Antioch

ANTIOCH.
Today is Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Our Outing today is lunch at Humphrey’s restaurant in Antioch. The city of Antioch is about 200 years old, and was named after Antioch of Syria. This nice restaurant is almost 20 years old, and named after the famous “Humphrey the Whale“. The restaurant was dedicated on November 15, 1990.
This will be an interesting trip for me, because we lived in Antioch 50 years ago! Our first home, after I graduated from Cal-Berkeley in 1949, was an apartment at 700 H street. Our next abode in the city was after I returned to Antioch in 1953, after serving in the Air Force during the Korean War. We rented a small house at 1601 C street. In 1955, we had our first real home built. We bought the lot at 16 West 16th Street (a cul-de-sac) for this 1000 square foot house.
Our mini-bus left Quail Creek at 10:08. Besides Tony and Fabi, there are six residents on board. The bus seats 12. I don’t understand why more residents aren’t interested in these great “Outings”.
The weather is sunny and clear, but with hazy visibility. A temperature inversion aloft must be involved. My gas report: Shell @ $2.42, Chevron is at $2.51 and Arco at $2.50 June Futures are around $60/bbl. Gasoline prices have slowly crept up. They have increased around 30 cents a gallon during the past month. While a penny a day- average doesn’t seem like much, but try multiplying it by 365! Cal Tran is still heavily involved with the new Texas Street off ramps, and the new diamond lanes between the east and west- bound freeways.
We head out Highway 80 West. Traffic is light. We pass a few trucks with containers, probably heading to the Port of Oakland. A container ship must be standing by to be loaded. Now, we pass a car hauler. They used to contain new cars. But, with the depressed economy, the driver is probably headed to pick up new cars at a Chrysler dealership!
We exit I-80 onto 680 South. We have gone from four lanes to two - less traffic, but compressed. I can see majestic Mt. Diablo in the hazy distance. We are passing the governments “Mothball Fleet” anchored in Suisun Bay, off to our left. This collection of idle ships was started after WWII. The government’s theory 65 years ago was that it would be cheaper to preserve the ships than to build new ones to fight in future wars even taking into consideration of the high cost of removing the Cosmo line. Plus, they could be mobilized faster than building new ones. The trouble is - that never happened - except for a few pulled out during the Korean and Viet Nam wars.
We pass the Benicia Industrial Park. I wonder who is using all that warehouse capacity. We are running parallel to the mainline railroad tracks. A large -yellow tank farm sits off to the right. We are approaching the southbound Benicia-Martinez bridge. What a fantastic view! To the right, I can look down the Carquinez Straight and see the parallel two Vallejo-Crockett bridges on I-80. To the left, I can see many miles up to the Delta area, where the American and Sacramento rivers merge. This bridge is one-way traffic heading South on 680. To our left is the railway bridge and east of it is the new one -way-northbound 680 bridge.
We exit 680 on to Highway 4 heading eastbound on Highway 4. We pass Buchanan Field off to our right. It reminds me of nearby Concord Estates. We bought our first home in this new subdivision. We moved in from Antioch in 1951. Six weeks later, I was recalled to active duty by the Air Force. This was during the Korean War. There is a large Mobile Home Park, nearby today. This is a very busy highway - carrying mostly commuters.
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) runs on tracks between the east and westbound freeway - to my left. This is the end of the line. We are approaching the large PG&E Power plant in West Pittsburg - off to the left. Initially, it was installed to furnish power to Columbia Steel - a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, and Dow Chemical. The steel plant has been shut down, and I presume that Dow is still operating. We pass a car hauler unloading cars at a dealer. This is a strange sight in this depressed economy! We are going through an underpass. When we lived in Antioch, the underpass flooded every time we had a good rain. You can guess the traffic problem it caused - even back then. The U.S. Steel buildings are still standing along the delta off to the left. I am surprised that they haven’t been torn down to be replaced by a mall.
I worked a Columbia Steel - first as a production Planner, and then as an Industrial Engineer. I started working there in 1949 - shortly after graduating form Cal Berkeley. I left U.S. Steel in 1958 to work in Hawaii - as an Industrial Engineer at Olokele Sugar Company, a subsidiary of C. Brewer & Company, at Kaumakani, Kauai.
We are in Antioch now, at the intersection of Tenth Street and Auto Center Drive. We have just passed an old canning factory. It appears to be closed. At West Fourth and L Streets, we turn left to the Marina area, after crossing the railroad tracks. We arrive at Humphrey’s at 11:05.
A lone whale apparently got lost about 25 years ago during it’s Mexico to Alaska migration. It entered San Francisco Bay and migrated through the Carquinez Strait, up the Sacramento River and under the Rio Vista bridge. The whale ended up in a dead-end slough, about 40 miles from the ocean. The whale had passed from salt water to fresh water. The whale hung around for about three weeks Most people in the Bay Area followed the whales daily progress. As I remember there was a contest to name the “lost” whale, and “Humphrey was the winning name.
I don’t know what it cost to coax Humphrey back to it’s normal habitat, but it must have been beaucoup bucks! Many agencies were involved in coaxing the whale back to the Pacific ocean. Their trial and error techniques were very interesting - a flotilla of boats made unpleasant noises behind the whale, trying to coax him downriver. When that didn’t work, they played recordings of feeding sounds and other whale vocalizations. He finally swam under the Golden Gate bridge and was home free!
Humphrey was spotted again in 1990, about five years later. This time he hung around in the water north of Sierra Point in Brisbane. He became beached on a mud flat between Sierra Point and Candlestick Park. Again, he was lifted out of the mud courtesy of the Marine Mammal Center and a U.S. Coast Guard boat. His last sighting was in 1991 in the vicinity of the Farallon Islands.
Humphrey was a Humpback whale. These giant mammals can weigh up to 40 tons, and reach 40 to 50 feet in length. Individual Humpback whales can be positively identified by the unique pattern on their pectoral fins.
Antioch ,of course, has changed a lot since I lived here. While I still see some familiar landmarks, most are new to me. Antioch had a population of about 13,000 back in 1958. Currently, over 100,000 people live here. It is primarily a “bedroom” community.
After a delicious crab and shrimp Louie, we left the restaurant at 1:30. We went out L Street, past the Contra Costa Fairgrounds, and back on to Highway 4, Eastbound. Tony exits at Highway 160. We pass another large power station near the southern anchorage of the beautiful Antioch bridge. It feeds a high tension power lines running to the north. The bridge was built in 1978 at a cost of 34 million dollars. It rises 135 feet above the San Joachin river and can be for miles around. The bridge links Contra Costa County with Sacramento County. We are driving along the river. No wonder it is nick named “The river road”. This is the route that Humphrey followed 25 years ago.
We pass a goat farm and many cattle grazing. We pass Brannan Island, which brought back many happy memories of our family’s-group camping. We are passing a large grove of eucalyptus trees, and then many fruit orchards.
We turn left onto Highway 12 and pass over the river on the Helen Madera draw bridge. Fortunately, the bridge isn’t open for ships or boats, to pass by, or their would be a delay. We are passing through the small picturesque town of Rio Vista. Gas is higher here - $2.58 at Shell and $2.46 at Arco. We pass the Trilogy residential housing complex on the right.
We are passing a huge wind farm on our left. It must cover 50 square miles! You don’t realize how large these electricity generators are until you get close to them. The support column has to be large enough - not only to support the tremendous weight of the three-bladed huge propellers, but also to provide a passage way inside, for a man to service the unit. Some mills are turning and some are not. I don’t know if the farm is programmed that way or if it is an anomaly. Even more interesting, the blades of a small windmill are turning in an opposite direction than the huge one. This condition reminds me of the winds at the Oakland Coliseum, during the A’s games - the left and right field -foul line flags, often were blowing in opposite directions! Speaking of windmills, a little farther on were two old fashioned windmills which were used to pump water for the cattle.
They used to call this stretch of Highway 12, “Death Alley”, there were so many fatal crashes from nutty -speeding drivers, passing cars in “blind” spots on the narrow highway. To make a divided four lane freeway was too expensive. So Cal Trans has placed poles, or concrete barriers, along the center line. This has helped a lot. I haven’t read of a fatality since!
The huge Travis Air Force Base is a few miles to the right of us. It is home to the huge C-5 Galaxy aircraft.
We are passing the Lawler subdivision on our left. Tony turns right on to Walter Road, and back to Quail Creek. There is a lot of local traffic. Back to Quail Creek after a nice afternoon at 2:45 - in time for a nap before dinner!
Tony tells me that our round trip covered 95 miles. It was an especially interesting ride, because he took the great circle- route, to and from, rather than retrace our outbound drive.
Ray L’Amoreaux
May 23, 2009.

PONTIAC

PONTIAC
Who would have “thunk” it? General Motors is shutting down one of their many divisions - a sign of the recessionary times. The Pontiac brand joins Oldsmobile, which was retired abut five years ago.
While I never owned a Pontiac (I was a Chevy man), I did ride in one once. This was quite a memorable experience. My sister Jeanne had a Trans Am, which she liked very much. So much, that she said that she wanted to be buried in it. Jeanne outlived her car, so that didn’t happen. Jeanne, and her husband Bob, had a summer place at Canadian Lakes( MI). I was visiting my Mother in Ypsilanti, as was Jeanne. She invited the two of us to return to the cottage with her. My Mother never refused an invitation to go someplace. She readily accepted, as did I. Jeanne had stopped at a traffic signal in a small town in Southern Michigan. I was watching because I heard the engine of the car to the left of us rumble. I looked over and there was a young guy looking at us, checking out the car and passengers. Then, I heard Jeanne’s Trans Am engine rumble in response - like a mating call. Jeanne sat there, with her fancy shades on, looking straight ahead and giving no signs of a challenge.. My Mother was in the front -passenger seat, and I was sitting behind her. At the instant that the light turned green, Jeanne tromped down hard on the accelerator. The Trans Am shot from a standing start to a high speed in no time. I looked for the young guy next to us and he wasn’t there! It wasn’t long before he pulled abreast of us and we drove in formation. He looked over at us shook his head and smiled. Then, he blasted off! We did present a strange scene. Our Mother was 88, Jeanne was 60 and I was 62 all riding in a flashy Trans Am - large painting on the hood, and all.
So farewell Pontiac. Thanks for the ride.
RCL - 5/8/09.

The di Rosa Preserve

DI ROSA PRESERVE
For our Wednesday Outing today, we are heading for the Di Rosa Preserve, Art and Nature facility in Napa. There are eleven on board our mini-bus - Tony, our driver, Fabi, our Activities director and Janet from the staff and eight residents from Quail Creek - an assisted living facility in Fairfield. I have been there twice before - the first time, a couple of years ago, Mary treated Marie and I for Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days, with lunch afterwards at Gil Wood in Napa.
We suggested this facility to our friends, Pat and Mac, who accompanied us on our second visit. We ate lunch at the nearby Boon Fly Café.
We pulled away from Quail Creek at 10:00. The weather is sunny and clear, with high clouds. The Shell and Chevron stations post gas at $2,40/ gallon, while Arco is much cheaper at $2.26. Today’s crude oil -Futures price is about $56/bbl. We are riding along I-80 Westbound. It is a jarring experience. This eight mile stretch was supposed to have been re-surfaced last year. But, with the slumbering economy, plans slipped. Recently, the transportation people received good news - that they will be receiving some federal stimulus money shortly. Plans have been resurrected. Traffic is light. You drive on this washboard only if there is no other alternative.
We pass an auto dealer. The showroom is dark, and there are no new vehicles parked outside. The Anheuser Busch’s Brewery is off to the left. In-Bev, a Belgian brewer, bought A-B last November, and their profits are up - primarily due to A-B layoffs. We are passing the Weigh Station. Many trucks are cued up waiting for inspections. Hard to tell whether it is a sign of an improved economy or a back-up due to more rigid checking by the inspectors. “Ray’s RV’s” sign off to the left.
We are now traveling through Jamison Canyon - a very familiar stretch. High clouds have moved in and there is a high overcast. Hard to believe the weather change in such a short distance. A herd of black cattle is grazing in the plush field. We are passing many young vineyards on both sides of the highway. A water tower and an old “fixer-upper” barn come into view.
We are traveling northbound on Highway 29. Heavy traffic moving in the opposite direction - with their lights ‘on.” This is not good news - weather-wise. We are ascending a high bridge over a flood plain - holding lots of water. Tony exits from 29 on to Highway 121/12 - heading westbound. We arrive at our destination at 10:30.
We went on a one hour guided tour - escorted by Sabrina and Jeanette. The ground are pristine and very pretty. The art was very interesting and “funky”. It was certainly different and provocative!
The following history, and personal write-ups, are posted on the di Rosa preserve website:-
“The current di Rosa Preserve is a portion of the original 460 acres of land purchased by Rene di Rosa in 1960. Vineyards were established in 1855, but the land and building had fallen into disuse. Phylloxera in the late 19th century and Prohibition in the 20thcentury did away with the vineyards, and the 1886 stone winery was used for making moonshine, growing mushrooms, storing grain and hay, and milling.
After Rene di Rosa purchased the acreage, the stone winery was converted into a home, and the land turned from dairy cattle to grapes once again. In 1963. Winery Lake vineyards was established. Vines eventually covered 250 acres and, through the years, the quality fruit was sought by over 50 wineries. Seagram purchased the famed Winery Lake Vineyards in 1986.
Rene and Veronica di Rosa:
The di Rosa Preserve is the vision of two devoted patrons of the arts. Through their generosity, the vast collection of art, historic buildings, and surrounding open space, are being shared with the public.
Veronica was born in Canada and trained as an artist in California. She became known as a fine watercolorist and sculptor, as well as the author of whimsical cookbooks. She was an active booster of the Napa valley’s finest in wines, music and the fine arts.
Rene was born in Boston and was graduated from Yale University. While a reporter foe the San Francisco Chronical, and living in san Francisco, he sought a closer connection with rural values. His search brought him to Carneros where he planted the Winery Lake Vineyard. Famous fruit and a flair for promotion allowed this avocation to support his true interest: Bay Area art. The collection has grown over a span of four decades, during which Rene became an avid patron of the arts and artists of the region.
Art and Nature:
The preservation of natural habitat is central to the mission of the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature. The Preserve encompasses 53 acres, including a 35 acre lake, plus 162 acres of natural wild life preserve - all under Napa County Land Trust open space protection. Holdings include Milliken Peak and a stunning variety of habitats such as oak woodland, native grasses, ferns, herbs and wildflowers.
Art in many forms is displayed in harmony with nature on the Preserve: in magnificent outdoor arenas, in a 130 year old winery turned residence, in an ancient olive grove, and on the lake itself. Rich in flora and fauna, the open space is home, or a migratory stopping point for a fascinating array of wildlife, including Canada Geese, the Blue Herron, Snowy Egrets and the Preserve’s own peacocks.”
Note: The males were doing their mating dance - with fanned beautiful tail feathers- and squawking, but to no avail. The females must have been taking their siesta! It is still overcast and I felt a little moisture as we boarded.

We left the Preserve at 12:10, for the Boon Fly Café and lunch - arriving at 12:20. After a nice lunch, we re-boarded the bus and headed home at 2:00. An uneventful trip back, arriving at 2:30, after a nice day. Napa county is Lexus’ country!
RCL - 5/7/09.