Off-Roading In Wine Country

The road leading into the Refugio State Park also goes the other direction toward Solvang. On the map it looks like it might be a shortcut but boy is that ever wrong! A sign at the beginning of the road states that the road is closed 7 miles up and for local traffic only. John and I looked at each other, smiled and said "Let's go!" It was a good thing we were in the Jeep! The narrow and winding road went up the canyon thru some pasture land and lots of forest. We passed a ranch where you could rent cabins, ride horses and attend the theatre. As we climbed further up the scenery behind us became more interesting. We were better able to see the ocean and the Channel Islands off shore. No vineyards on this side of the 'mountain'. There are several fairly large houses, ranches and even an RV off this road and then at the top the sign that says the road is closed. Now comes the fun part! It seems like it takes longer going down because the road is so narrow, winding, and unpaved. There is evidence of mud and rock slides but the way is open. Some curves are so narrow and wet that we feel a regular car would have trouble getting around them and a bubbling brook follows us down most of the way. There are no homes in evidence until we near the bottom. We emerge into civilization after about 15 miles and 1-1/4 hours of travel. Who knew we would be off-roading in wine country! We later learned from a local that we had driven right by the Ronald Regan ranch but it is so well hidden we never saw it.

We then spent 2 hours in a coffee shop catching up on computer work. Then lunch and some wine tasting. As we were leaving one vineyard, a gentleman saw our MO license plates and started talking with us. He was from St. Louis but owned 3 vineyards just down the road here in Lompoc. His name was so familiar but we couldn't place him. We decided to go to his vineyard for a tasting and there we found out that he owns grocery stores in St. Louis and also owns the Hermanoff Winery in Herman, MO! His name -- Jim Dierberg! And yes we bought some of his wine.