Sunday, 31 Jan 2016
Pictures stare here
Alberto writes:
This last Sunday, while riding over to Hobee’s Restaurant in Cupertino I wondered if anyone would show up, you see the sky was threatening with rain. Whenever it rains the default place is The Country Inn cafe on Saratoga Sunnyvale Rd. It was raining but a meager drizzle, they should come.
They came, but not all by motorbike. Russ abandoned his brown (rust) 800 BMW for a red Ford truck… Yeach! Jerry Grainger, also came by car stating he’d won “First place in a kick-ass contest!” Looking at his foot you’d instantly know the seriousness of the remark; he was wearing some contraption protecting his foot from a sprained ankle.
The usual suspects arrived one by one. WWWobble, Markus, Marco, Tom, Carl and yours truly (Alberto).
I might have said this before, Hobbee’s Restaurant. Food, while not bad… not that great either. I think the few that like the Coffee Cake at this facility have bullied their way into making it a destination. So be it. If that’s what it takes to make some happy.
The conversation covered the upcoming trip to San Luis Obispo in April. Many having reserved a one night stay, to have the motel cancel on them.
So, Super Eight and the Pear Whatever want to force a two day minimum, eh? Let me tell you where they can stuff that idea! While some may not agree, I for one do not take kindly at being forced into anything… They can do without me, and I can do without them. Stuff it!! - Dang it, that got the nasty Indian comin’ outta me! That said, I’ll find a way to get shelter in SLO at the appropriate time.
“Markus, did you get a reservation yet?” Politely I asked. “Nope, not yet”
I think that SLO will be complicated this year, but if everyone goes… I’ll go.
“I must disclosed a mea-culpa,” comments WWWobble. “While getting service done on the bike” – he told us what service, but I was not listening – “I broke down and had a full service valve job done on the bike, and boy did it needed it!”
I know the rest of you heard a different or similar story but it is the same Historical fiction. WWWobble the heathen, almost like going to a cat-house! Have you no shame?
Once back at the parking, is when this gets interesting. After the customary “parking lot yappin’” my questioning elicits all kinds of responses from, “nah, heading home”, to “sure! Let’s go some place”.
Here it gets interesting.
Markus Baur. Do any of you, non speaking German, know what “Baur” means? Rare event, where the last-name and the man’s activity come to match: BAUR = FARMER.
So what? Meet Farmer Markus Baur… Or farmer-Markus-farmer, yep, the guy goes farming every Saturday, and he invited WWWoble and myself to come see his farm.
What a place! In Sunnyvale, near Homestead Rd and Wolf Rd is this 5 or 15 acre parcel which the citizenry convince the city not to convert into a bunch of meaningless condos, instead converting it into a city-own farm and youth activity. The place is enormous and cultivated with every conceivable vegetable humans can consume.
Now you know the rest of the story… Markus the vegetarian. He swears these vegetables taste different and to boot, he gets his complete supply of vegetables from this farm. Now, is he cheap?… Or is he wise? I side with the latter, well I know him for his generosity.
I could not identify any plant, neither could WWWoble, yet Markus was at home picking little bits of twigs and eating with delight.
Chickens. Amazing assortment of different kinds of chickens, or should I refer to them as “brands” of chicken. Heavy plumage, head tufted plumes, booted chickens, and my favorite, a chicken that looked like a vulture. What a mangy looking brute! “All egg layers”, Markus pointed out by opening a small trap door, sure thing, two eggs!
When ready to head back out, his buddy Mohammad shows up wearing a KKK Grand Vizier or Whatever robe. Take this KKK outfit thing with a light heart, as Mohammad is no racist bigot. A sweet man, who works with Markus at the farm - with equal fervor. I believe that my meeting this man enriched my life… Don’t ask why, it is just so.
Some time take time to visit this farm and relish Markus at his best…. Farming.
Enough of this farming baloney, back to the bikes. On our way to Alice’s, taking as convoluted route as only WWWoble can conjure. Elena Rd in Los altos was among the roads to eventually led us to Page Mill Rd and highway 35. Alice’s Restaurant, sadly, there was no one there. The entire SMBC rubble of suspects had gone wherever they had to go.
Markus, WWWoble and I stayed there sipping cafe mochas (far better than their hot chocolate, failing by overly sweet) for the better part of an hour. Never a boring moment, and I hate to admit… I have no idea what did we talked about (you can be sure it included some serious gossip about SMBC members) but it was fun!
Some time around noon we all headed the same place the rest of SMBC went… Wherever we had to go.
Pictures
