San Benito’s own state highway reveals treasures
Last Friday, armed only with an Official 2006 Map of San Benito
County labeled with landmarks by my publisher, Mark Paxton, I set
off in my Geo Metro at 9 a.m. for my first road trip to King
City.
San Benito’s own state highway reveals treasures
Last Friday, armed only with an Official 2006 Map of San Benito County labeled with landmarks by my publisher, Mark Paxton, I set off in my Geo Metro at 9 a.m. for my first road trip to King City.
I’d traveled through Hollister and San Juan Bautista regularly, but this was the farthest south I’d ever driven on assignment.
This assignment was a plum: drive along San Benito County’s marquis scenic byway – Airline Highway – with a camera and notebook in hand.
Tres Pinos topped the list of stops. The cozy village has many historic buildings and I was looking forward to returning.
The first person I encountered was Wayne Pfeffer, the owner of the Tres Pinos Country Store. He was changing prices for all gasoline grades.
“A lot of people like to get off 101 and have a nice drive if they’re going south,” he said.
One of the landmarks on the outskirts of town is The 19th Hole, a watering hole that drew young people from Hollister proper for a night of drinking decades ago. The building now has a shot gun hole on one wall and the paint is stripping away from the wooden planks of the building.
As I passed the San Benito County Fairgrounds at Bolado Park, a sense of “here I go, there’s no going back now” filled me with excitement as I continued on my journey.
Farther down I came across miles of picturesque vineyards weaving throughout the countryside. I took several photos of The Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines/Blossom Hill.
My cell phone reception was spotty, but I did manage to retreive a few messages, some from the office reminding me of important stops along the way. I headed toward the Pinnacles and searched out some visitors.
I encountered Canadians Barbara Forrest, 59, her husband Bruce Forrest, 60, and their grandson Dameon Buchanan, 5, as they finished a hike.
It was the first visit for all of them to the park, which they had found on a map. They were on a two-month visit to the United States, which included California, Texas and Arizona, Barbara said. “We wish we could stay longer,” Barbara said.
Everything I had seen on the journey so far had been enjoyable, both natural and manmade until I came upon two signs in front of a house.
“NO AMNESTY FOR ‘ILLEGAL’S’ ” was written in angry red paint on a white background. The sign on the right had a painted-on flag with “THEY DIDN’T DIE FOR OPEN BORDERS” in black lettering.
The signs stopped me in my tracks.
I had also hoped to interview the homeowner about the sign, but there was a locked gate with dogs barking and running around protecting it.
Soon after I had the epiphany that this was truly a solitary journey. Yes, I was driving along, but for most of the trip I had no radio or phone reception. For miles, my car was the only one on the road This aloneness in the vast country was both exhilarating and scary in its possibilities.
Eventually, a sign alerted me that King City was on the horizon. I didn’t see a G13 sign [as was indicated on my map], but by following the signs I did see, I found my way to my final destination. My coworkers had told me there would be lots of Mexican restaurants in town. Hungry from the hours of travel, I vowed to stop at the first place I saw.
For only $4.25 at Tacos La Potranca De Jalisco, I bought three small chicken tacos, accompanied by carrots wrapped around a jalapeno pepper, and a can of Coke. To my amazement, since I’d forgotten to order the tacos spicy, they were hands-down the spiciest tacos I have had outside of Mexico and were delicious. I enjoyed every bite, in between liberal swallows of Coke.
On my way out of town I took a photo of the clock on Meyer Tomatoes, which reminded me of our own clock tower in Hollister where I’d begun my journey.
I made better time on the way back as I made fewer stops to see the sights.
But I still couldn’t find the old firehouse in Tres Pinos on my way back. Now painted a sunny yellow rather than fire engine red, the firehouse retains its alarm bell and houses the Tres Pinos Water District office.
Danielle Stolman can be reached at ph***@pi**********.com.
