Is Southern Cali worth the move?

[snb73]

Hey fellas, when I was in the Corps I lived in 29 Palms for a year. They had an MX track on base. After schools, I was stationed at Camp Penleton. I lived in Oceanside, Temecula, Lake Elsinore and Fallbrook. I don't know what it's like now as I left in 1996. Fallbrook was on the 15 side of things. It was very rurale and nice. Kind of a smal town feel.

I am the son of a Naval Officer. I was born in southern MD, moved to Whidby Island, Washinton State. New Jersey, Philidelphia, Virginia Beach and back to Maryland. Of all the places I lived, I enjoyed California the best. I hate the snow, I loved the southern Cali winters, foggy in the morning, 65 and sunny in the afternoon. Not to mention, the women in souther Cali are so fine.

Most people say you can't go back when you leave a place, and to be honest, I haven't been back yet. But I miss "Alberto's", "Robertitoes" and the "Carl Strauss Brewery" in San Diego. The food is great there. I will return.

If not for my marraige going south, so to speak, I never would have never left. Where else on the earth could you snowboarding in the morning and surfing the evening. I would have stayed there forever. But to each his own. Every Utopia has it's downfall. Florida has huricanes, Cali has earthquakes/red and green tags. Like everywhere, we need to deal with each places personality, so to speack.

If my job offered me a position in southern Cali, I would accept in an instant. When I first went to southern Cali from the washington metro area, I was in total culture shock.

I had never seen so many beautiful women in spandex. That in it'self is almost worth the move.

Before you go, take your best buddie, and visit. I am pretty confident you will enjoy yourselves.

Steve

 

[kdx200chick]

[ Originally posted by KAV

This weekend I went to Hollister Hills and even though it’s been raining for a few days there the was one of the most awesome rides I’ve been on.



Hey Kav,
You got together with a friend of mine...Kathy! She mentioned she had an awesome time riding in the mud!

Wish I had been there...I love Hollister but only have 6 months left of riding there before we get to move back south to Camp Pendleton!!!! :aj:

I :cool: California!!!

 

[Kav]

Moving Back To Camp Pendleton isn't so bad. Right beween SD and LA, and I think you can ride on the base there also.

I'm glad I got to meet Kathy, and that she had so much fun. She did awesome on the Trol Trail, and she was a such great sport working on log and creek crossings. (Farmer John took us on a fun little loop when she told him she was bad at them, and wanted to work on them)

That was my first time riding there and I had a ball! And I entend to go back later this year a few times if I can

 

[kdx200chick]

Moving Back To Camp Pendleton isn't so bad. Right beween SD and LA, and I think you can ride on the base there also.

I'm glad I got to meet Kathy, and that she had so much fun. She did awesome on the Trol Trail, and she was a such great sport working on log and creek crossings. (Farmer John took us on a fun little loop when she told him she was bad at them, and wanted to work on them)

That was my first time riding there and I had a ball! And I entend to go back later this year a few times if I can

No riding on base....yet! There is some four wheeling allowed and there was a group working on "talking" the base general into allowing bikes but then the war broke out and everyone left for the fight. We love to ride at Hungry Valley and will be there often when we move back. We love Hollister and will miss it so much when me move South.... Maybe we can all plan some dates to come back to Hollister after we move back.

 

[Timr]

Steve,

Yeah, but in Waldorf MD, you have Budd's Creek in your backyard. Right?
I think I spent the night in Waldorff the year that I went to the MX National there.

My companies headquarters is in Columbia, MD.

 

[MrLuckey]

I'm sure you can find that spot in almost any state, but how many could give it to you year round.

Nope - trust me, as far as non-mx goes, with well over a half million acres in public riding areas, not many states come close. OK, MO, IL, KS, KY, IN, IA, NE.....all added together don't have as much :)

Hollister
Gorman
Ocotillo
Spangler
Jawbone
Stoddard
Dumont
Johnson Valley
Glamis
Plaster City
Imperial
Superstition Mts
Rasor
El Mirage
Cow Mountain
Big Bear
Cal City
Kennedy Meadows
Pismo
Ballinger
Clear Creek
Stoddard Valley
Foresthill

Tip of the iceberg lol

 

[dingoe]

If your needing the coast and your into boats, skinny water, and the AIWW and that type of stuff - - Stay east, because the Pacific sucks as far as that goes. Sure the wave are better on any give day or should I say more consistent, but warm fishable waters of the Southeast can't be beat. The coast has such a variety back home. But riding was limited to private farms or tracks. So to make it short, if you need the coast and you wish to ride then I think you'll like it out this way. Heck I can surf a morning session, and still be in the high dez by Sat. afternoon for Sunday races. Plus I can't get over how I can just drive out and camp and ride, for the most part where I wish. Try doing that back east, you'll be run out by a scatter gun. In most cases.

As short as that may be, that's saying something.
One other thought is FL, Florida is know for it's riding, but I don't know where areas are in relation to the coast.

Best of luck.

 

[snb73]

Timr,

Budds Creek is about 20 minutes from my house in Waldorf. My son, 13 with a 2003 KX-125, wants to try his hand at racing this summer. So I guess I'll have to try the "vet" class too. Budds has a race almost every weekend, except in the winter months.

I belong to the "Southern Maryland Dirt Riders". We have a 100 acre riding spot about 5 minutes from my house. It's about a 4 mile trail loop through the woods, which surrounds a 30 acre MX track. It also has a 1/4 acre pee-wee track.

The club gets some ride time at Budds and a few other tracks in the area. We flag the National. It's a blast.

But I do miss the carne asada burritos. Those things were the size of a K2 football, and great after a night if drinking. The carnitas tacos were pretty good too. I am surprized no one has mentioned Tijuana. You can have alot of fun there, just go with about 10 buddies. I had a buddie who was getting out of the sevice. He wanted to take his girfriend from home to Ensinada before he EAS'ed. Of course we had to do a dry run. So he and I packed up the CJ-7, top off of course, and headed south for the weekend. The 1st stop was "Papas and Beer" in Ensinada. That night was his first taste of tequila.

Let me skip the the end of the story.

The following morning we found ourselves having breakfast in a little cantina in Rosarito. Huevos y churizo, con pintos frejoles. And a cervesa of course, all for $5. Needless to say, we needed a bit of the "Hair of the Dog" that morning. It was definately an adventure.

Steve

 

[jwren00]

What about Colorado? I've lived here most of my life, but I also lived in Santa Barbara for 4 years when I was going to college at UCSB.

I rode all up and down central and southern california. Pismo beach is totally awesome, and there are a lot of fun tracks in the los angeles - ventura area, but in the end, I think Colorado riding is better. I just feel like there is so much more freedom here; I'm never bothered by rangers in green cherokees telling me i can't ride.

Plus, it's sunny and really dry here all year round. Colorado actually has more sunny blue-sky beautiful days than so cal, it just gets cold here for 4 months. But who cares, go snowboarding! I would encourage you to check out this whole area of the country - colorado, utah, new mexico, texas, oklahoma, nebraska, etc. I love this part of the country, and I have been everywhere. Just my thoughts...

 

[Okiewan]

What about Colorado?

Right on! While I didn't get to ride there (the Army thing got in the way, GREAT WEATHER. If the life plan works out, I'd love to retire there.

 

[Timr]

Steve,

Sounds like you guys had a real good time in Mexico.

 

[KDX-CHICK]

Opinions vary, you can see the good and the bad in everything and everywhere. I've liked everywhere I've every lived. from Socal to Indiana to South Dakota to Conn. You can find fun and good times if thats what you're looking for. FYI, I really liked Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida on my many visits.

Honeslty, if offroad riding is your thing. I've never found a more diverse place than Socal. Yes, there is endless miles of desert, but even that has some fun varring terrain. We also have mountains of pine forests with single track trails with stream crossings, we have open dunes both in the desert and my favorite on the coast. Not to mention all the fun stuff in Mexico. I race enduros out here and they vary the spots to mix in different ares.

If you read into all the figthing the evro nazi's threads, it doesn't sound like much fun. Sure we need to be active to save our areas, but read some of the ride reports in the so cal forum. You never see a bad one, even when the temps drop to 68 degrees and you have to change out of yoru vented gear to regular gear. Still no complaints. :)

The best advice is to come visit. post when your heading out, someone in the socal forum always has a ride going. There are places you can rent decent bikes to check it out for yourself.


For you negitive types:

Yeah we have traffic, but what major city doesn't, yeah we have some smog, again same response, Yes housing is expensive, but so is every other major city. yes we have earthquakes, but one of the biggest recorded in the country was in St Louis. everwhere can have earthquakes, Hollywood just makes our famous. We have forest and brush fires, all forests do it's a part of nature.

Other areas have blizzards and freezing, stay inside all winter, temps. Most of them have lots of flying bugs and humidity, my wife can't stand either which is why we live here again. Oklahoma and Tx have Tornados. most of the east coast has Hurricanes. Like I said pick your poison. You can look at every place for it's negitaves. Or you can enjoy life and focus on the positve things and work on fixing the negatives.

FYI we also have 3 supercrosses :yeehaw:

Good luck on your decision.

YOU SAID IT. I've picked my poison & it's definitely SOCAL. Housing seems to be an issue for most & I'll tell you, it's all in the financing. If you can understand how it works, you can live here & enjoy. The riding alone is worth it.

 

[ruler007]

I second his remarks.. But think about it, what is it you want...... Cali is where its at, that is if you love where you live, and think. Whats happened to cali in the past few years will just happen everywhere else, and you won't have our awsome weather and fine women.

 

[b-rocker]

Can you say traffic?Housing in San Diego County is about $400,000 for a very
average house if you can find one. NO weather! It's nice every day! I actually
miss the 4 seasons. Crowded MX tracks everywhere,great riding in the desert
in the fall through spring. Gas is 3 bucks a gallon.For someone from back east,
the amount of legal riding is incredible.You just have to drive a bit.Wages seem
to be pretty good here, but a decent apartment isn't cheap- a cheap house would be
$1500 or more.Hope this helps.