Hood Mountain

We took Spike on this road (Highway 12 aka the Sonoma Highway) down to the Sonoma Valley Regional Park. It's been a long time since we've been there and it's depressingly dry*. The fact that it was hit by fire again doesn't help. We thought it would be a good place to break Spike in to meeting other people and other dogs. He was very enthusiastic about being in new territory.  It was quite busy so we took the upper trail which is hilly and rocky but less used.  We had some good meetings and a couple of over-enthusiastic ones. I spent the whole time worrying about John's leg and wrangling Spike. In retrospect, the lower  flat trail probably would have been a better choice.

Highway 12 is  the main east/west thoroughfare in this part of Sonoma County and is lined by many wineries which lie at the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains. It's a very picturesque ride but is being threatened by development. There is great resistance to any kind of big development as this two lane road is the only way to the north/south highways 101 and 80. 

Our evacuation from the Glass fire was one of the most frightening drives I've ever done. We could see the flames coming over these hills and the road was almost at a standstill from people under mandatory evacuation fleeing the flames. The opposite lane was a long line of fire engines heading back toward our neighborhod, all with their sirens on. There was nothing anybody could do. Nobody wants to add more cars from more developments to this scenario, except possibly a local developer.

We will all be watching with interest whether he will be allowed to build a retirement community for 600 people. He specializes in retirement homes, and was held responsible by the district attorney for the abandonment of many residents, many of them bedridden, in the 2017 Tubbs fire. They were all rescued by family members. He is now single handedly leading the charge to recall the district attorney. He's what we would call a 'piece of work'. Local politics are so strange exciting maddening totally insane.

We've spent the afternoon watching the Tour de France, off to its usual start with a horrendous crash caused by a woman sticking a handmade sign in front of Tony Martin. A lot of riders fell like dominoes. The police are looking for the woman. She shouldn't be that hard to find since her face appeared on tv feeds around the world.

It's been a mostly peaceful day....