Greetings from Downtown Manteca

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Mungeclimber

Trad climber

sorry, just posting out loud.

Apr 20, 2009 - 01:16pm PT

Manteca - what you drive thru to get to the good stuff.

anyone seen radar speed traps along the two lane section on the East side of the freeway there? You can often pass people there on Sunday evenings coming back to the bay area, get around RVs, Boats, etc. but the speed limit is 35.

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Apr 20, 2009 - 02:23pm PT

Even before the sugar plant, the stink from the stockyards was formidable. I remember as a kid going to Sacramento in the late 1950's that proximity to Manteca meant the windows went up and the air conditioning went on, summer or winter.

John

pip the dog

Mountain climber

planet dogboy

Apr 20, 2009 - 05:28pm PT

i'm with DMT,

Manteca has surely got to be stinkiest town in amerika. well, it surely was back when i lived amoung the bay aryans (late 80's into the 90's) and used to blow through there 20 times a year on my way to the valley (or more often the meadows, my personal fave).
~~~

i remember the rides home. all happy and refreshed down through the trees into Groveland, with a stop at the tuolumne river overlook for a great view and a pee. very pretty. then racing down the old priest grade at insane speeds. (luckily, i was imortal, just then -- that and my '72 volvo 144s had a rebuilt steering box, new polyurethane bushings, KYB's, and sticky pirellis). never attempt to drive up the old priest grade, for there may well be "immortals" coming the other way at the very edge of control(ish).

then soon into the rolling hills east of Oakdale. gorgeous country, often photographed. i hope they still are. then soon Oakdale proper, which was still mostly an actual old foothill town, then. my favorite sight was "Emil's Liquor & Ammo" store in the downtown switchbacks. now there's a marker of a _real_ town.

"Hey Emil, I need a box of Rem 158 grain .357 mag softpoints, a fifth of Bacardi, and these Dorittos here -- for i'm going climbing!")

that and the magnificent little bar at the fork in the road a couple miles west of town, Dos Almas (sadly it burned down many years ago).
~~~

but man, once you dropped out of Oakdale the central valley heat would really kick in, in season, and soon after the Manteca stink, in all seasons. and a '72 volvo 144s has everything one really needs... except air conditioning. all windows down, forever soaking my hair with water, and simply trying not to actually inhale until i hit the livermore grade.

that big stockyard in Manteca by the hwy on-ramp towards Tracy should have been a superfund site. or better still, a proper use of 'Plan R'. i didn't know about the sugar beet plant. but wouldn't that smell like rum? um, perhaps that was part of the problem... huh.
~~~

i haven't drivin via that route in a decade (i now come from the opposite direction). but i'd like to believe that Emil's Ammo & Liquor is still there, and that Oakdale is still the Pinedale of the outer central valley.

yet i've gleaned from Gertrude Stein that you can never go back. for you will never again find "there" there.
~~~

but fond memories -- except for the Manteca part.

^..^

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Apr 20, 2009 - 06:13pm PT

Dude! You missed the Iron Door bar in Groveland! How could you?!

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2009 - 02:45pm PT

Well, I survived my visit to Manteca. Got to the Valley Sunday morning, virtually unlimited space in Camp 4. (I couldn't believe it, even if it was cold and wet last week. Camp 4 is supposed to be full by mid-April.) Quiet, too - northside drive is closed from Camp 4 to El Cap bridge, so no traffic noise. Though the construction guys show up about 7:30 on weekday mornings. Visited Werner, did some aggressive hikes, relaxed, now in Yucca Valley for the TarParty.

Apparently weekend traffic in the Valley is a clusterF at the moment, with the northside closure, plus closure of southside drive from Sentinel bridge to Curry housekeeping. It was rather odd to be driving the 'wrong way' on some of the roads, but you have to hope they finish the work by the end of May.

I'm heading home Sunday, probably passing through the central valley that afternoon. Bakersfield north, not sure if on I5 or 99.

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2009 - 01:56pm PT

I forgot to mention the carload of giant ferocious bloodthirsty Canadian wolves which I let go in northern California. Although they might have felt more at home in LA.