The Last of California

We are staying at an RV park on the grounds of what was once Ridgewood Ranch, home of Seabiscuit  Ridgewood Ranch.  This is very beautiful country with lush pastures and wonderful vistas. ( I highly recommend Laura Hillenbrand’s book Seabiscuit:  An American Legend.  She also wrote Unbroken, an equally good book.) The buildings and grounds do not open to the public until June so I am disappointed we can’t see the home, the stud barn, and the grounds.   Perhaps we will be back this way some day between June 1 and September 30 and can tour the estate.

Today (Mother’s Day) the camp host walked over to give us a sheet on the history of the ranch.  He’s 85 years old and has lived here in the park for 20 years. He was born and raised in Willits, the town directly to the north of the park.  The camp host, Will, spoke of the Howard family, owners of the Ridgewood Ranch and Seabiscuit, with great affection and respect.  He knew the family (including Seabiscuit) when he was a child/teenager and spent time here on the ranch.

Adjacent to the park, the land is owned by the Ridgewood Nature Conservancy, so birds, game, whatever, cannot be disturbed or hunted.  This is the breeding season for turkeys and the males are busy displaying their assets to the utterly unimpressed hens.  The toms hang out in groups, the hens are more solitary.  I have never gotten this close to a wild turkey. Usually when they spot you, they are gone.  These have little or no fear of humans and they jump the fence and come into the park.  And these are BIG birds.  Even Fearless Lola is respectful. (Update:  Fearless Lola took off in pursuit of a hen.  Good thing there was a fence or I would still be chasing her.)Turkeys are not native to California.  They were introduced as game birds and this variety is native to KS, OK, TX, NM.

Another frequent visitor is deer.  These are common and native to the area.  Will said there are white deer (not albinos), introduced when someone gave 20 of them to the Howard family decades ago.  They are elusive and seldom seen.  According to Will, there are hundreds of them.

We have taken two different drives through the redwood forests to the Mendocino Coast.  If it seems like we are uncharacteristically immobile, we are.  Mike needed a break from the hustling from place to place. 

More Mendocino coastline: