| by
Bob
Hawkins,
Professor of Geography, emeritus
Pat
and I retired in June, 1999, sold the South Pasadena house and moved to
the Temecula Valley (actually Murrieta, but people are more familiar
with Temecula, and it eliminates the confusion with Marietta, Georgia.)
Selling the house was important because a major expense was eliminated,
and we also acquired a chunk of cash. By the way, for those of you who
are not familiar with "the house," it was a three-story 1906
California bungalow.
Life in Murrieta is good. Great weather (although it can
get a tad warm at times), nice neighbors, decent restaurants, gorgeous
hills and mountains and many other favorable attributes. There are
obviously some negatives, such as the only way Pat is able to pick up
the Dodger game on the radio is for her to stand against the back fence
with her arm extended vertically.
She says that when Vin Scully retires she will no longer be a
Dodger fan.
We have traveled quite a bit since we retired. A few of the
highlights—three weeks in Indonesia, a trip on the Danube and Rhein
Rivers from Budapest to Amsterdam, a month in New Zealand and Australia,
an 18 day
repositioning
cruise from Miami to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal, and three weeks
in southeastern France (Provence). What is especially nice about traveling
and being retired is visiting during off-peak times when the crowds are
much smaller and prices are lower.
Personally, I stay busy. I have
this idea of doing a triathlon—run, bike, swim. I'm ok with the run
and bike, but you can drown in the water. I have to work on that.
I plan on volunteering as a docent at the Santa Rosa Ecological
Preserve, but every time I sit down to fill out the application there is
a mountain lion spotted in the area, and I decide to wait a week.
I regret not seeing old college friends. I don't know how many
times I have thought about calling, but for one reason or another I
don’t.
Actually, Drake is the only one I have spent any time with, and
he lives on the other coast. However, sometime soon, I am going to make
all those calls.
Well, I have to close now. The shuttle service is knocking
at the door to take Pat and me to the airport. &
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