The Duck Whisperer

We spent the night in Sleepy Hollow and never saw Ichabod Crane or the headless horseman. It's a tiny park in the mountains with nothing to offer but a place to spend the night and some power.


But this morning, Doug became the duck whisperer. He discovered that the ducks from the little pond rely on people feeding them. So, out came the loaf of bread.


Before long, they were even allowing him to pet them.


And, not only were they eating out of his hand, they were eating his hand. One was nibbling on his thumb and the other on his finger.


Then, 'twas an wonderful day for a drive! We left Sleepy Hollow on 101 and could see a tiny break in the clouds waaaaaaay off in the distance. That was all the encouragement we needed.

We stopped for diesel in Willits when we found it at the Safeway for $2.859. That's the first time we've seen it under $3 since we hit California. And the Safeway stations are usually fairly easy to get in and out of.

The trip improved dramatically when the thermometer hit 72 degrees. Doug even took off his flannel shirt!

We left Hwy 101 at Petaluma and took the back roads to Isleton in the California Delta. The drive was scenic up until we hit the road construction. Then there was miles and miles of jersey barriers and big dump style trucks.

The truck in front of us decided to make a left turn without any signal. He just hit his brakes and turned quickly. Thank heavens for Doug's quick instincts and Alpine's stopping power. He slammed on the brakes, holding our breath that we wouldn't get rear-ended and then listened as everything in the coach came crashing forward.

Amazingly, the only thing that broke was a pizza stone that hit the tile floor. I had a nice mess to pick up, but what a blessing that no one was hurt.

At that point, we were only about 20 miles from our stop for the night and we were pretty shaken. It felt really good to arrive at Lighthouse Marina & RV Park and relax for the evening.