Going Back to Cali

Back about '87 LL belted out Going Back to Cali. If memory serves it was on the Less than Zero soundtrack. That was an interesting movie about kids in LA, cocaine, going to Palm Springs... ah, I don't really remember exactly but I do remember that is where the song got it's start. The phrase, "going back to Cali," has remained a commonly used phrase and is just another reminder of how Cali really is THE place. Shoot, LL is from New York city but did he ever sing "Going back to Queens?"

I have thought more about this conclusion lately as we watch Texas and Louisiana flood... again. Cali really is THE place to live in our country. We don't have crazy huricanes and stuff like that. My favorite snippit was about some guy at Galveston Island. This from an AP article, and you just can't make this up. Makes me very happy to live nowhere near the idiots on Galveston Island. As my peeps in So Cal might say, "oy vey, and as my peeps in Utah might say, "oh my heck." Check this:

Steven Rushing, a commercial fisherman, tried to ride out the storm with his wife and several family members, including his pregnant 17-year-old daughter, in their one-story brick home on Galveston Island.

Early Saturday, they watched the water rise and donned life jackets. When the water reached the TV, about 4 feet high, Rushing's plan was to kick out a window so they could tie themselves to a tree and await rescue.

But then he noticed a sudden calm, apparently the hurricane's eye passing over. He loaded his family into a 17-foot ski boat and headed for the San Luis resort, the headquarters for emergency personnel about 20 blocks away. It took 20 minutes to float 16 blocks before the boat ran aground. Then the Rushings sprinted for safety, guided by lights from police responding to a 911 call made from the boat.

"I'm drained. I'm beat up," Rushing said later Saturday morning. "My family is traumatized. I kept them here, promising them everything would be alright, but this is the real deal and I won't stay no more."



I have traveled the country, as well as the world, and there really are few places that match it. Is Cali perfect? Of course not. However, it has a lot of incredible attributes. Let's take SacTown for example. If you ask just about anybody in the highly populated areas of LA, San Diego and 'Frisco they would tell you SacTown is CowTown. Could be that compared to those places it is a CowTown. However, if I want my big city fix I head 90 miles west to A City by A Body of Water or I can head 90 miles east and be on the slopes of some of the world's greatest skiing in the Lake Tahoe area. I can play golf 365 days a year. I can ride my bike 365 days a year. I certainly can run 365 days a year.

What are the downsides to living in Cali? It seems one of the most common refrains from people in most other states is we don't have four seasons. That's true for the most part though here in SacTown it gets cold enough that the trees turn colors and we have snow within 45 minutes, up the hill, sometimes in winter. The funny thing is though when you ask a former cold weather state resident now living in Cali about living in Cali they ALWAYS say, "I sure don't miss the snow." That is 100% of them! So maybe that four seasons thing is just justification for living in a crap place!?

Oh ya, and my favorite reason people don't want to move to Cali... earthquakes. Not to jinx anything because we all realize we could have the BIG ONE and become an island but do you know how many earthquakes I have felt in my LIFE living here? Maybe 4 or 5 that I can recall. They last 10-20 seconds and then you go back to your perfect world. It's not like a hurricane that you brace for, board up the house, travel inland, etc... earthquakes just happen and then they are done. Plus, they have earthquakes in other places too.

Are taxes higher in Cali? Probably. However, that's because we have to build stuff like bike lanes, bike routes, nature trails, beach walks, etc.... They don't have to worry about that stuff in a lot of other states now do they!?

I guess we do spend more on sun block each year so that sucks. All that sun....

I like to dream about retirement... even though it's probably about 100 years away. I want to live on a golf course and preferably a place I can play golf 365 days a year. That basically means Cali, Arizona, New Mexico and MAYBE portions of the southeast... unless I go international.

As recently stated I went out to eastern Tennessee recently. They have some beautiful retirement communities in the mountains near Knoxville. Just awesome looking. My favorite is Rarity Pointe. They have a fancy country club golf course AND a fancy yacht club on their big lake. YES, both clubs in one development. I don't even like boats but if I move there my neighbors will have boats won't they!? So I started snooping around their website, www.raritypointe.com. WOW, is it beautiful.

As I was looking around their website I noticed they predicted about 4 inches of rain in each of the winter months which is about the same as Cali. Their coldest weather would be a tad cold for golf but not totally out of the question. So, with any luck, could play golf about 300 days a year. However, what's up with the 4 inches of rain in each of the summer months? I know they have that southeast humidity which sucks... oh ya, speaking of humidity just about every other state in the union, except Cali, has that. Humidity sucks!

Anyway, I kept looking because the community just looks so awesome. You have to put up the bible belt mentality but I still went to their religious page links. As expected, near the top is a list of 29 Baptist churches. You got your full gambit of other Christian religions, Catholics, Christians, Church of Christ, Mormons, etc... and then I saw the Judaism link. Hey, why not, let me check it to see what the Jews have going in Knoxville. I kid you not, the link goes to a page that says:

Sorry, the page you requested

www.discoveret.org/kjf/kjhwor.html

was not found on the DiscoverET.org website.

Ok, so humidity, snow, bible belt mentality, and apparently no Jews... I guess I'll be staying in Cali when I retire.

peace out.