Caitlyn Jenner holds girlfriends' getaway in Glen Ellen

Reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner took her viewers on a road trip to Sonoma County in the latest episode of her new show, “I Am Cait,” broadcast over the weekend.

The episode, filmed in June but televised Sunday night on the E! network, followed Jenner as she convinced her friends to ride motocross dirt bikes in Petaluma and hung out with a group of transgender women at a posh retreat in Glen Ellen, the same scenic estate used three years ago by TV’s “The Bachelor.”

Jenner chose the remote villa’s swimming pool as the setting for another milestone moment in her transgender transformation - her first public appearance in a swimsuit.

In the episode, the 65-year-old Jenner ruminates over appearing in a swimsuit and then musters the courage, picking a white one-piece with a single over-shoulder strap. As she tentatively steps into the pool she throws out her arms in a victory gesture that was a far more feminine variation of that triumphant moment when Jenner won the gold medal for the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics.

Jenner swung through Wine Country in June during a trip to Northern California with several fellow transgender friends that was documented for her eight-part series on the E! network. The show, which debuted July 26, focuses on Jenner’s gender transition and life since she came out as a trans woman in April in a televised interview with Diane Sawyer.

After her stay in Sonoma County, Jenner tweeted a picture of the group standing arm-in-arm and looking out at the forested Mayacmas Mountains, their view from the deck of the curvaceous pool and hot tub. See photos of the property at www.beautiful-places.com/villas/vineyard_knoll_estate.

“It was very hush-hush,” said Liza Graves, the co-owner of Beautiful Places, which specializes in high-end vacation rentals in Wine Country and other sought-after destinations. “We were not there when they were there but we were told they were just ooh-ing and ahh-ing. It was a fantastic Sonoma County day.”

The segment includes emotional and tearful moments as Jenner and friends open up about the challenges of acceptance as transgender - both self acceptance and from the world.

Although the friends mention being in Sonoma, the words “Napa Valley” appear over a locator shot as they arrive at the vineyard estate, which overlooks a vineyard and rents in high season for $2,100 a night.

The episode also included a segment filmed at the Girlz MotoCamp track in Petaluma, where Jenner and her cohorts took dirt motorcycle riding lessons from Shelina Moreda, a professional motorcycle racer, and her cousin, Kathryn Santos.

Jenner already knew how to ride a cycle on pavement and quickly adapted to dirt, said Moreda, a Petaluma High graduate who is also a fifth-generation dairy rancher.

I think Caitlyn is pretty proficient at anything athletic,” Moreda said, referring to Jenner’s Olympian past.

Jenner and her friends got a kick out of driving past dairy cows on the way to the track, Moreda said, and she was impressed with the transgender women. “Some of the coolest chicks I’ve ever met,” she said.

Moreda became a professional racer nearly five years ago, and has competed in Japan, Qatar and France, as well as being the first woman cyclist to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She’s gone 186 mph on two wheels.

In support of Jenner’s cause to raise awareness about LGBT issues, Graves said Beautiful Places will donate $50 from every new booking over the next few months to two local support and advocacy organizations, Positive Images and LGBTQ Connection.

“We frequently have high-profile individuals stay in our homes and it is our strict policy not to divulge any information about our guests,” Graves said. “However we agreed to make an exception for Caitlyn as we strongly support her journey and her work on behalf of LGBT youth.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204. On Twitter @megmcconahey.