Juan Jimenez wrote:

More like the middle of it. But that's besides the point. What made you flee
California?


Straight answer: it wasn't the gangs, the Big Brother Helicopters
overhead at all hours of the night, the smog, the stifling heat wave
this past year...in the Spring!

I hated ~ absolutely hated ~ spending hours, days, even years of my
life, in crowded, L.A. Traffic, including at least one instance of
complete gridlock following a series of accidents about ten years ago.
One to two hours to travel at best, 35 miles in the Los Angeles area.

The time you spend on an L.A. freeway adds up. Here, in Manitou
Springs, I'm ten minutes from downtown Colorado Springs, or I'm five
minutes from the road to Pikes Peak, or an hour from Cripple Creek, or
45 minutes from Denver, and so on and so fourth.

I'm roughly eight hours from the Balloon Festival in New Mexico. I'm
pretty darned close to Las Cruces, White Sands and a few other choice
places. I can fly anywhere in the World from Denver and back again.

I'll be expanding news coverage over a four state region and California
remains covered, north and south, by the two reporters there. Then
expanding across the United States, east and west, north and south, and
we're even closer to being positioned overseas, starting with
Australia. We have a reporter there now who is encouraging us to take
on more. And we will...

We're revamping all the websites, getting the archives built up ~ what
we've written so far, plus the image galleries yet to be seen ~ and
then we're charging forward in 2007 and we're going to start filling
the new designs with new stories from a multitude of sources.

And the future is being determined by the number of url's/domains that
I've already acquired, and more are on the way. Thus we go from the
five year plan to the 25 year plan, and all those unfinished websites
or semi-operational websites and even the non-operational websites,
will be operational once again soon.

Thus, the second reason as to why I moved he to be more centrally
located for the expansion plans I have, to travel, and increase the
area of our coverage beyond California, Nevada and Arizona.

And I'm kicking back, enjoying the Elk, enjoying the Mule Deer, loving
the fact I had to hit the brakes for a Red Fox two blocks from my new
home, and taking my time getting reorganized and unpacked after the
first part of the move; with much more of my photo archives and story
work waiting for me in California, to be delivered in February.

Third reason: enjoying having the Seasons again. Snow tonight. They
can't say that in Los Angeles, California.

And Air Shows, Air Races and Rocketry (sans the RRL, which is a
fraudulent joke), all around me. Four air museums within 45 minutes of
me in all directions.

Mountain Goats, Big Horn Sheep, sunrises and sunsets that are to die
for, rivers, lakes, streams, springs (one runs right past my door), and
the history of the old west mixed with a college town that includes the
U.S. Air Force Academy, Peterson and Schreiver AFBs, along with Ft.
Carson, all within ten minutes of me, not to mention Colorado Springs
Airport.

And that's it..."Found Paradise" ~ 'nother reason to leave L.A.