After taking 1.5 hours to get to Santa Rosa from Oakland, getting off the freeway seemed like a sweet idea, even though it meant driving through rush hour streets — still easier than just about anytime in San Francisco. So, I followed Santa Rosa Road from the south end through downtown to the north end where it turns into Mendocino Road and then something else and something else and meandered over to the west side of 101 through vineyards, past wineries and various rural and rural-suburban demographics, back to the east side of 101 and more of the similar until crossing the Russian River at Guerneville and turning north-east on River Road.
Ah! A little strip of park on a short cliff, fairly steep walk down lawn to a bench. Secondary-schoolers on the other side of the chain-link fence, under the abandoned train trestle throwing tree branches into the river. The fun went out of it for them when they realized that the buzz-cut old fat man was staying a while, and they soon left.
Up river, on the other side, someone had waded nearly halfway into the river fishing. I sent a wish that he wouldn’t catch anything, but that in return for this disappointment he be completely fulfilled and happy for the rest of his life. This was taken there on my cell phone:
From there, I drove in a generally northern direction along roads that looked like they would skirt the river. After a steep, winding climb on a poorly maintained, very narrow two-lane road densely lined with houses on both sides, slightly similar to parts of the , the decent, through a similar demographic, landed along the other bank of the Russian River. I didn’t see myself crossing anywhere, and I was still going northerly, but now the river was rushing wild on my left instead of my right. Magic? More likely inattention.
Soon it was back to 101 at Healdsburg, on past AstiGeyserville, and on past Cloverdale and through Hopland.
But before passing through Hopland, there’s that lovely stretch of 101 along the Russian River after Cloverdale. I didn’t stop, but used my cell phone while driving through to snap a pic through the windshield:
Doesn’t do the stretch of road any justice at all. Was going to take more pics, but dropped my cell phone into my coffee cup. Fortunately, the cup was nearly empty, but the phone still took a bath and it may still be in critical condition now — it seemed to be working okay this morning, but then the screen fritzed. Wouldn’t mind so much if the sacrifice had been for a better picture, but this is the best I got.
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