San Jose, CA
It
was nice to relax Saturday and Sunday; nowhere awaiting me to ride in on my
steel pony. I hung out with Lalo, my
brother in Law, after finally getting up around 11am. On Saturday we went out to our favorite
restaurant for a pancake and egg breakfast.
It was nice to ride as a passenger in his car and then sit and relax
over breakfast without thinking of reaching my next destination….nowhere to
ride…yet.
I’m
very fortunate to have my in-laws living in San Jose. There are a ton of National Parks/Sites and
Missions in this area. So I can stay at
Lalo’s place and make day trips to each of the locales. Also, I may have a riding partner for most of
the rides. One of my tweeples,
@KarolHarley, resides in Hollister and is a retired blue uniform. She rides a Road King and will meet up with
me Monday for our ride to the missions in Santa Cruz and Carmel. Hence, Sat/Sun was also planning days to
figure out an efficient sequence to visit the required sites.
Karol
arrived Monday around 9:30am and we headed out on 280 connecting to 17 south to
Santa Cruz. I’ve always loved and hated
this road. It’s a gorgeous ride thru the
hills and getting out of the greater SF basis area. The air is sweeter and the views are
nice. That’s the luv part. The problem
with this two lane, sometimes bumpy, highway, is that there’s always a lot of
traffic. And for some reason the cage
drivers need to get to their coastal destinations 5 minutes ago….they’re like
in a NASCAR event or something. Then the
really fun part is when you come around a turn at 60-65 and find a 90+ year old
driving at 45…yikes!
But
we made it down the other side and Karol guided us through the streets and
right up to the Mission….she’d been there a few times before. She took the requisite photos of me in front
of the mission then we went over to the gift shop to get the ‘stamp’ for the
passport. Ooops, they are closed on
Mondays. So we took a photo of the operating hours sign.
Back
on the road we headed thru downtown so I could see it (been a few years since
the last time). It was interesting to
see the local movie theater marquee advertising the famous local movie “The
Lost Boys”, one of my favs from back then.
Then
we headed out to Monterrey. It was a
great ride along the coast and riding the hills. Roads were good, traffic was acceptable with
only a little construction in progress, and the sea air was a welcome change
from the Bay Area. Once in Monterrey Karol
led us to Cannery Row where we parked the bikes right in front of
Bullwhacker’s, next to a Dyna with camping gear, fishing pole, etc., loaded on
it.
We
went into Bullwhackers to have lunch and found that they make good sandwiches
and burgers, while waiting for our food I noticed some folks at the other
tables, like they were a tour group.
Then I picked up on the British accent.
Cool! One guy was sitting with
his wife (I assume) drinking a Corona. I
started chatting with him and asked if he had drank any of the better Mexican
cerveza’s such as Modelo. Nope….had
never heard of them. So I called the
waitress over and ordered one for him.
The bloke overheard me and declined!
But then he explained that they had to get on the bus in a few
minutes.
That’s
when I noticed a biker guy heading out of the patio so I called to him and
asked if that was his bike out there. He
said no, his was parked down the street…then responded with “why were you
asking?” Being in a smart butt mood I
replied, “I accidentally knocked it over” and “sure am glad it wasn’t you cuz
you’re too much bigger than me!” We all
laughed, and some of the Brits laughed at this one too. Then one of the Brit ladies asked for a photo
shot with me….WOW! She was a cutie too…BUT…it was her husband taking the
photo. I did ask her, in a loud voice,
“is that your husband?” “Yes” she replied.
With a smile I asked, “Does he know about us??” Ahh, so much fun and laughter. And it got me a great hug from her!
Then
the place became empty with the touring Brits gone, our food arrived, and we
started chowing down. This is when it
really got to be fun! Good sized Dude
walks up to our table and asks, “I heard you were looking for the guy that owns
the bike out front.” I almost fell outa
my chair laughing. Karol was busting a
gut too. We introduced ourselves and I
explained that we were trying to pull a prank but it backfired cuz the other
guy wasn’t the owner. Seems the other
guy, upon exiting the restaurant, saw the dude getting his bike ready to ride
so he told him we were looking for him…something about knocking his bike
over. He told us that he inspected his
bike all over but couldn’t find any damage.
And hearing that we were just yanking the other guy’s chain made him
feel a lot better. But the other guy
sure turned the prank around on us!
Anyhow the gent stayed and chatted with us for about 15 minutes. He’s from Alabama and is touring CA then
heading home.
After
lunch we got back out on CA-1 and headed south for Carmel. This is where I took the lead ‘cuz I had
programmed in the Mission’s address into the Garmin. And I’m glad I did as it was a couple of
lefties and righties on various streets….but Garmin brought us right to the
front of the Mission! After parking our
bikes right at the entrance to the Gift Shop I went in and got the Mission
stamp in the SCMA Passport. I asked the
lady volunteer if there was a Mission sign anywhere that I could position
Sophia and I for a photo. She said that
unfortunately, there wasn’t one. Seems
that a year ago some vandals/thieves stole the one that was in front of the
mission! Holy Kwap! Don’t these blasphemers realize they’re up
for more than a life sentence when caught upon death?? Yeah, they’re like up for eternity!
Anyhow,
we took a photo in front of the mission proper and one at the gift shop
entrance so we could catch the shop hours sign next to the door.
I
had been looking forward to visiting this mission once again in my life. The previous time I was here I had the good
fortune to walk my daughter down the aisle to take her vows with my future son
in law from Wyoming!
Heading
out of there Karol led us out on Carmel Valley road to the intersection of a
winding road that connected with CA-68 heading for Salinas. The rides were great! In Salinas we stopped for a soft drink, got
some fuel for the bikes, then headed north on El Camino Real, US-101, where
Karol exited near Bautista and I continued on to San Jose.
It
was a long day, a fun day, a great day for riding with a fellow riding
enthusiast. Wonderful vistas were enjoyed,
memory lane was walked, had some good laughs with the Brits and great
conversation with the dude from Alabama.
And
I now have 2 of 21 missions marked off to complete the SCMA California Mission Tour.
Ahhhh, retired life is good J.
C ya mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA
Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell: 949-433-0761
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