Coalinga is a friendly community

Having been raised in Los Angeles, and raised my children in Sacramento, it is almost always amazing to me at the friendliness of a small community.

Fifteen years ago I moved to Coalinga for a transfer within the State's prison system. I was staying at the Cambridge Inn and went my first morning before work to eat breakfast at Perko's. As I walked in about half a dozen men greeted me with smiles as I passed them on my way to my booth and I thought...this is great.

It still surprises me at the number of smiles and greetings I get when going into a restaurant, or store, or post office and even when you see the police (as long as your not being ticketed or some other problem).

Everyone knows everyone, and even if they don't know you, they still smile and say hello.

Of course, there are some people who might disagree with me, but then they would probably have that problem no matter where they lived.

I remember the story of a person who moves into a new town and he sees a bunch of men sitting around a cracker barrel playing checkers. He walks up to them and tells them he's new in town and was wondering what his neighbors would be like. One of the men looked up at him and asked, 'well, what were your neighbors like in the last town you lived in?' He responded that they were real nice. Then the man responded 'well, i guess you'll find your neighbors real nice here too.' He then went back to playing checkers.

Moral of the story. I you like where you live now and are moving to a new community, you will more than likely like the new community too.