RSS In America, the holidays are weird
Filed in Blog, RidesI can deal with Christmas. I can deal with nobody taking Good Friday off as a public holiday. But it’s the federal holidays, the ones where most everyone works except the government, that still, after ten years, get me every time.
I don’t think I’ve had such a spectacular miss as I did yesterday, though.
I’ve been on an early bird jag of late, and I was dressed and ready to leave by nine. Two and a half windy, rather cold and overcast hours later, I was pulling into a rather empty-looking lot in Sunnyvale, scratching my head. Normally the place is buzzing; that day it was quiet enough to hear the chirping of a hummingbird.
I emptied my old mailbox, then wandered up to the doors. We are closed on February 18th for Presidents’ Day.
Sigh!
Ah well. The main idea had been to collect my mail for the last time before handing in my forwarding forms, and I did that. I just didn’t get to say farewell to the staff. But I did have a lovely visit with Barb, whom I miss much more than I do the Bay Area, and I was able to admire her latest art, which is just absolutely fantastic.
The sun had burned off some of the haze by the time I left, so it was quite a bit warmer. It didn’t help that I went as far as Palo Alto in the wrong direction on 280 before realizing that I needed to backtrack, but that just seemed to fit the general wonkiness of the day. Round about Pleasanton I needed to make a stop, so I called Don and we arranged to meet in Tracy, arriving within ten minutes of one another. Nice. :)
So that’s it: I’m done with Sunnyvale. The place doesn’t feel like home any more, the mail should all now come to Lodi, and riding past the old homestead only brings a sense of pain and loss that I don’t need and serves no purpose. (They still haven’t started building.)
Home now is a pair of motorcycles, riding back to Lodi.
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2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Becky (9 comments.)
It’s kind of sad that you don’t like Sunnyvale, but I’m glad you’ve found a new home that you love. Both places are great, but I’m sure your situation gave you a bad taste and memories of the Bay Area. I envy your long ride…….it sounds delightful.
Bikerchickz
Feb 20th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Becky: It’s not so much Sunnyvale as the entire conurbation of Silicon Valley. There is neat stuff there, but there are also way too many drivers, nowhere near enough trees, and this whole rush-rush-rush to be rich ethos which just pretty much sickens me. I like it here in the country much better.
I’m sure I’ll go back from time to time…I haven’t found all the state historical markers yet. ;)
Feb 20th, 2008
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