The Occidental Road Trip

March 27, 2011 by kmilyun

Road Trip

Pilot and navigator headed out of Sac ~10:15 a.m. with high expectations. The Occidental road trip soon earned the name of the accidental road trip. That is how we finally did end up in the small town of Occidental – by accident.

Pilot, navigator, google road map

Nervous about driving so far by myself I enlisted the help of my friend Mikey. She is a good companion on trips. Not the best map reader but can go with the flow – hey you can not have it all LOL. I do not think the two of us have ever taken a trip and not had something go wonky. This trip was no exception. The rain just kept coming down hard more often than not until we reached Fairfield where it let up a bit. We were prepared – or so we thought. We had our google directions, or little google map, and a general idea of how to get to Occidental. What is that saying – the best laid plans . …

Chatting and occasionally video recording our merrily way along Hwy 12 we came to our turn off onto 121. Very proud of myself that I indeed did not miss the turn we motored happily, although cautiously along. Then the dreaded sign – road closed ahead due to flooding. OK. We decided to go on and hoped that the closure was after our next turn off. Not to be. There was a nice orange detour sign and we like good little pilot and navigator followed it’s instructions. Now paint me green but usually the detour signs (yes signs not sign) lead you back using alternate routes to where you were headed in the first place. Umm – another not to be.

Eventually it dawned upon our silly willy minds that something was amiss we were not being directed back toward the direction we should be headed. Before you even dare to think that perhaps it was our error I will inform you that we were not the only vehicle lost. I spotted a couple cars pulled along side the roadway and stopped to ask the occupants if perhaps they might know which direction we should go. Nope they were lost also. I then decided (and my navigator having given up the title of navigator offered no resistance) to take turns that looked like they might get us somewhere. And it did work. I found a nice couple who actually drew me a map that would place us on the route past the closure. Well, worked darn good until the next soaked roadway. I stopped again and I honestly would love to telll you where but I have not a clue and got some more directions that would bypass what they knew to be flooded road. Seeing a theme here?

Somewhere in all this I made a point of crumpling up the google directions and tossing them into the backseat. The Napa and surrounding area map I had in my glovebox did not cover the area we needed. My California map is – well who the h e double toothpicks knows where – and so it went. It actually was for no particular reason funny.

Occidental Road

All in all it was a fun adventure and we did eventually find our way to the outskirts of Sebastopol and found Occidental Road. A fast discussion and we turned onto it headed toward the ocean. Seems the best choice we had. I was so burned out on asking folks for directions – not something I usually do – that we went for it. The road was winding and narrow and had many patches of water flowing over it but it did eventually end up in Occidental. We came in on the back road I guess just made sense that if going to Occidental that Occidental Road was a good choice. We accidentally found the Bohemian Hwy that we were planning on taking into town in the original plans. So we found Occidental accidentally and just in the nick of time as my bladder . …

Here is a video of bits and pieces of our trip. The navigator stopped filming when we came upon or first road closure. I did try and get here to record a mud slide cause it was cool looking but we were well past it once the camera came back out. Watching the road was a tad bit more on our minds – along with a lot of not so G rated language 🙂

My parents had a good time, we had my brother draw a simple direct route for us back to 101 and to Hwy 80 and headed merrily east toward Sacramento. We did temp the flood Gods once more a took a short trip around the hills between Fairfield and Vacaville just because – well we could. We arrived home well after dark and made the mad rush to the facilities.

Well that is the story how we got lost in the wine country and a suggestion to the detour sign folks – not everyone knows where the heck the are or alternate road to use. One sign to the right does not get it ok!

Driving to Dinner

March 25, 2011 by kmilyun

Psyching myself up for a trip tomorrow. I need to drive to Occidental. It is about 103 miles and can take from 2.24 hrs. to forever depending on the traffic and road conditions. Right now the minor and sometimes major street flooding is of concern. Hope the rain tonight is not to bad.
I used to love to drive anywhere anytime – let’s go attitude. But anymore I tend to avoid it like the plague. Driving wears me out. Sitting that long turns my feet into burning balls of fire (well if feels that way) and the constant having to pay attention while the world zooms by is a major brain drain. Yep driving long distances kind of sucks anymore.

Driving in bad weather

The weather has been crazy here lately. Lots of rain, snow in the mountains and foothills, tornado’s, thunderstorms, you name it have been going on. Driving on a nice clear day is not so bad as long as I am in familiar territory. Driving in foul weather not so nice. My friend Mikey is going along for the ride – thank goodness! Hopefully having a navigator will stop me from getting lost LOL. Good to have such a good friend.

I plan on taking my camera along and hope to get some good pics along the way when we stop for a stretch. Hope I do not get the shot of a lifetime while floating away weeee ….

OK over dramatic but honestly driving anywhere right now is kind of dumb if you can avoid it. So but of course my little white truckie, Mikey, and I will be out there in the weather! Why you might be asking yourself? Well it is a dinner for my parents 60th anniversary. Do not get me wrong, I want to attend their dinner but golly did it have to be darn near to Bodega Bay? My brother lives in Santa Rosa, his kids live somewhere a bit up north from there. So rather than meat half way . … story of family life. Yeah the one and only brother that responded to me telling him I had MS by uninviting me to Thanksgiving.

I guess if my 83 year old parents can make the drive so can I. Dinner is going to be at an Italian Restaurant that is noted for being old school – hope the food is good.

Map of where we are driving.

from google

google earth

Well here is to hoping that driving to Occidental and driving back turns out to be no big deal and the weather is not too bad.

If I get any pics I will post when I get back.

Egret Stalking

March 22, 2011 by kmilyun

f/10, 1/640 sec, at 48mm, 400 ISO, on a NIKON D80

I drove out to the Consumnes River Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. It was a pleasant and relaxing venture. Along the way the usual pics are taken of the tractor, cows, sheep, and sometimes the blue sky. No blue skies today! But the Egret was there.

The Egret

There is an Egret that hangs around the refuge. He/she does not go where ever egrets go in the winter. It stays at the refuge. This particular egret taunted me the past few years to the point where it has become a joke with my friends. We call the egret – well, Eg-gie. Somehow Eggie knows when the camera lens is not pointed at him so he can take off and fly. Leaving me with a ton of shots of Eggie but none flying wings spread.

Eggie follows me when I make my way along the path. Eggie has even gone so far as to hide behind trees and brush all the while I am there only to end up five feet from the restroom door. I swear he waited until I put my gear in the truck and when I came out of the restroom – there is arse was. Out smarted by a bird – the bird – Eggie – again!

Eggie and I have a game we play. As I walk down the pathway he stalks me. Hiding behind trees or Tully brush he ever so slowly keeps pace with me. If I go back he goes back. If a move foward – he moves forward. If a stare at him – he stares back. If I ignore him – he moves closer only to boogie if a pull up the camera. LOL this bird is fun to pass time with.

Today was no exception. Eggie followed, Eggie hid, Eggie flew when I looked over at some ducks. Eggie stalked me when I paid no attention.

I was feeling special – my relationship with Eggie and all. Today a couple showed up and we started up a conversation. Yep, Eggie does the same thing to them. Although he has never waited at the restroom door for them.

I actually got a few good shots of Eggie because Eggie did not know who to follow or where he should hide. LOL He did take flight after I put my camera in the bag.

Here are a few of the shots I got today of Eggie

(my Egret)

and a little bird:

and yeah I kind of sort of know that it probably is not the same Egret every time but all Egrets are Eggie sort of maybe kind of . …

If I remember I will put up some photos that show Eggie stalking.