Part of the excitement of travel is the discovery of new things. It is even more exciting if that discovery is shared. While traversing the back roads of Napa, we stumbled upon a true treasure.
On a meandering road through wineries, pastures and once grand farms, a road our hostess, Cyndy had traveled often, I caught a glimpse of a glimmering object, a beacon if you will. As we drew nearer, we saw hundreds, no thousands of these chrome sunshine reflectors. It wasn't until our van full of oglers pulled over that we truly discovered "Hubcap Ranch" or in more official terms California Historic Landmark NO. 939. The very impressive sign read:

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOLK ART ENVIRONMENTS (Thematic) - LITTO - This is one of California's exceptional Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments. Over a period of 30 years, Emanuele 'Litto' Damonte (1896-1985), with the help of his neighbors, collected more than 2,000 hubcaps. All around Hubcap Ranch are constructions and arrangements of hubcaps, bottles, and pulltops which proclaim that 'Litto, the Pope Valley Hubcap King,' was here.

Wanting to know more about this interesting stop and to embrace multiple photo opportunities, we wandered about. At the end of the long driveway, we met the current owner Mike, grandson of Litto, who was welcoming and informative.

We were shown the most prized and rare hubcaps and licence plates affixed to small sheds. Some of the car logos were ones we knew nothing about, everything from an Arnolt to a Wescott. This museum was also a school of sorts. So how did this collection begin? Litto was so much more than his hubcaps, and his is a great story to be told, but this specific story began when he moved to Pope Valley in 1930. Access to the long narrow valley was provided by a rough dirt road that wound along his property. It wasn’t until 1960 that the county finally surfaced the road. But, for those driving on the earlier pothole filled, irregular and bumpy dirt road, it was not unusual to lose a hubcap or two. Litto began retrieving the errant hubcaps and placed them on his fence as a courtesy to drivers he thought would return to collect them.
Who would have thought that something lost, like a hubcap, could tell such a story and be a beacon for hungry tourists looking for a new discovery and that we would be so rewarded by the road less traveled?