I answered the phone about a week and a half ago to discover that I wasn’t the only one suffering a mild bout of cabin fever. Seems that The Eldest Son has felt similar cravings for a bit of outdoor adventure, and his cryptic posts on Facebook was evidence of his malady.

What are you doing next Saturday?” Sean asked. Quickly overcoming the initial but internal questions about where this might be headed and how much might it cost, my feeble response was, “Nothing. Why, what’s up?”

Turns out that between school, work, exercise and sleep, Sean eked out some time last Saturday morning. And good weather was on the horizon. “How about riding the motorcycles?” he asked. Not a problem for me. I was hoping to test out my newly tuned and serviced Honda. Good thing I had found a great motorcycle mechanic, one who understood the sometimes temperamental nature of a 27-year-old CB650SC.

We met up that Saturday morning, about seven-thirty, in Green Valley. The first leg of the trip took us up Hwy 12 to a little bakery in Napa.

After a quick bear claw (and coffee for Sean, orange juice for me), we headed north on Hwy 121 with a plan to veer off midway to Lake Berryessa.

Blame it on the fresh air or the elation of our first ride of the year. We missed the turn. But, and again blame it on the fresh air or our elation, we didn’t care. So it was up the hills and around the curves to Lake Berryessa, past Monticello Dam, which makes the lake possible, and south along Putah Creek, where next fall we hope to be guided by a friend on a fly fishing trip.

Great weather, a good ride, a good time.