And me:

Why Ukiah? The correct answer to any question asking "why", according to what I remember from Philosophy 101 , is always "why not".  Why not a small town where when you come to a stop sign and look both ways, you may have to wave to a neighbor? Why not a last look of the California Redwoods might have been like, where you still can head up a creek at the edge of town just blocks from your front door, or where you can bicycle along the Russian river just the other direction a couple of miles to the East?

Actually, the second best answer to "Why", as I remember it, is simply "because".  Now you may not quite get the same positive cast to that word, but let's just go with it for a moment. Maybe I relocated to Ukiah because I ran out of gas on my way to Oregon. Hmmm....maybe because the traffic commute at 5pm is only two signals long while the rest of California creeps hours in bumper wasteland?  Or is it because there simply are no lines to wait in? With an Countywide population that has barely altered over the  years, I guess our little town is not going to ever be full of trendy restaurants or Malls of America.   

I don't know really. I guess maybe the answer is really best left to the next generation. I know I always hoped my kids would go off to see the world, get a good education, make lots of money, buy a three story condo in the City with a little room in the back for me in my dotage. Well, when I finally got one through the University, helped her see the world for a while, one day maybe when she got caught bumper to bumper somewhere, stood too long in a theater line or whatever, she upped and married her high school sweetheart (Ukiah High of course), and moved back to town, where my grandkids are now just a block away.

Come to think of it, maybe I better shut up about little Ukiah.  I might induce too many of you to come and figure it out for yourself.  I'd hate to think I'd have to run the gamut of a third traffic signal on State Street. And I don't know how many more friends I can wave to without becoming a traffic jam myself.