Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hollister Let Down!

450 miles one way! Wind in my face the whole way! Smoke in the air (But I like that!), temperatures went from 113 down to 40 degrees.....I was all hopped up, nothing was gonna get me down!

The temps were hot, until I arrived on the west side of Sacremento! Then, the temps dropped to around 40 degrees.....I started freezing my ass off....Stopped to dress for the weather.....

Until Friday morning......

I had a GREAT hotel room at Executive Inns in Morgan Hill, Ca.....

Left at 8am....I took a wrong turn in Gilroy (The Garlic Capital of the World!)...It could have been the excitement, it could have been the smell of raw garlic on the vine, it could have been that I was pissed I was in California, it was cloudy, and cold and add to that, I was lost, and on a road never traveled.......

I was in an "S" turn stretch, so I slowed down.....this was supposed to go for about 2 miles....after three miles, I kicked it up a notch as I approached a railroad crossing....Mind you, I was only doing about 50 when I went up the hill to the crossing.....OH SHIT! Theres a 90 degree turn on the other side of the tracks........Quickly, I down shifted, and applied pressure to the brakes....I felt the rear end lock up, and immediatly let go and put on more pressure to the front......I was not worried about the stone shoulder, or the drop off, I was worried if there was a vehicle on the other side of that turn.....AHHH, there was!!!.....He saw me, and moved left of center (not hard for those from California) and I think he called me a few names, which he was entitled.....I was under control, and pulled over to catch my thoughts and let the adrenalen (SP) settle.....

There was a bike behind me, Mark, who stopped to see if I was okay....I was, told him I just neede to catch my thoughts and go.....He sped off..

I got back under way, thinking that I am glad that I am not in the headlines for this run as the first biker casualty!

I caught up with Mark, and he showed me to Hollister.....

We chatted, and he said, "let me show you around" so we walked around together, he showed me the history places, the Legion and so on....He made the statement that it seemed pretty tame compared to other years....

So, we had a couple beers at the World Famous "Johnnys", and he said "lets go to a neat place".

So off we went to San Juan Batista......WOW!!! Nice little town....It was one of the mission towns from days past....Very quaint, LOTS OF BIKERS and two little bars.....

We spent most of the rest of the day there.....We were talking to the owner of "Mom and Pops" one of the local watering spots, and she said that the sheriff in Hollister dislikes bikers, and they tried to turn it into a family event, but as we saw, it was not working...She said to go over to Los Banos, there was a rally there too......So after exchanging emails and phone numbers, Mark had to go home to his wife....

I rode around Gilroy some, attained my supply of garlic products and went back to my room....

Got up in the morning, and had a beautiful ride over to Los Banos.....Over several mountains, and around San Luis Obispo resivoir! Very nice....

Well, another disappointment when I got to this rally. $10 to get in, and only five vendors!!!!

I was on the road to Winnemucca by 11am, and back into town at 7pm, watching the Miller Lite Dodge lose a cylinder.....AHHH....

So, it was a BIG disappointing weekend....But hey, I rode over 1200 miles......and met a really neat guy!

2 comments:

stalkermom said...

I'm glad you're ok! Geez! But see, as usual, you meet someone really nice and have a great time!

Spanner said...

Must be my winning smile!!

Oh, and those "deer in the headlights eyes" I had after I almost became road kill.....