Westward Ho

July 6 to October 8/2014   Summary of the Wild West Trip

Life is Good

Miles on the Motorhome = 4,700 miles...... oh yes miles not kilometers.  Glad we put new rubber on before we left.

Miles on the Motorcycle = 6,500 miles.   Not too many short days out.   Most were long rides.  In the mountains we would camp at a spot that was easy to drive to for the motorhome and ride from there.  So what happens is that some days we would ride for 50 to 75 miles before we started the Scenic Byway ride then we would return.

Rating the adventure between 1 and 10 =  9.   So great and adventure that we will leave at least 1 point available in case we ever have more fun or better motorcycle riding.   Points are scored high for the motorcycle rides which were excellent  and the weather was incredible.   Weather is something you luck out on,,,,, it was perfect for motorcycle riding and camping.   Only 2 days in 3 months that we had a complete rain day where we could not go out riding the Harley.   Especially in Washington and Oregon where you expect to hit rainy weather;  it was perfect there.

Best Things about the Trip
1) Designated Scenic Byways in the USA.   The motorcycle riding was incredible.  Every byway was beautiful and different in its own way.   We applaud the USA for taking these roads and making them Byways where the speed limit is slow (25 mph to 45 mph).   Our favourite speed on the bike is 40 mph so we are in heaven.
It truly gives Billy a chance to enjoy the scenery and the ride.

2) National Parks in the USA.   Wow.  Thank goodness for men like John Muir and President Roosevelt for having the forethought to preserve and protect these beautiful lands.  Every NP we visited and we did about 7 or 8 (I think) were so accessible to the public and the scenic roads inside the park gates are so worth driving.   We purchased a yearly National Park pass and are up to $95 if we had to pay each entrance fee, the pass is only $80 so we consider it an excellent purchase and we have till end of June 2015 to continue to use it.

3) We could write for the next 3 days and never mention each great place.  Go West and enjoy.   The mountains are something to see.

Worst Things about the Trip  ( not much)
1) Speed of Traffic on British Columbia highways.   Our Rockies are very majestic and rugged in Canada but the roads are too fast to enjoy the scenery.   We wish our roadways were set aside for Scenic Byways like the US do and keep the speed limit down to 40 mph/64 kilometers.

2) Homeless in Northern California.   This really just made us feel a little sad seeing so many people drifting along the highways.   We were not threatened or bothered.   If anything it reminds us how thankful and great our life is.  Not to be taken for granted. 

We put our motorhome and trailer/motorcycle into indoor storage with 24/7 security and power hookup and flew back to Ontario.    In January we will return to California and carry on our journey.   It's only been a week and already we miss our home on wheels!!!

our plane home

Food is Life

October 5/2014  Hot,,,,,,, 95 today, 55 at night.  So we are headed out early for a ride to get back before 3 pm and the heat of the day. 

Greystone Campus

entrance marker into the Greystone Building

Do you love food?  Wine, chocolates, olive oil, cheese, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, spices?   And all of the above set in a beautiful landscaped old stone winery.  Sounds like a wonderful day and it was!!!   In St. Helena, one of the most prominent chef schools in the United States exists  The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.    The school is in the old Christian Brothers Winery.    Tickets for a tour of the grounds and school are only $10 so we bought our tickets and spent our wait time having coffee and breakfast in the Bakery Cafe.   After the tour we just had to go back and have lunch too:) 

bread for the bakery cafe

my salad from the schools garden

The students run all the restaurants on the property.   You can do a tasting bar of wine or olive oil or cheese or chocolates too. 

handmade chocolates

Dinner reservations at a couple of their restaurants are also available. 

class in the kitchen

another class in a bigger kitchen

beautiful chandeliers in the campus hallway

Brother Timothy's Corkscrew collection

And the Spice Islands Marketplace is where you can buy kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, spices, and all kinds of culinary things!

cookie jar

Camping in Napa Valley

Sept 30 to Oct 7/14 
All week we have been camped within a few blocks of the main street in downtown Napa.   Not very often do we get a spot to camp where we can actually walk to restaurants and shops and the heart of a city or town.  As it turns out there are very few RV parks in the Sonoma or Napa counties.   Rumor has it that the wineries own many of the hotels, motels, lodges and inns.   And they don't really want RV parks in the area; they prefer a business scenario to have visitors pay $200 to $300 per night in their places vs $45 a night in a campground. 

our site at Napa Valley Expo - The RV park

 The Napa Expo RV Park is owned by the State of California and it is not very big but it really is a great spot.  Maybe about 50 sites and every night it is full or at least 90% full.  Definitely recommend this park to visit the area. 

On our way to Sonoma we stopped at a store the other day and Billy had a flock of wild chickens checking out the Harley.  

Rooster is not impressed with his lady hanging out with Billy !!!

We stopped at the Harley Davidson shop in Sonoma and then at the Home Depot where I found the perfect read for Billy if he is going to soothe the hens......

Napa Valley

Sept 30 - Oct 7, 2014   Weather - sunny and a Heat Wave.  82, 85, 90, 92, 93, 88, 86  - dry and about 15 degrees above normal in Napa.  Phew what a way to spend our last week on our Wild West trip.  Hard to believe 3 months have gone by. 

vineyards as far as you can see along hwy 29 and silverado trail

We jiggy jogged to get to one of a few of the places to camp in the Napa Valley Expo - The RV park.   Perfect park with an excellent downtown location.  Tip:  RV people coming from the northern coast we suggest taking hwy 101 South, to catch hwy 37 west  then head north up hwy 29 to Silverado trail.      Lola (our GPS) wanted to go cross country through the vineyards but we thought it best to take an extra 10 miles and stay on the 4 lane highways.  September is Napa`s biggest tourism month so the smaller roads are busy with everyone going to and from a winery.  

Billy parked behind the Olives

Which by the way is a stress load in itself..... how do you decide which ones to visit when there are over 700 wineries in the area!!!!   Ha Ha we thought there was a lot in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia.   Hardly.
If you want to do the wine tasting there are several different  limos, buses, shuttles, the wine train and private tours. The price is from $100 to $200 per person with perhaps 4 to 5 wineries - it takes all day and you arrive back in your RV park safe and sound.  Excellent value.  We are not really big wine drinkers but more interested in the architecture and landscaping of the wineries. 

driving up to the Castello di amorosa

So we decided to do 1 winery that Trip Advisor recommends as a must.   Castello di Amorosa , translated to The Castle of Love Winery.   It is a 13th century style Tuscany Castle with Winery built in St. Helena. 

inside the Castello courtyard

 You may have seen it if you watch the Bachelor on TV or Adam Sandlers movie Unfiltered.  The owner brought much of the building supplies and tradesmen to Napa to build this 121,000 square foot - 107 rooms. 

Barrel cellars below the castle (2 acres)

The tour of the castle and wine tasting was only $35 per person and a great day and for us still too much wine!!!  When we got back to the park Billy opted for an ice cold beer:)

The Great Hall features Frescoes painted on all walls

Being Thankful Everyday

We have a wonderful life.  Our family is safe and sound.  We are Thankful.  
Being in Northern California for 1 week we have noticed more homeless people than anywhere we have ever been in the USA.

An older homeless man in Mendocino

It makes sense that if you are homeless you would want the temperate weather of California, hoping it would help you survive the nights without shelter.  Most every person we saw walking, hitchhiking, hanging around had a backpack and a dog.  Would the dog be for safety we wondered?  It would provide some companionship and  it would help protect you from another person or from wild animals?

A young man and his dog along Coastal Hwy 1

It was a phenomenon that we definitely noticed everyday while driving around the small villages, highways, grocery store parking lots and along the highways.   Checking into a bit of information on Homelessness in Northern California  we found some alarming statistics.  Twice today we were approached and asked for money; unfortunately we declined.   We gave instead to a donation at a couple of the stores collecting for homeless.   One fellow actually asked for a few dollars to buy beer !!!   Well at least he was honest.
1.  In the nation, the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single    night was 650,000.
2.  In California on any given night, 360,000 homeless individuals sleep on the streets or in shelters.
3.  California has the highest homeless population in the nation.

Another young man and dog in Willitts

Northern California Coastal Hwy 1 & Skunk Train Highway 20

Sept 29/2014  Weather  80 Sunny inland, 66 on the Pacific Coast
The Pacific Coastal Highway 1 is to the west of us about 34 miles and we decided to stay inland at Willitts KOA and take the motorcycle ride to the coast. 

Highway 1 and Highway 20 (the Skunk Train trail) are not recommended for Large Trucks so we felt we should make these a bike road only.   (and we are very glad we did).   The road (hwy 20) from Willitts to Fort Bragg was constant switch backs and declines and inclines with little shoulder and narrow.   On the motorcycle it was awesome!!!  

stop and smell the freesia

In Fort Bragg we headed north for a ride up the coast and after about an hour we found a clearing and turned and headed south back through Fort Bragg and down to Mendocino.  

Since many of the towns early settlers were New Englander's, the architect is Maine meets California style....   In the 1950's it was revitalized into an artists colony and still remains a very funky, artsy, village today.

Natural Bridge in the ocean front park in Mendocino

We had a walk around and some lunch then the best part was the ride back on Hwy 20 (the skunk train trail) to Willitts.  Nothing better than the start of a ride and the end of a ride are sweeping curves and switchbacks !