on the way to San Jose

  Time for the Mayor to touch base: in this case, a trip to the college years @ San Jose State U.  Now, a modern urban campus of 30,000+,then, a sleepy traditional "Quad" campus with 9,000 students.  Driving down(south)  on Highway 101 is always an eye opener: what changes have been wrought since the last trip-past SFO?
     Not much change was in evidence until Moffet Field, in Mountain View: the old land mark dirigible hangar has been stripped clean of half of its outer skin.  This process has exposed the erector-set skeleton that has supported the building these past 70 plus years.  What's going on?  hard to tell at 70mph on 101.   But it does raise questions about1) NASA,2) Lockheed Missiles & Space,3) the Navy,4) Moffet's future.
     Leaving Mt. View, drivers tumble into a bit of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and finally San Jose.  My goal was not downtown but way out on the eastside of the valley, in the low foothills below Mt. Hamilton.  Somewhere in those hills is the home of Dr. Peruzzi, professor emeritus of geography from SJS.   After a twisting, winding, and climbing path, I pulled into his driveway, confronted by a magnificent view of the central portion of the infamous Santa Clara Valley: aka Silicon Valley, now the center of the modern universe.  Gone forever are the blossoms of spring I recall from my youth, gone the orchards and their heavy fruit; here ,now, new dreams, new ideas, the future, optimism, success (and failure,too), and the hope of countless young thinkers, workers and scientists.
more later