After arriving in Petaluma, docking Althea, walking the dogs, and working the rest of the day, we set up our chairs and the fire pit to enjoy sitting outside for the first time on the trip. We’ve been here before and really enjoy the park. The park is large but has lots of woods, a big pool, and some awesome sites. We’d snagged one of those awesome sites at the end of a row with a paving stone patio, fire pit, table, chairs, and our own patch of grass for the canines. This was the first park of the trip that was entirely overrun with kids. They were everywhere: on bikes, on scooters, bouncing basketballs, running around, screaming, and basically doing what kids do in the summer.

The weather was cool, we were comfortable, we had a beverage, streamed some good tunes, and watched the campground parade of characters. We always enjoy this part of our travels. It’s a nice way to relax and see some interesting things. Cheryl has already written about the RV Show experience of wandering the campground. This is even better because you’re sitting and watching the world go by instead.

Saturday morning, we woke up and got the dogs ready. They were heading off to puppy boarding so we could get wedding ready. The getting ready part consisted of purchasing more wine and a brief stop at a purveyor of products unavailable in most southern states. We returned to Althea, and after a nap and some lunch, it was time to put on the wedding clothes.

Today was the purpose of our trip west. My eldest Goddaughter was getting married in Sonoma wine country. Her parents moved to Santa Rosa decades ago, and she was raised among the beautiful rolling hills. It was only fitting that her wedding was at a winery, so she chose St. Francis. It is a stunning venue, and she rightly requested attendees dress semi-formally for the event.

Now, semi-formal and RV-life don’t tend to go together. We specifically planned to have appropriate clothing, with Cheryl packing a beautiful sequined dress and I a clean suit that I hoped fit (spoiler, it did). Cleaning up and getting dressed was pretty straightforward, but I realized I’d forgotten my dress shoes. While I had a pair of black slip-ons, they sorta looked like I was wearing a pair of bedroom slippers. We were running early and figured we could stop in Santa Rosa to look for shoes.

I’m going to take a short pause here and comment about Althea. She’s quite a striking beast with bold blue, black, and white graphics all over. At 40 feet long and 14 feet tall, she definitely stands out, especially in an RV park full of beige and white boxes. We always get a lot of attention and many comments about what a good-looking rig she is.

So anyway, Cheryl and I are all dressed up and stepping out of Althea to get into Jed for the drive to the winery. A woman standing in the street looking at Althea watched us come out and said, “You know, that’s about how I would expect people to dress coming out of that rig.” We both laughed.

Since we got an early start, we stopped in Santa Rosa at a DSW to alleviate my shoe mistake. The problem was fixed with a nice, shiny pair of Rockports. Surprisingly to no one, Cheryl also found a sparkly pair of shoes for the wedding. Wearing our new shoes, we quickly visited World Market and Total Wine for more, well, wine.

Even with the stops, we arrived a few minutes early to the wedding. As we walked in, there was a table of sangria to get things started. Cheryl and I mingled, exploring the grounds, checking out the tiny grapes on the vines, and catching up with old friends. The wedding was beautiful (as was the bride), with her father officiating, where he didn’t miss the opportunity to slip in a few dad jokes along the way.

We drank great wine and ate some delicious food. We did a quick bit of dancing and then slipped out so we could get some sleep. There was more wine to explore tomorrow.

-Clint