Do you prefer country living or city living?

[hey_moe]

The question says it all. Now that I am getting older I wanna retire near the Sky Line drive. ( Mountains ). Linda wants to retire near Nags Head, NC. In my younger days I loved the beach but as I have got older I want to stay away from the city and tourist area. I have lived near the water all my life and the traffic here is terrible, not to mention the crime. Nags Head is fine for me in the dead winter but come summer the place is packed. We have looked at some places in Cullpeper and Madison which has a great view of the mountains and has a few acres to boot which for me is fine. Most of the homes we were looking at were between 275,000.00 to 500,000.00. I told Linda I will be glad to get rid of this house. It's to big for us. Linda says she hates living out in stick land and I hate living around wall to wall people. Any of you city slickers got a room she can rent.

[extrudinator]

SWMBO.

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

[Terry]

Here are a couple things to think about before jumping out into the sticks.

It costs me $6 just to get to the nearest food store and back.
Forget any fast food deliveries.
Postal service will only come within 3/4 mile of the house.
Need something fixed, they will charge extra for the milage.
Need to get to a hospital quickly, wish you luck.
Keep plenty of fire extinguishers on hand because it will be a while.
Ditto with the Sheriffs dept.
Maintain your own well and septic system.


Everything else is better .

[JoeW]

I've lived in several large cities, Tampa being one. When your neighbors steal your valve stem caps .............. It's time to get to the country. However ....... When you call the police here most times they can't fit what you want in the budget.
Oh well ........... I'm looking for a shotgun.

[Henry]

born a country lad
but love cities
H

[Trans_23]

You can have the best of both worlds is you look hard enough. I grew up in the country so when I started working around Chicago I knew I didn't want to live in the city or even in the immediate suburbs. I found a town that is large enough to have services and shopping close by yet I have a cornfield outside my back yard. Chicago is about 40 miles away but I take the train in if I am working in the loop area.
I always thought Chicago had the worst traffic but I went to Moe's area about 6 weeks ago. We took an unintended detour in Pennsylvania so we did not get into the DC are until around 1 AM. What was there to greet us? A parking lot on the interstate do to road construction. It seems as though they are working on about every major road in that area. I guess the money doesn't fall far from the tree.

Good luck Moe.

[Dain Arns]

Live far enough to get away from the hustle and bustle, but close enough to still get high speed internet service.

Grew up in a city.
Lived in the sticks in Montana for a good many years.
What Terry said is very true.
You give up a lot of little things you might be now taking for granted.

Now, living in a small enough town that still has a 24 hr hospital, Walmart, Lowes, etc.
University is here, so at least there are 'somethings' to do throughout the year.
Concerts, good movieplex, too many pizza places...
Close to about 3 good shopping areas that are about 45 minutes travel one way each, so that's not too bad.
Only a few hours to the 'civilization' of Minneapolis/St. Paul, which the visit usually reminds you why you choose to live in a small town....

[OBIO]

I am a country boy. I hate cities.

I was born in the hills and woods of deep southern Ohio...in a county with a population of around 24 thousand...yes, that was the population of the entire COUNTY. The largest "city" was my home town....population of 4800 back then...now about 5500. I lived about 7 miles outside of the city limits in a small green house, surrounded by hills and woods. Closest neighbor was 1/2 a mile away.

My current home is in the country...or on the edge of country as I like to say. Not quite far enough from the city and urban sprawl to really be in the country, but far enough out that we have a nice quiet view of 25 acres of land, trees and a 3 acre pond. Mansfield has a population of around 50 thousand...not a large city by any means, but gigantic by my standards. There are more people living in this city than lived in the entire county I grew up in. I hate going into town...too much concrete, to many people, to many cars, too much noise and stink.

I could not imagine living in a big city, like Columbus, Cleveland or Cincinnati. A few years ago, I was heading home from the Air Force Museum in Dayton, missed my exit and ended up on 315 during rush hour on the edge of Columbus. 8 lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper. Thousands of cars packed onto one road..and all of them in a hurry to get someplace else. I can not imagine that mess being a part of my daily life.

OBIO

[cheezyflier]

right now i'm living in one of the largest cities in north america. i don't like city living.
i'm an outer suburban guy. i would rather live in the country but that takes money i don't have.

[limjack]

With my recent road trip back to North Dakota all the small towns found a place in my heart quickly. My soul quickly devours places you can sit back, relax and meditate. I am sure for others that is medicine to drive a person crazy. Of course, to each his own. So chalk one up for the country...I even read country magazine just to enjoy the stories of the folks living the life.

Jim

[hey_moe]

Well I have lived out in the sticks before. When I married Linda she wanted the city life and closer to the kids. We moved....lol. You guys are right about most of the things but I repair everything at the house. I really liked the country part because of the peace and quite, no traffic, crime rate is nell. My kind of living.

[Bjoern]

The countryside is only useful for holidays.

[jmig]

I prefer country. When we moved where we live, we were outside of the city limits. Now, 26 years later we are in the city. Oh well!

Actually Lafayette is a nice city to live in. It is big enough to have anything you need and small enough that you can get anywhere within 30 mins. If I want big time plays or musicals, there is New Orleans or Houston. Both within driving distance.

If we only had a few mountains and a little cooler summers, it would be perfect.

[Cazzie]

Moe, I wuz born, bread, and buttered country, I don;t think I could ever live in any city, large or small. I am also a mountain man, I do not like flatlands and the coast is flatland. The Staunton/Waynesboro area (country part) is one of my favorite places for cycling.

Caz

[Navy Chief]

I live about a 1/2 hour's drive from Blue Ridge, GA, which is the closest place for "real" grocery stores, etc.... The area I am in is called Farner, TN. Back when the local copper mine was running, this area was booming. Not now. Very little business, save for the Piggly Wiggly, and Dollar General. Were it not for white water rafting tourists, this area would not survive.

But I love living out in the country, away from traffic, and crime. I was raised in Indianapolis, but there's no way I would move back there, or to any large city. Nope.

I love having my own well, WITHOUT any added chemicals. If I want to burn a pile of brush in the middle of the day or night, I do it. No one will bother me, period.

And I live far enough from the road that if someone is approaching the house, I will see them. Or, at the least, my rottweiler lets me know about it!

With so much going on with the economy, and general unrest, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.........

NC

[FAC257]

Whether city or not, if the sea breeze isn't part of the local daily weather pattern, it's too far inland for me. I get sort of a claustorphobic feel if I can't get to the water in a few minutes and look out over the open ocean or gulf.

I don't mind small size city living, but prefer as much of the old Fla fishing village feel, as much as there is left still of it.

I have saltwater to the east and west of my home and I can walk from one end of "downtown" to the other in about 5 minutes. You can park in one spot and see every building on the main street.

One of the few non-Fla spots that I always thought would be a beautiful place to live is the Virginia area on both sides of the Shenandoah Valley in the New Market & Luray Caverns area. The only time I've ever lived out of state, we would do family station wagon weekend trips to the Sky Line Drive area. One of my favorite younger memories was the car tours throughout that area visiting all the Civil War roadside markers and battle grounds.

When my father still had his airport and flying school on the west side of the valley, I almost moved to the area so that I could crank out some of my student pilot time under his wing. The only problem that I kept staring me in the face was the lack of places to work.

FAC

[Chacha]

I am a city girl....
Always lived in a city...
Work was always a few miles away...
Farthest I traveled going to work was less 3 miles....
Traffic - always congested...
That's why we learn the short cut...
... and learn the real traffic hours...
after 7:45 am and lunch hours and after 5 pm are always busy
... Fridays are always hectic whatever time of the day...
...that is Orlando traffic- by the way!

I always wanted to live in a country,
where you're woken up by birds chirping,
rather than my neighbors lawnmower
where the breeze is always fresh...
and I know my neighbor who lives 12 miles away...
where I go to a local coffee shop and people know each other....
laid back atmosphere and people has time to say hello to each other....
where I can sleep on my hammock under a tree..
rolling hills, golden fields.... mountains, flowers, birds, trees..
vine fields...
panoramic view... wow... is that in a dream?

Oh, that must be nice!

[FAC257]

Chacha

Your just in the right place in the wrong era.

As a kid living in Cocoa Beach, whenever we had to go visit relatives in Orlando it wasn't a fun trip.
It was what seemed like a really long ride in a car with no AC to a place in the middle of nowhere. The only downtown Orlando was what was along Orange Blossom Trail. When we got to my uncle's house it always seemed like there was nothing to do way over there. Orlando at the time WAS country living in the middle of nowhere. I think the biggest attraction anywhere nearby was Gatorland.

FAC

[Gdavis101]

I prefer living out in rural areas. There is no hustle and bustle and its quiet! I moved down here to the coast from Yakima Washington and have never regretted the move.. The only thing that is hard to get used to is that after 8 o'clock at night everything in town seems to just shut down, but I will take that over cities that never sleep any day.

[Chacha]

Chacha

Your just in the right place in the wrong era.

As a kid living in Cocoa Beach, whenever we had to go visit relatives in Orlando it wasn't a fun trip.
It was what seemed like a really long ride in a car with no AC to a place in the middle of nowhere. The only downtown Orlando was what was along Orange Blossom Trail. When we got to my uncle's house it always seemed like there was nothing to do way over there. Orlando at the time WAS country living in the middle of nowhere. I think the biggest attraction anywhere nearby was Gatorland.




FAC

Oh.... FAC,

Did you remember when there was a Mosquito County?
And all you see in Orlando are orchard and orchard of oranges....?

When I was a kid, Orlando was a country!
two way lane of roads,
and the traffic light was after a few miles away...
you always knew your neighbors
and your neighbors visitors...


Now, traffic lights are after 100 feet ...
The freeway is a parking lot on hectic hours..

I wanna go to France....
and live in a little country town...
where there is always Karaoke in the evening with close friends..
and wine press with your feet...
Oh nice!

[lefty]

The countryside is only useful for holidays.

So life is one long holiday - is that so bad ?

We live in a village of 800 souls. We have a shop and a pub. We all speak to each other - we can even talk to kids in the park without fear of arrest. I can leave my doors unlocked if I am away for the day and not worry. We can hear the birds sing.

How many of you city dwellers can say that ?

[FAC257]

Chacha

At least you have memories of the real old Orlando.

I seem to remember my uncle's house was on one of the lakes on the NE side of the first pieces of land that Disney started buying up. When the mom's & aunt's went to go shopping we stayed at the house, so I don't remember a lot of the details of the downtown area at the time.

I do remember when Sarasota was all cows and oranges and there was no I-75. The only way to get to Tampa was either 301 or the Tamiami Trail. I loved it back then. We kept our horses in a pasture on the road leading to the southern Siesta Key bridge. We didn't think twice about riding out to the key and up the beach road. The police back then didn't even mind us riding them in the town areas on the main roads at night as long as we had some sort of tail light hanging off their rear ends.

FAC

[CybrSlydr]

I love the amenities and the like of living in the city, but I prefer the yard-size and space of in the country.

OBIO, I grew up in Washington County - so I know what you're talking about. My hometown is around 1200 people and shrinking.

[Bjoern]

So life is one long holiday - is that so bad ?

I am already boring myself to death in a city with 50000 inhabitants. So go figure...

[Willy]

Dyer, Tennessee was about 1200 people when I moved here 8 years ago. Probably about 1000 now. I live about a mile out of town.

I was raised about 5 miles from Genoa Arkansas and our nearest neighbor was about a mile straight through the woods and 2 miles if you went by road. Where I'm at now, is like city living to me.

I've lived in New Orleans for several years so I know what it's like in a big city. I much prefer where I'm at now and can have my horses.