Short Road, Long Time

October 16, 2012

NPGS, Monterrey, CA

Today is my departure day from San Jose and my brother in law’s house.  He has been an excellent host, cooking, entertaining, drinking wine with me J.  Have been here a long time, but during that time I visited all the local Parks and Missions that are listed in the SCMA’s Passports.

Today was a day to visit 2 missions on my way into Monterrey for a round of golf at the Navy Course and then be positioned for the last of the 15 Best USA Rides…riding the Pacific Coast Highway from Monterrey to Morro Bay.  At the end of that ride I will have completed the 15 ride event!

So today, it took me 4 hours to get out of the house.  Packing, loading, cleaning kitchen and bedroom, tire pressure, yadayada.  Made it to San Juan Bautista at 2pm and was on the road to Soledad by 2:20pm and arrived at Soledad mission at 3pm.  Not bad!

Riding 101 south is a good road until somewhere south of Gilroy and the construction begins, then the road gets a little rough.  Today there was also quite a bit of traffic, especially through Salinas. The little town of San Juan Bautista is a quaint little town that enhances a visit to the mission or state park for tourists.  It boasts restaurants, shops, etc.  A few days ago I stopped here for a very nice Mexican Dinner at Dona Esther.

The mission is located next to the State Park National Historic Site of San Juan and very easy to find. Unfortunately the entry to the front of the actual mission was closed either for the parking lot construction underway or some other reason.  So I had to settle for a photo at the street entrance near the gift shop.  Got my stamp (a huge stamp) and a photo taken there.  The photo was taken by a retired Army Colonel that was also visiting the site and wearing a “Retired Army” ball cap.

 

 

Two National Parks and One Mission

October 15, 2012

San Jose CA

SF Maritime Nat’l Historic Park, Golden Gate Nat’l Rec Area, Mission San Rafael

Today will be covering some of the same area as yesterday when I was here but the Park offices were closed.   The route was the same as yesterday except when exiting at the Golden Gate Bridge I just headed over to Marina straight into the motorcycle parking in front of the Sentry’s gate to Ft. Mason’s offices on the piers.  The San Francisco Maritime offices are located, in what appears to be converted barracks from days gone by, on the 2^nd floor of Bldg E.  This area is the lower section of Fort Mason and is on Marina just before it t-bones on a right turn only onto Laguna.  Food store is on the right corner and entry to the ‘barracks offices security gate is on the right.  Outside Bldg E is some kind of aluminum sculpture and Snoop wanted a photo sitting in the end of it.  We found the offices upstairs and Snoopy got his photo taken with Darmisha who was a great help getting me a park stamp and directions to Ft. Mason proper where the Golden Gate Rec Offices are located. 

Ft Point NHS & Mission San Francisco

October 14, 2012

San Jose CA

‘Twas a lazy day getting up around 9 am.  After a light breakfast I was ready for a quick ride into the big congested city.  Riding in the Bay area is becoming almost ‘Old Hat’ as I’ve been up and down these Interstates a number of times.   Today I’ll ride I-280 west from San Jose heading towards Cupertino, then up through what I think are the foothills, but are really a long ridge of mountains between the Pacific and the Bay.  It is a very rich area both geographically and economically….at least to my limited perspective.

I-280 ends somewhere around Daly City then it is a short distance to the Golden Gate Bridge, but it takes a lonnnggg time to get there.  Traffic is bumper to bumper and traffic lights ensure everyone is kept that way.

Once at the “Gate” I rode the off ramp before the bridge and looped around underneath to where Fort Point is located.  There was a family sitting on the water’s edge admiring the view of the city as I parked my bike and the three children were sneaking glances at me and Sophia.  Dismounting and releasing Snoopy I asked the parents and kids if they would help me take a photo of Snoopy looking across the Bay….here’s how it turned out: