Sunday, August 15, 2010

Highway 29 - North from Broadway Market - Aug. 9, 2010

Walking Distance: 5.8 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 33 min. (6:42 - 8:15 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot in front of Broadway Market, 3915 Broadway Street, American Canyon, CA

This evening I fueled up at the Broadway Market (cheddar cheese and Fritos -- a childhood favorite combination, and water) before walking North on Broadway/Highway 29 (double yellow lines on map at right). I breezed past the big Walmart Supercenter on Napa Junction Road, and walked over the bridge/overpass, stopping only to examine, and step over, the remnants of several little (six-inch long) blue plastic bicycles with tiny black tires , strewn around on the side of the road. (I could write a book about all the interesting items that end up on the side of the road, but I digress.)

I turned around at 5455 Highway 29 (a waterfall and pond supplies outfit). As I walked back, still feeling energetic, I took what I thought would be a shortcut. I turned Right on Green Island Rd. and then left onto a frontage road (Paoli Loop) that paralleled the highway. I thought it might lead me past a place I'd spotted earlier that had a sign advertising "honey for sale."

Well, you know the rest...Never take a shortcut (especially a road with "loop" in the name), unless you have a detailed map with you, or you've researched this in advance. I walked about a mile more than I needed to by taking this loop road, but it was pleasant and scenic. It eventually took me under the overpass (picture lower right) that I'd walked on earlier (pictured above right), and then looped back to where I started before I took the shortcut - so I got to go over the overpass one more time, on the other side.

Walking by the Napa Junction/Walmart more closely this time, I noticed that they had a nice broad asphalt strip (shown below right) for walking and biking in front of this development. Nice. 

Note: the gray dotted line (on map) was not the route that I took when I got "lost." (Please, people, give me some credit.) Instead the dotted line is a planned/proposed right-of-way, that may be approved as part of the trail system at a future date.

Wildlife Sightings:
33 little brown jobs (LBJs)/songbirds; 3 blurs in the bushes; 1 snail (brown shell) hanging out near the highway; 4 sea gulls; 8 doves; and 2 swallows.

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