VINE INVASION

They Are Everywhere

The Petaluma Valley, home to Santa Rosa, Petaluma and other lesser communities, used to be known as a premier growing area for Apples. There is even a major highway named after them: the "Gravenstein Hwy". They may have to change the name of it with the incursion of so many acres of wine grapes.

Though I couldn't confirm it, it certainly did appear on our drive that there are far more vineyards than apple orchards.

DUNCANS MILLS 2

The Charm

There were few stores in this small town but nearly all were geared for the tourist. 

The window of this shop really caught my eye as the array of tea pots on view were intricately colorful.

This barn is the only remaining structure from the mill at Duncans Mills, now used as a meeting room at the RV park.

An unadvertised draw to this little corner of the world is the placid Russian River. 

Spring was underway in Duncans Mills. I certainly recognize the wild azaleas at right but was stumped by the colorful blossom in the planter at right. Looked a little like a Christmas ornament.

 This climbing vine hadn't yet gotten the word that Spring was here.

Read the sign. Smile. This little bit of whimsy was down the road in another small town: Monte Rio.

DUNCANS MILLS 1

Old California

First a part of a large Mexican land grant, the town was founded not long after Alexander Duncan arrived in 1877 to began a sawmill operation. By the 1880s there were two hotels, a saloon, a meat market, blacksmith and livery stables and this general store.

With the lumber mill came the railroad. Duncans Mills became the funnel through which hundreds of thousands of board feet of redwood lumber were loaded aboard trains that followed the hills and creek beds down to waiting ships in San Francisco Bay.

For almost 60 years trains hauled freight (and passengers) to the the terminal in Sausalito. We sure don't think of Sausalito as being a railroad town, as trendy as it is now. The ledger in the foreground recorded the daily flow of rail traffic and the old fashioned phones at left kept the stationmasters in touch with each other and the outside world. It had to be a pretty busy place with three telephones.

Served by the North Pacific Coast Railroad and its unusually colored cabooses, the owners began building a narrow gauge steam line in 1874. It reached Duncans Mills not long after the mill opened. In 1902 new owners, at what must have been at great expense, transformed the track to standard gauge and installed powerlines to serve new electric engines. Redwood lumber remained the dominant item of freight. Since shutting down in in the 1930s, all of the right-of-way eventually became abandoned. The line stretched 93 miles to the Bay - what a wonderfully scenic journey it must have been as a passenger.

SO THAT'S WHAT THEY DO

The Not-So-Secret Life Of Airstreamers

Just another tailgate party? Well sort of, this was just a small measure of mischief exhibited at an informal Airstream rally. 

The event was held near Duncans Mills which is on the Russian River in Northern California between Santa Rosa and the Coast.

There is an entire wing of Airstream owners who revere the vintage trailers (made 25 or more years ago). This man not only has a beautifully restored vintage trailer, he pulls it with an near vintage Buick. The motorhome with the awning out in the background is even an Airstream product.

There are cooks aplenty on potluck night - and mouths enough to eat near everything. This particular gathering drew about 100 people which translated into 55 trailers and a few motor homes. You can barely see the folks at the far end of the long line of tables.

Rally organizer Jeff is trying to see if this burro is interested in pulling an Airstream. 

The burro wanted to know instead if he could have a taste of the potluck and maybe a little wine.

EEL RIVER

 It's A R'eel' Place 

Home to rock eating river serpents,

Herbivorous titans,

And home to a beautifully colored blue rock just waiting to be noticed.

A real bonus to our campground on the Eel was that we had the river to ourselves.

 It might have just been another place to layover but it was full of treasures to be found and shared. 

Hello Confusion

Bemusement This Way

That would be one of the many signs directing you to stop at Confusion Hill, a long established roadside attraction in Northern California. Opened in 1949, this place has even achieved a "California Point of Historical Interest"for its longevity and quirky nature.

One of Confusion Hill's clam to fame is "The World's Largest Freestanding Chainsaw Carving", pictured above.

There is a 1.5 mile narrow gauge railroad that weaves in and out of the many redwoods and a "gravity" house which would probably be familiar to those of us who used to visit Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, California..."Watch water run uphill"... you get the idea.

They have their own version of the Shoe House and many wooden sculptures including the cougar threatening an eagle perched above. 

For years what most of us paid attention to as we passed this area along Hwy 101 was the unpredictable hill above the road. You always wanted to check the road condition as the Confusion Hill Slide, as it was known, could spew rock down its face and shut the road. Today, with two new bridges, the highway twice leaps over a big bend in the Eel River to avoid the slide area. The benign looking face of rock at the far left of the image is left to crumble on its own.

The new bypass initially played havoc with attendance at Confusion Hill as traffic no longer drove past the attraction. Then noted TV travel videographer Huell Houser did a show on the place and that ended up helping them.

As I was walking away the spell of Confusion Hill befuddled me as I witnessed a caravan of virtually identical trucks passing over one of the new bridges. How do it know???

GOODBYE DEATH VALLEY

Its Beauty Bids A Quick Return