Information Gathering

Shiprock, northwestern New Mexico, after a thunderstorm

May, 1979

First, let me acknowledge my new followers!  When I wasn't looking, Kim, Rick & Paulette, and my sister Toi Lynn joined up!  It is so nice to know that the community we're joining continues to grow.

We live in a little town up in a canyon in the San Bernardino Mountains. Every year there are 4 or 5 different groups (Boy Scouts, Search & Rescue, etc.) who have pancake breakfasts.  Since we're such a small town (about 1,000 full-time residents, another 700-800 summer residents), the pancake breakfasts are well-attended. This morning, we went to one held by the Forest Falls Firefighters, who are raising money to repair some equipment that was damaged in the big snowstorm we had.  The Firefighters always have the best breakfast, in my opinion, because in addition to the pancakes, you get sausage, eggs, and the most wonderful potatoes. They cook up 200 pounds of those potatoes and run out every time.

We walked down and got our plates and food, and were able to sit and chat for a while with Tom Mc, who is a retired firefighter, a realtor (he sold us our house) and the unofficial mayor of Forest Falls. We asked him for advice about selling our house, and had a good talk about the timing of selling and my pending retirement. 

It looks like we're going to put the house up for sale this fall - and if it sells early, we'll rent a space at an RV park in Beaumont that takes full-timers, and live in our trailer until we get ready to either hit the road or move up into something larger. (It all depends on what we get for the house.) Tom wishes he had a working crystal ball, but all we can do is just keep hoping the market continues to rebound. 

So, my countdown, though it's unofficial, is now at 1 year and 2 months until I retire.  Wow.  Things are looking up!

Another Day Closer...