Where to Move? Time to Retire and Find a New Life.

01.15.18 | chickensoup

[Chickensoup]

The kids are grown and gone. I live in the Northeast. I am looking to move to a small city or town or village. I am healthy, happy and adaptable.

I would prefer a place that has a conservative base. Every location on the lists of best places to move are leftist s***holes.

I am hoping for a place with four seasons, albeit, not as severe as the northeast. Elevations are fine, beauty is important, and so is the need of good, friendly people.

Any ideas?

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

OK, thanks for clearing that up. Vaduz said “Anything but the West Coast states”, and he made it sound like he would be fine living in Communist states like NY or MA. Maybe he just forgot or maybe he is only looking in the west.

[CottonBall]

Very little snow. Usually just a dusting and then it melts.

The Tri-Cities area has Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City. Each one of those is about 50,000. And they’re about a half hour from each other. So it’s a pretty unique set up. And lots of cute towns scattered all about. But if you want 100,000 people in the same city, Knoxville is about two hours away and Asheville is about an hour. Of course, that depends where you were starting from, Asheville could be as close as half an hour if you are south of Johnson City.

Worst thing? Haven’t found that yet :-)

[CottonBall]

I agree, I am all for segregation – the Liberals deserve each other and us conservatives can’t live the way we like.

We loved the beauty of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee. But we chose Tennessee because North Carolina and Virginia were not voting right. The trend was increasingly liberal with taxes going up. Tennessee doesn’t seem to be changing the way it votes from election two election, so we feel pretty safe that things will stay the same here.If you are still in Virginia, you could come on over on a scouting trip anytime. We’re not far away, depending on where you are course.

[magna carta]

yes but Tyler is like going back in time. Hopefully we can enjoy the old country during our golden years in Tyler.

[Freedom56v2]

My son lived in Texarkana until last summer. We visited and went to the Gators and Friends Exotic Zoo near Tyler—had some great Bar-b-Que in Tyler too :)

I told my son I am not leaving Texas until I had some good Bar-b-Que ;)

[Paul R.]

Heheh - We have a Subaru Outback w/ really good snow tires on it: 8-9” of snow, no problem. After that we have an ‘08 AWD Ford Explorer - but the Subie is actually a better cold weather vehicle, overall.

W. KY is a bit problematic on the road clearing (of snow & ice) since they don’t get many such events, and when they do, the area of heavy snow / ice is usually oriented about the same direction as the shape of the state. In IL, the storms usually run ACROSS the state: If Carbondale gets whacked, plows from the Effingham or even Springfield areas can usually be called down to help. Or vice versa. But if Paducah gets snowed in, Owensboro, Louisville, and Lexington likely did too...

I’ll PM you a bit more info. on rec spots. :-)

[Paul R.]

There are lots of hilly areas in KY and TN, and even some that include lakeshores. (Ditto for the Ozarks, of course.) Summers - well, water nearby or elevation mitigates heat & humidity somewhat. June bugs don’t bother me, but most rural areas south of, say, Chicago, are going to have ticks & chiggers in abundance. For hoards of mosquitos, Jonesboro, Arkansas is the worst I’ve ever experienced, but that may be neighborhood specific. (ie., rice fields nearby.)

[KC Burke]

I used that cabin as a primary residence when I built a project in southern Missouri.

Got snowed in once but so did most of the county with 22 to 36” of snow on the road in one day.

My side of my little branch cove had only 3 of 8 cabins with full timers. The other 5 were weekenders used mostly in the warm weather. If my dock breaks loose from the ice, I will get a call from one of the guys after they throw a temp cable on it.

Like anyplace you might hear about some kids breaking into a place a couple of miles away, but that happens in towns, villages and suburbs.

[KC Burke]

The lake roads are generally paved but some cabins are not served by asphalt the last 500 yards or so. Mine is on asphalt.

We have fire hydrants now but that is fairly new. It takes about 1.5 miles and 200 foot of elevation gain to get back to the state highway. From that intersection, there is a big grocery seven miles south, a pharmacy five miles north, an urgent care clinic, a fire station, my boat service guy, and a police station all within 5 miles of that junction.

Some people have longer drives.

It takes me 35 minutes to get to a WalMart when I am down there.

[CottonBall]

Woke up this morning corrected :-) looks like we got a couple inches.

This is my third winter here and this ‘global warming’ has made it a lot colder and wetter than the previous two winters. From what I hear from the locals, this is definitely abnormal. I hope the trend is more like the previous two winters we had. Those were tolerable. Although, I came from Southern California so that’s my comparison. Summers are delightful. Now if you want snow, you could always live in roan mountain. It’s about a half hour away and they get lots more.

[jjotto]

Yes, northwoods winters are great. Spent a lot of time in northern Minnesota, including winter. More sunshine and drier air than farther south encourages getting outdoors.

Sundogs and northern lights, and fishing through feet of ice are great experiences.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Thank you. I appreciate it. I have been to Bristol. I have gotten recommendations for Johnson City.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

No, I live in California. The worst state.

I have been to Bristol. I need to check out Johnson City.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Thanks for the tips. I will have to see for myself. Stay a couple of weeks in a hotel. It is easy to have misconceptions about places you have never lived.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Thanks for the update.

[wardaddy]

The irony is bug season is actually worse the further north

It’s compressed in summer

Black flies and gnats and horseflies and. Skeeters

I was miserable in Yellowknife once

That’s why folks wear nets on runways in Labrador and Greenland

In the south I’d say can’t see ems at beaches suck bad

Worst mosquitoes I’ve seen in inndeep south swamps like achafalaya basin or miss delta bayous

If I could retire I’d pick northern gulf coast

I can handle heat and it’s cheap for water front especiallly on back bays and rivers

Modest home under 3000 sq feet and high bridge dock with a a decent open fisherman can be had for under 450 easy

If you don’t need waterfront slash that by nearly half

Fish or fowl river Alabama

Anywhere Round appalachicola or back bay Pensacola though Pensacola has race crime

Miss gulf coast is way quaint and cheaper and pristine open water with great fishing is 30 minutes for twin mercs on a 26-30 foot Older yellowfin or mako or seacraft

And New Orleans which has great food and any amenity is an 40 minutes from Bay St Louis

That would prolly be my pick

Back side of St Louis bay

[CottonBall]

oh sorry, I thought I read something that you were in VA. Must’ve been someone else.

I made the great escape from Mexifornia 3 years ago. BEST decision ever!!!

[blam]

"Fish or fowl river Alabama"

You rang?

[CottonBall]

"I dont like the south. Not because of the normal reasons you hear but because the south is generally so flat. I want a view. I want rolling hills. I dont want June bugs and stink bugs. I dont want the long hot summers."

We were looking at KY - beautiful state and nice white fences all over - but the flatness of most of it made us decide otherwise when we got to the east part with the mountains. I have to be near mountains, apparently. Having a cabin in the Sierras spoiled me, I guess.


This is our homestead. Click on the pics for a bigger view. Not a flat area on it, LOL! Watch what you ask for, you know? ;) We had to move a lot of dirt to put in the barn. And my ankles took a bit of time to adjust to all the up/down hill walks about the property.


Other side of the same property. Appalachians in the background (they are actually just at the end of the holler - one could keep walking and hit the AT in about a half mile to a mile).

Bugs were more than I was used to in Bakersfield. But not nearly as bad as they were in Corpus Christi/San Antonio. Nor was the heat or humidity - which I expected to hate. Had to learn some preventative stuff for ticks, but after I figured it out haven't seen another one on my person, dog, or clothes. (fingers crossed) I hate those things, yuck!


Here's another property that we looked at. The views were amazing! (funny, when making our lists of priorities, neither of us had 'a view' on it. But I love having the mountains to look at every day. The weather, especially clouds and the 'smoke' make them look different every few hours.) This property was closer to Roan Mountain, which has higher peaks. It's a beautiful place!

[CottonBall]

That’s a perfect list. Have you narrowed down which handful of states that would be? LOL!