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Del Valle Campout, May 1-2, 1999
Report by Don Axtell

We had a good Del Valle Campout. It was perfect weather on Saturday. Pam wanted to take the easy way there, saving Mt.Hamilton for the trip back. So we hooked up with Deborah Lefferts and the three of us rode together. I was able to wear my tank top all day. We did a few back roads on the way into Pleasanton. We went down Geary Rd to the Sunol Regional Park, We took Foothill Rd instead of Pleasanton-Sunol, we cut over on the old bridge called Verona Rd, and we detoured on Happy Valley Rd. All good roads. Then on Wetmore we stopped in that little park, then went and turned right on Arroyo Rd to go check out Del Valle Dam. There we found that there is a bike trail going from the park on Wetmore to where we now were, so this would be a good route next time.

Going the easy way, we got into camp around 2:00, so for the first time we were able to walk around and check out the rest of the park. Very nice. Before, we always just stayed in the camp. That evening we went to the nature program, and they had a gopher snake for the kids to pet, so Pam liked that. The snake's name was Julius Squeezer, as it is a constrictor. Pam's boa's name is Cuddley Duddley.

Sunday morning was a bit cloudy but didn't look like rain. We had breakfast, packed our stuff in the van, then headed out to do Mt.Hamilton. Once we started climbing out of camp, it started sprinkling, and got a bit annoying. At the Del Valle/Mines Rd junction, we stopped to decide which way we should go, as it now looked like rain for the rest of the day. We wisely chose the short way. We then rode straight into Livermore and found a bakery to hang out in for a bit.

It was still sprinkling when we got going again. Our next goal was to ride to Pleasanton and then stop in someplace. On the way there it started to clear up, so we didn't stop. We found Deborah along the way, so together we three headed towards Calaveras. We started to get some sunshine, but it was still alot colder than yesterday, so we all were still bundled up.

Back in Milpitas, just a 1/4 mile from the finish, we decided to stop and put on our tanktops, etc, and pretend that we were warm and had been dressed like this all along. Then we went on into the finish.

We missed not going over Mt.Hamilton, but it was best that we didn't go that way, as the bad weather seemed to be staying over there alot longer.

106 miles for the weekend.

Mary Kairis did an excellent job of putting on this campout, and doing alot of the cooking, and always with a smile. Mary drove the club trailer both directions, and did not get any bike riding in, as Sunday morning turned bleek, and that was when she had planned to ride.