PanamintValley.com

Been lurking for a while, time to say HELLO. Moved from San Marcos to Pahrump last month. Retired and am an amateur gold miner. Mostly roam the South Eastern part of Nevada/Ca. I type with two fingers and talk even slower, so you may not hear much from me, but I will try to offer an opinion as needed. It will take a while to build my comfort level, but I will try. Haven't found a house yet so don't have much time. Been spending most of the time with realtors. No luck yet. Took me three years to sell my house in San Marcos so I really don't think we'll find that perfect place here very fast, who knows? Glad to have escaped SOCAL, I feel so much better. I really believe my health is improving. I think D A Wright knows the feeling. So much for now.

Welcome

Andy

You escaped Cali, what more does a Man need?

Welcome to the board.

Welcome! I pass through Pahrump several times a year, on my way to DV from Lost Wages.

We're a pretty friendly group - take your time, and get to know us. Just pop in once in a while to say something - that way, we'll know you're still here.

I used the term "escape" when I left Calif. 22 years ago. At the time, people thought I was crazy for leaving the promised land for the cold and snow of upstate NY. I guess the opinion has changed slightly.

David Bricker / SYR

NO IT HASN'T!!!! Cali is awesome!

San Marcos has sprawled just has the rest of So Cal, I can't blame you for moving away. I can remember as a kid the drive to Disnelyland from El Cajon, once we passed the flowers in Carlsbad you saw nothing until you were arriving at the Matterhorn, nowadays you never even know you left San Diego, it is just one long development all the way to LA. Same is happening along the 15.

Welcome to the board!

Daren

Welcome!

My maternal grandmother lived in San Marcos, Fallbrook and Escondido in the early 1950s to the mid 1960s. Growing up near Apple Valley, we'd drive down US395 (there was no such thing as I-15 in those days) to see here periodically. I remember Escondido as the larger town, but not that big. San Marcos and Fallbrook were simply little hamlets buried in the oak tree and scrub forests. My grandmother came to live in Apple Valley in 1966. She died in Yucca Valley in 2000 at the age of 102.

My move to Nevada hasn't done anything for my health; I have always lived in the rural portions of California (Victor Valley; Big Bear Lake; June Lake; Ridgecrest/Trona; Big Pine) thus not exposed to the rampant pollution that beset southern California that I am aware of. I developed emphysema from working in the plants in Trona for nearly two decades. It continues to worsten as I grow older.

However, my mental health surely has benefitted from leaving California. Though Nevada has it own share of political and financial troubles, the cuture here in northern Nevada is such that still embraces the old ways. The eastern Sierra had much the same values, but the culture of California in general is slowly squeezing the nuts in the region and people are feeling the effects. You can't do this, you can't do that, and before long the anti-people groups will pay off the bureaucrats to enact laws against looking at the scenery without putting money in the coin-op kiosks that will pop up along everywhere.

In Nevada you can still pretty much do what you damn well please. Because we're citizens, they're still our public lands. Want to drive this trail that looks like it hasn't been driven on in a dozen years? Do it. Want to shoot that snowshoe hare for dinner tonight? If you have an inexpensive hunting license with the proper endorcements, do it and enjoy. Want to enjoy the wild horses roam and run free? They're everywhere. Want to get away from people? Drive a couple of miles. Want a loaded gun sitting alongside you in your truck? Fine, as long as there's not a shell or bullet in the firing chamber. Flying down a well maintained dirt road and come across someone else going the opposite direction? He'll slow down so you don't get a windshield full of rocks and gravel, so do I. And sometimes we stop and shoot the breeze a while too.

Yesterday, my wife - disabled with crippling and painful osteo-arthritis - had overdone it helping a friend of hers (who is also disabled) with some heavy work. My wife was driving home down the two-lane state highway that runs near my home. The speed limit is 45mph. My wife was clocked by the Nevada Highway Patrol at 58mph about three miles from the house. My wife aplogetically told the officer she was in pain, wanting to get home to rest and wasn't paying attention to the speedometer. The officer quickly ran her license the car's registration, and then sympathetically told her to get some rest and please keep it somewhere near the speed limit. And that was that. It was the first time since 1967 that my wife was stopped by a policeman, that occuring in Trona.

I love Nevada.

First off welcome to the board augeter... Glad to have you aboard. Second I agree with Noah. California is wonderful. It's just all the developement and sucky people that sucks. LOL...

David that is a wonderful story. Peace officers here used to be like that. Different now in the congested cities but out in the sticks they are kind of like that as long as you are not talking CHP in Bishop. The biggest speed trap in California.

Augeter I hope you come to some of the shin digs we have in Panamint Valley. Would love to talk to you about ametuer gold mining.