A Santa Ana wind event in January 2026 cleared the air after a storm, revealing some impressive vistas. Here, you can see snow-capped Mt San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino Mountain, about 90 miles away from the University City area of San Diego at sunset. The hills in the middle-ground are near San Marcos.
Two new videos have come out recently. The Historic Highway 99 Association of California has produced a video on the North Burbank Underpass, a structure removed in 2014 along old US 99 in Burbank, California. The second video is on the Cronese Cat near Baker, California along the 15.
We’re starting a new series called “RoadTalk with Michael Ballard” where we’ll talk about the highways and byways of Southern California. Other topics include the railroads, geology, and history. The first video in the series is on old US 91 where it merges with I-15 near Field Road.
If you have a topic you’d like us to cover, let us know!
The Historic Highway 99 Association of California has posted another episode of their “History along US 99” series. This time they talk about a section of 1930’s concrete in Ontario, California. Come check it out!
Driving across the Mojave Desert between Barstow and Las Vegas along the 15 can be a “boring” drive at times for many. The desert is filled with all sorts of unique features to see if you know where to look. In Cronese Valley between Basin Road (Exit 230) and Rasor Road (Exit 233), lies one of those unique features on the mountain to the northwest of the freeway and is visible for many miles. It is called the “Cronese Cat”. The cat isn’t actually a cat but a geological formation composed of sands blown by the winds up a small canyon on Cronese Mountain. The formation looks like a fluffy tan colored cat sleeping on the side of the mountain with its tail laying to the side.
Next time you’re traveling along the 15 between Barstow and Las Vegas or coming back, make sure to look out for the Cronese Cat slumbering on Cronese Mountain.