May 14, 2004

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Publication Date: Friday, May 14, 2004

Escape to Baja

Katie and Greg Thompson will leave July 1 on a trip that's no doubt the envy of every working man and woman in Pleasanton. The well-known couple - he as vice principal at Foothill High and she as the guest host and producer at CTV30 community television - plan to hitch their 26-foot house trailer to their truck, load their three children aboard, and head for San Pedrito, a beach 40 miles north of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. There they'll be about as close to beach bums as a civilized family of five can be, spending the better part of a year living on the beach, soaking up the sun and surfing and riding dirt bikes.

Always an adventurous couple, the Thompsons, who live on Second Street near Kottinger, decided to take a year off from their conventional lifestyles while their kids could still handle it. Hank, 11, is in the fifth grade at Valley View Elementary; his sister Grace, 8, is in third grade; and Robby, 6, attends kindergarten at the same school. Hank and Grace are both fluent in Spanish, the result of their years in Valley View's dual immersion language program. They'll attend a Mexican public school in Todo Santos, an artist colony near San Pedrito, while Katie home-schools Robby.

The parents also will attend Spanish language classes and join American medical missions that serve this remote part of Baja. But with no television, radio or telephones, they will be about as removed from day-to-day life as a family can be. Katie confesses, however, that they'll also be only a 40-minute drive from the American hospital in Cabo, and a Costco, where they will stock up on weekly supplies, including food and water.

"We haven't had a TV in our house for 12 years except one which we can watch videos on, so not having one in San Pedrito won't be a big deal," Katie Thompson said. "Occasionally, we'll go to Todo Santos, where there's a post office and an Internet cafŽ, and that's how we'll keep in touch with our families."

For Katie's parents, Bonnie and Fred Krichbaum of Pleasanton, the Thompsons' plans bring only forced smiles. Actually, Katie says that her father, a retired United Air Lines pilot who has spent a career flying to distant cities, worries that he might bleed to death from biting his tongue over controlling what he might say about their trip. When their three grandchildren go off to "the end of the earth," as Katie quotes them as saying, they'll have only their six other grandchildren "nearby" in San Diego. At least that's 1,000 miles closer than where they'll find the Thompsons, although they do plan to visit.

As for Greg's parents, who live in Mobile, Ala., their son's venture with his family is even harder to accept. Always hard working and frugal, they can't understand how two well-educated Americans with good incomes can just take off for a year on the beach.

But for Greg, 42, and Katie, 39, it's now or never. As the children grow older, it would be more difficult to break loose from friends and school activities. The Thompsons believe the year away will advance the family's Spanish language speaking skills and broaden everyone's view of the world around them. Besides, they don't plan to just soak up the sun and surf for the entire year. They'll break camp after six months or so to ferry over to mainland Mexico, tour the rest of that country, and then travel to Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries. When they return, they'll take the kids on a motor trip across America before everyone heads back to their jobs and school.

Greg Thompson has a one-year leave of absence from the Pleasanton school district, although it doesn't guarantee him the same position at Foothill High, where he has been vice principal for the last five years. A graduate of Louisiana Tech, he taught for 11 years in Oakland and San Ramon, while also earning a California credential in school administration and a master's degree.

A self-taught surfer, he has improved his skills on trips to Hawaii, Mexico and Costa Rica, and spends most fair-weather weekends surfing at Santa Cruz. Known at Foothill as "the enforcer," he is regarded as a fair and effective administrator who has successfully brought a number of "wayward" students back into line, persuading them to become better in academics and school achievements.

Katie Thompson grew up in Pleasanton, attending Walnut Grove Elementary, the old Pleasanton School where Village High is now located, and graduating from Amador Valley High. With a degree from UC Berkeley, she worked in social services for four years and then taught English at Foothill, where she also headed the Leadership program. She developed the school district's "Every 15 Minutes" program, which both Amador and Foothill now conduct, a realistic event to show students the dangers of drinking and driving.

She quit her job at Foothill two years ago for broadcasting, and currently interns for KPIX television as a researcher and behind-the-scenes investigator. She also produces and hosts "Conversations" and "Positively Pleasanton," two popular shows on CTV30, and hosts "Everything Local" on that channel.

"Greg and I have been very involved in all sorts of activities and issues and meetings in Pleasanton for the 11 years we've lived here, and, frankly, we're tired and want to take some time off," Katie Thompson explained. "We want to be uninvolved for a while, lay out in our hammocks and watch the sun set, ride our dirt bikes and surf, and just hang out."

Home will be the self-contained trailer, complete with a kitchen, separate bedroom for the Thompsons, and lots of pull-down beds for the children and friends who plan to visit. They'll park next to a palm frond shelter, a large covered open space with a tile floor that is available at San Pedrito beaches. Asked about safety, she said that the only time they had anything stolen during their six previous trips to San Pedrito was in Pleasanton.

"We had driven all the way home from Ensenada, arriving here about 3 a.m.," she recalled. "So we just left everything in the back of our open truck. But when we went to unpack this next morning, it was all gone except for our two dirt bikes. We had camped in the open for three weeks in Mexico, but lost it all in just a few hours on Second Street."

Surfing with Greg

A surfer for the last five years, Thompson praises the sport for being about as close to the forces of nature as you can get. Plus, it's free with no teams or partners required.

"For anyone who enjoys the beach, this is the next step and it's fun," said Thompson, a vice principal at Foothill High School. "You learn how to paddle out to where the waves start breaking, then ride the wave sideways, milking it for all it's worth before it dumps you back on the sandy bottom."

Thompson, who plans to perfect his skills while on a months-long camping trip at San Pedrito, located near the southern tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula, cautions anyone just starting out to take it slow. His tips: ¥ Be a good swimmer. ¥ Take a lesson. ¥ Learn surfer's etiquette so that you're never in the way of another surfer. ¥ Hang out with experienced surfers to improve your skills and for water safety.

"There are many new surfers who get into trouble by going too far out or thinking they can surf just like those we see on television," Thompson said. "It's not that easy. Even a three-foot-high wave can be very challenging. Make sure that the bottom is sand, not rocks, because that's where you'll often find yourself landing very hard."

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