101 will calm down after you leave the valley. If you want to drive very slowly and do not care about making time the avenue of the giants is a fun ride but very very very time consuming. I would guess 35mph average at best. 101 after you leave Heidelberg headed north is just fine. When you get to Oregon it actually is a road you can drive on without the jarring. I just think California is so strapped for money and people and income that they just can't come up with the money to fix their roads. Shoot they only ask about 500 bucks a year to register their vehicles each and every year, on that kind of money you can't expect to see very good roads. (that was suppose to be funny)