Continuing the trip…

Sure enough, 30 minutes later I drove into Susanville on a beautiful fall afternoon. The temperature was in the low 70’s and I learned later that the next morning would bring a ‘below freezing’ mark. There were fall colors everywhere, making the little town quite spectacular; at least for this city boy!

I found a motel to stay in, in the downtown area. As I remember it, there were no more than 4 or 5 motels in town, and this one was clean enough. Then I drove around the city, which didn’t take long. After dinner I decided to walk and see the town close up. It was certainly quiet; there was no comparing it to Orange County. And the smell of incense cedar was strong in the air. The local mill was burning wood and an inversion layer had trapped the delightful smell. OK! I was hooked…

The next day I walked around town again, stopping once for breakfast and then looking in the windows of the various real estate offices I passed. According to the ads I saw, the prices of land and houses were fantastically low. Ranch acreage ran from $100 to $500 an acre and houses were down in the $25,000 range.

I finally found a real estate office that was open and went in. Mike Egan Realty and Zella Mae Miles introduced herself as a sales agent. Pretty soon we were joined by another agent, Marla Miller, and after agreeing on some guidelines, off we went to look at houses.

Long story, short… I found the house we would move to in the little village of Janesville. About 13 miles east of Susanville and tucked into the side of the mountains. We were going to live on 8 acres of second growth pines, so we had no view of the Honey Lake Valley below us. Thompson Peak was behind us, to the south. Nothing to look at but the trees. That would do. I made an offer on the property; it was accepted and then it was time to call Laurae and tell her what I had just done.

What does this story have to do with Working? Hang on, more to come...