The Final Blog

If you just stumbled across this blog, check out my 2010 experience at Cakebread Cellars. 

Running Towards Eden - tales from the harvest.

Update September 12, 2011 - another harvest at the ultimate in small, hand-crafted wines. I'm in the Russian River Valley! Actually, Green Valley in the Russian River Valley. Scherrer Winery!

 Follow along and also see the vineyard pictorial leading up to the 2011 harvest. 

Season of Growth

Time to set down the pencil, close the MacBook, finish my coffee...time to let go. I start back at Bob's Steak & Chop House in less than an hour. 

What a time it was.  The 2009 harvest at Ramey Cellars

The interns: Andy, Sam, Denise, Apo, Steve.

How To Empty a Semi

This is supposed to be a wine blog but... 

they are in the midst of the Cotton Harvest in Lubbock. I thought you might find these pictures amusing. 

Load the Semi with the Cotton Seeds. 

At the processing plant you unload the trucks. A shovel is too time consuming

You end up with more mounds of Cotton Seed than are in this photo!

Cotton Harvest - the short version

Know this:  Cotton is King in Lubbock!

Those big white blocks are harvested cotton known as "modules."

The modules on the Cotton Co-Op property = basically, who's insurance is responsible now. The Co-Op or the farmer?

A bunch of really loud stuff goes on that involves drying, separating the cotton seeds, bundling, wrapping, etc and and that guy...the cotton industry's answer to Captain Kirk:

"Raisin' Arizona" fans - The Government sure does take a bite!

Each 500 lb bundle gets a chunk taken out for Gov't approval.

I approved.

But, Todd's more experienced eye rejected these motes. It will be sent to another Gin for further refinement.

So, like wineries use lees, Cotton Gins use cotton seeds. They load these trucks up and next episode I will do the short version of cotton seed oil and such! (oh joy)

Let's be honest though - cotton is king but oil is sexy!

(click on this photo to see the oil pumpjacks)

The Arrow!

Yesterday:  Todd says he's to take me around Lubbock to see some sites. 

(per Ashley?!?). 

Todd and Ashley are to be married January 16! (pssst-i think he knows)

We drive up to the non-descript building housing Lubbock Electric Co.

Call me naive, but this was the shop floor. How would a winery grunt like me know that owner Paul Bush housed one of America's best Antique Car Collections right off the main work area.

Todd's favorite car is the 1929 Pierce Arrow! Coincidence? Todd grew up with this collection. His dad worked for Lubbock Electric back in the day. He roamed around this collection all through his youth and is rightfully still very proud of it.

Ask me offline what a 90 year old lady had to say about this 1913 Blue Cadillac. Shocking!

The yellow car belonged to Will Rodgers, The red one is a 1934 Packard - recently in a 4th of July parade.

The Packard sounded a little rough so I made a few adjustments!

Notice the hand crank and the "lanterns" on the 1911 Buick. I understand that the collection goes to 1904 but this was the oldest one today.

What to do with my Christmas Bonus?

OK. The beautiful hood ornaments actually progressed from functional to art. The 1930s used external temperature gauges that transformed these gauges into radiator art. Check it out.
Todd, get in one of these and ride...while you still have time!

Whiteout!...Not the Santa Rosa I Remember

Sixteen Hundred miles in 2 days! 
Frazzled. Too much caffeine washing down too many glucose tabs. You could see my breath and it wasn't because it was cold outside. Yuk
Hello from my favorite Starbucks in Lubbock, TX. The South Plains. Welcome back to The Caprock. Where it all started.

New Mexico - NOT that fun. God bless truckers. How they do this on a regular basis is beyond me. It is just now "warming up" to freezing.

The near Blizzard actually started right outside of Albuquerque, NM in a Mountain Pass. My photography while driving leaves a little to be desired. Not to mention:  should I have been taking pictures in 11 degree weather during a snowstorm while tucked between dozens of semi-trucks? 

My skills are so bad that I missed several mishaps, shooting the scenery just after 5 of the 8 wrecks I witnessed.

At least this tow truck wasn't coming for me.  
And I had plenty of time to stop the SportTrac, park, and reflect on my Ramey Internship .... on Highway 40 near Amarillo, TX!!!!  

The Joshua Tree

The Mojave Desert can get brutally hot as I found out!  I finally stumbled passed this Joshua Tree (yucca bevifolia) and found my way back to civilization.

Actually, it was only 69 degrees (21 celsius). Almost freezing compared to the trip in. It was 111 degrees (44 celsius) that day in late August (last paragraph). The 1st picture captures this weird haze that hovered over California's Central Valley all day.

Define Puddle-Jumper

Santa Rosa has a small airport with small planes. It is only 15 minutes from Healdsburg and you get a choice of free regional beer or wine! Gotta love Horizon Air.

Vineyards somewhere near Healdsburg!

Damn landing gear ruined my money shot.

Seriously!  Are they recharging the plane? Just like we recharge the forklifts at Ramey Cellars?