how to avoid the grapevine

Old-Biscuit wrote:
CA 46 over to Bakersfield
CA 99 (S) to CA 58
CA 395 (S) to I-15 (S)
I-15(S) to I-215(S)
I-215 (S) to I-10 (E)

roughly 450 miles

I'm not sure if the OP is trying to avoid traffic or grades, but if it's traffic, it really depends on the day of the week and time of day (or night). Depending on the day and time your go through the Grapevine, traffic isn't necessarily an issue, and absent the traffic wildcard, the Grapevine to 210 to 10 can be the quickest, most direct route. Of course, on the other hand if you hit it at the wrong time it can be a mess. As for grade, the GV doesn't seem much different than the Cajon.

I used to make the drive between the IE and Merced every weekend one autumn when I was living in Riverside and going to school up north. To break up the monotony I used a similar route to the one quoted above going northbound on Sunday nights, and the Grapevine southbound to I-210 to I-10 westbound to the IE on Friday nights. Both routes put me in the opposite direction of the main flow of weekenders who were going out of LA on Friday nights and back into LA on Sunday nights.

My northbound variation was I-15 to 138 to 14 to 58 to 99 in Bakersfield, although 395 and 58 in lieu of 138 and 14 would certainly work, too.

I really enjoyed that drive on 138 on Sunday nights, skirting along the mountains in the high desert with the lights of the desert towns twinkling in the distance on my right, the sky-glow of the LA basin outlining the mountains on my left, almost no other cars on the road, and nothing to keep me company but a voice on the radio (KFI, the 50,000 watt talk radio blowtorch out of LA).