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| Photograph of Highway 46 taken on September 30, 2002 at the approximate Cholame crash site. |
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Here is the view looking east on Highway 46 (formally Highway 466) away from Cholame, but just before one enters it. This road has since been paved since James Dean drove down it (where the white arrows are, and you can see the old area where the old Highway 466 was) and it has also been re-routed as you can see. The original old highway proceeded up the hill (almost dead center where the white arrows are) and then cuts to your left (where the topmost white arrow is) to the edge of the hill. We may be "off" on the exact location of the old highway where the arrows are, but will be checking with State maps in the near future. The new road is now a shiny black asphalt. The old highway was a dirty gray, just about the same colour as Jimmy's Spyder would have been as the sun was setting. Call it a "stealth Spyder"--his lights were not on (not that this would have prevented the accident--it may or may not have)--the silver painted aluminum shell reflected the image of the landscape off the rounded, low body of the sports car. Everything has been shifted over some feet. The metal pole was not there in 1955. The point where the green arrow is is the approximate point of the impact between Turnupseed's car and Jimmy's car--the area in time and space where the legend of James Dean began...and is still happening. |