Letter 5 Northern California

Monday, April 30 the parent geese brought out their new group of

goslings to tell us goodbye from the county park near Oakdale. It was also goodbye for us as we packed up and drove across another terrible road. This time it was flat and covered the California Delta, between Sacramento and the bay area. This road was narrow, straight, with no shoulder and lots of traffic, therefore also very rough. Lots of little items found new homes in our trailer. Finally we found our way to the town of Winters and Solano Lake County Park. This was a repeat for us as we remembered the Vietnamese strawberry farmer for the best

strawberries we have ever had. We arrived at the same time as a couple from Benicia, CA. It was instant friendship with them.

This was Sylvia’s 72 birthday so they decided to go with us to the Putah Creek Café for dinner. Putah Creek Café had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Much to our disappointment it wasn’t open for dinner. We went across the street to another restaurant and enjoyed this meal.

Tuesday, May 1 we went back to town to eat some of Putah Creek’s featured items, again to our disappointment those are only served at night on Thursday, Friday and Saturday when they specialize in Salmon appetizers and Croppeno. Tuesday’s lunch special was two for one hamburgers so we elected to try that. Sylvia chose a special waffle with fruit and whipped cream and Dick chose their special breakfast. This hamburger

was topped with all the standard items and we added the California toppings of cheese, bacon, and avocados. It was huge, but Fred had no problem finishing. After a good thirty minutes, Olivia ate the last crumb. This is not like her to eat this much of a hamburger but it was so good she couldn’t stop.

Later at the campground, Dick told us about growing up in Philadelphia and he demonstrated the Mummer’s Strut. After researching the Mummer’s parade we don’t know why we don’t see it on New Year’s Day on TV. It looks like it beats the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Wednesday, May 2, as we were leaving and stopped to say goodbye to our new friends, they noticed our Waxahachie sticker on the back of our trailer. Dick had even noticed our faces inserted in the picture. While we were talking one of the many

peacocks strolled right past us. Another one

spread his tail while we were dumping. If you have never been around peacocks, we found out again that they like to communicate with each other with loud shrieks, honks, and yells. Sylvia even identifies their talks as sounding like “help”, “meow,” and other loud noises. Sylvia had a problem sleeping as they communicate every 15-30 minutes 24-7. After taking out his hearing aids, Fred slept very well.

Two years ago we met Bonnie and Phil in Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park when they camped next to us. They live in Santa Rosa, CA and that was our next destination. We had been communicating with them for a few days to meet up with them. As we arrived in town he met us and lead us to the fair grounds RV parking. When we finished unhooking we drove to their home where Bonnie had a late lunch for us. After a great lunch and short visit they took us on a tour of town and out to

Mato Azore Dairy. They had discovered this nearby dairy run by Portiguese after they had been to the Azores. We enjoyed seeing all the wheels of cheese and each bought a pound of the delicious delicacy.

Driving through town they told us the merchants downtown played classical music to keep the kids out.

Next on their tour was to Florence Street in Sebastopol, for an outdoor yard art tour. The artist, Patrick Amiot, has placed his art in each yard on the street for his gallery. In reading his blog it says each of these are privately owned. Each one was unique and we enjoyed looking at all the Urban Folk Art collection. Bonnie’s favorite was a

waitress balancing arm loads of dishes. Olivia enjoyed helping the

Wonderland Bunny with his time keeping. This is only two of about 25 huge sculptures. You will be able to see our favorite on our Christmas card. After visiting this street we noticed more scattered around town. To see more go to www.patrickamiot.com

Santa Rosa was also home to Charles Schultz, author of Peanuts and we saw Peanuts and his friends in many yards. Among others, this town also can claim “Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives” Guy Fiari. And he owns two restaurants here. Texas Wasabi specializes in sushi and barbecue. The other, Johnny Garlics, is more classy and has his
signature items as steaks.
Thursday, May 3, we spent a lazy morning as it was rainy and cold and the trailer was warm and dry. Later we met Phil for a walk at the mall. We bought Muscat table grapes in Whole Foods.

We drove out to Olivet Road to several wineries for tastings. These small wineries do not produce enough wine to have them in major stores, so if we had desired to have some we would have to buy on location or through internet. We visited Sunce, Hook and Ladder, Inman -which can be found in Whip Inn, Congress, and a restaurant in Lake Austin where soccer moms meet while kids are practicing, all in the Austin area. All of their wines were $56 per bottle. It was all good but too pricy for us. The most clever one was

Hook and Ladder, owned by a former fireman. They were very good and are available at Whole Foods, so those in Texas might find them. They had better prices and Olivia liked their 2010 Gewurztraminer wines, both early and late harvest.

Friday, May 4, after a lazy morning of taking care of business Bonnie met us to show us the Charles Schultz characters around town. The Schultz family foundation contracted the basic molds and artist decorated them. Individuals and businesses bought them at auction and placed them around town. It was fun finding and posing with
peanuts in dreadlocks,

Snoopy as a

train engineer,other Peanuts as a conductor
and

real estate salesman.

Look for us with Lucy on our Christmas card. Lucy had a “to do” list that included:
1. Stay at the Flamingo
2. Morning surf
3. Shop Shop Shop
4 Skate with Snoopy
5. Wine Tastingother Peanuts as a conductor and
6. Drive a NASCAR
7. Hug a 300’ Redwood 8. Hot Air Balloon
9. Wine Taste again
10. Beach Sunset.

The Afternoon was spent shopping for our trip further north in California. We look for small towns so we stocked up and also selected wines for souvenirs and gifts. After supper we visited with neighbors from southern California traveling with a Casita which is made in Corsicana, Texas—about 30 miles from our home.

Saturday, May 5 we started out to move, then discovered a broken spring on the right front trailer axel. So we called Good Sam emergency number and waited for the repair man. $$$ He arrived and fixed a

broken spring and recommended more work. By the time he finished it was too late to move, plus we wanted to make sure we were road ready.

Sunday, May 6 we attended the

Santa Rosa First United Methodist church 11:00 service and were treated to their

Fijian choir. We never found the reason, many people from Fiji live in the area. This church has many services including a Fijian language service at 12:30. This was the first Sunday so not only was it communion Sunday, but also a luncheon. This time the Fijians furnished lunch. They served a wonderful salad filled with fruits and raw vegetables along with mixed green lettuces. They also had fruits, spaghetti, and a Fijian bread. We enjoyed breaking bread with them twice.

Monday, May 7 Happy Birthday Fred. He turned 71 today but it wasn’t especially a happy day for him. Several family and friends called to tell him Happy Birthday. We also wished our granddaughter Blaire and good friend Nella Happy Birthday. We were up early and visited a repair shop where they said we can fix it and fix it today! Yeah, we could move.

Sure enough they did fix and recommended a new tire, so we stopped at a tire shop and took care of that. We were on the road again heading north to Mendocino Lake and a Corps of Engineer park. Unfortunately it was not as nice a camp as the other Corps parks. This must be a very old park as the sites were narrow, the road was curvy, and not trailer friendly. We did find

one spot that worked and were able to get into it fairly quickly. We were much more fortunate than a big motor home that came in the same time as us. They had reservations for one spot, but decided it wouldn’t work so chose another across the road from us. It was an uphill spot and they worked about an hour getting level. This lake is beautiful and we enjoyed others playing in the water.

Tuesday, May 8 we left our camp for a day trip to the Pacific, via Highway 253 on another twisty road through Philo, Ca. where many apples were growing. Before reaching the coast we drove through

Redwood state park. As we stopped for a rest Fred climbed into the

shell of a long past giant. When we left on this day trip the temperature was 80 degrees. In the redwood forest it had dropped to 60 degrees, on the coast it fell to 55. We arrived at the picturesque town of Mendocino where Murder She Wrote was filmed. Passing through town to the end of the peninsula we found something new to us. A beautiful

arch carved by the waves. We also met a couple from Delaware and chatted in the wind. Next we met a young man who had been diving for

Abalone. The treasure hunt for those rock anchoring delicacies has begun. Northern California has allowed only recreational abalone harvesting. Recreational divers swarm the area for their fill of the legendary Red Abalone. After a day of braving frigid waters, fee-diving abalone divers tell us there is nothing that beats the rush of coming back to shore with the fortune of a delectable abalone foot and its ornamental iridescent shell. He explained how he found and took the shell from it’s resting place. He showed us the tenderizing tool he used to make the meat edible. Bragging he revealed his catch of the day.

At Ft Bragg we found a nice restaurant and celebrated Fred’s birthday with our first

seafood of the trip. Fred had fish and chips, Olivia had an intoxicating shrimp dish. We were right on the small bay.

Our next mission was to visit the famous glass beach. Years ago the ocean was the dumping yard for the town and the military fort. Even old cars were thrown into the sea. In 1967 that was stopped and later it was discovered the ocean and sand had polished the glass. This has made Ft Bragg famous for the glass. We joined

others search for treasures of large pieces of colored glass. We found many pieces of

clear glass sparkling in the mix of small rocks. Our take was only a

handful of green glass and one small sliver of blue. We were two of millions that have scavenged this beach.

Wednesday, May 9 we moved north on pretty 101. At a small town we braked for a sign saying “Cherries $1 basket.” Of course the basket was tiny. They also had strawberries and Olivia made a bargain for 3 baskets for $1 along with a $5 basket of cherries. The strawberries rivaled those in Winters. Home for the night was a Passport America park on the south side of the Redwoods, which is also a Redwood Christian Campground. They are building a new church in the trees.

Thursday, May 10 we struck out for another coast destination. In the 1920’s when they built the Coast Highway in northern CA, engineers decided a stretch of coast from Rockport to Fortuna was too rugged for a road. This expanse of magnificent coast line was soon isolated and became known as the “Lost Coast.” Olivia had read about the small town of

Shelter Cove just below the King Range. Being cut off from the rest of California has helped Shelter Cove become a peaceful seaside resort with peerless scenery. The drive of many curves, climbs and steep downhills is 23 miles from Redway and surprisingly populated. At first. Fred declared, “we will not be negotiating that road for the campground at the bottom of the hill.”

It is a refuge for seals and sea lions. For much of the Lost Coast, the mountains dive directly into the sea, a geographic barrier to development that has left much of this region in its original rugged and wild state. We were surprised to see all the

new homes scattered along the lower hills, some even in the tsunami warning area, below the daytime landing strip. Expecting harbors like we saw in Alaska and Nova Scotia, Olivia exclaimed, “this is California! Money!” We found a Fish and Chips place and also enjoyed the

Calla lilies in full bloom. We thought of our daughter Angie as she likes this flower. On our way out of the community two other flowers caught our eye. Anyone have an idea what they are?

The blue one grew on a bush and the flower was at least a foot tall. The lavender bloom had to be 15 feet tall.

Friday, May 11 we drove north to the small town of Ferndale. We visited here 4 years ago when we saw the Kinetic race finishing in this Victorian town. Crossing the historic

Fernbridge which turned 100 last year. The “Queen of Bridges” has withstood disastrous floods and earthquakes and an attempt by Cal-tran to replace it with a newer design. It is the longest closed spandrel, earth-filled arch bridge in California.

In 1852 founders of the area paddled an Indian dugout canoes across the mouth of the Eel River through a maze of willows. Following the Salt River branch they came to an opening close to the base of the hills where there were no willows. Ferns grew over the opening so tall they would cover a man on horseback. Tall enough they decided to call it “Ferndale.”

Most every structure in Ferndale is on the National Historic Register. We parked at the Fairgrounds then picked up the mail in the tiny nearby town of Fields Landing. Before supper we walked, Olivia insists we walk briskly for 30 minutes each day. Except on rare days when it is too hot, we do our walking.

Saturday, May 11 the morning was spent sorting through the mail and taking care of business. About noon we found Fred some cappucino, bought gas and visited a fruit stand where their

pet chickens welcomed up and escorted us to the stand. Fred was an angel and allowed Olivia to browse up and down the Main street of town, then we drove up the country lane that went to their little beach and on up the hills to a

beautiful view of a farm in a little valley with ocean front property. We turned around when the road became two lane ruts with grass in the middle. Back at the fairgrounds we visited

Lady’s Ruby’s grave as we did our daily walk. This cow had been a Butterfat Champion before being washed away in a giant flood of this huge valley. Another stone marker revealed over 247,000 pounds of lifetime milk production! Ferndale is nicknamed “cream city”. It’s a big dairy area and they do honor their cows. We saw a nice

sunset through the trees.

Sunday, May 13 we entered the red doors of

Fortuna United Methodist Church where we were overwhelmingly welcomed. We think we talked with every person there. Back in Ferndale we watched some of the

children’s Kinetic races. On Memorial day the adults have a go at it with much more gusto and outlandish costumes. We think the adults liked today more than the kids.

After a rest and change of clothes we headed out the “Wildcat” road toward Petrolia. After about 19 miles the road grew steeper and skinnier and Fred said, “No More!” We turned around at a sign saying

No Loitering” and Fred was not going to disobey the sign. As we headed back up the hill he also said, “I don’t think we saw any roads in Alaska

this bad.” Olivia agreed. As we neared Ferndale we could see the town between the

Bridals Wreath and the trees. For the three hours and all the bumps, twists and turns we questioned whether this side trip was worth the time. Olivia suggested that California undoubtedly has the most little, tiny, curvy roads than any other state we have been in. Monday, May 14 was shopping day and we battled the traffic into Eureka. We did find our cereal and other items at a good price. We hunted for a recommended sea food place, but it wasn’t open on Monday. Back at the trailer Fred fired up the grill and cooked some of the steaks we had found today. We love hearing from you, so email us at
olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com
and let us know you are out there.
What’s happening or other news.