The Robertson and Sokoloff Trail – Grapevine – Day 2

Submitted: 25th June 2026

On the Road to Grapevine – Day Two

Part two of the Robertson and Sokoloff trail around the locations in their novel!

Day 2 (c) The BookTrail

Craig and Alex at the start of their journey (c) Robertson and Sokoloff

Day two dawned desert hot and blindingly sunny. The drive to Bakersfield was much easier than the tests of the previous day and it took just 40 minutes to get to the Barnes & Noble where booksellers Sandra and Rosie loved that a large chunk of the book was set there and said they’d push it to their customers.

The Grapevine book locations

The Grapevine Craig Robertson and Alexandra Sokoloff

Job done, we pushed on to the little town of Buttonwillow for a quick visit before taking the 5 and the 99 towards Avila Beach and San Luis Obispo. It was a 120-mile trip that started easy on quiet roads through oil fields populated by thousands of mini derricks pecking at the earth, but then became an endurance test of steep climbs, nosebleed descents and startling bends.

Avila Beach (c) Robertson and Sokoloff

It turned out to be worth it though as the view from the site on Avila Beach was stunning. We backed in, hooked up, opened a couple of beers (recurring theme) and looked out on the vista that our protagonist Lou did as she parked on the same spot.

The Grapevine book locations

Higuera Street (c) Robertson and Sokoloff

From Avila, Lou went into San Luis Obispo to investigate the action on Higuera Street, we so did the same, accompanied by our newly-arrived guides for this part of the adventure Siegrid Richenbach, her brother John and his wife Kim.

The Grapevine book locations

We toured Bubblegum Alley, marvelled at the giant canopies of the ficus trees, and ticked off bars that Lou visited on the trail of a seemingly sinister predator. We also popped into Barnes & Noble where manager Brian was excited to hear about the book and set up plans to promote it.

It had been another long day, but a rewarding one. We fell asleep to the sounds of crashing waves and the constant attention-seeking of a noisy sea-lion that we’d christened Boris. Life on the road was pretty good after all.