We sauntered down to the Skunk Train
in the morning for the 10:00 am trip through the redwoods to Northspur and back. As a bit of trivia, the Skunk Train got its name because one of the mail trains that used to run on the line was powered by a gasoline engine and had a coal heater. It was said you could smell it before you could hear it…hence, the name. As an interesting side note, while we were waiting for the train to depart, a Fish & Game pickup parked nearby with some “evidence” of recent “forest farmers” work.
Anyway, we boarded the train and took off at a heart wrenching 5 mph through Fort Bragg and then slowly increased our speed to 15 mph for the rest of the trip.
We passed several old homesteads
and camps, a thousand year old tree, actually 1,009 years old (it was 1,000 in ’95) and one with a “springboard” in it.
and the obligatory gift shop. I bought a pin for my collection but passed on the carved bear with the “Welcome” sign hanging from its neck. We brought some sandwiches but the hamburgers smelled great! The barbecue sat next to a great-looking smoker in the shape of a train.
The return trip was almost uneventful. The “event” was seeing a deer! We had not seen any on the way up, so this was something different.
Upon our return to the park, Claudia, Gizmo and I checked out the meeting room for tonight’s travel meeting and game session. Following that, we did our laundry…not Gizmo’s…just Claudia’s and mine. This was a very necessary thing, as I was going to wear my cleanest dirty socks tomorrow. My underwear supply is sufficient for a few more days, but the socks needed a resupply. We battled other laundry patrons and finally got the job done. Somewhere between my socks and Claudia’s panties, we gave a travel briefing in the meeting room next door. This is going to be an “interesting” leg as we didn’t do it and didn’t go to the RV park. We were north of Santa Rosa when the change was made. Ron and Juanita have been doing a masterful job on the log so I suspect all will be fine. I twinge with apprehension though.
My twinging didn’t affect my sleep and I awoke around 7:15. Gizmo flew in to greet me. He has a new trick when it’s time for a romp. As I’m putting my socks on, he alternately pulls on my socks and bites my toes. After finally getting dressed, we headed for the nearest large rock. Giz gave it a “High five” with his right rear leg. (Sorry, no photo. I forgot the camera) We continued on, stopping at almost every rock, patch of grass and tree. So many good spots, so little pee! I then brought him home and finished getting ready to leave. We were scheduled to leave at 9:00 am but several rigs fired up early and took off. The standing rule is that NO ONE is parked prior to my arrival. So, when we arrived, there were about six or so rigs parked alongside a fence with the guests outside kicking pebbles. We met with the camp host who showed me the park layout. We developed a parking plan and I started bringing them into their spots. Again, it went very smoothly.
Claudia did a briefing on the area, on tomorrow’s bus tour and the menu at the Cattlemen’s Club for tomorrow’s dinner. Claudia and I are both having a “western cut” of prime rib. I am assuming that means a BIG piece of meat! The other choices were grilled Atlantic salmon, chicken kabob, ribeye steak and a half rack of ribs. All dinners include a baked potato, seasonal veggies an all-you-can-eat salad bar and coffee or tea. We won’t starve! My one worry at this point in time is a storm that is heading right for us. It seems that a big front from a typhoon over near Japan has us in its sights. This is predicted to join with another storm coming down from the Gulf of Alaska. Does anyone see a movie script in the making? It is supposed to hit Monday night and last all day Tuesday. Right now, winds are predicted to be in the 40-60 mph range with eight to ten inches of rain. Sounds like a frog-strangler to me! If it arrives as predicted, we will be doing a bus tour of the wineries of Napa, a walking tour of Yountville (This was not on my “bucket list”, but does sound semi-interesting) and having dinner on the Napa Valley Wine Train. There is some concern now, as I just heard that jackets are required on the train. Guess what folks…I don’t own one! I don’t think anyone on the trip brought one. Maybe our Adventure Caravans jackets (which are windbreakers) will suffice. The lovely Claudia will call and work things out. I don’t do suave!
Sunday was the first trip into San Francisco. We had a great bus driver, Joel, and a great tour guide, Mike. Both were top notch! Many roads were being closed because it was Fleet Week and a huge computer company was in town for a convention. Mike re-arranged the tour schedule so we got to certain places before they closed the roads on us. We got a fabulous tour of the city, had lunch at “Lefty” O’Doul’s, rode a cable car,
saw the “Painted Ladies”
and drove through Haight-Ashbury.
It couldn’t have gone better. We even saw the Blue Angles. I heard they fly in formation under the Golden Gate Bridge
but we didn’t see that…DAMN! Here’s a nice shot of a mural.
After we dropped Mike off, Joel drove us to Sausalito to see the floating homes, which are true houseboats…homes built on barges, like where Tom Hanks lived in “Sleepless in Seattle”. These weren’t as nice though. Most were almost derelicts.
We returned to the park to freshen up before heading out for dinner at the Cattlemen’s Club.
The next day was our turn to shine. The catalog showed that we were going to Bodega Bay, the Armstrong Redwoods and the Korbel Champagne Cellars but we had no information about it. I worked up a loop trip from the RV park to Bodega Bay and an hour-long stop to explore, or buy, or??? Claudia bought! Following the Bodega Bay stop, we headed north on Hwy. 1 to Arched Rock for photos
and then east on CA-116 to the Korbel Cellars. 
We got there right at noon for the noon tour. (When else would you expect a noon tour but at noon?) The timing was perfect! We toured
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we headed for Napa to pick up our guide. Since the rain ruined our walking tour of Yountville, we just headed for a restaurant for lunch. The guide knew of a “moderately priced” restaurant that the locals go to and she took us there. Well, “moderately priced” up here is a lot different than “moderately priced” back at home. Claudia and I each had a hamburger, about the cheapest thing on the menu…at $12 (each). They were good, but didn’t compare to a Monsterburger at Angelo’s in Encinitas! After lunch, we headed for the Mumm Napa Champagne Cellars for a tour followed by a tour of the Black Stallion Winery,
a relatively new and very pricey winery. It was now time for the Wine Train!
We pulled into the station, unloaded the bus, and headed for the waiting lounge. Lo and behold, they had a gift shop there too! I bought another pin. We boarded the train 
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When logging a tree, the loggers cut a notch into the tree about 15-20 feet up from the ground. In this notch, they inserted a 4” x 12” x 6’ redwood board to stand on while they cut the tree down with a cross-cut saw. The reason they did this was that the trunks of the trees were too big for the oxen to pull. By cutting the tree at 15-20 feet, they eliminated the large bases and the trees could then be pulled to the mills.
Our destination was Northspur
where we had a 45-minute stopover for lunch
Our destination was Northspur
where we had a 45-minute stopover for lunch
and the obligatory gift shop. I bought a pin for my collection but passed on the carved bear with the “Welcome” sign hanging from its neck. We brought some sandwiches but the hamburgers smelled great! The barbecue sat next to a great-looking smoker in the shape of a train.
The return trip was almost uneventful. The “event” was seeing a deer! We had not seen any on the way up, so this was something different.
Upon our return to the park, Claudia, Gizmo and I checked out the meeting room for tonight’s travel meeting and game session. Following that, we did our laundry…not Gizmo’s…just Claudia’s and mine. This was a very necessary thing, as I was going to wear my cleanest dirty socks tomorrow. My underwear supply is sufficient for a few more days, but the socks needed a resupply. We battled other laundry patrons and finally got the job done. Somewhere between my socks and Claudia’s panties, we gave a travel briefing in the meeting room next door. This is going to be an “interesting” leg as we didn’t do it and didn’t go to the RV park. We were north of Santa Rosa when the change was made. Ron and Juanita have been doing a masterful job on the log so I suspect all will be fine. I twinge with apprehension though.
My twinging didn’t affect my sleep and I awoke around 7:15. Gizmo flew in to greet me. He has a new trick when it’s time for a romp. As I’m putting my socks on, he alternately pulls on my socks and bites my toes. After finally getting dressed, we headed for the nearest large rock. Giz gave it a “High five” with his right rear leg. (Sorry, no photo. I forgot the camera) We continued on, stopping at almost every rock, patch of grass and tree. So many good spots, so little pee! I then brought him home and finished getting ready to leave. We were scheduled to leave at 9:00 am but several rigs fired up early and took off. The standing rule is that NO ONE is parked prior to my arrival. So, when we arrived, there were about six or so rigs parked alongside a fence with the guests outside kicking pebbles. We met with the camp host who showed me the park layout. We developed a parking plan and I started bringing them into their spots. Again, it went very smoothly.
Claudia did a briefing on the area, on tomorrow’s bus tour and the menu at the Cattlemen’s Club for tomorrow’s dinner. Claudia and I are both having a “western cut” of prime rib. I am assuming that means a BIG piece of meat! The other choices were grilled Atlantic salmon, chicken kabob, ribeye steak and a half rack of ribs. All dinners include a baked potato, seasonal veggies an all-you-can-eat salad bar and coffee or tea. We won’t starve! My one worry at this point in time is a storm that is heading right for us. It seems that a big front from a typhoon over near Japan has us in its sights. This is predicted to join with another storm coming down from the Gulf of Alaska. Does anyone see a movie script in the making? It is supposed to hit Monday night and last all day Tuesday. Right now, winds are predicted to be in the 40-60 mph range with eight to ten inches of rain. Sounds like a frog-strangler to me! If it arrives as predicted, we will be doing a bus tour of the wineries of Napa, a walking tour of Yountville (This was not on my “bucket list”, but does sound semi-interesting) and having dinner on the Napa Valley Wine Train. There is some concern now, as I just heard that jackets are required on the train. Guess what folks…I don’t own one! I don’t think anyone on the trip brought one. Maybe our Adventure Caravans jackets (which are windbreakers) will suffice. The lovely Claudia will call and work things out. I don’t do suave!
Sunday was the first trip into San Francisco. We had a great bus driver, Joel, and a great tour guide, Mike. Both were top notch! Many roads were being closed because it was Fleet Week and a huge computer company was in town for a convention. Mike re-arranged the tour schedule so we got to certain places before they closed the roads on us. We got a fabulous tour of the city, had lunch at “Lefty” O’Doul’s, rode a cable car,
saw the “Painted Ladies”
and drove through Haight-Ashbury.
It couldn’t have gone better. We even saw the Blue Angles. I heard they fly in formation under the Golden Gate Bridge
but we didn’t see that…DAMN! Here’s a nice shot of a mural.
After we dropped Mike off, Joel drove us to Sausalito to see the floating homes, which are true houseboats…homes built on barges, like where Tom Hanks lived in “Sleepless in Seattle”. These weren’t as nice though. Most were almost derelicts.
We returned to the park to freshen up before heading out for dinner at the Cattlemen’s Club.
The next day was our turn to shine. The catalog showed that we were going to Bodega Bay, the Armstrong Redwoods and the Korbel Champagne Cellars but we had no information about it. I worked up a loop trip from the RV park to Bodega Bay and an hour-long stop to explore, or buy, or??? Claudia bought! Following the Bodega Bay stop, we headed north on Hwy. 1 to Arched Rock for photos
and then east on CA-116 to the Korbel Cellars.
We got there right at noon for the noon tour. (When else would you expect a noon tour but at noon?) The timing was perfect! We toured
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and tasted
for about an hour and a half and then returned to the RV park. The trip was perfect. I updated the tour log for posterity and posted it in the Wagonmaster’s Log for the trip next year. The rest of the day was paperwork, work, and more paperwork. We are now waiting not too patiently for the storm that’s due tonight.
It started raining in the early evening and rained all night long…not the toad-choker we were expecting, but a good, steady rain nevertheless. We all slogged to the bus where, in honor of our wine tour, Claudia read a wine joke she got from Vicky Parmley, a friend and past guest. It referred to the amount of “poop” in water and made note that there is none in wine or beer, so we should drink wine and talk funny instead of drinking water and be full of poop. After a long, loud laugh, we headed for Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory. Now, a sticker factory didn’t register too high on my “Whoopie-O-Meter” but it was a fun and interesting stop. I had no idea it took so much machinery to make stickers. After a tour of the plant, including a room to do “Sticker Art”,
for about an hour and a half and then returned to the RV park. The trip was perfect. I updated the tour log for posterity and posted it in the Wagonmaster’s Log for the trip next year. The rest of the day was paperwork, work, and more paperwork. We are now waiting not too patiently for the storm that’s due tonight.
It started raining in the early evening and rained all night long…not the toad-choker we were expecting, but a good, steady rain nevertheless. We all slogged to the bus where, in honor of our wine tour, Claudia read a wine joke she got from Vicky Parmley, a friend and past guest. It referred to the amount of “poop” in water and made note that there is none in wine or beer, so we should drink wine and talk funny instead of drinking water and be full of poop. After a long, loud laugh, we headed for Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory. Now, a sticker factory didn’t register too high on my “Whoopie-O-Meter” but it was a fun and interesting stop. I had no idea it took so much machinery to make stickers. After a tour of the plant, including a room to do “Sticker Art”,
we headed for Napa to pick up our guide. Since the rain ruined our walking tour of Yountville, we just headed for a restaurant for lunch. The guide knew of a “moderately priced” restaurant that the locals go to and she took us there. Well, “moderately priced” up here is a lot different than “moderately priced” back at home. Claudia and I each had a hamburger, about the cheapest thing on the menu…at $12 (each). They were good, but didn’t compare to a Monsterburger at Angelo’s in Encinitas! After lunch, we headed for the Mumm Napa Champagne Cellars for a tour followed by a tour of the Black Stallion Winery,
a relatively new and very pricey winery. It was now time for the Wine Train!
We pulled into the station, unloaded the bus, and headed for the waiting lounge. Lo and behold, they had a gift shop there too! I bought another pin. We boarded the train
Dinner was served in short order. First was an Hors d’Oeuvre of shrimp, smoked salmon, chicken, several varieties of olives and some green leafy stuff in the center. Next came a baby lettuce salad with candied walnuts and smoked goat cheese in a honey cider vinaigrette. The goat cheese somehow made it to Claudia’s plate…rapidly, before it could spoil the flavor of my salad. We chose a roasted beef tenderloin, accompanied by rosemary potatoes and grilled squash for our main entrée. It was delicious.
After dinner, we retired to another car for dessert.
After dinner, we retired to another car for dessert.
Two were offered…a crème brulee and a chocolate covered tiramisu. We had one of each and split them. They were extra-good and double-yummy!
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The other end of the coach car must have all had extra wine as they were all howling with laughter the whole way back. It was a fun, but very long day.
Today is Wednesday, a Free Day, a Day of Rest, a Quiet Day…yeah, RIGHT! We have several hours of paperwork to do, many phone calls and a couple of outbound emails thrown in for good measure. If there’s no rest for the wicked, we must have been very, very bad this year! Tomorrow is another San Francisco tour with Pier 39 and Alcatraz scheduled as highlights.
Thursday, another rainy day…not real rain, but sort of a light dribble of a drizzle. We were on a tight schedule and the rain didn’t help. We first headed for the Shulz Museum. That’s Shulz, as in Charles Shulz, as in Charley Brown,
Today is Wednesday, a Free Day, a Day of Rest, a Quiet Day…yeah, RIGHT! We have several hours of paperwork to do, many phone calls and a couple of outbound emails thrown in for good measure. If there’s no rest for the wicked, we must have been very, very bad this year! Tomorrow is another San Francisco tour with Pier 39 and Alcatraz scheduled as highlights.
Thursday, another rainy day…not real rain, but sort of a light dribble of a drizzle. We were on a tight schedule and the rain didn’t help. We first headed for the Shulz Museum. That’s Shulz, as in Charles Shulz, as in Charley Brown,
Lucy and Snoopy and the Red Baron.
I really enjoyed the tour and the great wit in most of the comic strips he did. After the museum tour, we headed for the Canine Companions for Independence,
a non-profit organization dedicated to providing service animals for the disabled. All the dogs are labs, golden retrievers or a mix of the two. CCI has its own breeding program, training program and support network. A fully-trained dog is worth about $50,000.
We then headed for San Francisco and Pier 39 for a quick look-around and lunch. At 2:00 pm, we lined up for the trip half way across the bay to Alcatraz. We walked all over The Rock”, taking in the cellblocks,
We then headed for San Francisco and Pier 39 for a quick look-around and lunch. At 2:00 pm, we lined up for the trip half way across the bay to Alcatraz. We walked all over The Rock”, taking in the cellblocks,
tiny little cells
and supporting buildings. I was surprised to learn that some civilian families of the guards and staff lived there, kids too. After the tour, we came back to the dock, loaded the bus and came home. The fog had rolled in and gave us some spectacular views of the city we are to leave tomorrow.
1 comment:
Thank you for spending some of your time with us on the Napa Valley Wine Train. I am glad you saw coats and ties are not required. The thing that is required was for you to enjoy yourselves which I hope you did.
Thanks again please come back.
Greg McManus
CEO
Napa Valley Wine Train
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