After graduating from college, I returned to the Southland and landed a job with the State of California in August 1984. I have been working for them ever since in various assignments, offices, and name changes. I started working for the Toxic Substances Control Division in downtown Los Angeles at 1st and Broadway. There I saw the Championship Lakers go down Broadway twice, the Catholic Pope in his Pope-mobile go down Broadway once, and the entire downtown area shake, rattle and roll during the 1987 Whittier-Narrows earthquake. Later the office split and moved about. In 1999 I accepted a promotion to the Glendale Office where I currently work for the California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control as a Senior Hazardous Substances Engineer. My big project is working on the team for the Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory south of Simi Valley in Ventura County.

But if the truth be known, I work so I can afford my adventures. I have been hiking segments of the Mexico-to-Canada Pacific Crest Trail since 1996. I don't have the 6 months to do it all at once. From Mexico I have gotten as far as Cottonwood Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (just south of Mt. Whitney). I have hiked throughout the Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains. I have fished rainbow trout from the Baxter Lakes in the Sierras, albacore off of Mexico, a 6 foot tarpon off of Costa Rica and pirana from the Amazon's Rio Negro. I have stood in the Incan capital of Cuzco making the journey to Machu Picchu. I scuba dived off Bonaire and Curacao in the Carribean while on a cruise to see the solar eclipse in 1998. I visited castles down the Moselle while tasting the local beers and wines. I have rock climbed in Joshua Tree National Monument, hiked rim-to-rim-to-rim of the Grand Canyon and toured the depths of Carlsbad Caverns. I feel fortunate that I have been able to do so much and realize that there are lots more adventures out there that I have yet to experience.

I currently live in Hawthorne where I assist my mother, Barbara Baxter, the Lennox High School Nurse. On a sadder note, her husband, my father, recently passed away in May 2001 and we miss him dearly. We are adjusting. Barbara sends her apology and regrets that she was unable to attend the August 2001 reunion due to medical difficulties. But things are looking up for her and she is preparing to do her own traveling next year. My current email is SBaxter2@aol.com or SBaxter@dtsc.ca.gov. Since my mother never acquired enough computer savvy to surf the net, you can leave an email for her with me.