where to live....

[fivestring]

Western NC, Eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia...
Mountains and valleys.....

 

[Bird]

Two years ago, friends and former next door neighbors both retired and bought a new home in the middle of Florida in a retirement community. He plays lots of golf since retiring, and in spite of the advice of their friends in this area, they thought Florida would be great. I think she's been unhappy there almost since she arrived, and he's had enough, too, now, so they'll be back looking at houses in the Dallas area in October.

 

[Chuck52]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Western NC, Eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia...
Mountains and valleys..... )</font>

Amen. Wish the grandkids were portable so I could get the wife to retire back home to the mountains. If the weather got hot, I'd head for the hills, find a nice clear running stream, and just sit in it for the day. Aaarrgggh. I don't much like the middle of Missery. Too flat, and all the streams want to be like the Big Muddy....too thick to drink and too thin to plow.

Chuck

 

[Tractor_Dawg]

We where just in Western N.C. visiting my ailing grandmother this weekend. Beautiful weather, we even built a fire one night. We both love the mountains, clear lakes and creeks. Then we drove the 9 hours back to Jacksonville. I hadn't gotten all of my stuff out of the truck before I was bitten at least a dozen times by the dang skeeters. I'm just tired of the constant heat, bugs, and humidity down here, not to mention that there is no fall or winter. My wife wants to move to the mountains but I don't know what I would do for a living. She can move anywhere and still work (teacher), but I'm strapped to the cities to find work (structural engineer). I always wanted to be a farmer when I was a kid. Now, I'm thinking I should have gone that route. I could care less about computers and working in a dadgum office. I want to bust my hump for a living. I guess I let greed steer me into my profession. I do very well for a 28 yr old, but is that $$ worth all the stress that I bring home? I love looking at this website, at all the pictures you guys post. But in a way it depresses me because I can't walk outside and take a similar picture.
Maybe I should just move, build us a house in the mountains, live off my wife's salary and farm grass...... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I think a cross county trip is in order. ROAD TRIP!!!

 

[Tractor_Dawg]

Oh yeah, also, I passed two HUGE tractor dealerships up in the mountains.....my kinda country.

 

[om21braz]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Western NC, Eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia...
Mountains and valleys..... )</font>

Another Amen ! Well I'm pretty happy right where I'm at. I can travel 2 hrs. to the NC mountains or about 3 1/2-4 hrs. and be at the beach and only 5 minutes to my favorite BBQ joint. Close enough to several larger cities yet not far from being away from it all.

 

[OkeeDon]

<font color="blue"> We where just in Western N.C. visiting my ailing grandmother this weekend....</font>

Not a bad second choice, after Florida. We own a cabin near West Jefferson, in the NE corner of the state, about 30 miles NE of Boone. We don't get up there as much as we used to, but at one time we thought about spending the summers up there and the winters in Florida. As for jobs, you might be surprised. Maybe not many structural engineers, but that kind of knowledge translates to many things. West Jefferson, for example, is the home of the 1st or 2nd largest ambulance builder in the nation, for example.

There's still gotta be something wrong with your corner of FLorida, however -- maybe our county's control is more effective or something, but we haven't been bothered by mosquitos for years -- just occasionally -- nothing like when we lived up North in Massachusetts. And, the heat here never seems to get as hot as the heat up there.

There are some neat rural areas to the Southwest of Jacksonville -- maybe you should be looking to get some expansion room with a little longer commute.

 

[Tractor_Dawg]

Don, your right. There are some nice rural areas southwest of Jacksonville. We live in Green Cove Springs on 1 acre. However, that 1 acre is in a neighborhood that is getting way too full. Plus the larger tracts are getting too expensive. The one acre (40 miles south of J'ville) was 44,000. I can't afford much dirt at that rate. As for the mosquitoes, we have been getting ALOT of rain in the afternoons and they are THRIVING! I probably could find a job somewhere else with my background, but like I said, I'm trying to get away from the computer (except to check out TBN).

Actually my post should have read:
"what would you do if you didn't have kids, where burnt out on your job, had the perfect wife that supports you no matter what, and wanted to live in the sticks (and somehow make a living)."

 

[hazmat]

<font color="blue"> The one acre (40 miles south of J'ville) was 44,000. I can't afford much dirt at that rate. </font>

Don't move to metro boston. 2 acre lots are going for north of $300K. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[shvl73]

In our area it's $75,000 - $150,000! For the lower figure it would be marginally buildable w/ wetlands.