The Great Morgan Hill Zig-Zag

Stir-crazy in Sunnyvale

For a start, as we had originally planned to set out, it started to rain. We debated a long while, as we packed, whether we should go on one bike, or go someplace on a train, or whatever. The weather reports said we could expect thunderstorms the next day, when we would be coming back. I hummed and hahed, and somewhere a subconscious decision was made. We set out, about an hour and a half later than planned.

All went smoothly, with a stop at the gas station and a peek at the map. We had originally planned to stay in Saratoga, but as we were there within about five miles it seemed silly to stop. We found that Saratoga was solid with traffic, being guided by police - apparently there was a craft fayre on.

Our route took us onto highway nine but then we hit a junction and I chose to go left. This was our first zig on the great Morgan Hill zig-zag.

Crunchings

The rain was light, but it was enough to be annoying and cold. It was also enough to bring Arnie and me to our knees. I made an error - was not in first gear as I pulled away from one light, and thus was using extra throttle (silly me - it works only when it's dry). Next I knew, the back wheel was slaloming madly, and I landed on my side. Crump. Don came charging back, the car behind kindly did not roll over me, so we got everything sorted out and took a rest by the roadside. I had no idea what had happened at the time - it seemed that it had been the front wheel that had been moving - but we guessed later that it had to have been oil; power with no forward motion was a dead giveaway. No permanent damage done - I had two bruises on my left thigh and one on my elbow, and the bike has slightly realigned handlebars and forks that need adjusting. Don turned out to have a sore back from picking the bike up too quickly. I got right back on and rode again. :-)

I was ready to stop, but there were no motels in sight and I didn't fancy staying in such a shabby area either. We soon ended up in San Jose city, at rush hour, which was no fun. We had no idea what road we were on, but ultimately after a lot of stop-start and busy roads found El Camino and started travelling south again - zag!

By the time we started heading out of the main city I was a bit tired and freaked. I don't much like city riding, and this was coupled with rain and not so nice. We did get a chuckle when we next stopped for a rest though; we pulled at random under a roof, and noticed that there were two motels opposite!

Even so, we decided that they didn't look so nice and the area certainly wasn't so we continued. The rain eased off, and then El Camino seemed to merge into a different road called Monterey Road, which I recognised as one that led into Morgan Hill. It was now gone six o'clock and I knew that we had to be someplace by dark. (It would be dark by about seven that night because of the cloud cover.)

Also, it was cold! I had been thinking about asking Don to pull over, but he did anyway and thus I got to put on my winter jacket for the first time this year :-( We took a rest and then set out again. It was nice to be on a fast road without too many lights, and before too long we found two motels and checked in at the first one. Bliss. Nice hard bed with no sag in the middle, toasty heating, shame there was no coffee, but even so.

Much to my delight, Don had brought a tape recorder and a tape of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series which I'd never heard before (I saw the T.V. programme and read the books, I even have the talking book.) After a quick explore of the region, including a trip to get a sandwich and nibbles from the local store, and the locating of the nearest Coke machine, we settled down for a good listen and then a good talk.

When we were hungry again, we decided to do some more adventures ;-)