Surrendering to Motherhood: Riding rails but not the Wine Train kind

21 May 2026, 01:12 · The Fresno Bee

If you talk about a tourist train in Napa, locals definitely know you're referring to the Wine Train.

But Mr. Huffman and I recently took a ride on a different kind of tourist train - the Skunk Train. In Willits, California.

Maybe you've heard of the Skunk Train. It's been running since 1885, when cars hauled people, and lumber, in Mendocino County.

A bunch of years ago, the Skunk Train turned into a tourist attraction where visitors can ride the train up and down the railroad, either from Willits or Ft. Bragg.

Why would we drive 2-and-a-half hours to Willits to ride a train that we have in Napa?

Well, it was a free media event, for one thing. They'd even give us a picnic lunch.

Free train ride? Free food? Let's do it, I told Mr. Huffman.

I looked closer to see exactly what we would be riding. It was a new "experience" called Railcoaster Railbikes.

"An all-new thrill has stormed into Willits," read the invite. "Meet the Railcoaster, a high-energy ride that turns the tracks into your playground!"

The 4-hour Railcoaster railbikes expedition "is raw adventure from start to finish with a scenic lunch stop to refuel before the ride back."

"Glide with electric assist across elevated terrain, power down steep grades, and surge through a historic tunnel before rolling into a stunning redwood vista made for catching your breath," it said. "The nearly 15-mile round-trip journey unfolds over multiple hours of pure exploration."

High-energy ride? Raw adventure? PURE EXPLORATION?

I like to think I'm up for high-energy adventure/pure exploration, raw or other kinds. Never mind that I've barely left Napa Valley for months. Sign us up!

And what exactly is a railbike, you might be wondering? Me too.

As explained by the Skunk train, railbikes are electric-assisted vehicles that are pedaled on railroad tracks. Each cart holds two people. Pedaling is encouraged but a throttle and battery-powered motor do the heavy lifting. Or riding.

I looked at the photos of the railbikes. A tiny bit of doubt wiggled into my brain. Fifteen miles is a lot of pedaling. How much "assist" would you get from the e-assist motor, really?

What if someone (me) got tired along the way? There's no turning around, right? Do you call a sag-wagon for pickup? "Breaker 1-9 - Hey, good buddy, can you pick up two railcoaster riders, one of whom is ‘done' with the raw adventure?"

Oh, the humiliation.

Ok, so I was triggered by the memory of an incident that occurred almost 40 years ago, while on our honeymoon in Jamaica.

Mr. Huffman and I rented a kayak to paddle to a "deserted island" near our Sandals all-inclusive beach resort.

Less than halfway to our destination I decided I was tired.

I'm done paddling, I announced, leaving my new husband to do all the work for the rest of the outing, like a gondolier or tour guide.

The story of my failure to continue to paddle has since become family lore. I'll never live it down.

So, when I mentioned to Mr. Huffman that this adventure included pedaling on rolling hills for 15 miles, he gave me a look.

Now you can't give up on me halfway through, he said. He didn't have to say it, but I knew he was referring to the Jamaican Paddling Incident of 1989.

I won't, I vowed. We can do this.

The day of the Railcoaster ride, we buckled our seatbelts, fastened our helmets and were off.

I am happy to report that the pedaling was not a challenge. Mr. Huffman took charge of the e-assist motor controls. I was the brakeman.

The truth was, the e-motor did all the work. We barely had to pedal at all.