NEIGHBORS : Distant Shores : Dr. John Ford, his fiancee and his surfboard are heading overseas.

We’d like to bid farewell to Dr. John Ford. Today is his last day as medical director of six satellite clinics in Ventura County. In August, he and his fiancee, Laura Sugino, will be heading off to Thailand or Papua New Guinea--they aren’t quite sure which--to do a year of volunteer medical work.

It won’t be Ford’s first mission abroad. In 1982 he worked in Africa and in 1985 he spent some time in the Amazon Basin of Brazil.

What does he miss most about Southern California when he’s away? “When I was in Africa, it was the surfing,” he said. “I hope to surf on this trip. In Thailand, there’s no good surf, but in some other places there is.”

Any trouble traveling with the surfboard? “Going into Africa, they were a little worried about it. They thought it was some kind of instrument of war, some weapon,” he said. “I had to show them a surfing magazine. Once they saw a picture of a guy riding a wave, they thought it was fantastic.”

National Football League training camps opened last week, but you wouldn’t have guessed it by hanging around California Lutheran University. If you remember, Dallas Cowboys officials decided last year to move to Austin, Tex., after 27 years at the university.

“They felt it was too cool of an atmosphere here,” said Greg Seiler, the Cal Lutheran sports information director. “They wanted the players really hot.” Try explaining that to anyone who has had to endure the 100-plus weather and humidity in Thousand Oaks recently.

Do people miss the Cowboys? Not everyone.

Said Bob Dirado, owner of Sergio’s Cantina, an occasional player hangout: “They used to come in a couple of Saturday nights and they’d draw large crowds, but it really didn’t make much of a difference for the business. Like anyone else, they’d get a little rowdy and sometimes you’d wonder if you really wanted them in here.”

While we’re on the subject . . . as difficult as it is for those vagabond Raiders to find a permanent regular season residence, the team still considers the area around River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard its training home. And that means some extra work for the head chef at the players’ quarters, the Radisson Suite Hotel.

“They eat proportionate to their size,” Jody Hall said. “They eat very well, but not excessively.” No? Consider these daily food tabulations for 100 guys: 40 pounds of bacon, 30 to 45 dozen eggs, 20 pounds of sausage, 60 pounds of meat, 45 pounds of bananas, 28 pounds of grapes, 40 pounds of other fruits, eight gallons of punch, seven gallons of orange juice, 12 dozen bran muffins, plus fish, chicken, Danishes, cereal and lots of ice cream.

They had 96 dozen ice cream bars in just the first four days of camp.