golfkat Travel Blog

We Californians take the King’s Highway for granted.  You may know it as the El Camino Real.  General Motors even named a fancy pickup truck in the 60s the Chevrolet “El Camino”. Oddly enough, GM built it in response to the wide success of the Ford Ranchero pickup truck.  My Dad actually owned both a Ranchero, and an El Camino for his business.  El Camino is really Spanish for “Royal Road” or “The King’s Highway”.  It refers to the 600 mile California Mission Trail that connected 20 missions, and several pueblos and presidios from San Diego in the south, to Sonoma in the north.  Though we plan to take Highway 101 to Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula, I thought a history lesson would prove both educational and enlightening.
 
My brother and my Dad each had an El Camino!
 
This route actually originated in Baja California Sur, now a big party place for singles of all ages, and Spring Break for crazy students.  Back in 1683 until 1834, Spanish missionaries built a series of religious outposts in what is now our home state of California.  Interestingly, the missions were about 30 miles apart, basically one long day’s ride on horseback.  Local lore says that the missionaries spread mustard seed along the trail in order to mark it with bright flowers.  I thought it was for the mid-day weenie roast!
 
 These bells line the El Camino through three counties
 
Back in 1912, the state began paving a section of this historic route in San Mateo County (just south of San Francisco City and County).  It later became U.S.  Route 101, then ultimately to State Route 82 in the north.  It is possible to drive the mostly four and six lane boulevard from San Jose in the south, almost to the heart of San Francisco.  If you have plenty of time and patience, it is a worthwhile drive.  I would say today it is dominated by auto dealerships, fast food restaurants, huge apartment complexes, and big box chain retailers.  Once every 15 or 20 miles, it is possible to see a single, most likely old, family residence.
 
Some of the more interesting places along El Camino are:  Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto, Pee Wee’s Pizza in Sunnyvale, Clark’s Burgers in Mountain View, Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Burlingame, Famous Frankfurter in Millbrae, Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Old Port Lobster Shack in Redwood City, and See’s Candy headquarters in South San Francisco.  Notice these are mostly eateries?  I have probably driven the El Camino Real or part of it hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Interestingly, the El Camino Real has its own California landmark status. 
 
A long drive, even by western standards!
 
These are the original missions, pueblos, and presidios.  The San Francisco Presidio has a great golf course, now open to the public.