Leo's Place

On our trip last week, we visited Leo, Dennis friend from college days.  We knew that Leo had bought a 20+ acre place near Pleasant Grove north of Sacramento in the Sacramento Valley.

But we had never seen it.  Never visited.  It's time.

Leo had just retired.  He had spent his entire professional life working at CalTrans on his passion, trains specifically passenger trains.  He's kind of prickly and contrary; hats off to him for surviving in state bureaucracy all of those years.

The Sacramento valley features broad vistas, flat landscape, semi-arid.  They grow a lot of rice and I noticed more orchards.  But not particularly scenic.  I grew up in Sacramento and I had no concept of the land north.  Sparsely populated.  Pleasant Grove in Sutter County isn't really a town, though they do have an elementary school.  If you like wild open spaces....

Leo and his wife Katherine have lived here for many years with two now adult kids.  You can commute to Sacramento from their place.  Definitely in the middle of nowhere though it's conceivable that residential development in Sacramento could reach them.

It looked like many rural kind of run down places on non quite paved roads..  Leo does have some grapes and has ambitions "to improve curb appeal" including adding more grapes and remodeling the house.  He has lots of outbuildings which has given him the opportunity to acquire a bunch old farm equipment and non-running Studebaker trucks.  We spent the afternoon walking around outside and chatting at his kitchen table.  Katherine came home and we had a great time catching up.

Leo showed us his 1952 tractor and powerful, if dangerous mower of about the same vintage.  You have to mow your fields....

One of the most exciting moments in the trip was driving a short distance on Natomas Road; one of those roads out there located on a tall steep levy with little shoulder.  No room for error, there, it's a long way down.