine article.[1]
Heinlein credited the title of the song, "The Green Hills of Earth", to the short story "Shambleau" by C. L. Moore (first published in 1933).[2] In the story Moore's character, a spacefaring smuggler named Northwest Smith, hums the tune of "The Green Hills of Earth." Moore and Henry Kuttner also have Northwest Smith hum the song in their 1937 short story "Quest of the Starstone," which quotes several lines of lyrics.
The events of the story concern the composition of the titular song. An aged Rhysling realizes that his death of old age is near, and hitchhikes on a spaceship headed to Earth so he can die and be buried where he was born. A malfunction threatens the ship with destruction, and Rhysling enters an irradiated area to perform repairs. Upon completing the repairs, he knows that he will soon die of radiation poisoning, and asks that they record his last song; he dies just moments after speaking the final, titular verse.
Rick