I’m doing a road trip to LA next week. I’ve done I-5 dozens of times, so this time I’m going to travel route 99. I will need to stop up to three times for leg stretches, potty breaks. I would like a number of suggestions for this road trip. 
Don’t take it?
Its totally worth it if you like abandoned roadside buildings (like I do) there’s some great stuff to see.
There isn’t a great deal to see - but there are speed traps - take your time and see real people and their lives.
I always advise 99 over I-5 just due to the monotony of I-5 and its penchant for chain-reaction crashes.
Look out for “condensation fog” - known locally as “Tule fog” - if that is predicted, STOP. STOP NOW. Even if middle of nowhere, STOP.
I got caught in it once - the headlights looked like dim yellow glows in a white ocean. Visibility was about 2’ - yes - two feet. I navigated at 10 mph by opening the car door and looking at the line down the road.
Compared to I-5, you’ll certainly have plenty of options for places to stop; every last little farm town has the standard assortment of fast food places. If you want to get out of the car long enough for a sit-down lunch, the Yosemite Falls Cafe in Fresno (Ashlan Ave.) is actually not half bad; good burgers, or good omelets if you’re there for a late breakfast.
After you’re back on 5 and on the Grapevine, you might want to stop and check out the wildflowers on the hillsides around Gorman.
This! Tule fog is a bugger.
OTOH, I liked 99 when I was there. I like the trip much more then the getting there, so keep that in mind.
X2 on the speed traps.
Obviously, 99 will take much more time than I-5 will.
Happy motoring, 48.
Abandoned signs too? I might be convinced to go on a trip myself!
There is a place off Keyes road near Denair where you can see Half Dome from the floor of the Central Valley. I’ll let you guys do the internet search to find that. I probably won’t be stopping for that, as it is best done on a super clear day. I’ve done 99 as a kid before I-5 was finished, and I’ve done I-5 dozens of time. Nothing to see on I-5 except the feed lot near Harris Ranch (good steaks) and then nothing. Nothing. I did Stockton to Fresno in January with my folks in January, and boy, was that a treat, them yelling like Frank and Estelle Costanza every hour about whose turn it was to sit in the roomier front seat.
I’ll check out the Yosemite Cafe in Fresno. Any recommendations in (gack!) Bakersfield? Bakersfield the last time I was there in '98 was still the sort of place that made souls in Purgatory glad they weren’t any more sinful in life. Ugliest places I’ve seen in California, however, were Hemit and Perris.
Yes.
There’s a great old Woolworths that is now a antique mall and a nice dinerette at the old lunch counter.
if you like old airplanes, there’s a Boeing B17 and an F4 Phantom just south of Tulare. I think it’s exit 200.
I’ve driven on the 99 hundreds of times. I grew up there. I’ve only driven the 5 once.
Umm…not much to see. In Bakersfield there’s a shaved ice place that’s amazing. Seriously, best I’ve ever had. I’d kill for one right now, but I’m in New England, where it’s supposed to snow today.
And pray that the guy behind you sees it, too.
The Castle Air Museum in Atwater is worth a stop, but you need at least an hour to check the planes out. You can have lunch inside a Convair T-29 at Richard’s Lunchbox in Tulare. (the service is kinda slow, so you might need an hour for that too)
The 99 is more interesting than the 5. But it’s also slower.
I don’t think you need to worry about tule fog. That usually occurs after a lot of rain, and as you know it had been very dry all over CA.
Bravo Farms in Traver is a good stretch stop - cheese factory, fruit, gifts, and a tree house if there are kids.
Also, the spot where “Palm meets Pine”, demarking the mysterious divide between northern and southern California. Not much of a stop, but something to look for along the road (in the median) near Madera.
Much slower. Much, much slower. And “interesting” is relative.
I wouldn’t say it’s any slower than I-5. I hate I-5. I lived in Los Angeles for years and years and my family lived in Sacramento, and I drove 99 because it’s so much more visually interesting than 5, plus there are lots more places to pull over and get things to eat, take bathroom breaks, get gas.
Black Bear Diners in Modesto, Madera or Tulare are good bets. I live in Fresno, and wouldn’t recommend stopping anywhere along the freeway in Fresno itself south of Ashlan (the Yosemite Falls exit). From Fresno south to the intersection with I5 south of Bakersfield it is all 70 MPH and goes pretty fast. There is a lot of newly completed 6 lane north of Chowchilla and congestion is much better on the new spots. Wave on your way through town.
Thanks for the suggestions! I’m familiar with Tule fog, and won’t be driving in any of it. (I live in Antioch, which is just on the edge of the Central Valley.) I’ll pull over and wait if there is any fog. I agree, it is weirdly dangerous.
The long and short of it, at least for me, is that it’s a nice change of pace from I5. As previously mentioned, it is slower (primarily due to truck traffic) and not particularly scenic, but no worse than I5. As you probably know it feeds into I5 at the base of the Grapevine.