Valley Boys

Jer and I migrated down California Highway 1 to an obscure virtually unmarked countryside pass that looked like the driveway of a private residence. The goal was to find a shortcut to Napa Valley, and we ended up finding the most unique terrain of the trip to date. It was single lane most of the time, with 2 way traffic, under dense forest canopy. This rarely maintained road demanded caution around blind turns and switchbacks with questionable conditions. A miscalculation or road debris on one of these hairpins could easily have you in a slide and off the road, so we did our best to prevent that. The temperatures soared to around 100 degrees within 20 miles of the chilly coast. The forest gave way to dry valley clearings like this ...



And I was running low on fuel with the next station over 50 miles away. Terrain like this doesn't help your mileage so after cresting a ridge, I'd shut the engine off for the several-minute-long descent to the valley. In spite of these efforts I ran out of gas about 10 miles from the closest station. Carrying an extra bottle of gas came in most handy...



And we made it to the next station. We rode through Sonoma, and spent the night in downtown Napa. We tried several 2 oz glasses of wine before switching back to beer at dinner, which was incredible. Jer had more ribs and I had 'beer can chicken' which is a roaster sized chicken mounted and cooked on top of an open can of suds. Very tender and the seasoning was perfecty spiced.



Were headed back to the coast for San Francisco today and then down towards Santa Monica ...

-- Post From My iPhone