Where should we move to? (Long)

[crokett]

quote:Originally posted by ElRay

It seems like you're saying, "Go West young man!" That's the kind of info we're looking for -- Stuff you can't divine unless you've lived there for a while.

Yep. You could go east, but that would put you at least an hr further away from the mountains.

quote:
Ideally, we'd like to be as remote as possible without feeling cut-off. As long as I'm within a couple hours of an airport big enough for 7#7 and MD-80's (no turboprop, excuse me, "How much do you weigh?", punch numbers on the calculator, move bags from the tail to the nose sized planes) and I can get reasonably priced broadband at a reasonable speed, I'm golden.

Then this area would be ideal. I have 2 acres within half an hour of RDU International, all the shopping I need is 10 minutes away and my DSL is cheaper than the cable was.

quote:
How's the humidity in that part of the state? That's part of the reason we're leaning to something more towards the Appalachians, something at a higher elevation.

Right now it is raining, so 100%. Actually most of NC does get humid during the summer. The exception being the mountains. The coast usually has the breezes so you don't notice it nearly as much.

quote:
After doing more digging, I think something that's a pre-suburb of Ashville might be more in line with what we're looking for. It looks like you can still get 3-5 acre parcels out there. Also, Ashville seems fairly "cosmopolitan" or "sophisticated" (for lack of better labels).

You can still get those parcels here if you look around a bit. The triangle area is probably the most sophisticated area of the state. Charlotte is bigger, but all the Yankees live around here. I worked for a few months in Asheville several years ago, but not long enough to really have any experience there.

[cobob]

Roanoke, VA is nice. weather is fairly temporate on the east side of the appelacians. Spring blooming & fall colors go on forever because as you drive the elevation & sun exposure changes constantly ... mountain driving not for those suffering car sickness.
Too small for true diversity

[daletour]

Hi Ray.I know what you mean about northern il.I grew up in Freeport and my parents still live there.I love the pacific nw,it is nice to be 2 hrs from the coast and about 1hr from MT Hood.My family and i moved from Portland and now we live about 30 min SW outside of Molalla.We have ten acres,five goats,three dogs,three cats,one min donky,and seven chickens.Good coffee,beer,food and intertainment are a short car ride away..
And if it looks like rain,HHHMMMMMM sounds like a good day to be in the shop.....
Good luck Mike

[tuttlejr]

Asheville is a great city but on the expensive side as people have found out about it and are moving there. Land of the sky.

quote:Originally posted by ElRay
The cost of living is about the same as it is here. Durhan seems pretty integrated, but we have no clue about Ashville.

Ray

[ElRay]

quote:Originally posted by tuttlejr

Asheville is a great city but on the expensive side as people have found out about it and are moving there. Land of the sky.

Drat. It was also number eight in a recent list of the ten best cities in the US. Well, if we don't move soon (not too likely), we'll have to wait a bit longer. They started another phase in the subdivision and that pretty much freezes our prices and makes moving tough until it's done.

We'll still make a trip as soon as I can squeeze in the comp time. The search continues.

Ray

[Tom Slick]

Tehachapi CA. it's growing, it sits on top of mountains with trees, you can own acreage, it's motto is "land of four seasons", it's 30 minutes to bakersfeild, 20 mins to mojave, 45 mins to Landcaster/palmdale, 2 hours to LA, and it's nicer than the lake isabella area imho.

[ElRay]

quote:Originally posted by Tom Slick

Tehachapi CA. it's growing, it sits on top of mountains with trees, you can own acreage, it's motto is "land of four seasons", it's 30 minutes to bakersfeild, 20 mins to mojave, 45 mins to Landcaster/palmdale, 2 hours to LA, and it's nicer than the lake isabella area imho.

{Whoa! What happened to my reply?}

• Do you actually get snow in the winter? How much and how long does it stay around?
• It seems The Needles, Domelands, Taquitz and Joshua Tree have switched distances, but surprisingly, Vegas is the same.
• How's the ethic mix up there? I found some census results which listed almost 30% "Other" (non-Caucasian, non-African, non-Hispanic).
• How's the ethnic food situation? I'm looking at Google Local search, and I'm finding pretty slim pickings.
• I'm also looking at some real estate listings. Prices are looking pretty high (not as bad as Sand Canyon), and lots are still listed in sq ft instead of acres.

Ray

[Jim-Iowa]

Well I`m kind of like Bill W Meyer in that "I`m pretty happy" where I am, Iowa.
But then maybe I have that proverbial midwestern attitude?
We do have good schools, reasonable cost of living, and comparable wages. I`m 25 miles from Des Moines (work there 35 min. commute).
If I want Big City, Chicago, Twin Cities, Omaha, Kansas City & St Louis is within 300 mile driving distance. Since there is a new 7/8 mile paved race track going in at Newton 10 miles east of my home(Iowa Speedway) we will soon have everything I might go o in Iowa.
I have travelled over most of the country and there is good and bad wherever you go.

[ElRay]

quote:Originally posted by Jim-Iowa

But then maybe I have that proverbial midwestern attitude?

Not sure. I expected some heat for that comment, but I figured anybody that had lived in "The Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area" would recognize what I was talking about. I had written-up a humorous (to me at least) list of examples (One included a Monty Python "Spanish Inquisition" / SLN's "Coffee Talk" hybrid*), but I forgot to post the reply before I selected "Shut Down" and browsers don't warn you about unsaved changes. A quick summary would be:

Too many people can't see past their own semi-tunnel vision life experiences and any decision made that's different than the one they would make is stupid.

I know this is everywhere and that not everybody here is like this, but the sheer volume of people with this attitude is astounding. We have also never seen ignorance worn so often as a badge of honor. Somehow a lack of experience and/or knowledge is viewed as purity of thought and makes their decision better and more accurate than that of somebody that is actually more informed. What makes this more difficult to deal with is that to these folks, it's absolutely inconceivable that reality could possibly be any different than their ill-informed, misinformed or pure FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) based preconceived notions.

As a simple, clear-cut example is the number of people that know without a doubt that they hate seafood. As far as they know, they have never even tasted a single non-chicken, non-pork or non-beef morsel, yet somehow they know with 100% certainty that they won't like anything and everything even remotely associated with seafood so there's no point in even trying.

As I said, not everybody is like this, but the sheer volume of people that are is enough to make it a near daily, annoyance.

Ray

*If anybody's curious, it was in reference to the nearly universal whispering and looking around any time anybody says "Jew" or "Jewish". It's like they fear Mike Myers in drag jumping out doing and doing an impersonation of his mother-in-law saying, "Nobody expects ..."

[Jim-Iowa]

Ray that comment was made in jest. Never intended to give you any other impression. Sorry if you thought otherwise.

[ElRay]

quote:Originally posted by Jim-Iowa

Ray that comment was made in jest. Never intended to give you any other impression.

That's what I figured.

quote:Sorry if you thought otherwise.

Oh, no offense taken. I figured I should spell it out, just in case there's somebody that would call that the "The region I currently live in" attitude and to avoid offending anyone from the Midwest that doesn't fall into that group. I figured none of the folks that fall into that group read this forum, but sometimes folks can take offense when none is intended.

Ray

[meika123]

Well-I'm quite fond of my area. About halfway between Winston Salem and Statesville NC. It's a little area known as Advance. Right next to Tangelwood Park and Bermuda Run. Tanglewood has the Steeplechase every year, and their Music at Sunset is great. They used to host the Vantage Golf Tournament.
I'm about 2 hours to Asheville, less than that to Boone. Thirty minutes to Greensboro, and Crokett, about 2 hours or less to Raleigh.

Dave in NC

[onedash]

Im from Racine WI and of course have not really lived there since I was 18 because I joined the Marine Corps so as far as the Midwest aditude all I can say about the people I knew then and family i would say its not true. Do I plan to go back when i retire???Probably somewhere in the midwest. The land is much more beautifull around lacross and the wester central part of Wisconsin. Lots of bluffs and hilly areas, mississippi river, lakes great deer hunting etc....
Milwaukee probly has the diversity but I don't want to live in a big city. Near one probly but not in one. Ive spent about 8 years in Camp Lejeune, 3+ in San Diego/Oceanside, 1 1/2 in Virginia Beach(now)1 year in Okinawa, been to Thailand, Cuba, Austrailia, Norway, Bahrain and Im sure a few I cant think of. San Diego I agree with everything you said. It was good a for a couple years but thats it.
Id like to go check out Colorado yet. Heard good things about it. Drove through once and looks nice.

[ElRay]

quote:Originally posted by onedash

Im from Racine WI and of course have not really lived there since I was 18 because I joined the Marine Corps so as far as the Midwest aditude all I can say about the people I knew then and family i would say its not true.

Wisconsin is great, it's just even further from both sets of grand parents. We like Madison a lot. Haven't seen too much of "that attitude" in WI, but 90% of our trips up that way have been to Dodgeville, Spring Green, Sparta & Toma areas.

Ray

[gordons]

Ray. Was wondering if you have come any closer to making a decision on your move. LOML and I have just returned from a whirlwind four day trip to NC. Started in Charlotte then went to Greenville (SC), Asheville, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Wilmington and back to RD triangle. Needless to say, it was way too much in such a short time. Drove about 1,000 miles, but the object was to get a sense and feel for the area.

Beats the heck out of South FL and many other places we've been to. We are now trying to decide where to move to and think that we have it down to one of two places: Greenville, SC or Charlotte. Have to make the choice within the month as we have sold up in FL and can't wait to get away from here.

Reasons for our choices are that we think these two areas offer us the lifestyle that we seek - quieter, semi-rural home ownership is possible, not unreasonbly expensive, not too far removed from larger cities if need be, well situated between mountains and coast, seemingly good economy in both places. Not having any kids gives us a lot more freedom to select different places.

Be interested to hear yours and others comments.