Week 88 - California Route 80 - 04-20-2008

High from the Sierras,

On Sunday after church, we left Petaluma and headed on Highway 121, the Silverado Trail, to Lake Berryessa.

As we read after we got to Lake Berryessa, this road is great for cyclists, motorcyclists and sports cars. We saw dozens of each. Funny, we didn't see any other motorhomes! We guess it was because it was Sunday afternoon.

As we reached the lake, the few campers that we there for the weekend went home, leaving us the entire campground.

From Berryessa, we followed another white knuckle road, Hwy 128, to the Sacramento Elks.

We spent a second night at the Sacramento fair grounds, Cal Expo. Pete's sister Donnalee and friend Don had taken us on the American River bicycle trail years ago. We followed it from Cal Expo, to the Capital, to Old Town Sacramento and back. The American River lead us to downtown. It would have been nice to have had a warning that the bike trail ends and takes you through two homeless camps. We smiled but they looked like they would just as soon eat you as smile back. Sorry, we did not stop for pictures!

The Capital and the Delta King Hotel on the Sacramento River.

A turtle sunning by the Sac River. Fat City Bar and Cafe is in Old Town Sacramento. Great foods and drinks in a historical setting.

The ride home again following the American River.

No trip to Norcal is complete without staying at Bill's Motorhome and Breakfast RV Park in Loomis, CA. There are only two sites. We got the premium site, gated, with full hookups, cable, Internet and private lawn. The office is pictured on the right. Thanks Bill.

The registration and group picnic areas. We rated this RV Park a 5 out of 5!

The main reason for this trip was to visit Tim DeMartini's RV open house. This seven day event included daily BBQ and an Italian dinner on Friday. Pictured on the right are 15 of the 45 new class A motorhomes on display. Tim purchased 9 million dollars of homes for this event. It may seem crazy in these slow economic times, but DeMartini is the second largest Monaco dealer in the nation. We bought our MoHo from Tim at his old lot which was large enough for 40-50 homes. This 12-acre lot has 3 acres of concrete and can hold around 200 motorhomes. We came to this event to support him as we are totally pleased with his pricing and service. And his family and staff are just delightful.

The band played for the Friday night dinner. Ellen is schmoozing with our new friends, Barry and Linda, who also have a 2006 Monaco Diplomat. They have purchased two motorhomes from Tim and are also very pleased.

The Auburn-Foresthill Bridge was completed in 1973. This view is from Highway 49, our third white knuckle journey this trip. This 720 tall bridge has piers only 16 feet shorter than the Golden Gate Bridge. It was built to replace the Old Foresthill Bridge which is 600 feet below it. The old bridge was to be covered over in 1983 by the water backed up by the Auburn Dam. The dam, never constructed, would have created a lake much larger than Lake Tahoe.

Casa de Fruta is on Highway 152 between Gilroy and Interstate Freeway 5. It started as a little fruit stand in 1908. It grew into seven fruit stands along the Pacheco Pass. Today there is this fruit building, Casa de Wine store, Casa be Restaurant, Casa de Motel, Casa de RV Park, Casa de Chevron, Casa de Classic Car Museum, Casa de Choo Choo Train and Casa de lots of other stuff.

We are home again in North County. We will stay here until Emily's wedding on May 18th. But while we may not have many new pictures we will continue our weekly emails just to keep in shape!

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Apr 2008