MOVING  TO  RURAL  SAN  DIEGO

Ann and her sister Marlene decided it would be fun to live together for awhile.    Marlene and Ivan were newly retired and trying to decide where to settle.    Don was about to retire from ASRC and come home to stay (except for summers).   The two couples traveled a lot two winters, trying to decide where to retire.... Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,  California......finally deciding on San Diego.

Ann spent the summer of  1996 in Fairbanks, renovating a 65 passenger modern school bus.    Everything was removed inside and painted.  Wrestling mat was laid to cover every inch of the floor to make it quiet and dustproof and nice carpeting was put on top of that.    They moved in real kitchen appliances and real furniture and made a home on wheels.              The outside was painted tan with a purple stripe  (and a van was painted to match).        She can attest to the fact it takes nearly 40 hours to tape off windows, mirrors,  chrome, and anything you don't want spray painted on a huge bus!

They drove it down the Alaska Highway to Mexico first, back up to South Dakota and left it there a year.   The next fall after baseball season they picked up the bus, took a fun trip and then drove to Canon City, CO and spent a month living in the bus to find and close  a house for Don's mother.      Next they drove to San Diego and house hunted for nearly another month, living in the big bus, before finding their present property.    

Marlene and Ivan drove to San Diego from San Jose where they lived,  checked out the rural property,  and everyone decided it would be suitable for two families and fun to fix up.   It had a small house with a basement,  a 1200 square foot shop building and an acre plus of land.  

Ivan and Marlene Kundel	Living Room After Renovations.

For the first two years, everyone worked  fixing up the house and making living quarters for Don and Ann....  and Ann had her first separate art studio.

The two families lived on the property for three years and had such fun building, traveling and gardening, but then Marlene and Ivan decided to move to S.D. to be near their kids and parents.      Ann and Don bought their half of the property, moved up to the house and added an addition in 2004.

Oh...and the bus....    it has made numerous trips antiquing the back roads of dozens of states.   The big bus is great for moving kids and has served in that capacity many times.

The bus made its final long haul in April 2007.   Ann's father had passed away and she spent a couple of weeks in South Dakota with her family.   Don drove the bus to Colorado and visited his mother, then on up to SD to get Ann, and they drove to Fairbanks for the summer.     The bus will be sold; the end of another fun era.    

Uncle Scotty and
Aunt Dotty

A few of Ann's projects for their
house in rural San Diego

What does Don do for fun?

Don's hobby is collecting pottery from Mexico and they have traveled to Mexico a lot...but their most enjoyable times are when they are traveling the back roads of America, stopping in little shops and way stations, and finding Mex. treasures.

(click to read)
Favorite sign in several
Mexican museums.

The Dennis family lives in an apartment in Fairbanks and has the home in rural San Diego, about 20 miles from the ocean and  5 miles from the high mountains.  After living in La Mesa and Carlsbad CA previously, they carefully bought so there was no danger from mud slides, earthquakes, floods, and all the disasters you hear about in California because it is so mountainous.   That said, the worst wildfire in California history hit in the fall of 2003.    Don and Ann had been visiting Steve's family in Tucson and were returning home when they noticed excessive traffic coming out of San Diego.     Soon traffic going into town was stopped and they spent two days sitting in the desert mountains waiting for clearance to go home.  They had heard radio reports of homes in their neighborhood burning, so expected the worst and were so completely grateful when they returned and saw a HOUSE!   They were so lucky to only have a scorched carport!  So many neighbors lost their homes.

Pictures taken by a neighbor.
Left:  Half a mile from the house, south.     Right: Moving towards the house from the east.  It also burned numerous homes behind us, to the north.

The Cedar, Otay and Paradise fires scorched about 376,000 acres, killed 16 people and leveled 3,241 structures in San Diego County in the fall of 2003.  Three fires combined into one huge fire.

The area reminds Don of the Colorado mountains.   There is a little creek running through the back yard, and year-round flowers and fruit trees.  After all the years in Alaska,  they love it!   Kids and grandkids live on the property adding to the enjoyment. 

Ann loves to garden and having an acre satisfies the space needs for many kinds of gardens. 

Don spends a lot of his winter hours piling stone and building up the sides of the creek....learned from his jetty building days in Fowler.    He follows sports of all kinds, works year round on the baseball team, and they love to jump in a vehicle and just go.  One friend from Alaska spends part of the winter camped in their yard each year, and they installed a camp model large mobile home to accommodate other long term guests.  It gives their kids and families a place to stay with privacy. Missionaries from other countries have stayed in the yard, and that is so fun.   The more, the merrier!!

July 2007

Thanksgiving 2007

      Our Church

DONALD DENNIS AND ANN (MILLER) DENNIS FAMILY WEBSITE                     NEW on the site  

  9.  Extended Family

       Ann's Pottery/Art 

Classmates              

Baseball 

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