San Jose, CA
Since these two events are located south of Hollister where my Harley riding tweeple lives I gave her a call last night and asked if she was interested in a day ride. It was good day for her to go riding so we met for breakfast at the airport Ding-a-Ling café.
It was a little cool in the morning so I dressed warmly and then headed out towards I-880. Somehow I got totally turned around after making a wrong turn but Garmin finally recalculated and got me onto I-280 heading east towards US-101. Then I experienced an interaction with the young urban driver who is in a hurry and needs to get to the next red light before the guy in front of him. In this case, I was the guy in front of him.
I was on a 4 lane road that led to the on-ramp of I-280. In the process, the two north bound lanes I was on narrowed down to one. And there is this yo-yo in the left lane behind me, no one else is behind us and there is one car about three car lengths in front of me. So what does yo-yo do? He speeds up, pulls in front of me, then puts on his brakes!
I reactively hit my pedal brake like in the car, simultaneously applying front brake pressure. And of course, my heavy foot locks the rear tire and the bike swiftly swings the rear into a right skid. While counter steering for the violent drift my foot unconsciously backs off on the pedal and then re-applies. The bike straightens out and yo-yo has now let off of his brake and resumed speed forward up to the red traffic light.
It wasn’t even close to being an accident. I never got closer than 24 inches to his bumper. But it might have been a different story if he had not resumed his forward speed. Needless to say, I was thoroughly ticked off!
At the red light I pulled up next to his driver’s window and, properly using my pointy finger (yes, I was tempted), motioned to him to lower his window. I gave him a gentle lecture on giving motorcyclists more room when passing, merging, stopping, yada yada. Hopefully he'll be more aware of and considerate of motorcyclists.
With the adrenalin wound down I enjoyed the ride to Hollister via US-101. The air was pleasant, traffic light, and I just cruised along lane 3 of 3 with my feet up on the engine guards. Ahhh, life is good…saw a coyote loping along low hills near a golf course.
When I arrived at Ding-a-Ling’s I saw @KarolHarley waiting by her Road King and pulled Sophia into the gravel spot next to hers. The Ding-a-Ling is not a 5 start restaurant. It is housed in what appears to be a roadside shack, has the old ‘50’s style tables, chairs. But the breakfast is done well. I had eggs over medium, bacon and hash browns with coffee and wheat toast. @Karol had pancakes and eggs and said it was also good.
A last minute review was made of the map to confirm our route to the Pinnacles would be about 35 miles from Ding-a-Ling and from there to Mission San Antonio would be about a 55 mile ride. With that done we mounted up and rode out through the town of Hollister. It’s a cute town with a lot of nice shops and cafe’s located on San Benito Street (US-25).
We were soon out of town, away from the suburb, and into the gorgeous rolling brown hills of northern California. Many a farm/ranch was passed as well as golf courses and fairgrounds. US-25 was in excellent condition for motorcycle riding, curves, climbs and descents were relatively gentle and the countryside vistas were a joy to take in. It seems that I never tire of these wonders, of geological changes in the land, of seeing a stream, noting a hawk flying overhead, and seeing a ground squirrel dashing across the road well ahead of my arrival. There were cows, horses, pastures, barns, farm houses, and no traffic! It was good that we were in no hurry, just cruising along enjoying the ride.
We finally came to the turnoff for Pinnacles National Monument (CA-146) and hung a right on it to head to the visitor center. The center consists of both the Ranger HQ’s and food store for the campers. There’s a lot of camping space here, the rates are $23 per night (welcome to CA), and there is a swimming pool to cool off from the heat. We met the Ranger and Snoopy convinced him to pose with him for a photo. Then we rode off to the Pinnacle entrance area and then farther on to a spot where I could get a photo of Snoopy and I with a portion of the Pinnacles in the background. By the way, Condors nest here and Snoopy is holding a condor feather.
After the photo taking it was back out to US-25 and the ride to King City located on US-101. Again, a nice ride until coming around a bend I saw about a mile ahead was a long flatbed loaded down with hay and moving at about 55 mph. So I just slowed up even more and kept a nice distance behind it until there was a clear opportunity to pass. No hurry mate.
Bitterwater showed up about 15 miles from the Pinnacles and we hung a right on G13 (Bitterwater Rd/King City Rd). Initially the road climbed up the hill, slowing the hay truck in front of us and this is where we finally got around it. The ride to King City was a nice 15 mile ride through the hills, a very pleasant ride but no twisty-turnies despite being in the hills. At King City we stopped at a Gas Station for fuel and a water break.
We then hopped onto US-101 north for 1/2 mile to the very next exit, G14 west and rode for about 20 miles to Jolon where the entrance into Hunter-Liggett Army Base showed up and an easy low speed, 5 mile ride to the Mission located on military property.
Once in the Mission it quickly became my favorite! Inside the gift shop we met Frankie, the shop manager, and took a tour of their museum. This mission boasts being the location of Califoria's first marriage in 1773. Snoopy had fun posing at the huge music book and other displays and also took a moment to say a prayer for Blemie.
This is a small mission of perhaps 100 parishioners and it really could use everyone’s support. It is well off the beaten tourist path so there are not too many visitors to the mission. Hence, fundraising for needed repairs are very slow in coming. Visit their website http://missionsanantonio.net/ and if you can, send them a donation at PO Box 803, End of Mission Rd., Jolon CA 93928. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
After taking a photo in front of the Mission we then headed to Soledad in hopes of reaching Mission Soledad before closing. It will be a 45 mile ride but half of it would be at 55mph or less until reaching US-101 where we sped along at 75 until reaching the turnoff. Unfortunately, I never saw the small sign for the turn onto Ft. Romie Rd and ended up riding all the way to Paraiso Vineyards before turning back. That is when I found Ft. Romie Rd but upon reaching the Mission it was already closed. I’ll have to figure out a schedule to visit it on my way back to Orange County via Monterrey.
By now it was 5 pm and we were hungry and needed some gas. So we rode into Soledad and found a gas station but couldn’t find a Mexican restaurant. So we rode the 50 miles to San Juan Bautista where @karolHarley had a favorite spot. We arrived there in the dusk after also riding past the Mission there that I’ll have to visit and I picked Dona Esther for dinner. It was fantastic! Definitely a spot to be favored!
San Juan Bautista was a perfect spot for dinner as it was on my way back to San Jose (50 mile ride) and on @KarolHarley's the home to Hollister. Prior to mounting up on Sophia I decided to don the rain gear to windbreak the cold. Turned out to be a good move on my part.
It was a long day, almost 300 miles, but a NP and a Mission were visited and scratched off the long list of sites yet to visit. 14 Parks done, 10 to go and 4 missions done, 17 to go!
C ya mañana,Gonzo
Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA
Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell: 949-433-0761
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