April 1. 2005

April 1, 2005

San Martin to Ukiah, California

DAY 287

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

We were both up early, to have the rig ready to move into Camping World's service department at 8:00 A.M.. They had the water heater fixed by 9:00, and the 4 new tires on by 10:00. The bill was prepared, and paid, by 10:30. As I was pulling out of their parking lot, I noticed the ammeter indicating strong discharge. Uh-oh ... Dee-Dee had an electrical problem. I suspected the same sort of problem that grounded us in Elkhart, Indiana just before last fall's Escapade. I was right. The splice on the wire between the battery and the alternator had melted / burned through. I've been watching that wire and splice ever since Elkhart, and I knew it was slowly burning through. Dee-Dee runs pretty warm ! If I knew last September what I know now, I could have solved a little tiny problem before it became a really huge and expensive problem. Today, I had the problem fixed within half an hour, and we were on the road before 11:00.

We headed north from San Martin on Hwy. 101 to Interstate 680, which we followed along the eastern edges of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. We crossed a toll bridge over the Carquinez Strait from Martinez to Benicia. We had really rude encounters with service station attendants at a station in Benicia. Actually, we both had rude encounters here. Me with one person, and Joanne with another. At Cordelia we stopped for a late lunch, then got onto I-80 to connect to Hwy. 128. A short distance on Hwy. 128 and we reached the town of Napa, and beyond that, the Napa Valley. The Napa Valley was really pretty, but it increased the contempt I'm developing for California. No state road maps available, no state travel information centres, RV unfriendly, tourist unfriendly, rude and dangerous drivers, rude people serving the public in service stations, everything outrageously expensive. Should I continue ? We followed a directional sign in the Napa Valley to a winery a mile down a side road, only to discover it wasn't open to the public. Then why the hell is there a sign on the highway ? ! ? It was near impossible to get the rig turned around at the closed gate of this winery ! We went back to Hwy. 101, and stopped at a winery that was obviously open to the public. The place was snooty ! Bottles of wine starting at $40. Wine sampling at $7 a taste. Puh-leese ! We walked across the streetto a General Store to buy some fresh cheese. Asian-American Valley Girls in miniskirts, with cowboy boots, buying organic broccolinis ! Puh-leese ! ! ! We got back in the truck, vowing not to get out again until out of the Napa Valley, and away from the ever so chic San Francisco crowd. The tourism industry here seems to be only interested in serving locals. Visitors, ( but not their money ! ) seem unwelcome.

Through the very pretty Napa Valley, with vineyards covering the sides of the hills, then up and over and around the lush, green mountains on Hwy. 128 to reconnect with Hwy. 101 at Geyserville, then continuing north on Hwy. 101 to Ukiah. We are spending the night at Redwood Empire Fairgrounds and RV Park in Ukiah. We are discovering that many municipal and county fairgrounds have small, serviced site RV parks at reasonable rates.

DSK