2009 STN National Meet Day 10


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Day 10: Benton Hot Springs, CA to Santa Clara, CA At last! California! We rode twisties all day long. First, there were 30 miles of Route 120 for breakfast. Next, for brunch, we rode Tioga Pass, which we enjoyed more after passing all the rental RVs. Mary isn't sure if those things go over 30mph or if the drivers get any training about when to use the turnouts. Yosemite National Park was beautiful, but there were not many picturesque turnouts along the road. The park seems to be a hiking mecca, so we enjoyed the ride through the park once we were clear of the entrance area. We stopped near El Capitan and Bridal Veil Falls for photos and met some fellow riders there. Mary kept honking her horn while parking, so the cruiser riders were wondering why she was honking at them. It turns out that re-adjusting her tank bag had resulted in the perfect position to turn the handlebars and hit the horn button. Once we finished parking, a Japanese couple walked right past all the cruisers (even the metric cruisers) and stopped to look at our bikes. He was very excited to see the XX and also looked at Mary's VFR. He was so excited that he asked me if his wife could take a picture with me, and I towered over her in my red Aerostich. I can imagine the headlines in Japan right now: American Giant Rides Small Japanese Bike All this while the cruiser riders were watching. Once the picture taking was done, I was very amused and said to them "They liked our bikes better!" One of them retorted with "It doesn't matter what you ride; only that you ride." I'm sure if I had said that to them, they would have been offended. Yosemite was a zoo. The lines for the restrooms were very long, so we didn't even stop in the visitor center. We meandered out of the park towards Merced where we couldn't decide where to eat for lunch. After traversing the city from one end to the other, we circled back to eat at the In-and-Out Burger where we picked up some souvenir t-shirts too. We asked for directions from the family at the neighboring table. There are at least three ways to Gilroy, so they sent us on the easiest and best way on rural highways. Once we were on Route 152, there were signs indicating strong gusts in Pacheco Pass. However after the wind, rain, and dust of Nevada the day before, these gusts were mere wisps. Riding through this pass was fast and fun. Soon, we arrived in Santa Clara and allowed Garmin to lead us in circles to get to my sister's house. It turns out that the closest 101 interchange was recently redone, so none of the directions made any sense. We eventually used our noodle to find our way.	View Larger Map Randy in California Mono Lake El Capitan in Yosemite National Park Redbird at Yosemite water fall Bridal Veil Falls Onto 2009 STN National Meet Day 11...
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