San Jose CA
Yesterday, by the time the shuttle bus dropped me off from O’Neil’s place, it was too late to ride to Rosie and get there before it closed. So today’s objective is to visit Rosie in Richmond and then ride over to Martinez and visit the John Muir Historical Site. Should be an interesting ride as well as visits to two sites.
Riding to the two sites was going to be an easy day’s ride covering about 140 miles. There would be plenty of time to sightsee and make it back to SJ before dark for dinner with bro in law. From San Jose I decided to visit Rosie first by taking I-880 to the I-580 and then using Garmin to get me to Rosie’s address on Marine Way I Richmond. From there to the Muir Site the route would be I-80E to US-4 and exit Alhambra. Returning to Sa Jose would be to get on I-680 and jump over to I-880 into San Jose. The day would be a simple ride with the route being a straight forward route and a plus that I rode the 680 yesterday while riding to Mission San Jose. So I shouldn’t have any problems. Heh heh heh…more to unfold.
The ride on 880 was great….no traffic! Then I arrived in the south end of Oakland, possibly as early as Hayward, and traffic started building up. The transition to 580 would have been a nightmare had I not cranked Rosie’s destination into Garmin. I hit an interchange that was very convoluted, at least to me, but I followed Garmin’s instructions and successfully navigated thru it and to where Rosie was supposed to be. I say ‘supposed’ to be because,
NO ROSIE!!! The Historical Site was no where to be found!
Good grief! Marine Way ended in an oval sitting area at water’s edge. The buildings that lined the road did not have anything declaring itself as a NP Site. I searched twice with no results. Then I spotted an elderly gentleman sweeping some debris off of the steps at one of the buildings, so I rode over to him and asked if he was aware of Rosie’s location. He wasn’t aware of it, but he noticed a lot of traffic one block over on a parallel street; perhaps I could get some info over there?
Off I went, and no sooner did I come upon Harbor Way that I saw hand written signage taped to poles and on sidewalk ‘A’ frames directing visitors down the road towards the Bay, then left into a security gate for a large factory building. The guard there gave directions to the other side of the factory, right on the Bay. Surprisingly there are no marquee's or banners indicating which building is Rosie's. The flagpole was the only indicator for me.....twas the building on the left.
Inside Rosie’s I got to see the history of Rosie the Riveter, the wartime production that many women were involved in, and the beginning of Kaiser Permanante. A very interesting display now housed in a nice structure. Snoopy got a photo with Armand, the ranger on duty at the time.
Then we rode over to the Rosie the Riveter Park. I was hoping to find a sculpture erected in “her” honor, but no such thing. It was only a public park named in “her” honor and very well maintained and used by local folks.
Then I was off to Martinez to visit the John Muir Historical Site. It was only 20 miles away, an easy jaunt through town, then onto I-80 E to US-4 and exit at Alhambra. The Parks Visitor Center was right next to the off ramp! Perfect!
Inside I met the volunteer ladies and ranger. The ranger on duty posed with Snoopy for a photo next to the Muir sculpture. Then there were photos with another Ranger on duty in the house up the hill. Then with one of the Rangers that had relocated from the East Coast. Unfortunately, I cannot find the card on which I had written all their names! Hopefully it’s at the house and upon finding it I’ll edit this paragraph to give them credit and recognition.
The house was very impressive. It is just a simple 3 story structure (including attic) and ports a view tower at the very top, would this be the 4th floor? Snoopy had fun here posing for photographs with the Ranger, playing the piano, and reading about Muir’s wonderful works. And he took some time to enjoy the views from the top!
Then it was time to depart. But first Snoopy wanted a photo with the Ranger that had relocated from the East Coast to be here in the Bay area.
After tanking up Sophia, me and Snoopy headed east on US-4 then south on I-680 with a jump at Fremont (remember Mission San Jose) over to I-880 with a straight shot back to Bro in Law.
It was a nice 140 mile jaunt and 2 more NP’s outa the way. 13 down and 11 to go!
C ya mañana,Gonzo
Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA
Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell: 949-433-0761
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