Ron:
I love to hear these stories, as I recently moved from Encino (LA area) to Arizona - no traffic - real friendly government types (so far) and everything is really so easy to accomplish. The DMV is brutal in California - visiting the DMV is almost as bad a having to go to the unemployment office, dentist or, probably, the welfare office - you are treated the same way at each office - badly.
Anyway, if it was not for the jobs, how many people would be living in California, anyway? Of course, there are some really nice beach areas, etc.