STREET WISE: / New Directions : A Drive That Passes Test of Time and Season

There’s a North County road that some folks claim can lower one’s blood pressure by at least 10 points just by driving along it. I believe it.

This road runs obliquely from Escondido west through Rancho Santa Fe and out into the San Dieguito River valley between the county’s two main north-south traffic arteries, Interstates 15 and 5.

It’s called by various names but my favorite is Del Dios Highway, which means of God.

Driving past the outskirts of Escondido there’s a sharp curve that requires a bit of concentration to maneuver, so it’s a moment before you realize you’ve passed through a time warp and into a serene and simple place that has changed very little since the turn of the century.

The first time I traveled Del Dios Highway westward to the ocean was late one summer evening in 1965. I wasn’t driving, and I don’t remember who was, but the picture I saw as I rounded that acute curve is still as sharp in my mind as it was that evening 27 years ago.

Lake Hodges was a palette of cerise and mauve and gold, reflections of the sunset-colored clouds. The lake water darkened to purple in the distance by the dam and a cone-shaped island rose in black silhouette.

All around the lake rose high slopes that appeared to be carpeted with green velvet, worn through in places to expose bare granite. In the foreground, the warm lights from the tiny town of Del Dios began to come alive, and above the valley the first cold white stars winked.

The road clings to a cliff over the valley, descending and ascending for several miles until it reaches the dam. Then it swoops downward along the rocky often dry streambed. The road rises gently to a plateau where Rancho Santa Fe stands, its estate homes set back aloofly, protected from spying eyes by acres of citrus trees and rows of graceful eucalyptus trees standing like sentinels along the road.

At last the roadway straightens from its serpentine course and enters the broadening river valley, past Chino’s vegetable farm and half a dozen horse ranches and polo fields, back to civilization.

I’ve traveled Del Dios Highway hundreds of times since 1965. I’ve seen it at night in the rain, when the slick wet pavement is indistinguishable from the inky drop-off alongside. I’ve seen a full moon magnified and mirrored in the lake. I’ve watched the deciduous trees along the riverbed turn fall colors although the weather did not warrant it. I’ve probed it in the fog and traveled it on humid August days, anticipating the cool draught of ocean breeze that welcomes the traveler as the road rises into Rancho Santa Fe.

Del Dios Highway is never the same and yet it is almost unchanged from my first journey down it 27 years ago. Oh, the names on the rural mailboxes have changed. The nursery at Mt. Israel Road has metamorphosed into a boutique and back to a nursery. Colorful windsurfers have joined fishermen on the lake. And bike lanes and Botts dots have made the road a bit safer.

But time has not changed the peaceful river valley nor marred the natural beauty that rests the eyes and feeds the soul of those who travel along this peaceful road.