Thursday, September 24

Thursday September 24 - Days typically start out cool and foggy making for dramatic views on our rides. Today we left Calistoga and the Napa Valley and headed into the Alexander Valley, a beautiful valley filled with lots of vineyards. Because we were heading closer to the coast the temperature weren't in the 90's during the afternoon. The roads were in good condition and traffic was light, and overall today was a beautiful, picturesque ride on country roads! As the morning went by the wine country gave way to beautiful coastal wooded areas with more climbing and twisting roads. For the wine connoisseurs on the trip this was the last chance to stop for wine tastings along the ride's route.

We stopped in Healdsburg, a nice, affluent small town for some coffee and pastries and conversation with some of our fellow bikers before moving on down the road to Guerneville. Guerneville is an unassuming little town of 1000 in the woods, known as a travel destination because it's on the Russian River. What it really feels like is a holdover from the days of "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out" hippiedom. Apparently a substantial cash crop of a particular agricultural product remains a big part of the local economy today!
What we did discover when we arrived in Guerneville and stopped for yet another coffee and pastry is Armstrong Woods, an old-growth redwood forest approximately 2 miles outside of town. We rode there after our coffee break with Amy, another biker from our group and a grad of Evanston Township High School (1 year apart from Mark)! In fact, her folks still live in Evanston. Small world. The redwood forest is peaceful and beautiful with giant diameter, tall majestic trees.

We stayed at the Highland Dell B&B which is very nice, right on the Russian River, but can't say the Russian River is anything special. It has attracted vacationers for many years for boating and fishing; maybe we're just not seeing its attractions like some locals do. We had a quick bite at "Don's Dogs" across the river from the B&B, where we met Murphy the cafe mascot, and had to compete with her for our lunch and the cook's attention. More than the river, this is the kind of local flavor we like about small towns.