The city of Walnut is approximately 8.9 square miles and is home to more than 32,000 people. It is primarily a residential community, but it has more than 600 businesses. The city has a rural charm that is preserved by a well-defined general plan. Nestled at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and approximately 22 miles east of Los Angeles at the junction of four counties--Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino--Walnut is considered a bedroom community with rural charm and cultural diversity.

Although the author and his wife have been anchored to their last address for the past seventeen years, the theme of this book is to not sink roots. It starts with a day-to-day narrative of travel in Europe while the author enjoyed the thrillsand challengesof a years sabbatical. After a tour of England and Scotland, he explores the continent: France, the BDR (West Germany), the DDR (E. Germany), Czechoslovakia (current Czech Republic), and Poland before settling in for the winter in the town of Rastatt (located in the German state of Baden-Wrttemberg, not far from the E. bank of the Rhine River). Resuming travel in the spring, he explores Spain and undertakes a brief foray into the North African state of Morocco. France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, and Turkey follow. Returning via ferry, stops were made in the coastal towns of Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split-Zadar-Pag), finally covering Slovania with its capital Ljubljana. The next section of the book is another adventure of sorts: designing and building your own dream home. In Owner-Builder, the author recounts the problems he encountered while he acted as his own contractor. Coordinating the various subcontractors to work together to get the job done, he gained experience that convinced him that he would not want to do it again. In the last stories in the book, the author concentrates on moving experiences. Leaving Quail Ridge is about selling his dream home, and Finding Liquid Amber details the adventures of landing at his current domicile in Irvine, California. Stitched together, these stories weave tales of reality that grab your attention like few others.