How to ride along the Pacific Coast Highway

Highway 1 construction began in 1919. San Quentin Prison organized three temporary prison camps to provide labor for the road. The inmates were paid 35 cents per day, and their prison sentences were even reduced in return for their hard work. Locals, such as the writer John Steinbeck, also worked on the road. As I started my last leg of the trip, along Interstate 10, I decided to drive as long as the road would take me. And I soon discovered that Interstate 10, also known as the Santa Monica Freeway, ended at the Pacific Ocean. What I didn’t realize — until I got to the end of the road — was that I was actually at the intersection of another, more magical route: State Route 1, often referred to as Highway 1 or... the Pacific Coast Highway.