"Yuppie Bastards!"
Westside Road, Sonoma County
Oct. 22, 2000

Or so one Dry Creek Road farmer labelled us as we puttered past his homestead in our green Jetta. Was he cursing us, or the white Volvo we had pulled over to let pass? I was tempted to back up and argue the point ... but then realized he was probably right. We were yet another suburban family, out of place in the countryside, raising dust along his road and ruining the peace of a Sunday afternoon as we made our way to Westside farms for all the Halloween trimmings: a picnic, hay ride, and picking a gourd from the pumpkin patch. Better for the farmer if we'd spent the afternoon at Costco.