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.

 

 

My concern was making it to Soledad and reaching the Mission Nuestra Senora de Soledad before it closed. So it was a little disconcerting to occasionally get stuck behind slow moving trucks and local cars.  The lady at the Bautista gift shop told me it would be an hour or more to reach Soledad…I did it in about 40 minutes mission door to mission door.

Arriving at Soledad at 3pm I was able to actually pay a visit and get some photos of Snoopy goofing off.  Kay, the volunteer staff, was most accommodating to Snoopy’s request for a photo J.

 

Garmin wanted me to head north on the 101 to reach Monterrey but I had already preplanned riding Arroyo Seco south, then west and connecting to Carmel Valley Rd.  This was to be my adventure ride into Monterrey….and indeed it was!  This road is a full out country road climbing into the mountains, riding past ranches, leaning into the twisties, dodging the holes and bouncing like hell when not missing them!  This ride was all along the mountain ridge and presented some great sights.  Then it was descending into Carmel Valley after riding through some tree lined sections of road.  This wasn't a very long distance, but it was a slow going rough road!  It was a good feeling to finally get on to some maintained road, connect with CA-1, and ride into the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterrey. 

I’ll spend two nights in Monterrey and play a round of golf before heading south riding CA-1 to Morro Bay.

Ahhhh, retired life is good J.

C ya mañana,

Gonzo

Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA

Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com

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