USA September 2009

Thursday 1 October
Plan to visit Gretchen in Santa Rosa, a woman that I knew in Juneau!

Wednesday 30 September (Olema/Pt Reyes CA)
Last day of September! Decided to stay another night here cos it is a great place and the weather is just wonderful for another hike, this time on the beach at the end of Limantour road....no wind, no fog and heaps of sunshine! Not as long a hike as yesterday but still a good workout on the sand. I had seen a critter this morning at the campsite but could not tell if it was a dog or a cat since it was bigger than a cat but ran like a cat....have now found that it was a bobcat!

Tuesday 29 September (Olema/Pt Reyes CA)
Up early to walk to Pt Reyes National Seashore Park (about half mile from campsite) and then up to Mt Wittenberg (1400') and across Sky Trail to Coast Trail and return along the Bear Valley Trail....over 11 miles! Beautiful views of the Lighthouse that I had visited yesterday and the beaches and sunny but cool with offshore fog. I walked this trail many times when I had lived in Marin. Returned to the campsite to find that their internet is not working so am now at the Pt Reyes Station library. Lunch at the Station House Cafe. Great radio station here....KWMR....wonderful music and recent announcement for the tsunami coastal warning...I am a few miles from the coast! I am using the short wave radio that I bought for Madagascar! A great sleep with no one else near me in the campground!

Monday 28 September (Olema/Pt Reyes CA)
Visited Pt Reyes Lighthouse and walked the over 300 stairs down and back up! Camping for two nights here and plan to hike the Bear Valley trail tomorrow. Why do I attract these RVs that leave their outside light on all night....appeared to be visitors from overseas in a rental!

Sunday 27 September (Novato CA)
I am off to Sausalito for the chili cookoff and to join a friend for lunch at Piccolo Teatro. This afternoon I will drive to Novato for dinner with Wil and family, another coworker at the Fund. We had a feast with many neighbors and friends to celebrate Wil's wife Denise's birthday.

Saturday 26 September (San Anselmo CA)
Carolyn and I had breakfast at the Barefoot Cafe in Fairfax CA and then walked through downtown Mill Valley. We visited the old house where we had lived in Corte Madera; it is an old house that had been divided into separate apartments and still looked the same! After a snack, we then went to see the film 'Paris' at the Rafael Theater in San Rafael....excellent film!!!

Friday 25 September (San Anselmo CA)
Drove to Marin County to visit Carolyn in San Anselmo, another woman that I worked with at Firemans Fund in the 1970's. We did a short road trip to visit Sausalito and Tiburon and then Mexican food and ice cream in San Rafael.

Thursday 24 September (Richmond CA)
Ruth and I drove to the city of Sonoma to visit Jan and Deborah, friends of Ruth's. We had an afternoon lunch at the Red Grape pizzeria in Sonoma where we had Pears and Gorgonzola white pizza topped with hazlenuts and where it was nice and warm and sunny...then back to cold and foggy Richmond for the evening.

Wednesday 23 September (Richmond CA)
The fog is still here for a cool and windy morning...so much different than the past few days up north in Sonoma County. While Ruth went for her swim, I hiked Wild Cat Canyon Park with wonderful views from the top of the hill of San Francisco and the bay but the fog hid the Golden Gate Bridge. Ruth and I spent the afternoon going through "stuff" in her storage unit in preparation for their move to Hawaii....reminded me of my days of doing this a few years back! Evening dinner of pasta at Macaroni's.

Tuesday 22 September (Geyserville to Richmond CA)
Drove to Richmond CA, east of San Francisco, to visit Ruth and Fred. Ruth and I worked together at Firemans Fund in San Francisco in the 1970's. She and Fred will be moving to Hawaii in November and I last saw her in November 2006 at her place in Baja. Warm and sunny day then the fog moved in for a cool and windy evening.

Monday 21 September (Geyserville CA)
JoAnne and I picked up Erin early this morning. She is another Peace Corps volunteer from Wisconsin, who is visiting her aunt and uncle in Cloverdale, nine miles up the road from Geyserville. We are doing the tourist thing visiting wineries, including Raymond Burr's, and the local Isis Oasis here in Geyserville. We all had dinner at the Sho-Ka-Wah casino in Hopland....prime rib for $4.95!

Sunday 20 September (Geyserville CA)
Yesterday was too long a day just standing on my feet so decided to take a drive to Warm Springs Dam at Lake Sonoma then to Guerneville to visit a friend of JoAnne's, Lucia. JoAnne is back working at the food festival today.

Saturday 19 September (Geyserville CA)
Worked with JoAnne all day at the Glendi Food Festival in Santa Rosa (9-9) arranging pastries and serving gyros!

Friday 18 September (Bodega Bay to Geyserville CA)
Route 1 to 12 to 116 to Rohnert Park Jiffy Lube for oil change and checkup of van. The prediction is for triple digit temps this weekend!

Thursday 17 September (Cleone to Bodega Bay CA along route 1)
Continued south along route 1 with many stops along the way at the town of Mendocino, Fort Ross, many beautiful scenic lookouts for photos. Camping at Bodega Bay which looks so much different from what I remember because of the growth in population with many new homes on the hills. I walked along the coast at Bodega Dunes and also visited the Bell Tower memorial to seven year old Nicholas Green who was killed by highway robbers in Italy in 1994. Sounds of the surf to lull me to sleep. Also, I have now driven 10000 miles since I purchased my Roadtrek in March!

Wednesday 16 September (Geyserville to Cleone CA)
Another great weather day for drive up 101 to the redwood forest area then turned left and headed for the Mendocino coast. Camping at Cleone and afternoon hike in MacKerricher State Park along the ocean and Lake Cleone. Saw heaps of harbor seals hanging out on the rocks and birds. Per their website:
The Park is the only one in the park system that was at one time part of the Mendocino Indian Reservation. It is the only park unit that was part of the Union Lumber Company's vast timber and shipping holdings in northern Mendocino County.
The fog has now moved in so tis much cooler!

Tuesday 15 September (Geyserville CA)
A road trip with JoAnne to the town of Redwood Valley and visit her sister Leila and walk the vineyards. This is pick and crush time in the wine country. We then visited my former home in Whispering Pines on Cobb Mountain in Lake County....gorgeous day.

Monday 14 September (Geyserville CA)
Drove to Geyserville to visit with JoAnne, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who was with me in Madagascar. Another volunteer Erin arrives next weekend to visit her aunt and uncle in Cloverdale so we plan a reunion and to also attend the Glendi Food Fest in Santa Rosa. JoAnne and I had a great walk through the vineyards and downtown of Geyserville.

Sunday 13 September (Windsor CA)
A cold and rainy day...what a change from the previous week when it was close to 100 degrees and sunny. We spent the morning painting and then this afternoon I walked to the Town Green of Windsor for the Farmers Market and Annual Tomato & Pepper Festival and Art & Craft Fair.

Saturday 12 September (Windsor CA)
Helping Johanna paint walls! Woke up this morning to thunder and lightning and rain but now this afternoon it is clear and gorgeous and not as hot as it has been.

Friday 11 September (Windsor CA)
Hanging out with Johanna in Windsor CA and running errands...she made a delicious potato fennel casserole with bean salad for dinner!

Thursday 10 September (Lake Berryessa to Windsor CA 66 miles)
Enjoyed a wonderful mudbath, hot soak, steam and swim in the pool in Calistoga.

Wednesday 9 September (Jackson CA to Lake Berryessa CA 133 miles)
The famous 9.9.9!
Great visit with Gordon and Cheri and dog Buster Brown in Fair Oaks/Sacramento. Decided not to stop in Sacramento downtown to visit friends there....too busy a city for me and the roads are just full of crazy drivers so got off I80 in Davis and drove route 128 west across to Lake Berryessa. Camping on the very low (32 feet below normal) lake.

Tuesday 8 September (Fernley NV to Jackson CA 255 miles)
Stopped in Reno for petrol ($2.79 per gallon) because it was $3.29 per gallon by the time I got to Truckee. Visited with Clay in Tahoe City northshore, friend from rugby days in college. He sold his home and is moving to Tucson AZ. It is still very crowded around the lake with campgrounds full so headed south on 89 with stop at Inspiration Point at Emerald Bay (too many people and heaps of roadworks). Visited briefly with Margot from Juneau who is working near Placerville/El Dorado Forest. Continued on route 50 west then south on route 49 to visit friend Randi's wedding venue at Sutter Creek, the Park at Hanford Courte. Stopped for the eve at Jackson Rancheria where on Thursday, Robbie Knievel will do a bus jump....it is all set up and ready to go!

Monday 7 September (Wells NV to Fernley NV 306 miles)
Trying to decide whether to take the fast road I80 or the slow road route 50 (known as the loneliest road) west....so drove I80 for 300 miles to Fernley where the internet is really lousy...so more later. I did take the route 80 business loops through Elko, Battle Mountain, Winnemucca, Lovelock....some of these towns look like ghost towns, but it was a Monday holiday.

Sunday 6 September (Montpelier ID to Wells NV 271 miles)
Bypassed Salt Lake City from Idaho to Nevada via Utah. Great day with visits to Bear Lake, Paris Tabernacle, Cache Valley, Logan Canyon Scenic Drive and then I drove down route 30 (beautiful desert and salt lake basin) to I80. Overnighting at campsite in Wells NV. I could not determine why the historic old town of Wells looked so devastated but then found that the earthquake of Feb 2008 had destroyed it.

Saturday 5 September (Jackson Hole WY to Montpelier ID 119 miles)
On the road again...heading south on 89 along the Snake River to Bear Lake. Beautiful drive through the Grand Canyon of Wyoming. Stopped in Thayne for cheese and fudge tasting at Star Valley Cheese. Because of the holiday weekend and because of the name of the town, I stopped for the night in Montpelier camping on Montpelier Creek. I lived in Montpellier (2 ll's) France so thought it only fitting to stay here. This is the home of the National Oregon/California Trail Center. First known by Oregon Trail travelers as Clover Creek, it later became Belmont and finally was given the name Montpelier by Brigham Young after a town in his birth state of Vermont.

Friday 4 September
Jackson Hole Wyoming
We visited Teton Village this evening and found that the gondola ride to the top is free....great views of the valley.
I cancelled my OAT trip to Tunisia for October; I have not been happy with the OAT service since they changed the dates of my travels without formally notifying me. When I emailed them of my request to cancel, they indicated that I must ring them (which is about a twenty minute wait)...so I rang them but the person that finally answered said that he was a salesperson and could not cancel the trip and they would have to ring me back later. When I informed him that this would not work, he finally found someone that would process the cancellation and I will receive a full refund....now to decide what to do for my birthday!

Thursday 3 September (Flagg Ranch WY to Jackson Hole WY 71 miles)
Grand Tetons!
Major road works south of Flagg Resort into Grand Teton Park through Rockefeller Parkway. Another sunny day with gorgeous views of the mountains with stops at Colter Bay, Jackson Lodge, Signal Mountain, Jenny Lake, Moose Visitor Center. I am staying with an IBMer that I knew in San Francisco and his wife. I worked for him in SF many years ago.

Wednesday 2 September (Gardiner MT to Flagg Ranch WY 141 miles)
Yellowstone!
A day of driving with multiple stops for photo taking and walks. Visited geysers at Norris, terraces of Mammoth, historic Fort Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with waterfalls, Old Faithful, West Thumb geysers and saw many buffalo. I also saw more Roadtreks today than I have seen since I purchased my Roadtrek in March! Overnited at Flagg Ranch Resort on the Snake River, the most that I have paid for camping so far....I must get out of these expensive National Park areas!

Tuesday 1 September (Deer Lodge MT to Gardiner MT 251 miles)
Happy First Day of September!
Beautiful early morning sunrise then back on I90 heading to Gardiner where I am staying the night overlooking the Yellowstone River. Plan early departure tomorrow for drive and walks through the park...I can see the entry gate from my campsite! The most direct route to Old Faithful has been closed since mid August so must do a longer route east through Canyon.