Old Lakeville Rd. 3/Lakeville Highway - June 27, 2010

Walking Distance: 7.6 miles
Walking Time: 3 hrs., 2 min. (4:03 - 7:05 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Old Lakeville Road 3, near Lakeville Highway, Petaluma/Sonoma, CA

Today I covered another stretch of Lakeville Highway in the Petaluma area. Most of this area is pastureland and vineyards. What is not shown on the map (right), is the option to take Old Lakeville Road #3 -- a road that roughly parallels the highway, and is a much more pleasant walk, with much less traffic, more trees (and shade), and interesting birds and animals as well.

I saw two owls up in some tall trees (pictured); and, later on, some llamas in a pasture south of Sleepy Hollow Dairy. I was relieved that no farm dogs ran out to "greet" me. Animals (and cars) are not used to seeing pedestrians on this stretch of road.

The weather is starting to feel more like summer. I stopped at Ernie's Tin Bar on the way home to buy a bottle of orange soda. I'm not normally a soda drinker, but I was thirsty. And it was a fun place to visit. They told me there were some eagles in the area. I was sure I had heard an eagle on my walk, but didn't see it. Only hawks and turkey vultures, and owls. There were lots of birds in the tall rows of eucalyptus trees that lined the roads; however, it was difficult to actually see the birds in these large trees.

Wildlife Sightings:
71 red-winged blackbirds; 3 lizards; 30 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 great egret flying overhead; 63 cows; 4 hawks; 4 annoying (horse?) flies; 1 white butterfly + 3 yellow and black butterflies; 10 horses; 16 ponies; 5 blurs in bushes (probably lizards); 1 dragonfly; 22 sheep (including two lambs; 8 turkey vultures; 2 hubcaps; 1 rusty screw; 5 swallows; 2 owls (near screeching hawk); 4 rabbits in vineyards; 3 llamas

Papa's Taverna, Petaluma - June 25, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.8 miles
Walking Time: 36 min. (1:59 - 2:35 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Papa's Taverna, 5688 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA

Today's short walk commenced with lunch at Papa's Taverna (next to Lakeville Marina). It was a beautiful day, and Papa's restaurant dining area had a great view of boats on the Petaluma River. Downstairs from where I ate, was an area for live music and dancing, and a bar. It looked like a fun place.

After lunch, and a look around the Taverna, I walked South on Lakeville Highway, until I turned around .9 mi. later, at 6210 Lakeville Highway. On the way, I passed the Keller Estate (winery), and pastureland.

Most of the walk was in direct sun, but there were a few places with shade from some large trees.

The first lizard I saw today (shown) had a forked tail, which was interesting. Not much else to report on the wildlife front. In the distance there were horses and cows grazing.


Wildlife Sightings:
6 red-winged blackbirds, 3 lizards

Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA - June 10, 2010

Walking Distance: 7.3 miles
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 20 min. (6:36 - 8:56 p.m.)
Start and End Point: side-of-road, on Stage Gulch Rd., several yards from Lakeville Rd./Highway, Petaluma, CA

I really do enjoy walking. But, this evening's walk was mildly terrifying. In addition to walking on a narrow shoulder of Highway 116 (shown as yellow lines on map, right) with traffic whizzing by, and occasionally getting buffeted by blasts of air from passing semis, I also had several surprise encounters with wildlife.

First, I stepped too close to (what I'm guessing was) a gopher snake that was lying at the road's edge; it immediately coiled into a defensive posture (right). Most of the snakes by the side of the road I've seen have been dead. I was happy to see this one was alive, but it did give me a start.

I also had a cow run toward a fence at me. It looked like this cow was either trying to chase me off, or that it was extremely frisky and wanted to play. (Picture shown at right of cows was taken a few seconds before this happened.)  I wasn't willing to risk having this animated cow burst through the fence on my account; so I quickly crossed the street.

Last, but not least, as the sun went down, the afternoon breeze died down -- enabling a large army of mosquitos to move around comfortably. A cloud of bugs encased me for almost 2/3 mile. It was then that I looked forward to every blast of air from those passing trucks -- to blow the bug cloud off me.

Thank you to the two (separate) women who stopped to see if I was in trouble or needed a ride. I really appreciated their kindness. It was hard to explain to them -- as I was swatting away mosquitos, and trying not to swallow any -- that, really, I was out walking of my own free will. Swat, swat, cough. No really, I do this for fun. 

Before the bugs almost carried me off, I enjoyed watching a "V" formation of Canada geese flying overhead (shown in tiny picture, right) seeing the golden-pink tones of the evening sunset, and hearing some frogs singing near a large pond in the distance. I did not have time to investigate the Lakeville Marina, near Papas Taverna, just off the highway. Maybe next time.

Wildlife Sightings:
4 sheep; 10 blackbirds (orioles?); 20 red-winged blackbirds; 21 swallows; 4 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 rusty screw; 23 Canada geese (flying in V formation overhead); 62 cows; 3 snakes -- 1 live (brown-patterned) snake, and 2 dead ones (1 brown-patterned, 1 kingsnake); 2 crows; and one gigantic cloud of mosquitos (almost 2/3 mile long).

Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA - June 1, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.9 miles
Walking Time: 42 min. (8:26 - 9:08 p.m.)
Start and End Point: parking spot, close to Adobe Creek Center, 3120 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA

This evening I continued to walk a stretch of Lakeville Highway (1320 - 3900) that I started last month, an area where businesses start to thin out a bit, and traffic starts to speed up. There was a small stretch where there was a sidewalk, but after that, if you're a pedestrian, you're on your own to keep to the far edge of the road/beginning of the weeds, as much as possible, as traffic rockets past you.

That said, there were some nice, older type farm structures to look at. And, as it got darker, several flocks of Canada Geese flew over, all heading toward the Petaluma River. I was so intent on watching the geese each time they passed overhead, I forgot to try to take a picture of them. Oh well.

It was also fun to hear crickets and frogs (Adobe Creek area) -- both a sure sign of warmer weather.

Wildlife Sightings:
2 red-winged blackbirds; 52 Canada Geese; 1 crow; 2 little brown jobs (LBJs); 3 unidentified flying bugs; 3 barn swallows