Posted: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:00 am
After retiring in Hawaii, we decided that we really wanted to get back to the land and have a small farm in the great Pacific Northwest.
We have found that when people ask why we left Hawaii to retire in the little town of Sodaville, Oregon, the inquisitor will always stand back about 10 feet, the obvious supposition being that anyone who gives up a life in Hawaii is probably prone to other irrational behavior and should be approached with a clear escape route in mind.
One should bear in mind that the entire Big Island of Hawaii can be circumnavigated by motor car in four hours. This makes two-week getaway trips on the Island somewhat redundant. And most important is that no matter how much one waters lava, gardens are singularly unproductive.
So on the advice of friends we took a week and flew to the Northwest to find our new home. We had just a few days left to find a place, and our home on the Big Island was in escrow so we were operating in desperation mode, but had heard the central Oregon coast was beautiful…most of the time.
We journeyed over to a small fishing village on the coast and were met by the most exquisite weather we had seen since leaving on our trip. We quickly found a realtor, a house, an escrow company, and congratulated ourselves on how really decisive and clever we were while heading back to Portland the next day to catch the plane back to Kona. And we moved.
Mark Twain once said "The coldest winter I ever endured was a summer on the Oregon Coast."
After seven years of freezing I finally got up the courage to ask a local politician about the weather and he said, "Oh, you should have been here on July 25, 2000, it was the most perfect day we have had in 40 years."
Realizing the magnitude of our miscalculation we regrouped and found a lovely little farm in Sodaville, outside Lebanon in June of 2007. And we moved.
Beautiful warm summers, abundant wildlife, wonderful gardens and perfect neighbors. The winters are a pleasure, because for us the change of seasons are a wonder to behold.
Do we miss Hawaii? Not for an instant. Besides, the little town of Lebanon has really taken hold of our hearts; though we do wonder at times if the residents of our little community really appreciate how fortunate they are to live here.
And I was able to buy a tractor and make farmer noises, eat earth fresh food from our own garden, fiddle around in my RV barn when it rains working on nonsense projects. Do we ever have regrets about leaving Hawaii? Never, and I think Mr. Twain would like it here too.
Ken Barton, 76, and his wife, Linda, moved from Kona, Hawaii, to Sodaville and are learning about farm life. Before retirement, Ken was on the scientific staff of Canada France Hawaii Telescope, stationed at the Mauna Kea observatory on the big island of Hawaii. Linda is retired from banking. Ken enjoys writing about their adventures on their small farm.