We spent the whole evening talking as if we had known each other forever.  John arrived that evening as Steve’s first visitor from England and joined in the fun!

We went to Magic Mountain Amusement Park that weekend and had a blast.  Steve had difficulty with the name Dolores so jokingly called her ”ougimeflip” and “thingymabob” a few times and that started the “Ougy” nickname!

We started “dating” by attending country-western dance lessons at “Wild Bill’s” and “The Funny Farm” – staying until closing time many nights to practice!

We’d run into each other in the halls of TOSCO and practice some of the dance steps….

Our group of friends at work decided to go to the TOSCO Christmas party in matching “tuxes”– that started us dressing alike which continues today!  

My parents came for their first visit in early 1982 and we had fun showing them around Bakersfield.

We celebrated Mother’s Day at Rio Bravo Resort just outside Bakersfield, where this photo was taken.

Didn’t we look cool in our dark glasses and we were so thin and fit!  

Most of our time together was spent dancing to country music – here we are dancing at an outdoor concert!

We soon realized we were meant for each other and were spending all our time together so we decided to get an apartment together.  We moved into Jasmine Gardens Apartments in June 1982.

That was just in time for the “British Invasion” Bakersfield style….the Lads (seen here with Dolores), Glynn and Mandy Evans, and Dave and Cathy Morton.

It was a great excuse to explore Southern California and use Steve’s “boat” (see below), a Buick Regal from an era when gas (petrol) was cheaper!