EISPIRATEN

I retired from my job last month and joined the ranks of the pensioners. Life circumstances have relocated us from the OC to the Atlantic coast of Florida. I won't be doing any posting about the San Gabriels or the Sierra Nevada or Death Valley anytime soon. At some point, I will return for a visit, but I really don't know when. I will still read this board and chime in if there is something that I know anything about. But, my activity is likely to be less. I doubt if anyone wants to see pictures of alligators. OK, maybe one alligator picture. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the big agave in Chino Hills actually bloom. If anyone gets by there, please post one.

There is hiking in Florida, but it is rather different from the American southwest. There is no forum like this one, but one hiking information site announced that, with the arrival of May, the Florida hiking season is over. After living here two weeks, I know what they meant. The summer has 90 degree temps, 80% humidity, and frequent thunderstorms. Florida is the lightning strike capital of the US. On top of all that, the place is flat as a board. There is only one way to maintain uphill fitness: long hours on the stair master.

I was fortunate to meet many of you in person. Best wishes for the future.

Enjoy whatever you choose to do! TR's of flatland hiking are more than welcome - show us what green plant life looks like! And watch out for the snakes and gators and armadillos.

We'll miss your excellent photos and posts, RichardK! Good luck in Florida. Hope to see some trip and wildlife pics.
(We met once, if you remember, in Icehouse Canyon a year or so ago. You and your wife were a pleasure...)

Best of luck in retirement and thanks for your many contributions. Your mountain memories will survive even the flatland of Florida. Enjoy!

Hey thanks for all the great pics and reports you've shared Richard. Enjoy your retirement. Hope you can get back into the mountains now and then for the sake nostalgia.

Congratulations on your retirement.

I too am retired and living on that other coast in South Carolina. I grew up in Azusa and spent years hiking and working in the San Gabriels. Thanks to your posts and those of many others I have been able to (vicariously) enjoy the San Gabriels again.

Well dang. Enjoy the heat! 8)

orget the alligator pictures, we want to see one of them HUGE (+10 ft) pythons that are infiltrating every corner of Florida. People smuggled them in as pets, then released them when they either got bored with it, or the snake got too big to handle.




And they eat alligators! :

This is one of my favorite Rock Python pix. Go Florida!

You guys are too much. That's why I love this forum. Don't forget about the Nile monitor - a 6 foot lizard that can run 18 miles per hour with a nasty temper. It's in the same family as the Indonesian Komodo dragon. There is a colony in an agricultural canal south of the West Palm Beach airport. Florida Wildilfe is making a concerted effort to eradicate them. I saw a cute phrase on their website for the ones they have eliminated: "euthanized by shotgun".

tekewin wrote: ↑This is one of my favorite Rock Python pix. Go Florida!

Electric fences, keeping bad neighbors, well, good and dead.

http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2008/05/r ... fence.html

I'd also like to add a big 'Thank You' Richard for all your contributions to this forum over the years...

And it would be really cool to see what you see along your Florida adventures.

All the best to you and your retirement times...

Enjoy your retirement, Richard.

You can take the man out of the mountains, but you can't take the mountains out of the man. (eyeroll)

Thanks so much for your posts; you've always contributed helpful and insightful content, and delightful TRs.

All the best to you and your wife,
Arocknoid

I was born in Brevard County Hospital, and I blame the early years spent there for my affinity for moist heat! I'm beyond over the flat, though.

Someone needs to film a 4-hour uphill hike for watching on the stairmaster.