A new adventure

          The reader needs to understand that your humble correspondent is a Californian. Born and bred Californian. That includes living in five Southern California counties and working in another through the decades.

          The family has lived by the beach, on the desert and in between. The California lifestyle, which has so many different variations, has been our modus operandi. Our kids are third-generation Californians, which is not a frequent thing.

          Earthquakes? Sure, we’ve had ‘em. Lots of them and some real scary ones, too. If you’re from here, you’ve been through quakes, too. If you’re not from here, you really can’t understand the feeling until you’ve been through one.

          Mostly, we’ve loved living here. The nice weather and the somewhat relaxed social conditions make life comfortable in many ways. Often as not, you’ll hear the Beach Boys on our Mustang’s CD player if you pull up aside at a traffic light. The Mustang is a convertible, of course.

Add to all that the fact that we have family here and you have us at home.

          But that all ends in September when we move to Ohio. California Here I Come becomes California Dreamin.’

          California has simply priced us out. We can’t afford the rent here anymore.

           Bummer.

          Amy, who has worked so hard for 42 years as an educator in our public schools, is retiring. Yours truly has a long time to go before retirement gets in the way of the much-loved career in the racing business. But one retirement in the family means changes and one of the changes will be the new address.

          The money we’ll save living in Ohio, where we’ll own the home we live in, will be the difference between living happily and having to scrape up the rent money every month.

          We’d rather stay here, be close to our parents and friends and lap up the easy ambient conditions. But we can’t afford it. The whole thing comes down to economics and Econ 101 teaches that if your income is less than your outgo, you’re in trouble.

          Why Ohio? Well, we set some parameters and searched for the best fit. The key considerations were housing costs, airport proximity, ease of travel, housing costs, a solid sports climate, housing costs and the cost of buying a home. Indiana and Ohio were the finalists and Ohio had the added advantage that Goodyear’s world headquarters is in Akron.

          We check out of the Hotel California in the fall and head east toward a new adventure. New adventures are rare when you reach our level of experience (read here: age) and we’re excited. Amy has a list of things she wants to do and we’re going to go do them.

          Of course, all this means we have to clean house and decide what stuff will not make the trip and then box up the rest. This is a boring chore that nobody likes. But all adventures begin with yucky preparation and this is no exception.

          So thanks for reading. I gotta pack.