Not much to say about the ride north, other than that there was a lot of traffic. I crossed the Benicia Bridge at around 5, then treated myself to a bit of Berryessa fun on Wooden Valley-121-128, reaching the Silverado Trail at Rutherford at about 6. I was surprised at how few cars there were on the Berryessa roads for a Friday afternoon. Also, why can’t the paving crews down here in Southbay figure out how to pave a road like the ones up north? Mile after mile of glassy smooth, perfect asphalt. Yum.
Made a quick stop in Calistoga for a pic, before heading north on 29.
On 29, I found all that traffic that was missing earlier. Managed to have some fun in the double-lane passing zones, but for the most part it was a steady train of cars heading over the hill. I eventually made it to Middletown and split off on 175, heading northwest for Cobb.
Along 175 was occurence #1 of my life flashing before my eyes. I was just coming into a blind left-hand bend when all of a sudden I was faced with a police Crown Vic, in my lane, lights on, coming straight at me. I was doing around 60, he was probably doing a bit more then that, and there wasn’t even time to think. I just instinctively edged to the right (I was already towards the right to set up for the turn, this probably saved my bacon), and he swerved back over partially in to his lane, and we blew by each other with a couple feet of clearance. Were I in a cage it would have been a head-on. I’m still kind of freaked out just recalling it. Just behind the cop was a black civic that had no shoulder to pull on to to let the cop by, so he just decided to use the oncoming lane in a blind corner. Nice, right?
I continued north as I attempted to unclench every muscle in my body (some clenched more than others), turning back onto 29 and pausing in Lakeport to grab a sandwich from Subway. Then on past Upper Lake and into the Mendocino National Forest to Middlecreek campground. I arrived around 8, just as dusk was falling, and quickly set up camp and chowed down my dinner. The moon (biggest one in 200 years, I hear) was just rising over the ridge above camp.
I made an early night of it and was asleep by a bit past 9; it had been a long day (remember that early wake-up this morning?) and I wanted to get another early start tomorrow. I’d done around 180 miles in four hours since leaving work, and tomorrow I’d be able to jump straight into the fun stuff.
Map
