I am now the owner of lakefront property on Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico. I intend to retire there by the end of this year.

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, double-click the *.kmz file attached to this post and you can take a look at it. Because of a "feature" in Google Earth, you'll have to run the *.kmz file twice. The first time, it flies into a mountain and then jumps a couple miles back up into the air. Then if you do the *.kmz file a second time it will zoom in on the property. Rotate the compass rose on the upper right corner of the screen, and you will see the view from my property.

When the satellite photo was taken the lake was at historic low levels; the water is much closer to the property now, and all the land between my property and the actual waterline (wherever it advances or recedes to) is federal land that cannot be sold or developed.

Why Lake Chapala? A glance at the chart at the bottom of this page will give some idea.

Why retirement? I am the oldest person on this bbs (Sorry, Boxer!) and will be 62 years old in a couple of months. In more than forty years of working, I have taken less than 10 weeks of vacation, and have missed no more than five days of work due to illness or other reasons. I'm ready to stop, now.

I will be retiring with my newly wed (June, 2006) wife Jean. She is a former high school sweetheart from 45 years ago, and we got together largely because of this bbs. You know her as kayakjazz.

I hope to have my new home built and be settled in by this time next year, and hope that some of the people I have met here (especially you, Rob Schofield!) will stop by for extended visits.

tanstaafl.