Getting there and some other things

The flight to Calgary was uneventful (not even a crying baby) and the leg to San Francisco was equally boring.  When we got to SF, we found our way over to the car rental place and after standing in line for over an hour and  half, we discovered that Budget did not have the reservation we had made months earlier through Expedia.  We then went over to the Enterprise desk which did not have a line up at all and rented from them.  I plan to ask Expedia for the difference in cost between what we are paying and what they had promised, although I will never be compensated for that hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back.

We had bought a GPS device for the trip and so set it up, once we were in the car (a little white Kia thing).  Our destination was supposed to be Walnut Creek, the home of Rivendale Bikes and we started out with that in mind.  However, as soon as we hit the highway, we found ourselves stuck in traffic that was stop and go - more stop than go.  Our GPS has a "traffic" option which shows if the road is full, by either a red or yellow strips along the road.  The I80 was solid red.  We turned on the radio to see if there was some reason for this but it was just early rush hour volume, compounded by the funnelling effect of the bridges.  When you build your city on a bay and separate the component parts by water crossed by bridges, you get that compression of traffic, as everybody tries to cross only a few bridges.

Our GPS started by saying that it should take about an hour to get to Napa but it ended up taking about three hours.  We had turned the GPS on in the airplane for fun and it said we were travelling then at 400 miles per hour through a field (off road).  By the time we made it to Napa, our average speed had been reduced to 4 miles per hour.  To add to our planning on the return trip, we also heard on the radio that the BART system workers might be going on strike on Monday.  If they do, it is going to complicate things after we finish the LA leg of the trip.  But we'll ... cross that bridge when we get to it.  Okay, I'm sorry for that one.

When we got to Napa, we phoned Ad Hoc, one of the Thomas Keller restaurants, and cancelled our reservation there, as we were bagged and not sure of driving up to Yountville (say "Yawntville") that same night.  As it turned out,  it was only a 15 minute drive but still, we were very tired and even in retrospect, it was probably the right thing to do.  As it turned out, we never got to eat at any of Keller's places but we are okay about it, again, as it turns out, but more about that later.

We checked into the Travelodge in Napa, which we had booked many weeks in advance.  When we booked, we were advised over the internet that there would be NO cancelling and even if we did, we would be charged the whole room rate.  This put us on edge, but the motel was right downtown and within walking distance of everything downtown, including the food and wine train which we had also booked for the next night.  As it turned out, the motel was pretty okay, even if the room cleaning left a little something to be desired.
When we signed in, our desk clerk save us some coupons for various things, including a "free chef's choice" appetizer at an Italian restaurant within walking distance and so that is where we went for our first real meal in California. 

The place was called Ristorante Allegria.  It was only a few minutes walk from the motel on First Street.  We sat on the patio and showed them our coupon for a chef’s choice appetizer, which turned out to be an amuse bouche made of deep fried polenta in a marinara sauce with balsamic vinegar and blue cheese.  Tasty and small.  We had a 2007 Frank Family Chardonnay.  I had the asparagus and wild mushroom risotto and Peter had the seafood pasta (linguini del  mare).  For dessert, we split the creme brule, which we tried because it was different, with lavender and orange flavours, and we had it with a late harvest Syrah and coffee.

The next day, we were scheduled for our balloon ride and wine train and it went wonderfully.  However, something happened that next morning that I will write about now so it doesn't spoil the momentum of a wonderful day, and I want to write about it now, because it affected us deeply.  As we were being driven back to the rendezvous point where we had met the balloon people, as we came up on the intersection where we left the highway to turn onto the side road where the restaurant was, we saw traffic was stopped in the intersection.  We knew just by looking at it, in a few seconds, that there had been an accident.  As we slowly rolled toward the intersection, I saw the faces of some cyclists, some of whom were on their cell phones, and they were horrified.  Other people were standing about and they had horror on their faces.  As we passed by the scene, we could see a woman, lying in the intersection.  She looked dead (she was missing part of a leg and had other injuries)and as it turned out, she had been killed instantly when struck by a truck.  Silence filled the van and we continued slowly on to our rendezvous.  We read in the paper the next day that she had been a 93 year old woman who walked every day but this day, she had tried to cross the highway against the light and had been struck by a truck.
We thought about her frequently that day and have been thinking about her ever since.  We thought also about the paramedics who may see sights like this all the time and we wonder how they get used to it.  We have been thinking about the fragility of life, which is especially poignant considering the reasons for our trip in the first place.  We have passed small dead animals on the roads and given them silent blessings as we go by.  Life is short and as far as we know, this is the only one we get so we are even more grateful to be on this trip and although this experience has humbled and sobered us, it has given us a greater appreciation of life.