Tag: martin ranch

After several challenging years that included drought, mold, unseasonably cool temperatures and even hungry nematodes, 2012 is shaping up to be “pure perfection” and “just wonderful” for many of Santa Clara Valley’s 22 wineries.

Never heard this Gilroy-centric line, but when Doug the veteran Las Vegas cab driver who used to run a Vegas casino poker room “back in the day” heard we were from the Garlic Capital he immediately showed his hand. “You know what they called a hand with three 10s?” We didn’t have a clue what the old-time poker players called it. “They’d say, ‘I’ve got 30 miles of bad road between San Jose and Gilroy.’ ” Miss Jenny and I laughed out loud. The card quip referred to the 30-mile stretch of Monterey Highway. Before the new U.S. 101 it was known as “Blood Alley” – a nasty stretch of stoplights, accidents, backed-up traffic and fruit-peddling stands, the latter being its lone saving grace. It seems like so long ago, but the Sig Sanchez Freeway between Morgan Hill and San Jose opened less than 10 years ago in 2003.