I am a conservative born and raised in California. I moved to Arizona for political reasons but only stayed there for 3 months.

• Jayne Ashton, 63, is from California and leads conservative politics.

• She moved to Arizona around 2017 to escape California’s liberal politics.

• But she only stayed three months before realizing there was no place like home.

This essay as told is based on a conversation with Jayne Ashton, a 63-year-old retired police dispatcher who moved from Homeland, California to Benson, Arizona, in 2017 to escape California’s liberal politics and closer to his family. She only stayed in Arizona for three months before realizing she wanted to return home to California.

Jayne: I am a born and raised Californian, originally from Bloomington in San Bernadino County. I stayed there until my twenties.

I eventually settled in Homeland, California, where I lived for about 25 years. I raised my daughter there with my ex-husband and traveled 87 miles one way every day. I owned a house and lived on an acre and a half. I took my daughter to school with a pony and cart every day.

You see, California is not what people think. When you say you’re from California, they think Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. But California is so big. You can live in the country and live just as well as if you lived in Tennessee.

I’m conservative and always try to keep red in this crazy state. I’m a retired police dispatcher and I believe crime should be punished, and I don’t think it’s here in California.

It was politics and crime that initially made me think about leaving California around 2016 and 2017. The increase in high-density housing and traffic throughout the state also played a role.

Everyone told me that California was in decline and that I should move. I was afraid the state would tax my retirement, which ultimately didn’t happen. But I had a family member in Benson, Arizona, about an hour east of Tuscon.

So I sold my house and moved. It felt like a massive release at the time, so I felt the need to do it too. It was almost like sheep running away.

I chose Arizona because it was only a six-hour drive from California. But even when I left, I thought it was a big mistake.

Benson, Arizona is in the middle of nowhere.

There is nothing but a Walmart, an Ace Hardware and a Safeway. And there are only so many things you can buy at Walmart.

I am a vegetarian. I haven’t eaten meat since 1969 and I was starving in Arizona. I would have to drive an hour to Tuscon to go to Whole Foods and buy the food I was used to. People were like, “You’re a weirdo.” You have to eat meat. » In California, there are vegetarian restaurants all day long.

I had money from selling my house and initially wanted to buy a place in Arizona. But the houses I’ve looked at have collapsed during inspection and luckily I never have.

The state was good for me politically. Many people had the same beliefs as me. But I don’t experience politics every day, and they did. I have it in mind but it’s not a driving force for me.

People always said to me, “Oh, you’re from California? Well, I hope you don’t bring your beliefs here. There were always derogatory comments. They wanted to complain about California. They don’t want us there.

I am also religious and I missed my church. I just wasn’t happy. It was a dark cloud above me. I missed California every day. I only spent three months in Arizona before returning home.

When you were born and raised in California, you must be in California.

It’s like the Beach Boy song, California Girls. It’s an instilled trait. Californians don’t always like other Californians, but we love California.

I ended up buying a house in Hemet, Riverside County. Everything was barricaded. There was no electricity. It was horrible. But I was happy to be home. I’d rather live in a shitty part of California than live out of state again.

I ended up living there for five years. I kind of renovated the house, sold it and made a profit. Then I got out of there and came to Tehachapi, where I wanted to live since 1999.

Tehachapi is a lost treasure. It is one of the last conservative strongholds in Southern California. We have elk, deer, foxes and everything. It’s beautiful.

California has a reputation for being very liberal. But if you’re born in a place like Tehachapi or Clovis, you’re a far cry from someone who grew up in Los Angeles. It’s a very different state of mind. We’re more of a country-western-cowboy-cattle type.

It doesn’t necessarily bother me that everyone in the country thinks of California as just Los Angeles or San Francisco. I know what I believe and what I stand for. People shouldn’t judge California by its big cities.

I love the beauty of the state and the stable weather. You can go to the beach in an hour, you can go to the mountains in an hour, you can go to the desert in an hour. You can’t beat the topography.

I never want to leave California again.

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