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Arriving into our Thousand Trails Russian River preserve we made our way to a perfect RV site…or so we thought. It was wooded yet had a view of the sky for our satellite dish, grass just outside the door for the dogs. But it was on a slope that caused the tow hitch to drag and get lodged in the pavement to the point we couldot go forward or backward and in the struggle to get in we scraped the side of the coach on a tree as well. This wasot a good start to our stay. We however did get out with the help of ourew found friend Georgia Ann (to whom I still owe a dollar to 🙂 She figured out a way for us to get unstuck and pointed us in the direction of an even better site.
We were excited to get out and exploreearby Cloverdale. To our luck it had both a thai restaurant and a brewpub in the small town. The firstight of we just went to Ruth McGowen’s Brewpub. It was a cool low key pub. The bartender and her sister were veryice, actually everyone in the place was very friendly. The soup was great, they hand make all of their soups. While there we learned brewpubs were all over this area, almost every town had one. This was going to be a fun place to be for theext four days!
The following evening we went out to eat were Georgia Ann and her companion Kathy. They were great people, and we enjoyed the time we spent with them and hope they stay well and travel safely and enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle.
We met anotherice couple they were staying in the siteext to us. They were older full-timers and helped us find a good route to get back to I-10 to get back to Pensacola. Some things for work came up they help steer us to a decision ofeeding to get back before July 3rd. This gave us around 2 weeks to travel 2500 miles. Which was possible, it just required us to push ourselves faster than we like.
But before we headed out of wine country we had to explore it. We took a full day to go out and visit as many vineyards as we could handle. We had a list given to us by a wine distributor in Claremont we met. Russian Hill, and DeLoach were two of the vineyards listed that we intended to visit starting out, but first we ate lunch at the Bear Republic Brewpub in Healdsburg. The had a pale ale that was my favorite there.
Russian Hill was alright butoting special. We managed to work in the guy’same from Claremont, but theyever heard of him so we would try again at DeLoach after sharon purchased a small bottle of port. Deloach had a great tasting room and the vineyards were gorgeous. Exactly what we imagined a vineyard in Sonoma should be like. They girl presenting the wines to us was soice, and the wines were incredible. Their Pinot Noirs were the best we had anywhere. We wanted to purchase one, but funds were running low. We intend to join their wine club when we settle down soon.
We managed to only have time to hit one more winery, the Martinelli Vineyards. They had some good wines as well, but the main ones we wanted to taste wereot available. The girl hosting the tasting for us was from back in Northwest Florida originally and told us we could get Martinelli wines at Chan’s in Destin which we will try to do when we go back that way.
The day finished with me causing us to run out of gas in the Jeep. I immediately got out and began running for theearest exit ramp.Partially so we wouldot have to sit on the side of the road long, and to hear Sharon tell me a “I told you so” 🙂 Because she did tell me to get gas earlier and I blew her off, like an idiot. So there I was running to an exit I wasot sure even had a gas station at the end of it, or one even close. Fortunately for me someone stopped to help me just a small distance after I started running, he knew where a gas station wasearby because there wasot one off the exit. He dropped me off there and went on his way. I went in to buy a gas can but they wanted $15 for one. So I just bought a big gatorade, went outside drank it and then put $2 of gas into it and took off running back to the Jeep. When i arrived at the Jeep less than 30 minutes had elapsed and Sharon had already cooled down, she wasot really that mad at me anyway I found out. What an ending to a veryice day.
Note: When your wife tells you to get gas, get gas!
Our last day in the area we wanted to spend checking out the redwoods at Armstrong Woods in Guerneville. The redwoods were incredible. Walking through the forest was so quiet and peaceful, the sunlight filtering through made it truly magical. All the sounds of the forest are muffled by the soft bark material andeedles on the ground, long with the dense vegetation. I could have walked for miles in this forest. Sharon and I were amazed also by the very large size clovers. She was determined to locate a four-leafed clover. Come to find out in the end they wereot in fact clovers but some other similar form of vegetation.
On our way home we spotted yet another brewpub. The Stumptown Brewpub. We sat out back on the deck over looking the clear flowing Russian RIver in rocking chairs enjoying good beer, I had a black ale and Sharon had a pale ale, both worth mentioning as topotch brews.
And so our journey across America came to a symbolic end, butot our journey on a bigger scale, because thatever really ever ends, or so we hope it doesn’t. It wasow time to boogie back to Pensacola.
Side Note: I added to the one shoes in the world when a flip flop slid off my foot in the Russian River rapidsever to be seen again.