From here, to there

Once again, we're all up in good time after a good night's rest. Even though Mariposa is still at some 700m elevation, the early morning sun is warm, and I sit in the garden with a coffee for a while, letting the rays of the sun help wake me.

Today's a bit of a transition day - heading from the mountains to the coast, and to Sonoma. It's also the day that will include the only segment of freeway/Interstate driving, which I've tried to avoid as much as possible during our trip.

Our first pit-stop is at the Castle Air Museum. Castle used to be a US Air Force base, but was closed in 1995 following the end of the Cold War. Between the mid 1950s and the 90s, it was home to a bomber wing of B52 Stratofortresses, the workhorses of the USAF Strategic Air Command, and which were responsible for the majority of the 7.5m tons of bombs dropped on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia between 1965 and 1975.

These days, Castle is a museum, featuring military aircraft of the past 75 years. It's a treat, and real eye opener to wander around the open air exhibits. The scale of some of the aircraft is staggering. After a fun hour wombling around, the sun starts to get a little warm, so we get back on the road to our next destination. The majority of this leg of our journey is on the Freeway, and we're all bored out of our tiny little minds. We blow past several towns, without the faintest idea of what kind of town they are. I'm assured that the choice to travel by smaller roads wherever possible is the right one, even if it adds time to the journey.

We're collectively delighted that lunch isn't the clusterfuck that it was yesterday. We're a little earlier to our reservation in Lodi, but are quickly seated, and enjoy a very laid back brunch type affair, with some very tasty local wines. The restaurant is in a lovely and peaceful setting in Lodi, attached to a wine tasting centre for local wines. Our lunch is backed by a guy with an acoustic guitar doing passable covers of Police, Elton John, The Clash etc etc.

Sated, we get back on the road, and head towards wine country. At one point, Google Maps takes us on a slightly detour, due to my route plan of avoiding the Interstate. We're pleased that it does as it takes us past a highly random saloon bar in the middle of nowhere (or Cordelia, if you prefer). We stop for a sharpener, and are met with a bar full of friendly locals, a ceiling covered in bras, and some of the strongest mixed drinks known to man or woman. These kind of out of the way bars are amongst my favourite things about travelling in the US. They're stacked with character and characters, and are almost always a smiling and happy place to rest.

We've got a final 45 minute shoot down to Sonoma, and we're soon passing field upon field of vines. We drive past the hill that was used as the wallpaper for Windows XP, and quickly arrive into Sonoma, a small city of 10,000 that is a Mecca for wine lovers. Nearby Napa is bigger, and perhaps more famous, but Sonoma is home to some of the finest Californian wine producers around.

For dinner, we head out to a brilliant Portuguese tapas restaurant. Salt cod cakes, crab pies, amazing braised pork, a stunning goat stew. Massively tasty, and a great little place to hang out.

By 22:00, we're all winding down towards sleep. We're off on a full day's wine tasting tour tomorrow, and our chariot arrives at 09:30 to pick us up.

Zzzzzzzzz.....Read more