It is so good to be back in El Dorado County!

This article in the San Francisco Examiner pretty well sums it up. We have come out here every year since 2012 and have gotten to know some folks; and it doesn’t hurt that one of the local winemakers is an old friend of Captain's from their high school band days. Bill still plays a guitar and is part of the Bill and Wayne duo; Wayne plays a mean harmonica. It just happened that Wayne was hosting a barbecue on Saturday evening and we were invited. (Wayne’s barbecue ribs are right up there with Captain's!) But the best part of the evening was sitting around the patio after dinner listening to Wayne and Bill and a couple of other guys playing their music. 

Fortunately where we were, the smoke from the fire in Amador County was not that bad.

On Monday we went to the Fair Play region and the air was pretty thick, in some places there were ashes on the outdoor tables.  

Wine is a funny art.  We revisited some of the wineries in Fair Play that we really liked in previous years but were not wowed with the wines this time.

We did like Toogood, especially their port (maybe because the tasting was in a really neat wine cave.)

Last year we were quite smitten with Mastroserio’s cab, but this year, not so much. 

The wine maker, Ruggero Mastroserio plays a saxophone. He also has a friendly dog that understands only Italian.

Tuesday we tasted in the Camino area and were pleased that they are having a good year.  We like the Super Tuscan blend at Chateau Davell. We bought an interesting cider at Bumgarner’s; at first we declined the sample since we really aren’t into cider, but with encouragement we sampled and what a surprise! Not sweet at all, just a nice, crisp taste. Yep, a bottle is coming home with us.

Tipsy Tuesday was at our friend Bill’s winery, Jodar. He indulged us by opening a 2008 merlot that was excellent. (We understand a Tipsy Tuesday was held on our patio at home, too. Hmm...)

The area received a much welcomed rain on Monday evening and Tuesday and the temperature is much cooler. Today the air at the campsite is pretty clear.

The good news………..we now have two wheels for the tandem! Hopefully we will get at least one ride in before we move on.

Now, if you have been one of those that get our blog posts in your email box and have replied  by clicking reply, well we are sad to say we have not received your reply.  I don’t know where the replies go (somewhere out in Google space,) they just don’t get to us. (I think it says somewhere noreply.) So, if you have something to say you can send it to the email address you have in your contacts, go to the blog and comment, private message us on Facebook, send us a text or you could actually call us (I know that is so old school.)

Today we are having a new windshield put in the pick-up and a repair on a chip in The Wanderer’s windshield. I guess both vehicles took a bit of a beating in the 2600 miles. We were able to get on location repair service, so we can sit around the campsite and wait for the technician to come to us. I guess that would be a good time to do some laundry.