Wednesday April 25, 2012
This trip is clearly not the pound shedding experience I had envisioned while I was planning. Our breakfast at Shady Oaks is again a delight of waffles and berries.

Saying farewell to the Napa Valley, we load up the car and head for Sonoma. The landscape in Sonoma has a slightly different feel. Hills are a little less steep, the towns feel a little more residential. It’s still wine country, yet the vineyards here seem larger, more commercial.

We are planning to meet our old friends Bruce and Madelyn for lunch today at a restaurant in downtown Sonoma. We have known these folks for 25 years, since Nancy and Madelyn worked together in New York. We live far apart nowadays, but we still get together when we can.

The drive from Napa to Sonoma is through the mountains on Trinity Road. This is a very steep, twisty little road with no shoulders and lots of blind corners. It looks like it might be a fun, albeit pretty hazardous, ride, and we actually pass a number of cyclists along the way.

Once we descend into the Sonoma Valley, we realize that we have a little more than an hour before lunch. Hmmmmmm. What to do? Well – look, there’s a winery over there. Let’s stop in for a tasting.

The winery we have chanced upon in the B. R. Cohn Winery. Bruce Cohn was the manager of the Doobie Brothers back in the day, and the winery is chock full of Doobie Brothers memorabilia – photos, gold and platinum records, guitars. We enjoyed sipping a little wine and strolling around looking at the displays.

Mr. Cohn is also an automobile enthusiast, and a few of the vehicles from his collection are on display at the winery. Rather than restore old cars to their original condition, he prefers to update them with modern engines and contemporary conveniences.

That easily fills our time. Leaving the winery, we head into downtown to meet Bruce and Madelyn. We eat at a terrific restaurant – The Girl and the Fig – that we have eaten at before and always enjoyed. I start with – guess what? – a mojito!

It is just great to catch up with Bruce and Madelyn. There are some friends that we always feel comfortable with no matter how long it has been since we last saw each other. We discuss what we all have done since last year, and what our plans are for the next few months. I really miss living close enough to get together regularly. We miss you guys!

Bruce is very interested in the trikes, he even thinks he might like to get one. If anybody wants to sell a trike in Northern California, let me know, and I’ll pass the info on to Bruce.

After lunch, we continue our drive into Healdsburg. We make a quick stop at Wine Country Bikes to get advice about good cycling routes in the area. Even though we come in unannounced, and don’t buy anything, they are incredibly helpful, give us maps, and show us some great rides. Thanks guys!

Maps in hand, we head for our hotel. We are staying at the historic Radford Inn. The Sonoma Valley was a huge producer of hops in the middle and late 1800’s. Originally the estate house for one of the largest hop ranches in Sonoma, the Radford House is now a beautiful bed and breakfast. Our room is sweet! We’re home for the next couple of days.

Tomorrow, we ride the famous West County & Joe Rodota Trails, a rail-rail that connects the towns of Forestville with Santa Rosa. I’m excited – can’t wait to get back on the trike and ride…