[A/S] Santa Rosa, CA to Esparto, CA - September 15, 2000

[hhamp5246@xxxxxxx]

All the gold in California is not in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills... 
it's on the hillsides and in the fields surrounding the wine country and the 
central valley.  I am in the central valley now, on a lovely horse ranch 
north of Sacramento.  It's hot.  I mean it's HOT!  As I don't have a 30 amp 
electric hookup I can't run the a/c.  I miss the a/c.  The ranch has fields 
full of horses, donkeys and goat and a mule...but nothing is growing 
anywhere. They tell me it gets lush and green all winter though.

Let me back up a week. I was happily parked in my friend Teri's driveway.  We 
had gone to Sonoma and Calistoga... Monday we set out for the coast.  My two 
Borders and her one piled on the dog platform in Bruiser 
(http://members.aol.com/airstm2268/platform.htm)
and we had a quick drive to Bodega Bay.  The dogs had a blast.  We let them 
go and they ran like maniacs.  My Tucker is long legged and fast, her Duffy 
blew past him.  I was amazed.  After the dogs were spent we drove up the 
coast a way to the turn off to  Duncan's Mills where we just browsed the 
shops and then on to Guerneville.  We found a sushi and burger shop (I swear) 
and had lunch.  Then we took the dogs and walked around town.  It's an artsy 
town, antique shops etc.  They have a river (the Russian River I think) with 
a beach and lifeguard stand.  I wandered in an antique shop and flipped over 
a sideboard piece.  If it's still there when I get a cabin I may just have it 
sent east. 

I spent the rest of the time in Santa Rosa running errands, and getting 
Bruiser's clunk fixed once and for all.  He got 4 new stabilizer bar links.  
The other ones were worn and noisy.  Getting all this done while it's still 
under warranty.  Not much more time.  I like just relaxing in a place for a 
while.  I do spend a lot of time seeing as much as possible, so having some 
time in a veged out state in great.

Sandy Noyes, a pal from the Airstream List, was in town and we hung out 
together for two days.  Ate sushi, Mexican and played on our laptops together 
(c: One, of many, perks of staying at a friend's is hooking up to the phone 
line so I can get online while in the trailer.  Extra points if AOL is a 
local call. 

The second Sunday I was there Teri and I went to a Sheepdog Trial north of 
Santa Rosa.  We didn't run our dogs, but enjoyed watching the ones who did 
work.  I also met some people from the Border Collie list and we stuffed 
ourselves at the pot luck lunch. The bad news, for the first time in my life 
I didn't win something in the raffle.  )c:  

Santa Rosa is really lovely.  The older developments have huge trees and the 
homeowners take really good care of their yards.  The problem is the 
traffic... it used to be a small town, but no more.

Sadly, it was time to leave and off I went.  My mapping program (Tripmaker) 
took me down south almost to San Francisco then back up on the interstate so 
I took highway 12.  It meanders through the wine country... Sonoma, Napa and 
up and over into the central valley.... the ranch is in Esparto. The ranch is 
owned by a gal on my Longears List.  The downside is no air conditioning in 
the trailer... so tomorrow morning when I leave to go to the Draft Horse 
Classic in Grass Valley I turned down another invitation to stay on a ranch 
and am staying at an RPI campground nearby.  

I'm going to Virginia City and Reno next week... then pretty much just 
beating a path back to the southeast.  I dread the long drive.  I hate 
driving, always have, funny thing to do for someone who hates driving.  

Hunter