Dark Star Winery

Got out of Lodi in good order by about 9:30 am. Took I-5 South. The road is bumpy and patched down to Stockton where it got considerably better. Several tomato trucks loaded with fruit. Loads of smaller cars zipping past on the way South. Only a few close calls. Trip computers kept trying to take us off of I-5 due to construction, but as it was Sunday, we figured that there wouldn’t be work going on which turned out to be true. We took Hwy 41 West to get to Hwy 101 and it is in pretty bad shape up to the grade. Two lane highway most of the way. Made the mistake of pulling off to let traffic pass once. As the speed limit was 55 we were doing fine, but everyone else is in quite a hurry. 2/3 of the way we hooked up with the new highway being built and it was 2 lanes both directions and that let the sprinters pass. We saw the roadside memorial where James Dean died in a car crash, a collection of flags, sunglasses and bras. We were a little worried about the parking situation at Dark Star, but as we were the only campers, we were able to turn the rig around and get situated pretty easily. Only needed 2 inches up front to level, so left the rig hitched. Beautiful little place in the middle of several wineries and a distillery. Had a good time visiting with other wine guests, the general manager and the owner. Drank too much wine. It’s pretty dark at 6 am, but the 7 am dawn was pretty. The resident Huskie started howling at daylight, wondering if he smells Olive.Read more