San Diego to Santa Barbara - Best way thru/around LA

FYI, my trip from San Diego to Santa Barbara went smoothly. I took the 5 to the 405 to the 101, with slowdowns only in a couple spots on the 405. I left SD around 9am.

When coming from Palm Springs, we take I10 or I210 depending on the time of day and traffic. There is no easy way and it takes time to get through LA.

I think it's the "no way around" that makes LA bad. Atlanta and Houston can be atrocious but they seem to be a little easier to go around if you are just passing through. Maybe that's a mistaken perception. LA is "fixed" between the mountains and the coast so any traffic trying to move north/south is just added congestion to the city.

It was no fluke.. But at the same time being a traveler, it amazes me the traffic that other medium to large cities have that are as bad and often worse than a "normal" LA traffic day. But for some reason the gold standard in traffic jams seems to be LA, probably because its gone on so long. But others have caught up and often surpassed us.

jefe 4x4 wrote:
Having lived and worked right down town L.A. for almost 40 years, I developed techniques to get from A to B with the least resistance. One technique was to travel at completely off hours, which means at night. After about 11 p.m. you can go right through on the 5 with barely a slowdown. There are gas stations suitable for RV's along the way. Just get on gas buddy to see where and what prices. The first thing we did when I retired from the L.A. Philharmonic was to move to the west slope, Northern Sierra Nevada east of Nevada City. Nevada City has nary a stop light. Many stop signs, a few round a bouts, but no lights. Also, no traffic to speak of. It's been 8 yrs. since we moved and any time I HAVE to go back down to L.A. I'm always shocked at how fast everyone drives. The good news is they're all equally aggressive so it's easy to fit in. Not like the bay area where there is a wide splay of driving aggressiveness down to downright timidity. That is much harder to adjust to. Just don't travel in L.A. between 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Do travel on Sunday morning, especially through downtown any time before 1 p.m. Friday between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. was also slightly lighter as far as traffic. I have a 50 year history driving the freeways in L.A. i could sense when the U.S. economy was up or down by estimating the traffic volume. In a down economy, there was a lot less traffic. In boom times the roads were loaded. I went through a lot of ups and downs. My mantra was to always (if i could) swim upstream when everyone else was swimming downstream.
jefe

From my limited experience as a commuter, not a resident of LA, I think that's an accurate description of LA traffic. Timing is huge. I lived in Central CA and had to travel through LA to SD and it was all about timing. Heading Southbound, I would try to be at the 5/210 split around 1030 and I could said through LA on the 5. It was still likely wall to wall traffic but it was flowing at 70+. I wouldn't want to do that pulling a large RV. Reverse from SD, I did my best to get out of town by 2:00 so I was at least in Irvine by 3:00. Traffic would be stop and go but livable. If work prevented getting out early, I would consider just eating dinner in SD and drive late. I've tried the 15 and other routes but they are so far out of the way, and jam up just as bad at the wrong time, you have to know the patterns. Google traffic only tells you what's red now, not what's red in an hour or two when you will get to a spot.

I made the mistake of trying to drive through LA on Friday night once and never again. Maybe it was a fluke, but after that, if I couldn't get through in the midday gap and had a choice, I'd just hit the road early Sat. morning.

Having lived and worked right down town L.A. for almost 40 years, I developed techniques to get from A to B with the least resistance. One technique was to travel at completely off hours, which means at night. After about 11 p.m. you can go right through on the 5 with barely a slowdown. There are gas stations suitable for RV's along the way. Just get on gas buddy to see where and what prices. The first thing we did when I retired from the L.A. Philharmonic was to move to the west slope, Northern Sierra Nevada east of Nevada City. Nevada City has nary a stop light. Many stop signs, a few round a bouts, but no lights. Also, no traffic to speak of. It's been 8 yrs. since we moved and any time I HAVE to go back down to L.A. I'm always shocked at how fast everyone drives. The good news is they're all equally aggressive so it's easy to fit in. Not like the bay area where there is a wide splay of driving aggressiveness down to downright timidity. That is much harder to adjust to. Just don't travel in L.A. between 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Do travel on Sunday morning, especially through downtown any time before 1 p.m. Friday between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. was also slightly lighter as far as traffic. I have a 50 year history driving the freeways in L.A. i could sense when the U.S. economy was up or down by estimating the traffic volume. In a down economy, there was a lot less traffic. In boom times the roads were loaded. I went through a lot of ups and downs. My mantra was to always (if i could) swim upstream when everyone else was swimming downstream.
jefe

There are two stations on the 126 where it turns into freeway in Santa Paula. Both are easy in and out. The one on the right as you head west is a right turn before the light. The one on the left is a left turn at the light. Both have diesel.

This route may be the best for me:

lanerd wrote:
I donno no. I think I would come up the 15 to the 215 to the 210 to the 5 to the 126 to the 101.

Mainly because there are a couple small but legit truck stops off the 215 near Riverside. I could top off before hitting the worst parts of the snarly traffic.

If I could find a good fuel stop on the way, I would definitely take the 405.

Stick with the above routes..
As far as fuel, I can't help. Personally I'd wait till you get north of LA if possible. There are diesel stations with lots of access off the 5 in Valencia, and again on the west side of the 126. I'm sure there is something down south, but a 5er that long isn't gonns be fun

So here is a wrinkle to the OP's question. I will be making the same trip in a few weeks, from a campground south of downtown San Diego, up to El Capitan State Beach on the other side of Santa Barbara. Normally I could do this on a single tank of diesel, no problem. But I worry about stop-and-go traffic jam mileage.

So I thought it would be good to top off the fuel tank on the south end of the LA basin. But I was shocked that there don't seem to be any truck stops along the route. If I take the 15, there are a couple big truck stops where it meets the 10. But I sure don't see much along the 405 (my preferred route) or the 5. My lashup is a bugger to maneuver around most regular gas stations, which is why I try to use truck stops whenever possible.

So does anyone have a suggestion for an easy in-and-out diesel fuel stop along the 5 or 405 on the south end of LA? It doesn't have to be a truck stop if it is laid out for easy access and egress.

FWIW, I am pretty familiar with these roads while driving rental cars, as I spend a lot of time in San Diego, LA, and Santa Barbara on business. Normally I would take the PCH, but not sure I want to try that with a 39' fiver in tow.