Home stretch!

March 7 - 8:15 AM

Very very cold!

I have lassoed the sun and we're taking it home... 

Sorry there is no way to capture the warmer weather but the good news is, spring is coming.

Home for dinner!

Clear skies and a crisp 1 degree

10:00 AM - Roads appear to be clear driving should be fine. One more night, we should be home on Saturday. Oops! Spoke to soon only 2 miles and someone spun out and is in the median. Have to take it slow still patchy ice spots. Only going 3 hrs away today so we have plenty of time. 
17 degrees - getting warmer! 
Wow! We are seeing the results of yesterday's nasty travel conditions. We have passed more than a dozen cars, trucks, and big rigs off the road. They are in the median, break down lanes and in some cases down in a gully or up an embankment. Why do people drive in bad weather? There was plenty of warning that the storm was coming and would be really nasty. 
Another really cold night, this should be the last one. 

March 5: THOR has us snowed-in!

5:30 AM - Work up to rain in Salem. We had breakfast and quickly decided to pack up and see if we could make it further up to RT 81. Our goal was to make it to Staunton before the rain changed over to snow and ice.

We made it - Just in time! As we were getting close the temps began to drop fast from 39 to 32. Went to check in - 15 min. later temps dropped again, now it was sleet and freezing rain with snow to follow by the time were were unpacking the car.

Humm! Lunchtime - 3 places nearby: 11:30 - first choice already closed, 2nd choice just a short walk up the hill - a few cars (2 parties inside, one waitress) just made it - enjoyed a quick lunch (it appeared that they were going to close right after we left). We bundled up and began our trek back down the hill.

5:00 PM storm is winding down but pretty nasty out there. Good thing I planned ahead. Dinner for two is served. 

11:00 PM - crisp and clear, moon is bright. - should be able to travel in the morning. Not planning on going to far. Going to wait until mid morning no need to hurry. 

Still heading east...

March 3 - 9:30 AM

Another basic travel day, Arkansas to Tennessee. No snow... Yeah! But skies are overcast and we had to wait for the fog to clear. Rain is threatening at any time, wondering how far we will get before it starts. Looks like we will be in and out of the fog, low visibility but roads are still dry and clear.

We have been staying at La Quinta's, Bailey is always free (other places have been up to $50 for her). The last few have been nice. This one had 5:30-6:00 social with a snack, popcorn, bear and wine coolers (not wine and cheese but made Russ happy). We were able to wash clothes, go for a swim, enjoy breakfast and leave with a snack bag including a bottle of water for the road.

March 4 - 8:00 AM On the road early

We are just past Nashville. We had thoughts about staying another night but not this time. THOR is closing in on us! About 60 degrees now going to be in the 30's by tomorrow morning. We are out of here! Heading for Virginia. We should make it before the weather changes to snow/wintry mix, about 5 hrs. away. In and out of drizzle to heavy rain we'll just have to take it slow.
*****Noontime: Passed the rain, roads were dry and traffic moving at a steady flow. Temps going up (60's-70's) so we decided to go an extra 100 miles. Should make it to Salem/Roanoke. Tomorrow's forecast is messy, guess we will be staying put tomorrow.

Uneventful 2 days of travel

March 1 - 9:30 AM 

On the road... Overcast skies, 35 degrees and dry roads. Looks like we are in good shape today going to try to cover 300 miles today. Going to drive right through Texas and stay in Oklahoma.

March 2 - 10:00 AM

Still overcast skies, 32 degrees but dry roads and no snow. We should be in Arkansas tonight. We are between the two storms right now. Sparta is out ahead of us ready to go up to the east and Thor is closing in on our heels. 

No pictures, Nothing interesting just open road and winter fields.

February 28 - 11:30AM

Finally leaving Albuquerque, after a delayed start. We woke up to 6 inches of snow and icy highways. We had planned a short driving day today to make sure we stay behind the storms. Tucumcari, NM about 200 miles is our destination for tonight.

We are a little disappointed that we did not have a chance to explore Albuquerque. We put it on the list for next time along with Santa Fe. 

Snow Day!!!

Today was a day off from driving. When we got up it was not only snowing but most of the roads around us were frozen over and sections of highway 40 were closed. So we slept in and took the day off. 

We were planning to visit a little of Albuquerque but the weather never really cleared. Cold and snowy most of the day. We did go out for dinner about a mile away but that was even a bit difficult. 

Hoping to travel about 200 miles tomorrow.

Holbrook - Home of the "Petrified Forest"

As we arrived in Holbrook, at first glance there is not much here. After a bit of reading in the local paper we realized we were at the "Petrified Forest". We decided to continue on to Albuquerque. It was only going to take 4 hours so we headed to the "Petrified Forest" only 15 miles out of the way and the drive through it would take us 30 miles east. It turned out to be a great take-in.  

This was a unique and interesting drive. The self guided tour had a number of locations to view, some included easy walks through the barren land, petrified wood and remnants of times past. 

Leaving California - heading to Arizona

February 25 - Leaving Needles (68 degrees)

Only 15 min into today's drive and we leave California behind us. Holbrook, Arizona is tonight's destination. Booked for one night but by the time we get there we may decide to stay for 2 nights. Looks like we are going to have to delay things a bit. Weekend weather past Albuquerque is not looking good.

For now it is blue skies, deserts and mountains. Not sure but we are thinking that this could be part of the Grand Canyon.

Gotta love truck drivers - 90% of the vehicles on RT 40 are trucks but there is plenty of space... Many sections of this road are not heavily traveled.  

Homeward bound!

February 24

Leaving 60 degree weather in Paso Robles to head home to single digit temps... what is wrong with us? We already delayed the trip home by a week so we decided that we had to begin the drive home at some point since there does not seem to be any let up. We will take one day at a time - travel on good days and stay put on bad days. Now that the decision is made all we have to do is pack the car.

How is all of this stuff going to fit?

Car is finally packed, every possible gap is stuffed with something.

Bailey knows the drill, 5 min into the trip she settled in.

All we can do is enjoy the amazing California scenery and watch the last of the vineyards slip by.

Large plots of fracking farms and wind farms cover the country side.

New Week - New Location

January 18
Today we say good bye to Healdsburg and head south to Paso Robles. It's about a 4 and a half hour drive down Rt 101. On our way we'll meet up with Kim & Verdine in San Francisco for lunch. Weather is getting nicer each day... today is bright and sunny. A great day for a drive!

Paso Robles promises to bring new places to explore. Although vineyards are plentiful there as well (the central coast wines are gaining more and more popularity) it is also much closer to the coast. There are many popular beaches as well as the famous "Pacific Coast Highway". Lots of day trip destinations!

A little down time

The week after New Year settled into days of down time. On many days we took a ride to one or two vineyards. The drive to each was very short but took us into different sections of Sonoma. Way to many to list! Eventually I will add a few of our favorites. For now here is an example of a few...

Of course we took home a bottle from most of them...

and most bottles we left behind.

PS: We did have a lot of help!

Visiting the dog park (not sure who was enjoying it more... Russ or Bailey) and collecting wood for the small stove became part of our daily routine. Guess who collected most of the wood?

The key was we were able to get out everyday and find a little sun.

Healdsburg came to an end but not before a visit to the dentist. Russ made popcorn one night and I cracked a filling which sent me searching for a dentists. Two dentist visits later I had a new cap on my tooth just in time to move on.

Next stop Paso Robles!

Napa Day

Today was our day to cross over to Napa. It is about 45-50 min. through the Alexander vineyards on Rt128. After a quick stop in Calistoga, a quaint little town on the way. We made our way to

 V Sattui Winery. 

Russ had arranged with his "wine guy" at Sattui Winery for a club room tasting. We arrived at 11 and made our way to the cellar and club room, connected with Bob and began our tasting. It did not take us long to realize that Bob was not a good match for us. Luckily a few others arrived and he got busy with them. Jordan stepped in and the fun began. The stories, the tasting of everything Sattui had to offer and sharing information. The tasting went from bottle tasting to barrel tasting. By this time Mike and Russ were well on their way... even though tastings are only a few sips, a few sips of 10+ wines is enough to send most to the next level of tipsy. They liked one of the "futures" (wine that is still in the barrel waiting to be bottled) that is when the discussion of buying a barrel began. Tee and I had wandered away and returned to this conversation. Luckily we were able to talk them out of this idea by suggesting it was lunchtime. Once their thoughts turned to food we were back on track. Now we only have a case of wine coming to the house in the spring and not a $7000 barrel of wine. 

For lunch we relocated to our "private" club member garden

overlooking the vineyard. 

Now that we had our second wind we were off to Sterling Vineyard just a few miles away. Sterling is noted for their unique approach to their hill top tasting rooms and villa. Taking the aerial tram is the only way up and down. 
Sterling is also set up as a self guided tour and tasting is done at the various stations that are set up as you stroll from one location to the other. It also has great views of the surround hills and valleys, however we were not impressed by their wines. We have enjoyed so many good wines that made it easy for us to pass up bringing a bottle home. 


So back down the hillside we went.




This was also where we had to say good bye to Tee & Mike. They were staying in Calistoga for the night with plans to head south to the Pacific Coast highway and all it had to offer before they headed home. We were sad to see them leave... we had so much fun the past few days!

New Years Day

Happy New Years!

Stay at home day...
With very little open today we decided to spend the day at home. Mike was on breakfast duty. He made a delicious eggs Benedict. After breakfast Tee and I began preparing dinner items. With everything under control we settled in the living room for some football. Well it was playing the the background, we were deep into competition playing a "trivial pursuit" type of game called WINE. 

So much fun... so many laughs!

New Years Eve

Our evening began with dinner at Baci in Healdsburg. What a great place! 

Good food, good local wines, great staff and of course great company. Thank you Tee & Mike for joining us. You have made our stay in Healdsburg special. 

Back at the cottage we rang in the New Year in the hot tub. It was only about 35 degrees but the hot tub was oh so nice.

Day 2 of vineyard hopping with friends

New Years Eve Day... what a way to end a spectacular year.

What better way to end a year then to do it with great friends. Day two with Tee & Mike began with a hearty breakfast and preparing for another day at the vineyards. We put the guys on lunch duty, with plenty of left overs from last nights dinner it was their task to put some sandwiches together while the ladies when shopping. Healdsburg is such a cute little town that poking in the shops was a must-do. We did not want shopping to cut to much into our vineyard visits so we set an hour and a half limit. Which was just long enough for Tee to fall in love with a barrel rib centerpiece. Which we did not buy... YET! Our allotted shopping time was running out so it was back to the house to collect the guys and lunch and we were off. 

Today we headed to the Russian River Valley:

 First stop, HKG Estate Wines. This stop set us into an afternoon of laughter, fun and becoming wine club members of a few selected vineyards. We not only walked out with a case of wine but seasonal shipments of their wines will be on our doorstep when we get home in March. Since we joined as a team with Tee & Mike each shipment will be split when it arrives. 

Humm! how do you split a 3 bottle shipment?

Off to VML, named after the winemaker, Virginia Marie Lambrix. 

This became our chosen lunch spot for today. Great wine, fantastic scenery and good sandwiches, thanks guys! 

By lunch time we had agreed to join a second wine club. You guessed it more shipments several times a year to your doorstep. This time it will go to Tee & Mike's house. To be split with us of course!

Who do these two guys belong to?

With time running out because most wineries were closing early to celebrate the holiday we only had time for one more stop before heading home. We decided on Matrix, sounded interesting but lucky for us we were not impressed. After visiting the last two that we really enjoyed this one just did not meet our expectations. 

So we headed home... but not until we stopped so Tee could purchase her barrel centerpiece.