California’s North Coast

This February son Ian sent me a link to an article entitled “The Most Affordable Northern California Road Trip Takes You To 8 Stunning Sites For Under $100.” He knows his old man’s love of a bargain. And although I suspect it will be difficult to keep the cost of any meaningful road trip under $100, I’m always up for a challenge. So here I am in the East Bay city of Benicia, preparing to set out on my north coast road trip tomorrow morning.

The main part of the trip as described in the article runs from Ukiah to Willits.

The timing of this trip is fortuitous. Not only is the spring weather expected to be pleasant, but I’m just a few days ahead of my friend Brian’s motorcycle trip with his three brothers on a two-week loop from Denver to the West Coast and back again. They’ll be covering a little of the same ground I’m covering on my trip. What’s more, next week I’m planning to join them on another leg of their trip, from Placerville to Lake Tahoe. Incidentally, that will be my first “group” ride. I’m a bit worried I’ll be playing Curly’s role in the photo below.

Anyway, tomorrow evening I’ll post a summary of my north coast journey, which will include an accounting of how well I kept the costs under $100.

Brew of the Day

This evening I went with son Ian and daughter-in-law Katelyn to Side Gate Brewery in Concord. They offered me a porter which, when I tasted it, seemed serviceable. But the guy behind the bar glanced right and left in a conspiratorial way, and whispered that he had a “secret tap option” (or some similar verbiage) which was an imperial Baltic Stout. This secret option wasn’t going to be officially released until the end of the month, but seeing as I was interested in dark beers he was willing to slide one to me under the table.

I wasn’t allowed to photograph this secret option, and I’m probably not supposed to even describe it. But let’s just say it’s worth a trip to Concord to try this very tasty beer.

Until tomorrow.

sdb