Livin' in a bus... down by the river...

Our home base near the Kaiser Vacaville for all this foot drama has been on the Delta Loop across from Rio Vista on the Sacramento River. The closest little levee town is Isleton.

Pete's Steakhouse in Isleton has been around since the late 1800s.

The region was largely settled by Chinese migrants in the 1920s, and the beautiful stained glass artwork at Pete's Steakhouse tells the story

More stained glass at Pete's Steakhouse telling the story of the fish and crawdad history of the Delta Loop

Less than a generation ago this little town was known for biker bars and crawdad festivals. Nowadays it's mostly vineyards, almond orchards, wedding venues, grazing cattle, cute little restaurants and bars, and here and there some apparently abandoned half-baked development projects. It's an easy commute from here to some good-paying jobs in the East Bay (like Antioch and Walnut Creek) and the prices are surprisingly low by California standards for waterfront property; we considered ourselves lucky to be here in this little overlooked spot of California close to everything and yet tucked away and forgotten, and we tolerated the wind which can be quite extreme (no surprises there - the windmills just west of the river are plentiful and nearly always spinning).

Lance fishing on the Sacramento River at Rio Vista

There's some world class fishing less than 20 feet from our rig and the chatter around the park is mostly fishing-related. Lance has had some pretty good luck when he goes out, fortunately fishing from a lawn chair with cast foot elevated fit right in with doctor's orders.

The view from our campsite at the windmills of Rio Vista across the Sacramento River on the Delta Loop

Tony's is a biker bar on the levee in Walnut Grove and serves the BEST steak sandwiches on rolls of garlic bread.
But they only accept cash so plan accordingly.

Foster's Longhorn restaurant in Rio Vista is adorned with a world-wide collection of dead things on the wall.
I ordered the salad because I couldn't stand the idea of them watching me eating meat.

We finally got the green light to roam again. While discussing our next steps, we were both surprised to admit how much we have enjoyed riding in the bus together on these short-leash adventures. After much consideration we decided to put the Subaru up for sale and tow the Mini when the motorcycle trailer is not with us. We're planning a clockwise route for this next loop, up through Oregon and Washington to Vancouver and Victoria, then East to Glacier, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and then continuing East to the Great Lakes, destination Florida Keys by December. That's the rough sketch for now anyways.