Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Jul 28, 2004

The ride

Filed in Landmark-Hunting, Monterey 2004, Raven's Quest

The lovely people at the library sold me a guest ticket so I can update from here. :-)

I’m not used to trackballs though. ;-)

Met with Barb around 10:30 and she had her bike all warmed up. I had a box of books and a bag of books and boots (which I’m now wearing) strapped to the rear seat, as well as seriously stuffed saddlebags.

Even so, there was no noticeable difference in handling, so I guess I must’ve stacked the things well.

We took back roads down to Highway 9, and picked up 17 there. After a brief zoom up the steep freeway, we took the loverly u-turn exit and then onto Old Santa Cruz Highway. I took the lead there, and really enjoyed zooming along the pretty, twisty little road. It was quite bright but not really bright enough for shades, especially once you really got in amongst the redwoods and eucalyptus trees. At one point a eucalyptus shed leaves all over me, as if it were waiting for me to ride along. ;-)

Very little backfiring from Arnie, so I guess the carb cleaner did its stuff.

After a while I found my way to the historical marker I needed to find and parked alongside the road. I wandered up Mountain Charlie road to find the marker, then turned round and found it at the other side of the road. Then I turned round and noticed my penguin sitting in the middle of the road. Oops. Rescue mission accomplished, went across the street to snarf “Patchen”, California historical landmark something or other.

It was a pretty nifty little corner of the world! There were all these aged hippy cars in the undergrowth, halfway swallowed by ground ivy. There was an old Ford, rusted to heck, and a regular car with a rainbow sticker still in the dusty window, and another car covered top to toe with car stickers. Sort of like the elephant’s graveyard, for hippies.

The road seemed shorter this time, and we were both going faster than before. Not above the speed limit, but faster.

I got Barb to lead up to Summit Store, which is a supermarket in the middle of nowhere, and there I left my Patchen book in the wild, where it has a chance of actually being caught. Got something to drink, took a break, then headed down more pretty twisties to Soquel. We rose up over the mist, then back down into it, and it’s still overcast.

We got separated on Highway 1, but more by luck than skill we ended up at the right exit, the fishhook, which is like riding down an @ sign.

Then I got us lost, but it’s ok, because Barb got us found, and then we arrived. Barb wasn’t staying, so she had a quick snack and went on her way, and now on to part 2.