Michael Ballard

I am the founder of the Historic Highway 99 Association of California. I am also the author and administrator of the "Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads" website at https://socalregion.com, since 1995. I have been studying the geology and highway history throughout southern California for most of my life. I am also the President of the Ridge Route Preservation Organization.

New Brochures Out and Help Wanted!

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Our Highway 99 Adventures are hitting the road! Well, sort of. We have been working on getting some materials for distribution ready and we finally have a brochure for Region 3 – the San Joaquin Valley. Due to space limitations, we had to pick one location from each county. If you’d like some copies to … Read more

New Video – Palm and Pine

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Come join us for another episode of History along US 99 where we talk about the Palm and Pine near Madera, California.

“Ghost” Signs along US 99

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Old routes, destinations, and even locations that have long since disappeared from maps sometimes reappear or never really disappeared on road signs. These “ghosts” appear in many forms, if you know what to look for. Mind you, some are more obvious, as shown in the photo below where a piece of overlay, or “greenout” fell … Read more

New Video – Lebec Signage

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Come join us on our YouTube channel for another episode of “History Along US 99” where we talk about a historic sign in Lebec, California.

New Video – C-Monuments

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Greetings All! We’ve recently posted another episode of our History along US 99 series on our YouTube channel. This time we talk about “c-monuments”. What they are, how to find them, and their history are discussed.