Two Days of Riding and Leaving Petaluma

After 27 days of less than desirable weather, we finally got 2 good days in a row. Peggy and Roger Hancock got here last week. Friday we rode up to Graton, part of the ride on the Joe Rodota bike trail. It was very pleasant. Coming back through Sebastopol, we saw this. It's an Avion, which we have never seen in this configuration. They're usually travel trailers, and look a lot like Airstream trailers. I can't tell if this is a home modification, or if it came from the factory like this. Very interesting.


Saturday, we went up to the Alexander Valley. But first, we stopped at a farmer's market in Healdsburg. Healdsburg is just cuter than a bug. There was much local produce and flowers. We bought fattening muffins and ate them. Good.

These are fava beans. I'd never seen them before. These are the beans made famous by the movie, Silence of the Lambs.


After the market, we left for the vineyards on our bikes. It is just spectacular. I can not recommend riding in this area enough. Thank you Roger and Peggy for showing us this.
Do you know why they plant roses near the grapes? It's because roses are subject to the same diseases than grapes are, only they get sick faster. So, the roses are acting as canaries; if they get sick it's time to rush out with the sprayers. We didn't know this, the Hancocks did.


Then we stopped at the Ferrari-Carano winery. Look at the magnificence of the building.

This is off the back.


The gardens there are just phenomenal. Lovely.

Peggy, Roger and Jim on the little bridge.

There are many wineries out there.

Last night we out to dinner at Point Reyes Station. We had mussels and French fries. Dinner was very good. We had to wait to be seated, so we sat outside with an excellent bottle of wine. Just delightful. Today Roger and Peggy left. We are sad.

Tomorrow we are off to Mt. Shasta. Then we'll make our way to Bend, OR. I hope the climate will improve for June. May has not been great for much of the country.