I began working at 13, after 45 yrs I finally retired when I was 58 and Michelle and I moved to Show Low Arizona. Show Low is a small town in the White Mountains on the east side of the state near the New Mexico border. Being at 6500 ft unlike a lot of Arizona, we get Four Seasons, in winter we have some snow but it usually doesn’t stay around long since the day time temperatures are typically in the 40’s. Spring is generally dry and sunny with winds in the 20-40 mph range. Summers are warm, usually around 85 and after the monsoons start in July we can have almost daily rain showers. Our fall weather is the best time of the year in the mountains. Daytime temps start dropping down into the 70’s and night time lows begin moving toward the 30’s. We are blessed with brilliant deep blue skys with beautiful after noon cloud formations. As the weather cools, the oaks, maples and aspens begin to turn as we head into winter.

Show Low is conveniently located in the middle of no where. We are 3 hours to Phoenix/Scottsdale, 3 1/2 hours to Tuscon, 2 1/2 hours to Flagstaff and 4 1/2 hours to Albuquerque. Aside from having a Target and a Costco and a few more restaurants we pretty much have what we need here. It’s a great small town, very similar to where I grew up in northern Illinois, law abiding citizens, friendly neighbors and a well run city government.

In 2008 we decided to build a 2100 sq ft office/shop on the acre lot to the east of our house. We had bought the lot in 2005 when it came on the market at a very good price. The main idea was to prevent someone from building right next door. The lot and building were a great investment for us. I now have room to work on my photography, graphic designs and most of all my hotrod/custom cars. My grandson refers to it as my ‘Fortress of Solitude’ which in many ways it is.