Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Camping Out West...Day 68...Monday, August 23, 2010...News (Good) About Cleo...On to Napa!..."In" at Burning Man!






First, some good news on Cleo. I talked to Doc Howard, and he said that Cleo is recovering well...she's eating again and has some of her old energy back. There's a good chance that she'll be able to come home later this week. Good news!

I'm up early today, and I'm looking forward to today's drive...south on Highway 101, along the coast, then inland through some State Parks, and finally down through the Sonoma Valley.
So, after another shower and several cups of coffee, I'm off. The coast part of the trip is beautiful. South of Eureka, I head inland and, soon, I see a sign for a "scenic drive" along the "Avenue of the Giants"...gotta take that drive. It's about 30 miles following the Eel River through some huge groves of giant redwoods...very cool.
Then...I'm in the mountains again...six hours or so over, around and through range after range of mountains. Music helps...I'm listening to some Simon and Garfunkel as well as Mylo's "Destroy Rock and Roll".
Then, just south of Ukiah, I see a welcome sight...vineyards! I am officially in "wine country". Down through the Sonoma Valley, all the names are familiar to a winelover...Lytton Springs, Beckstoffer Vineyard, Geyserville, etc. A few miles of this, and I'm thirsty for a glass of wine (or more).
At 5:45PM, I'm at the KOA Campground in Petaluma...very nice. I pull into my slot and immediately proceed to open a bottle of Justin Cab...life is good!
For dinner, I grill up a giant "ball steak", a unusual shoulder cut that they had at Costco. Grilled meat and red wine...it doesn't get any better than this.
Checking my emails, I find that I've been accepted into the "Syncytium" camp at Burning man...some friendly folks from Chicago, Ann Arbor, Detroit, etc. to camp with...excellent!
And tomorrow...Napa, a hotel, winery tours, great meals...I can't wait!

No comments: