Who we are, where we live and what we like to do....
We've lived here in the high desert near Yucca Valley, CA for 25 years. Not once, have we missed the "big city" since we moved here. Waking up to quail, dove, and jackrabbits beats the heck out of people and traffic congestion. Carol and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary this year.
I worked for Siemens Medical Systems for 30 years as a field service engineer, working on diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging systems at various hospitals in the area. I retired in March of 2000.
Carol is retired from the local branch of Washington Mutual Bank. The entire town knows Carol and it's difficult to go anywhere without being stopped by someone wanting to chat (Carol's favorite pastime next to shopping!)...
Though Mandy isn't "biologically" ours, we like to think of her as our daughter. Mandy graduated from 29 Palms High School and then joined the U.S. Army. She has since left the Army and now is a massage therapist.
Living here in Yucca Valley, away from the congestion and traffic of the big city, has been really great. Being on acerage and having your neighbors hundreds of feet away is a big plus,too. Our 2600 sq ft home is nice but way too large for us now that the boys are grown and gone. We hope to eventually move to Nevada, probably near Carson City but definitely in an outlying area like here, away from congestion . About 1400 sq ft will suffice nicely for us there, but a 4 car garage will be needed to house the "toys".
Carol and I love to go camping in our 5th wheel and fish in many of the lakes and streams of California. Convict Lake (these pictures), 30 miles north of Bishop, is one of our favorites. We also like Nascar stock car racing and sprint car dirt track racing.
Our Ford diesel truck and 5th wheel. Here we're at one of our favorite Thousand Trails campgrounds. When we're not on a long summer trip we like to come here and catch catfish in the canals that are regularly stocked with good size fish. We like the Thousand Trails membership system and have been to about 40 of 60 throughout the U.S. We've been on many long trips and especially like the Pacific Northwest.
Trailriding in the Sierras is super fun. The scenery is fantastic, especially on a dirt bike. Dennis Scammel and I have ridden (and raced) together for many years. This photo of us in the Kennedy Meadows area on the Sherman Pass jeep road shows just a taste of the many miles of phenominal beauty (not to mention kick-ass fun!). We camp and ride in numerous mountain and desert areas and have spent many evenings BS'ing around the "ol' campfire", reminising about old times and our racing days when we were "fast".
Only someone who has delt with the BLM, USFS, and enviro-nuts will be able to appreciate this animation!
BLM
Clinton
Gore
Enviro-nuts
Now.. Take a step back in time to....
1958
When it all began
High School Sweethearts
Wasn't Carol sweet?
Hey, she still is!
Look, I even had hair then!
Five Years Later, on June 22, 1963
I married that sweet little gal, and as the years slipped by I realized that I had married the best wife and mother to our sons that any guy could ever want. Luck? Blessed? Call it what you want, all I know is it's been a great 45 years!
And the rest, as they say, is history...
Gary & Carol
Our family room/dining area is over 900 square feet and we spend most all our time here. We have a front room and formal dining room in the front of the house that has ended up wasted space. Here in the family room is our big screen TV and an air tight wood stove that keeps us cozy in the winter.
Mike lives in Minden, Nevada (just below Carson City) and works as an accountant. He likes to play golf in the summer and snowboards in the winter. Mike is 40.
Greg lives in Palm Desert and is the scan co-ordinator for the Vons Supermarket in Palm Springs. He likes to go RVing like us. Greg is 38.
In this picture Carol is enjoying our jacuzzi on the back patio. We use the jacuzzi year round and have been known to be in it with snow falling on us in the winter.
A desert sunset. Hard to match anywhere. The night sky is usually clear and full of stars. The Milky Way is beautiful on summer nights.
Springtime in the high desert is fantastic. Folks not familiar with the desert areas of the southwest assume that they are all the same hot, sandy void. Actually the temperatures and flora and fauna vary considerably. At 3500 ft. elevation we have much milder temperatures than the lower deserts as well as many Joshua trees and considerably denser ground cover. Even an ocassional light snow in the winter. A wet winter often brings carpets of wildflowers in the spring. The mountains and Big Bear lake are only 25 miles to the west, with elevations of over 8000 ft.
We've been into off-roading for many years. I raced motorcycles in district #37 desert races and enduros for 20 years. Now I have a Honda XR-600 and ride "dual sport" events and trail ride with friends in various desert and mountain areas of Southern California.
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