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"No fog, no snow, a good (great, I might add) on-airport resturant, and a challenging golf course nearby - sounds like an ideal fly-in destination. If this description fits your picture of a dream airport, you're in luck because those items are just a few of the many attractions surrounding the Auburn Municiple Airport." AOPA, January 2005, California Edition

Where else on earth can you find so much history? Well, lots of places, but that's not the point.

I flew into Auburn for the first time in 1985. I was looking for a place where I WANTED to live and a good excuse to get off the desert (and I'd only been living in Lancaster for two years at the time). I liked Auburn right from the start: rolling green hills, old town Auburn, gold mines, resturants. It was wonderful. I grew up in the mountains and it felt like home.

From 1985 to 1997, I made several pilgrimages to Auburn. I thought I was going to be moving to Auburn in 1995, but, like 'life happens,' I was overcome by other events. From 1997 to 2002, I quit my job at Edwards Air Force Base, Started my own business (AuCountry Aviation), I sold my house, bought a Citabria project, finished the Citabria, made many, many, excursions to Auburn and tried on each trip to get the airport manager in Auburn to commit to finding me a spot to move AuCountry Aviation. It took forever. In 2002, I finally got a definite maybe from the airport manager. In 2003, I put a deposit on a hangar spot (it didn't pan out). In early 2004, I got a promise for a compromise on that hangar spot. It turned to be an existing hangar being used as an auto body shop. By December 2004, it was becoming a reality, then it fell though. By then, I was already in the process of moving. I took a hangar in Grass Valley. Soon after the first of the year (2005) another hangar became available.

Feburary 4th 2005 was my first night here as a resident of Auburn. In the last month I have noticed, most of all, that people in Auburn are friendly and courteous. I really like it here. Check into the Auburn Chamber of Commerce. They have a great web site.

There are a lot of things to see and do here in Auburn. For example, every Friday night, all summer, there are motorcycle races at the Placer County Fair Grounds. The third Friday of every month, spring through fall, there is a cruise-in in downtown Auburn (100s of old cars); they actually close off over a mile of streets in down town Auburn, park cars on boths sides, serve beer, wine, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. Thunder in the Sky (Auburn Airports annual fly-in) in August and the County Fair in September. In Sacramento (just 20 to 25 miles away), there are free, open air, concerts in the park, power boat racing on the American River (for free), who-done-it mystery dinners on the water in Old Town Sacramento, and concerts in Arco Arena less than 40 minutes away. Plus, fishing, hunting, water skiing, river rafting, snow skiing and lots of other stuff less than an hour away.

Update Oct 2005: I've been here in Auburn for 10 months. I wanted to add some things: I've found four really good clubs to go to for drinks and to sing karaoke. Last spring, wild geese and wild turkeys could be spotted just oustside my hangar. Now, at night, as fall turns to winter, I find deer in the grassy areas near and around my hangar. Tonight, there were about 20 pheasants near the lake on the gold course (where the 2005 LPGA had its final rounds). I've even seen people fishing in the feeder stream into the lake.

Update (May 2006.): After one-plus year here, Auburn is still pretty incredible. It rained like crazy off and on for a month or so, March-April. I guess it was a record or something. Yes, the rain did get old. BUT. The worst day here is still a lot better than the best day in Lancaster. Several of my friends, and customers, from Lancaster and Southern California have been here to visit and or to get their planes worked on. So far, they are all thinking about relocating here.

Stop by and say, "Hi"
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