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I just like writing. The move to California

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:36 am
by Greg_Cornish
I was fresh from the cold of Minnesota, living in the beautiful County of Sonoma in the heart of the first established wine country, Sonoma proper, CA. This is a beautiful town where the California Republic was first started when Kit Carson with his band of 34 men rode into the City of Sonoma at 5 a.m. and Captured General Vallejo from his residence and 500 sleeping Mexican Soldiers from the barracks that remain today as a Museum.

The town was still somewhat rustic, but money and wineries were showing up rapidly and the tourist were fast becoming full time residents. Thousands of new homes were dotting the pristine landscapes that were once used for various uses of agriculture.

When I first arrived in Sonoma it would take me eight minutes to get from my nearby residence of Glen Ellen to downtown Sonoma. By the time I moved away it took 45 minutes to travel the same route due to increased traffic.

Sonoma was so popular that for the first 4 months I lived there, I never knew the town of Glen Ellen existed, only 1.5 miles away to the north.

One day I decided to exercise and pushed my wheelchair up the steep driveway and started toward the north on the shoulder of the road. Within 1/3 of a mile i came upon a compound that looked like a college. There were beautiful spanish style buildings everywhere. I didn’t know if it was a housing complex or a school, but the campus was huge with meticulously groomed lawns.

Every car that went by honked at me. I thought I might be in their way at first and would turn angrily and stare. Then everyone in the car would wave at me and smile. I would smile and wave back. The honking cars continued. Literally everyone honked and waved. It really mad me feel good. I decided to return home.

When I wheeled up the ramp and into the kitchen, I exclaimed to Barbara, “God I’m glad we moved to California. The people are so friendly here. Even Friendlier than Minnesota!â€