Why do you live where you live?

[mikim]

<font color=blue>The secret I believe is in enjoying the work</font color=blue>

The absolutely best times I can remember in my life are times when I've gotten together with neighbors/friends for a full day of hard work. There's just something about the feeling of accomplishment and fellowship that comes from it that beats anything else.
mike

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>best times I can remember in my life are times when I've gotten together with neighbors/friends for a full day of hard work</font color=blue>

You sure got that right; nothing like getting a group of friends together to have fun while accomplishing a lot of work.

 

[antiques]

Well, MossRoad, when you're heading North on Cleveland Road and you come to Warren Woods Road, take two lefts (onto Holden Road) and the first house on the left on Holden is ours... #15583... drop in on the way by!

 

[Tom_Trees]

Well - because I like it here./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

As GlenMoss and some of the others have pointed out, the cost of living in this area is quite low. The unemployment rate is also usually quite low. The last time the guys in Washington were fighting over the minimum wage the local fast-food outlets were advertising $8.00 an hour to get help.

I've learned I don't like big cities or crowds. I now live in Middlebury Township, Elkhart County, Indiana. This is the western fringe of the Amish territory; east of here you find lots of county roads with no power lines along the road. The county 4H fair is one of the best in the nation because of the mix of small and medium farms. (I forget if it was the 4H organization or an independant group that did the rating, as this was about 8 years ago, but Elkhart was in the top 5).

I've got 4.5 acres of woods, the center strip in a 15 acre woodland. I've got good neighbors with a mind-set that matches mine.

I'm a professional computer geek with 26 years at the same company in Elkhart (hint- I guarantee that you've all got our product somewhere in your plumbing/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif) and I'm figuring on retiring right here. My sister has a house on the St. Joe river cross-town from me, and our mother lives roughly inbetween the two of us.

If I get the urge to vist a large town, to see what I'm missing, Chicago is 2 hours away; Detroit, Cleveland, or Indianapolis are about 5 hours away. On the other hand, Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes park is just over an hour away.

Why do I live where I live? I like it here!

Tom

 

[crown]

My wife and I put down roots in Winchester VA. My wife got her first job in the small town of Millwood and rented an apt. in Winchester after we were married we built our first house. The call of open spaces started calling me about 4 years ago and we bought 6 acres on the VA WVA line. Winchester is a great little place not to big not to small. My job takes me for the very rural Ciulpepper VA to the metro area of Tysons Corner VA, at the end of the day I look forward to coming down my dirt road to my little slice of heaven. My daughter can run around and we don't worry about cars and strangers, and the school system seems very good.

 

[genelp]

You also have some great places to eat near you. My wife and I like to head up to the Essen Haus occasionally and we also like the Blue Gate in Shippshewanna.

Gene

 

[MossRoad]

The first time I ate there was about a year after my mom passed away. When I ate the bread dressing, it tasted exactly like my mother's. I started getting tears in my eyes.

I love the amish tractors! A team of six draft horses walking down the road. They take up as much room as a big combine.

 

[genelp]

We have always had great service there, and the food is never dissapointing. Of course no visit is complete without a tour of the bakery! (does this sound like an advertisement?)

We like to drive the back roads sometimes to see the Amish farming like my Grandpa did. Occasionally I wonder what it would be like to live like that; but then hot August nights and airconditioning come to mind.

Gene

 

[Tom_Trees]

<font color=blue>Occasionally I wonder what it
would be like to live like that; but then hot August nights and airconditioning come to mind.</font color=blue>

There are a couple of families just west of Nappanee that run a 'family style' appointment-only supper hall (for lack of a better term). We've taken Mom there for her birthday twice, and both times our party was small enough that we were seated in the family dining room, not in the large room (seating for about 50!) There's something about sitting at a shaker-style table with a kerosene lamp overhead providing the light . . .

We were just across from the kitchen, comeplete with TWO lovely old cast-iron coal-burning stoves (you want to talk about lack of air-conditioning /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif). The first time it was just us; the second time, they had a party of thitry in the back room and the two senior cooks were a whompin' away at about half a bushel of mashed potatoes in a large copper bowl. It was worth the pain of setting up the dates by letter and by phone to the nearby convenience store one of the men visited each day.

We've almost reached the point as a nation where the Amish life-style could be considered a national monument. They're preserving historic methods by using them every day.

Oh - this particular operation does have a phone - in the barn. If one of the kids get sick, they harness up the buggy and head for the doctor. If one of the animals gets sick -- they call the vet.

Tom

 

[MossRoad]

Anyone ever get up to Bonneyville Mill for the fall festival in Setptember?