After retirement, most family members continue to live where they lived during their working lives. But some decided to move afterwards. Sometimes close by and sometimes far away. Why?

Piet (from Jo and Fokje) and Julie moved 10 years ago from McMinnville in the state of Oregon to the town of Ajo in Arizona. 3,000 inhabitants and 70 kilometers from the border with Mexico. It is located in the Sonoran Desert, the vegetation consists of many cacti. Many impressive cacti can be seen in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the road to Mexico.

Piet: “We moved here for the peace and the warmer weather. In 1993 we first happened to come to Ajo by chance on our way from Phoenix to Mexico. We liked it so much that we came back regularly in the following years. In the winter we also came to Ajo with our caravan. Then we decided to buy a house here and sell our house in McMinville. Our children thought we were crazy. There is little here. The nearest Walmart is 100 miles away, it is a 2 ½ hour drive to the nearest hospital.”

What do you do here?

Piet: “A lot of people ask us that. We never get bored. We walk a lot, cycle and read a lot. In the morning and evening on our veranda, in the summer during the day mainly inside in the air conditioning. The temperature then rises to over 40 degrees.”

“We miss the proximity of the children, but our children and grandchildren live spread across the country in Texas, Oregon, Idaho and Minnesota. Wherever we live, we will always have some of the children far away. We visit them every year and they also come here regularly.”

Seven years ago we had a family reunion here in January, with all the brothers and sisters-in-law, where sons Peter and Richard were also present. Many people find it dangerous here, so close to Mexico. We live 90 miles from the beach in Puerto Peñasco on the Gulf of California.

After the reunion in 2017 Willy and I bicycled from Ajo to Yuma via Puerto Peñasco along the Gulf of California. There, the desert is even drier and there is hardly any vegetation. The 90 mile stretch from Puerto Peñasco to Golfo Santa Clara is completely desolate, with just a few houses along the road.

You live right next to Trump’s infamous wall. Do you notice much of it?

“No, not at all. You also have to realize that the first separation along the border was built in 1909. Since then, almost all presidents have had pieces of border wall built.”

Are you ever going to leave?

No, we will stay here unless we have no other choice. When we need care and support and facilities are closer.