We awoke this morning to fog outside but the sun soon burned most of it off and presented us with a beautiful day. Unfortunately, I am such a generous guy that I have now given the nasty illness I have to my beloved spouse. She doesn’t seem much happier about having the epizudiac than I do.
In order to give ourselves time to get better, we elected to loaf around all day, watching movies and reading. Nothing really happened other than lots of people coming into the park where we are camped. It is Saturday and I suppose we should expect bigger crowds. By evening the place was almost filled.
It is pretty plain why folks come here. The campground is located just north of Cloverdale right on the banks of the Russian River. The river water is crystal-clear. There is ample shade thrown by abundant madrone, oak, walnut and conifer trees along with some other species I can’t identify. The grass in the campground is bright green which is a change from the last time we were here back in July, 2014.

I am still sick but not so miserable that we can’t move. Today we pulled up stakes in Calistoga and headed north. CA-26 turns into CA-128 near Calistoga and heads through the Alexander Valley which is a gorgeous grape growing area. There are a few really skinny, serpentine sections before CA-128 hits 101 but we got through them okay. The paving along this section is a bit iffy. It was only after driving through this area that we consulted the Good Sam road atlas and found the “RV friendly” part of the route through the whine country stops at Calistoga.
After a very pleasant spin on 101 we arrived in Cloverdale and pulled into the Russian River RV Resort, a TT campground where we have free access for 21 days at a time. When we arrived, the park was only about 20% full so we pulled into a very nice pull-thru site and set up house for an 8-day stay. I got all the outside utilities and supports set up but noticed I seemed to be gasping and wheezing more than my decrepit body normally does so I went into the trailer to rest after I finished. I hate being sick or any sicker than normal.
Peggy was very sweet and said we could spend the rest of the day doing nothing so we did.

I woke up this morning happy that I swallowed some NyQuil last night because it made me being sick less miserable, I think. I felt okay this morning and foolishly thought I was cured. I wasn’t. I hate being sick.
To make me feel better and to spread horrible contagion around the whine country, we went over the little range of hills west of us and popped into a Costco and a Trader Joe’s to stock up on liquor, wine and food. We are slowly moving north and shopping for important staples, like booze, is going to be problematic. Oregon has state liquor stores that don’t sell Kirkland Irish Cream and their hard liquor costs about twice what it costs in California. Peggy wisely had us pick up a case of Cabernet Sauvignon made by Charles Shaw, otherwise known as “Two Buck Chuck.”
We will need to get some whiskey before proceeding north and I should have acquired some Jack Daniel’s today but I screwed up. I will have one more Costco to go to in Eureka before heading into Oregon and Washington, where liquor is more difficult to acquire or horribly expensive, like in Washington. A year and a half ago when we were in Washington, a half gallon of Jack cost nearly $70. It costs $30 in California Costco stores.
I’m gonna quit now and drink some more Robitussin.

CA-29 runs through the Napa Valley from Vallejo to up by Cloverdale and we drove the section south of Calistoga today. This section of road is peppered with houses that benefited from wonderful architectural design and some wineries that also were designed and built in gorgeous styles. However, some of the wineries, particularly Dick Del Dotto’s estates, were designed by those who favor cheesy Italian-like statues of Neptune, other mythological characters and big pointy urns. The statues appear to be made from concrete instead of marble and give an all-around feeling of cheap imitation. It is actually kind of fun to gaze upon them and snicker.
We did spot an enormous stainless rabbit structure which was pretty neat and Berringer, Beaulieu and Christian Brothers have magnificent winery buildings. Roads leading off to the sides of CA-29 also have an abundance of beautiful houses and some extremely wealthy folks are busy renovating some of them. The wine business must generate tons of cash and a good portion of it is being spent here in the Napa Valley. The architecture here offers many architectural confections for viewing by riff-raff, like us.
A quick perusal of the internet indicates the wine coming from Dick Del Dotto’s (remember the “Cash Flow System” on lengthy, idiotic infomercials?) start at $38 a fifth and quickly escalate to $600. One average cost drunk with his wine will be not less than $200. The Cash Flow System must have generated a bunch of loot for Dick because he has amassed an enormous amount of property with the proceeds although I am unaware of any people other than him who may have benefited from his foolproof wealth generating scam. We chatted with his caretaker at one of his fiefs and found Dick was currently cooling his heels in Florence, Italy, while micro-managing his empire building from afar. Dick may be a dick.
I don’t think Dick had anything to do with it but I seem to be getting sick today. I hope it is over fast.
A few photos of today’s fun can be seen by clicking here