Smith: The questions posed by The Sea Ranch cap on the special counsel’s head

Now that Robert Mueller has released the findings of his team’s investigation into Russian meddling, attention turns to the special counsel’s cap.

Mueller has been photographed sporting an embroidered, billed cap from The Sea Ranch, the rustic-yet-refined, just-remote-enough seaside resort community on the northern Sonoma Coast.

The photos have most of the nation wondering, what the heck is The Sea Ranch? Those of us familiar with the storied and controversial development and its distinctive rams-horn logo are keen to know Mueller’s connection to it.

Rumors that the ex-FBI director owns or seeks to own a home on The Sea Ranch couldn’t be confirmed Monday.

But Mueller has played golf there. Golfer and retired journalist Thayer Walker of Gualala, the Mendocino Coast hamlet just north of The Sea Ranch, shares this story:

About a decade ago, when Mueller was still directing the FBI, word spread that he and his wife, Ann Cabell Standish, were enjoying a retreat to the Sea Ranch Golf Links.

Right about then, Walker and buddy Jim Garrett treated themselves to a round. Walker said the two of them arrived at the course to see the Muellers tee off.

Walker recounts that before he and his friend could tee off behind the Muellers, “two guys in a cart jumped in front of us on the course and sped off in pursuit of the couple.”

A couple of holes later, Walker and Garrett pulled up close enough to the two men to see that they had golf bags on their cart but weren’t playing. As it dawned on them that the guys were FBI bodyguards and the long items in their bags weren’t clubs but rifles, one of the men turned to them.

“You guys stay back at least a hole!” he ordered. Walker and Garrett gladly backed off.

Walker seems certain that Robert Mueller vacations many Augusts at The Sea Ranch. One imagines that just now he’s ripe for a bit of golf and R&R.

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THE BIG TRUCK carrying the traveling version of the Vietnam Wall will receive a reverent salute when it pulls into Petaluma.

Military veterans, CHP officers, members of two motorcycle escort teams and others will be ready when the truck that transports The Wall That Heals pulls into Lagunitas Brewing Company on Tuesday. It’s expected to arrive sometime between 2:30 and 3 p.m.

Glenn Ross wouldn’t miss it. At 48, he’s a veteran of the Gulf War, the son of 73-year-old Vietnam veteran Warren Ross and commander of Petaluma’s VFW Post 1929.

He appreciates the message The Wall in Washington and its traveling replica convey to veterans of the hugely contentious war in Southeast Asia.

“It doesn’t make up for the treatment they received when they got back,” Ross said. “But it does help them remember they haven’t been forgotten.”

The truck carrying the 375-foot-long Wall That Heals will be escorted to Windsor’s Wilson Ranch Soccer Park by CHP officers and American Legion and Patriot Guard riders from Petaluma and Healdsburg.

It’s scheduled to arrive at or about 4:30 p.m. The wall will be assembled Wednesday, and the exhibit will be opened to the public at about 6 p.m. Visitors can stop by to see it day or night until 3 p.m. Sunday.

You can reach Columnist Chris Smith at chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.