July 3, 2015
225 miles
975 Miles since San Diego

A good Day...

After saying goodbye to our friends in San Ramon, we head north on the hi-way for about 30 minutes until we hit heavy traffic. We hit the next exit and find a nice road up to the Suisa Valley and motor up into the hills and wine country. The road is a perfect blend of scenery and turns, with little traffic. We parallel the touristy roads of Napa and pass lots of small wineries tucked back in the hills. The temperatures are in the comfortable  70's and 80's as we head to the town of Clear Lake. Clear Lake isn't what it we had hoped,  but a tacky tourist town and anything but a clear lake. It reminds us of the old little tourist traps of upstate New York. We had made reservations ahead of time in what appeared to be a small town north of Clearlake called Willits. Just before Willits we stop at the Barra Winery, for a tasting. Laurie is very nice and offers us as much as we'd like of all their wines, including the $40 reserve. She notes that we are on a bike and gives us the case price and a discount on the max we can fit on the bike, 3 bottles, and off we go with a nice buzz for the last half hour. Well apparently, Willits isn't that small, and as well as being 4th of July weekend it is also Willits Frontier Days and the longest running Rodeo in California. So, my guess is we'll end up in some shit kicker bar tonight singing some Hank Williams!   Life is good, and always interesting if you let it be so.