Has anyone been on the Wine Train adventure via Niles Canyon Railway??? I started out from my North Oakland home at 11:30 to catch a 12:30 train. I printed out 2 sets of directions. I got off onto HWY 84 and directions say make a hard left turn and I should be there…………………………NO, that did not happen. I made the turn. As a matter of fact once off the highwy you can only turn left or right – so that was easy BUT, there are NO Signs nowhere. No street signs, no road signs, no FM (farm road) signs NOTHING. So, I kept driving. the train station was to have been .13 miles from the left turn – NOTHING. The road is a 2 lane country, winding and tree lined road – for m i l e s . 4 miles past my turn off, I turn around and decide just to drive. Even after I knew I had missed the train ride I was still trying to find the station. It is a shame to get so close and still be lost. I stayed on the road. Now I’m going into the mountains. there are no farm houses, no where to stop to ask anything and NO bluetooth – so no connections. I kept driving. the Girl Scout in me said keep driving. It’s mid day and I have plenty of gas – keep driving on this 2 lane road through the mountains – where in the hell am I???? There were plenty cars on the road heading the opposite direct – they had their own traffic jam. I kept driving – stay the course – where ever it would lead me. At some point while still in the mountains I saw a sign that said Fremont. Ok, good, a name I am familiar with but, I’m still in the mountains. I kept driving. I saw another sign that said Union City – another name I am familiar with – keep driving. I finally came to a dead end that said Hayward to the right. Well, I know Hayward so I went to the right – still in the mountains. About a mile later the street opened up to more lanes and signs of city life – whew! Finally!! It turns out I had turned onto Mission Blvd. there still were no street sings but I knew where I was. I ended up taking Mission all the way back to HWY 580. I hope my friends had a fun trip. I hate I missed it.
I had hoped to put a group together to do the Niles Canyon Wine Train during the holidays. They will have a Holiday Lights train. Sounds fun B U T unless I get better instructions on how to get there I won’t be making the holiday lights. That 2 lane country road reminded me of the movie “Wrong Turn.” More later – hopefully I”ll have success before daylight saving time is over.
Ciao,
