Spending the 4th in Wine Country! šŸ·

Yesterday, I road to Santa Rosa, CA, the heart of wine country. I’d taken the PCH before in 2017, so I decided to come down 101 into Santa Rosa. Grape vines EVERYWHERE! 



The ride today started off chilly, but warmed up as I approached the city. It’s amazing what concrete will do to ambient temperature. Beautiful landscapes of water, awesome bridges, cows, grape vines, etc… There is no question that this is wine country! I didn’t buy any wine because it would be difficult to carry on the bike.


I decided to stay in Santa Rosa over the 4th and leave Saturday. This would keep me off the roads on the holiday. It also allowed me to get my stuff straightened out after two days of camping. So, today I washed clothes, repacked gear, washed bike, etc… (oh, and I got a new camp pillow at REI!) šŸ˜‰šŸ‘ It feels good to decompress for a day, rest, and clean. Before I left the coast, I did find a Post Office in Eureka and mailed my first box home, mostly containing gear I didn’t need or want. This freed up some space on the bike.

I did not attend a fireworks display, but stayed in my room wondering how our veterans with PTSD and small pets were feeling. I remember when Kyle was young and was having trouble hearing, he enjoyed the “lights” at the baseball game. However, when I regained his hearing the banging and popping of the explosions scared him. šŸ˜Ÿ In fact, I can’t avoid hearing the explosions outside my motel from a display across the way.

The Episcopal Church has a complicated history with the Fourth of July. Being a Church that is a descendant from the Church of England, most of the clergy and devout members during the revolution were loyalists to the crown. That’s the complicated part. When we gained independence from the English sovereign, we quickly reorganized the structures for the church. Remember that in England, the church is a state church and intermingled with the affairs of the nation and state. The Episcopal Church is a free democratic church, separate and apart from the state. 

The founders of the new United States wanted the church and the state to be separate, allowing the free exercise of religion (any religion), rather than having the English brand of Christianity enforced as the state church. They knew the problems that came from a nationalist view of religion where patriotism was tightly mingled with religion, you hardly knew where one ended and the other begins. In that mix, the gospel is often compromised for what the government deems as necessary for the commonwealth.

Challenge to St. James and Self: Think about how we can be a beacon of hope and a source for helping others live in the life and love of Jesus without falling into the pit of Christian Nationalism.

Trinidad, CA to Santa Rosa, CA
Ride: 241 miles




Location: Santa Rosa, CA, USA

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