Warm-Up Ride for Upcoming Cross-Country
King City, Ivanhoe, Raisin City
April 19, 2006

Route Overview and Start:
Trip / Odometer / Time:
104.6 / 29,302 / 7:45
Been a while since weather was conducive to a good ride.

Headed South East on Hwy-85 then South on Hwy-101
1st stop:
Morgan Hill
Burger King for breakfast.  Yummy.  A stop along my standard
coffee shift from here to there purpose on these rides.

 
King City
Post Office: 100 Maple St.
San Lucas
From King City, I headed South for about 5 miles to pick up Hwy-198.  There's a little town of San Lucas
that shows up on all my maps, so I thought I'd explore and fuel up there since there are no opportunities
for a very long time along 198.  San Lucas turns out to be about 400 souls evidently none of whom have
need for a gasoline station.

A bit of back-track found me at a Valero along 101 South of King City.  While gassing up, a
down-and-out looking lady approached me and asked for some money for gas.  Prepared
for the usual hard-luck story and afraid that any money would be used for drugs or alcohol,
I said I'd give her some gas, but no money.  I was surprised that she was elated.  Her husband
joined us with a gas can and told a tale of having a thirsty RV given to them by their parents in
Oregon and they trying to get back up there.  They did look like they have a very tough life.
They were effusively grateful, I wished them good luck.
Fresno County Line
Hwy-198 between Hwy-101 and Hwy-5 winds through some
very pretty (this time of year anyway) rolling country.  Nothing for
miles but scrub brush and a few cows.  In 2004 when I went through
here, it was September and everything was brown.  This year, it
being April during a wet Spring, there is a lot of green.  Much nicer.

Along the way is where Monterey County and Fresno County meet.
Two years ago, I used this same spot for an 'F' county photo, so
I thought it would be fun to do so this year.  Looks like they
put up a new sign.  The old one looked not bad, wonder if it got
wiped out.  Notice the difference in pavement quality as it
changes to Fresno County maintenance...
 


This Year


2004
Hanford, Kings County
Further East on Hwy-198, almost to Hwy-99 is the town of
Hanford.  This is the county seat for Kings County.  There is a
big campus of county buildings all very nice.  It's just that they seem
to think that you should know where you are.  None of the buildings
actually say "Kings County" on them.  Of course, I need that for
my ABC photos.  Finally, I was able to take my photo in front of
the sheriff's office.  Thanks Allan.

King City and Kings County is an instance of a city and county
not being coincidently located.

Ivanhoe
Just the other side of Visalia, this is a little Steinbeck kind of town.
Everyone you see is Hispanic and agriculturally related in some
way or another.  There seems to be very little wealth in the town.

It took me a while to find the post office.  I did find a city limit
sign that is interesting.  The city limit signs for the other roads
into Ivanhoe seemed much more plain.  This must be a hold
over from better days.  Note the snow in the Sierras.

  
Visalia
Mandatory stop at the Visalia Harley Davidson dealer.  Of course,
I left there with my wallet lighter by the cost of a t-shirt.
Raisin City
Yep, that's really the name of the place.  And, it's very
appropriate.  Surrounded by literally 100's of square miles of
grape vines.  I'm guessing raisin and table grapes.

Just off W. Manning Avenue West of Hwy-99.  Very tiny little town.
This might well be near where Caesar Chavez did his work.

The post office, although I've never before seen it, seems very
familiar.  I looked through last year's trips and found out why.
The same building, albeit with different paint, is in Elmira, Ca.


Raisin City


Elmira
San Joaquin
Yep, this is the town that named it all.  Strange though, it being only
about 6,000 in population.

Bugs are getting pretty thick on the windshield.  I've already cleaned
it once before.  (see below)
Firebaugh
How do you pronounce this?  I know that 'bough' is a homonym
for 'bow', is 'baugh' pronounced the same or maybe more like 'bah'?

In any case, a sort of standard, small valley town.  Perhaps a little
more well-to-do than many.
From here, I had had enough.  I headed over to Hwy-5, up to Hwy-152, over to Gilroy.  Up Hwy-101
with a fill-up in Morgan Hill and then continued up 101 to Hwy-85 and...

Finally, home! 26.7 / 29,781 / 7:10

Safely in the garage, Lola is in bad need of a bath!

First long ride this year and my body feels like it went
through the mill.  Sleep seems like a really good idea.
ABC Letters: Cities: I, K, R, and replaced F, Counties: F, K

Total: 479 miles, 10 hours 25 minutes

Updated: Thursday, September 15, 2011 04:23:35 PM