A Little Further

Camping, if this can be called camping, near the mouth of the Russian River, below Guerneville CA. Yesterday I decided I'd had enough of the clouds and fog, and needed a dose of sunshine. I went inland, and along California 128 going east I found a very nice state park. Sunny, and warm even in the shade of the Madrone and Redwood trees. The volunteer ranger in residence said the previous weekend the campground had  been full, last night there were 4 sites occupied out of around 65. Very quiet, except for the acorns dropping from the Oaks, and carooming down through the branches much like a pachinko ball, finally hitting the top of the camper.

On the way, I stopped in Mendocino, a charming town on 101.

Today I drove to Cloverdale, then south on 101 to an exit for Guerneville. I lived for a couple years near here in the early 1980's while in grad school, and know the area fairly well. My buddy from Alaska and I got a house here near a lesbian leather biker bar, and played pool there of an evening. We were tolerated, barely, because they thought we were a couple. Until my cousin Chuck visited and hit on one of the women, but that's another story.

I'm staying tonight in a RV park, nearly empty, which is good because the sites are really crammed together. And they have more than their share of rules, I've been chastised twice already for various infractions. How was I supposed to know they only allow driving on the road?  I may trot out the .45 later, the nearby orderly signs look ready-made for target practice. I'm staying here only because of the wifi, and will trundle along tomorrow.

It was sunny earlier, though cool, but now the fog has rolled in up the river.

Some errata from the trip so far, probably of no interest to anyone:
Miles since leaving Butte..........1975
Average gas mileage.................10.8mpg
Highest transmission temp.........176 f
Onstar used 4 times, once for unlocking truck, 3 times for calls.
Average price for camping spots (state parks and commercial RV) $40..more than I had thought.
Driving music (in response to one of the rare readers)...Neil Young, Greg Brown, Jackson Browne, Jefferson Airplane, Moody Blues, Simon & Garfunkle, Elvis Costello, Dylan,  and a few others.

I recently had a morning where I felt troubled, and gave it some thought. I came to the conclusion that I was getting bored with this, and worked out three possible solutions: Go home. Become one with the boredom, or get some purpose to the trip, e.g. see nat'l monuments, fish, etc. A good friend over the years suggested it might be the weather, it'd been cloudy and foggy for a couple days. She may well have been right, I feel much better after a day with sunshine.

Tomorrow I'm going over to Bodega Bay, and see what they have in the way of bottom fishing. A few rockfish, perch or ling cod would cheer me up considerably.

So the general plan, subject to change, is to spend at least another night or two in the Sonoma/Marin area, then early one morning (4am) up and across the Golden Gate and down 101 to 1.

Yr Obdt Svt
Mike