This past summer, my wife and I took our son to the Santa Barbara Zoo, about two hours north of Los Angeles. The featured attraction is a miniature train that runs the perimeter. The train conductors act as tour guides, animal advocates, and stand-up comedians. My happy retiree radar was beeping like crazy, and it turned out to be accurate. So, a few months later, I returned to the zoo with all my recording equipment and caught them in action.
In his primary working years, train conductor Pete Georgi was the co-owner of the Santa Barbara Insurance Agency and President of the Board of the Carriage and Western Art Museum of Santa Barbara. Andy Liepman spent thirty years at the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and ended up as the Deputy Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center.
But now, they’re just two guys who wear overalls and drive a miniature train. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
00:00-Start
02:50-About our guests
07:40-How’d you wind up here?
09:28-Biggest lesson
13:34-About the train
15:10-You do what you want
16:55-Did you have a plan?
17:35-Social aspects of retiring
18:05-Getting your identity back
19:35-You have to DO something
21:54-Pete and the Condor
24:54-Less limitations
27:40-A happy retiree is a busy one
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