The community in which my physical address is located shares the same zip code with two other unincorporated communities, we are: Somerset, Omo Ranch, and Fairplay. There is a Post Office in Somerset; the closest other Post Office is in Mt. Aukum, which is closer to my house than Omo Ranch. All three communities have name signs with elevations, but NO population listed for any of 'em. The real estate guides list all three's collective population as "around 1,900." Now, down in Amador County, the city of Plymouth (closest incorporated city to where I live in El Dorado County) lists a population of 512. Or was it 518? The elevation is 1,008 feet.
I don't recall Mt. Aukum's elevation, but it has the closest feed store and is about six miles from my house. Omo Ranch is at a higher elevation than Fairplay, which is reported to be 2300 feet. Somerset is at 2080 feet. I live between the two, within an eighth of a mile of a gas station/market. There are no traffic signals anywhere around here. No fast food places, either. Law enforcement is provided by the Sheriff's Office, and fire protection by a volunteer fire department which also serves all the small communities in this part of El Dorado County: Fairplay, Somerset, Omo Ranch, Mt. Aukum, and River Pines. Uh, possibly Pioneer, too....
My house is on a street with no residential mail delivery, not even mail boxes at the main highway as some other streets within the three communities are blessed. I pick up my mail at a UPS Store (formerly MailBoxes, Etc.) in the city where I used to live, population 49,849, elevation 20 feet. It's pretty close and convenient to where I work across the river in Sacramento, population 418,711 at 25 feet. When I retire, I will have to get a P.O. box in Somerset, 'cause I ain't coming Down the Hill for anything I don't have to!
