As a last minute decision while driving from Los Angeles to Sacramento I forwent the uneventful I-5 route for the uneventful Highway 99. I-5 is a long stretch of highway right through the middle of nothing while Highway 99 runs through the valley cities of Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto and many other little towns you didn't know exist. Highway 99 takes only a little while longer and is the ideal route if you're concerned about your car breaking down, or in my case interested in thrift store detours.
My little thrift stops tacted on a good hour and a half to the already long six hour drive, which if I had actually had any luck whatsoever may have been more like a nine hour drive. But as it turns out thrift stores in uninteresting towns are pretty, well... uninteresting. Quite the bummer since the last time I ventured up to northern California along Highway 101 I went home with a few of my favorite finds.
Let this be a lesson to anyone interested in a thrift store road trip that will take you through CA, forget about Highway 99 and head straight for the 101. It's a much prettier drive and definitely more prosperous.
With that said, I continued from Sacramento to Red Bluff the following day along Highway 99, it's a horendous two lane road with many-a-stop lights. This stretch of 99 is scattered so frequently with thrift stores that it may very well be worth the headache. If you ever find yourself this far north in California that is.
