Could You Move to a Small Town

[Dolemite 143]

12 hours ago, SDG said:

Looking for a small/medium city (around 50k), that is low cost, and has a moderate temp and is fairly safe.  Probably not possible right? 

North Georgia is good. Canton area. Outside of Huntsville, Alabama is nice. East Tennesse around Johnson City TN is good. Outside of Bham east is Pell City. Nice. 

[South Austin 52707]

4 minutes ago, Tony Soprano said:

I think Llano wouldn't be too bad of a place to live either.

We used to rent a place on the Llano river every summer when our kids were real little, about 8 or so miles west of town. We love that area, and I could definitely see myself in Llano if I had to leave Austin.

[BradInATX 9208]

Digging up a really old thread. Has anyone here moved from Austin (or a comparable metropolitan "cool" city) to a smaller city within striking distance? We're looking at moving from Austin to a neighborhood about 15 minutes outside of New Braunfels.  

We've always known we'd want to move out of the city to have some space eventually. We're 10 minutes from dowtown, so we're near anything you could ever want. But we have a 1/8 acre lot and barely use the backyard because our neighbors are right on top of us. We're looking at large plots (1.5+ acres) where we can build a pool and make it our castle.

Prior to having our kid a year ago, we were "out and about town" types. We'd hit concerts, go out and have dinner/drinks, etc. a couple times a month. We're also very outdoorsy, lake/river/etc. Obviously that's slowed down tremendously with the baby, which sort of seems like the tipping point to go ahead and make the move. Because the draw of staying in town was the food, nightlife, music, etc., that's now somewhat wasted on us.

I'm finding myself a bit apprehensive about moving out into the hill country, even though I know it's where we really belong here and going forward. I guess being born and raised in Austin,  I just find the idea of leaving bittersweet. I understand New Braunfels isn't really "small town" and there's plenty to do. But compared to Austin it's a small town. Especially culturally. 

Anyone here made a similar move, or just conceptually made a lifestyle change from a cool metropolitan lifestyle to a more outdoor, spacious hill country type? Would love to hear experiences, pros/cons/regrets and all that. TIA.

Edited August 27, 2019 by BradInATX

[NorthLoop 14303]

Moved from Austin to NB 3 years ago and have zero regrets. We live in one of the newer, very suburban hoods so that part is not much different (except it's muuuuuch cheaper than Austin). Right now my step daughter walks across the street to school but in a couple years when she hits middle school we'll probably look to buy further out so I can have some land and not a tiny backyard (wife works for NBISD so we don't have to worry about living in the district boundaries). There's enough variety of restaurants and bars to keep you from getting stuck in a rut and the schools are pretty decent. Lots of nice parks and shit to do for the kids. 

[BradInATX 9208]

10 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

Moved from Austin to NB 3 years ago and have zero regrets. We live in one of the newer, very suburban hoods so that part is not much different (except it's muuuuuch cheaper than Austin). Right now my step daughter walks across the street to school but in a couple years when she hits middle school we'll probably look to buy further out so I can have some land and not a tiny backyard (wife works for NBISD so we don't have to worry about living in the district boundaries). There's enough variety of restaurants and bars to keep you from getting stuck in a rut and the schools are pretty decent. Lots of nice parks and shit to do for the kids. 

Do you mind sharing the subdivision? Or PM me? Sounds like one of the 3 we're looking at, which is right by an elementary school (River Chase)

Edited August 27, 2019 by BradInATX

[immortal13 4059]

On 4/22/2018 at 2:05 PM, Landomatic said:

Any of these charming small towns on the gulf?  I could do small if I had an ocean view and some version of a tropical paradise.  Cabana bars, toes in the water, ass in the sand, fishing, etc.  As long as I was within 1-2 hours of a major city.  Does such a place exist?

I dont know if Corpus Christie would meet all of those requirements or not, but I have thought about moving down there when I retire. But then I love the coast/fishing more than most.

[JohnnyRage 1617]

If I had a fairly medium retirement in place, hell yeah. But I would definitely be armed at all times.

[Helobious 9505]

10 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

I dont know if Corpus Christie would meet all of those requirements or not, but I have thought about moving down there when I retire. But then I love the coast/fishing more than most.

Prepare your property tax anus when you move down there. 

[RPM 26430]

2 hours ago, immortal13 said:

I dont know if Corpus Christie would meet all of those requirements or not

Christie?

[NorthLoop 14303]

8 hours ago, BradInATX said:

Do you mind sharing the subdivision? Or PM me? Sounds like one of the 3 we're looking at, which is right by an elementary school (River Chase)

If you're talking 1.5 acre lots, then no. We live in Voss Farms. The neighborhood is nice but the lots are tiny. I grew up out in the boonies of east Texas so I need more space to stretch my legs. But for now it's nice for the girl to get to play with her friends every day on our cul-de-sac and be able to walk to school. 

River Chase is nice - definitely out of our price range for now though. Our big decision in a couple years will be either to go west and settle for less land but nicer scenery, or go east where it's flat but I can get more acreage. if only I had Rocko money. 

[Slacks 6920]

I was born in a small town in the Midwest.
I visit that small town once a year.
If other small towns are like that small town, I'll pass.

No jobs. No culture. No education. No entertainment. Meth.

It sounds like some of you are looking for the new exurbs. far away from industry and people, but with good schools and good opportunities to make money is difficult to reconcile.

[BradInATX 9208]

If you're talking 1.5 acre lots, then no. We live in Voss Farms. The neighborhood is nice but the lots are tiny. I grew up out in the boonies of east Texas so I need more space to stretch my legs. But for now it's nice for the girl to get to play with her friends every day on our cul-de-sac and be able to walk to school.  River Chase is nice - definitely out of our price range for now though. Our big decision in a couple years will be either to go west and settle for less land but nicer scenery, or go east where it's flat but I can get more acreage. if only I had Rocko money.  

 

 Got ya. That's closer to town than where we're looking. Not many lots the size we want less than 15 minutes from town unless you're rich. Which we are not, just have equity to play with due to dumb luck and timing on our Austin house purchase.

 

 

 

 

 

[BradInATX 9208]

 

 

 

I was born in a small town in the Midwest.

I visit that small town once a year.

If other small towns are like that small town, I'll pass.

 

No jobs. No culture. No education. No entertainment. Meth.

 

It sounds like some of you are looking for the new exurbs. far away from industry and people, but with good schools and good opportunities to make money is difficult to reconcile.

 

Those exurbs are going to pop up more and more as remote work becomes increasingly acceptable and all the young hipster tech workers get tired of all the young hipster tech workers. I don't think I'd call New Braunfels an exurb though.

 

[NorthLoop 14303]

2 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

 

 

 

 

 

Those exurbs are going to pop up more and more as remote work becomes increasingly acceptable and all the young hipster tech workers get tired of all the young hipster tech workers. I don't think I'd call New Braunfels an exurb though.

 

It's an exurb of Austin but a suburb of SA. Kind of a weird position. Places like Wimberley or FBG however... 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13549]

Different era but my parents followed the dream of small town living. The result was that I had a crappy education especially in high school. The classes were easy (high GPA!) which I ultimately paid the price for in college.  High school required zero studying/homework.

Small town schools can have large tax bases that make their schools physically look the same or better than urban or suburban schools but their academics are rarely as good. I don’t blame them as they usually have fewer students going to top colleges so it’s better to prep more students for lower and mid tier colleges, if not zero college.  

as a kid that got pulled along to a small town, I wish my parents had stayed in Houston.

Last advice - if anyone is hellbent on moving to a small town neighborhood, at least rent for a year or two. You might find you hate it, and renting allows an easy transition back.

 

[Asithappens 974]

I could move to a small (ish) town provided: it's kinda close to a larger urban area; there is high-speed internet and wifi; it's not too far from national parks; it's not in the heart of Trump cuntry [sic].

[immamac 43571]

9 hours ago, BradInATX said:

Digging up a really old thread. Has anyone here moved from Austin (or a comparable metropolitan "cool" city) to a smaller city within striking distance? We're looking at moving from Austin to a neighborhood about 15 minutes outside of New Braunfels.  

We've always known we'd want to move out of the city to have some space eventually. We're 10 minutes from dowtown, so we're near anything you could ever want. But we have a 1/8 acre lot and barely use the backyard because our neighbors are right on top of us. We're looking at large plots (1.5+ acres) where we can build a pool and make it our castle.

Prior to having our kid a year ago, we were "out and about town" types. We'd hit concerts, go out and have dinner/drinks, etc. a couple times a month. We're also very outdoorsy, lake/river/etc. Obviously that's slowed down tremendously with the baby, which sort of seems like the tipping point to go ahead and make the move. Because the draw of staying in town was the food, nightlife, music, etc., that's now somewhat wasted on us.

I'm finding myself a bit apprehensive about moving out into the hill country, even though I know it's where we really belong here and going forward. I guess being born and raised in Austin,  I just find the idea of leaving bittersweet. I understand New Braunfels isn't really "small town" and there's plenty to do. But compared to Austin it's a small town. Especially culturally. 

Anyone here made a similar move, or just conceptually made a lifestyle change from a cool metropolitan lifestyle to a more outdoor, spacious hill country type? Would love to hear experiences, pros/cons/regrets and all that. TIA.

I live in unincorporated Hays County (really far north Hays). Just outside of Austin's ETJ and Dripping Springs ETJ, so technically I don't live in a town at all. We moved here from Zilker, best move ever. Our neighborhood is a fairly small community with minimum 1.5 acre lots (we have 4, a few have 10s-100s). $30 dollar Uber to Lake Travis or Downtown and only a 22 minute drive downtown without traffic or 45 with traffic. 

I don't understand how everything you liked about living in Austin is now "wasted on us" because of an infant. Infants turn into toddlers, then they turn into kids, then they turn into teenagers. At pretty much every one of those phases you can get a caregiver to watch them while you do the things you are talking about especially at the frequency you were talking about. Hell 100% of the places off fitzhugh are kid/baby friendly and like 70% of the places in Austin are. What it sounds like to me is you are using your baby as an excuse to be lame as fuck, which is totally fine just don't blame your baby. Tons of people with babies do all the things you were talking about still. I'm not trying to be judgy I'm just making an observation - have your "friend groups" changed drastically since the baby arrived? I ask because I think that's the only partial regret/con about our move is that we were the house that entertained, we were centrally located and people wanted to come to our parties in town on a minutes notice. Now we still have parties, but they have to be planned pretty far in advance (weeks to months) so people can group Uber or whatever since we are pretty serious about not letting people get tanked out here and drive home. If we moved any further I doubt we would see much of our friends except special events. 

Why do you want to live in NB? That's far as fuck from Austin and way closer than San Antonio, unless you have friends and family down there and in Austin that's not "striking distance" it's  you will legit never come to Austin unless you have a very compelling reason. It's inconvenient, the traffic sucks, everything is 30% more expensive the list goes on living in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio suburbs would be no more or less convenient as far as getting to Austin. NB however is fucking awesome as a standalone town, it's just gotten to the right size where everything you could want to do is within 10-15 minutes and it's relatively cheap compared to the major Texas metros. 

[Al_4_ISU 12535]

I moved to a small town from Des Moines back in 2012, and really enjoy it.  Yes, I realize many Surly/Shaggy elite would classify Des Moines as a small town.  It's all relative.

I grew up on a farm about 30 miles west of where I currently live.  The farm is situated smack dab in the kind of terrain that Iowa is known for.  Flat, treeless, cornfields, windmills, soybeans, hog barns.  I was always forced to work as a kid and resented it, so I decided to get out.  I went to ISU, and got going in the pre-law program (ISU doesn't have a law school).  I would come home every summer and work on the farm, this time for a damn fair wage, and sort of fell back in love with it - I realized that it just ran deep in my blood.  About halfway through law school, I knew I wanted to farm.  My old man suggested I finish out, and if I was serious, I should look for a legal job back home.  I got hired as the DA in the county to the east of where I grew up, and moved back to take that job.  After a couple years practicing as the DA, I was absolutely fed up with being over worked, underpaid, and having the cops as my client.  This was also when my uncle was retiring from farming, and I had the opportunity to come back farming full time or join a local firm in private practice.  I took the farming route and haven't looked back. 

When me moved here, I was engaged to my now wife (who grew up about 40 miles from where we currently live in the other direction).  The county seat (where we live) is in a town of 4,000 people.  For reference, my home town has 120 people, but Des Moines is in the 700,000 neighborhood.  I adjusted pretty much immediately.  My wife took longer.  She was very into city life and had no intention of going back to a small town, let alone one in northeast Iowa.

Looking back on it now, it's been a great move for us.  One thing that really helped the transition was particularly where we moved to.  We're right on the western edge of the Driftless Area, which is a chunk of ground centered around the intersections of where Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin come together that wasn't flattened out by glaciers and is made up of rolling hills, forests, and rugged canyons with lots of exposed limestone walls.  There are some similarities to the Texas Hill Country or Ozarks.  Just 20 minutes east of us is Decorah, Iowa, which is home to Luther College.  It's a progressive little college town (about 8-9K) that offers some decent selection of restaurants (fairly impressive ones for buttfuck Egypt Iowa) and two excellent breweries - one of which (Toppling Goliath) has a major reputation in the beer scene.  We also have a load of outdoor recreation opportunities.  There are 3-4 river systems that are great for canoeing and kayaking,  a bunch of paved rail trails for road bikes, state parks with lots of hiking, really good (by Midwest standards) mountain biking trails, snowmobiling/skiing in the winter, and so on.

If I had set my home up back on the farm, I would be an extra hour round trip from these opportunities, which in my childhood seemed like a whole world away.  Specifically moving to a small town that had the kind of recreational opportunities that excited me made all the difference in the world.  Because it isn't my hometown, I'm judged (for better or worse) on my own merits, and not on who my family is, and I don't have to contend with some kind of childhood/high school definition of myself.  There's plenty of the small town gossip, but it's not really that hard to stay out of it, and I've been able to get really involved in the kind of local projects that matter to me (volunteer fire in particular).  I've got a pretty tight group of friends that I enjoy, and most of my childhood buddies live within an hour's drive, so I get to spend a lot of time with those guys too.

Lots of rambling aside, if you can isolate the things that are most important to you, and find those in a small town, it can be a really rewarding experience.  The cost of living is a fraction of city life, and it's not that hard to get your access to culture or larger cities when the mood strikes you.  

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Al_4_ISU

[baboso 6057]

23 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Different era but my parents followed the dream of small town living. The result was that I had a crappy education especially in high school. The classes were easy (high GPA!) which I ultimately paid the price for in college.  High school required zero studying/homework.

Small town schools can have large tax bases that make their schools physically look the same or better than urban or suburban schools but their academics are rarely as good. I don’t blame them as they usually have fewer students going to top colleges so it’s better to prep more students for lower and mid tier colleges, if not zero college.  

as a kid that got pulled along to a small town, I wish my parents had stayed in Houston.

Last advice - if anyone is hellbent on moving to a small town neighborhood, at least rent for a year or two. You might find you hate it, and renting allows an easy transition back.

 

Brother?  Zero exposure to advanced math or sciences at my HS.  I remember attempting physics class in college and thinking, "WTF is this shit?"

[CooterBrown 18095]

24 minutes ago, immamac said:

I don't understand how everything you liked about living in Austin is now "wasted on us" because of an infant. Infants turn into toddlers, then they turn into kids, then they turn into teenagers.

This.  My kids are 12 & 6. We go out more now than before we had kids. I can't imagine living in the suburbs or a smaller town.  The boredom would drive me crazy.  We had that normal lull when our oldest was 0-5 or so.  After that, it was back to going out as adults. Now that the oldest is old enough to babysit, it's been more frequent. 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13549]

26 minutes ago, baboso said:

Brother?  Zero exposure to advanced math or sciences at my HS.  I remember attempting physics class in college and thinking, "WTF is this shit?"

Possibly. My high school didn't offer any type of calculus but in fairness I gathered that was changed a few years after I left.

At UT, I had a freshman calculus class that I was certain would be easy. Math was always my best subject. Fuckkkk.  They progressed at a pace I couldn't keep up.  What's a derivative again? , Add to the fact that I didn't initially study (100% my fault) I effectively had to repeat some freshman classes.

I seemed to be the one of the few or only student in my UT calc class who admitted to not taking it in high school.

EDIT: Easier said that paid for, but I think the ideal is to live in the city with a place in the country. Best of both worlds.

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4980]

24 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I grew up on a farm about 30 miles west of where I currently live.  The farm is situated smack dab in the kind of terrain that Iowa is known for.  Flat, treeless, cornfields, windmills, soybeans, hog barns.  I was always forced to work as a kid and resented it, so I decided to get out.  I went to ISU, and got going in the pre-law program (ISU doesn't have a law school).  I would come home every summer and work on the farm, this time for a damn fair wage, and sort of fell back in love with it - I realized that it just ran deep in my blood.  About halfway through law school, I knew I wanted to farm.  My old man suggested I finish out, and if I was serious, I should look for a legal job back home.  I got hired as the DA in the county to the east of where I grew up, and moved back to take that job.  After a couple years practicing as the DA, I was absolutely fed up with being over worked, underpaid, and having the cops as my client.  This was also when my uncle was retiring from farming, and I had the opportunity to come back farming full time or join a local firm in private practice.  I took the farming route and haven't looked back. 

Yeah, I think farming/ranching is definitely something that is in your blood. I grew up in an East Texas town of about 90k, but that was always the city to me. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' place growing up, who lived in the country proper. My grandad raised cattle on about 300 acres when he wasn't doing his day job, and my long term plan is to get a place where I can do the same, even if it is on a smaller scale. The wife worked in the Texas wine industry for a while, so we are planning to try and find a place where we can plant some grapes as well. Ultimately I would like to be able to retire on income from working the land, but it's so expensive these days with all of the Northloops trying to move out of the city and get an acre or two. You gotta be pretty cheap to make it as a farmer now. I'm the only grandkid who really got the farming/ranching genes in the family, the rest are content to live in the city or a small mountain type town.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

On 4/11/2018 at 11:11 AM, Pato del Muerto said:

I don’t have an interstate within 90 miles.  Town economy is driven by Yellowstone tourism between memorial and labor days. 

You live in Cody?

[Pato del Muerto 52886]

Just now, ImissWallyPryor said:

You live in Cody?

Yes. 4 years now. 

[atomheartbevo 90058]

6 hours ago, RPM said:

Christie?

He's referring to the former governor of New Jersey, who has rented out a few dozen lots on his body.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

18 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Yes. 4 years now. 

Nice town. We were there 3 weeks ago. We had a good breakfast at a place near the rodeo grounds. I can’t remember the name of it, but they had patches on the walls from hundreds of law enforcement departments across the US and Canada, enough to traumatize a couple of dozen posters on Surley. 

I have a friend who guides hunts on horseback out of the area. At least he did, because the last time I talked to him, he was contemplating retirement. The Absaroka Range is better than Yellowstone, IMHO.

Edited August 27, 2019 by ImissWallyPryor

[Al_4_ISU 12535]

18 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Yeah, I think farming/ranching is definitely something that is in your blood. I grew up in an East Texas town of about 90k, but that was always the city to me. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' place growing up, who lived in the country proper. My grandad raised cattle on about 300 acres when he wasn't doing his day job, and my long term plan is to get a place where I can do the same, even if it is on a smaller scale. The wife worked in the Texas wine industry for a while, so we are planning to try and find a place where we can plant some grapes as well. Ultimately I would like to be able to retire on income from working the land, but it's so expensive these days with all of the Northloops trying to move out of the city and get an acre or two. You gotta be pretty cheap to make it as a farmer now. I'm the only grandkid who really got the farming/ranching genes in the family, the rest are content to live in the city or a small mountain type town.

Honestly, you pretty much have to be born into it, or brought into by someone who was.

I'm the 5th generation since they came over from Germany and busted the sod about 1890 or so.  I'm extremely fortunate and aware that the opportunity I have is a rare one, that many people wish they had.  That was honestly a big driver in my decision.

[Celery Man 21027]

13 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

He's referring to the former governor of New Jersey, who has rented out a few dozen lots on his body.

body of jtfc

[HenryJames 66285]

27 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

You live in Cody?

But does anyone really live in Cody?

[BradInATX 9208]

2 hours ago, immamac said:

I live in unincorporated Hays County (really far north Hays). Just outside of Austin's ETJ and Dripping Springs ETJ, so technically I don't live in a town at all. We moved here from Zilker, best move ever. Our neighborhood is a fairly small community with minimum 1.5 acre lots (we have 4, a few have 10s-100s). $30 dollar Uber to Lake Travis or Downtown and only a 22 minute drive downtown without traffic or 45 with traffic. 

I don't understand how everything you liked about living in Austin is now "wasted on us" because of an infant. Infants turn into toddlers, then they turn into kids, then they turn into teenagers. At pretty much every one of those phases you can get a caregiver to watch them while you do the things you are talking about especially at the frequency you were talking about. Hell 100% of the places off fitzhugh are kid/baby friendly and like 70% of the places in Austin are. What it sounds like to me is you are using your baby as an excuse to be lame as fuck, which is totally fine just don't blame your baby. Tons of people with babies do all the things you were talking about still. I'm not trying to be judgy I'm just making an observation - have your "friend groups" changed drastically since the baby arrived? I ask because I think that's the only partial regret/con about our move is that we were the house that entertained, we were centrally located and people wanted to come to our parties in town on a minutes notice. Now we still have parties, but they have to be planned pretty far in advance (weeks to months) so people can group Uber or whatever since we are pretty serious about not letting people get tanked out here and drive home. If we moved any further I doubt we would see much of our friends except special events. 

Why do you want to live in NB? That's far as fuck from Austin and way closer than San Antonio, unless you have friends and family down there and in Austin that's not "striking distance" it's  you will legit never come to Austin unless you have a very compelling reason. It's inconvenient, the traffic sucks, everything is 30% more expensive the list goes on living in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio suburbs would be no more or less convenient as far as getting to Austin. NB however is fucking awesome as a standalone town, it's just gotten to the right size where everything you could want to do is within 10-15 minutes and it's relatively cheap compared to the major Texas metros. 

Damn, you jumped to a lot of conclusions there.

We still get out and about, we get a sitter 1-2x a month depending. This month we've been to a show at Scoot Inn, and spent a Sunday fun day downtown and on the east side. Also have been out to various swimming/outdoor spots with the kids. On the scale of people with one year olds, we're still known as "the crazy kids that go and party with the 20 year olds" or whatever. We're going to Denver without the kid in a few weeks, going to two days at ACL fest, tailgating/going to games, etc.

When I say it's wasted on us, what I'm saying is , the things that we like to do still exist out there in NB/SM. We're not getting out frequently enough to burn through all of the restaurants/bars/fun stuff to where we need the zillion options in Austin. I will definitely miss the huge amount of options, though. And of course, we don't lose any outdoor stuff, in fact we gain a ton of it. A couple of the neighborhoods we're looking at in NB have private neighborhood parks on the Guadalupe river right where tubers go past. 15 minutes from Canyon Lake, 15 minutes from Gruene/Schlitterbahn/Comal River. 15 from everything in San Marcos. 20 from Wimberley. It's center mass of the Texas Hill Country.

I think our biggest concern is the one you highlighted, which is a huge shift in social situation. We've got a great group of friends here in town, mostly within 15 minutes of us. These are old, lifelong friends, some from high school (a bunch of us are native south Austinites). Everyone has slowed down with kids and families and careers, so we don't see each other as much these days, but we get together probably once every couple of months. And the issue about parties is a big one. We'll have this bad ass plot of land with a pool and outdoor area, but it's going to be tough to get our friends from Austin out there on any regular basis, given that we're talking an hour drive for most. More than likely we'd end up driving to Austin to hang with them.

Our compelling reason for moving is that we can get 2+ acres with sweeping hill country views, a private yard with a pool where we can't read our neighbors lips from our backyard, and stay within 15 minutes of two cities with plenty to do. I'm tired of being on top of my neighbors and them being on top of us. We want land for the kids to run around on, some space, some privacy, etc.

Definitely a tradeoff and I have some concerns that align with some of what you mentioned. You're only 10 minutes closer to Austin that we'd be, and I'd venture a guess that where we're looking has quite a bit more to do within a 10 mile radius that you do out there. I'm not trying to argue with you necessarily, what I wrote out above is sort of the case that my wife and I have made to ourselves for moving out there. So I'm looking for counterarguments and devil's advocate, and/or personal experiences with similar lifestyle changes. We're not dead set on it, we could end up with an acre in Buda or Manchaca, but we're not going to get the same quality of house or land/view - not even close. So it's a heavy decision. But generally, your situation is a fairly close approximation to our decision.  That said- would you do it again (move out towards Dripping) given the choice?

PS/FYI - Dripping/Oak Hill have a ton of great options but don't work due to proximity to my wife's job. We have to be within 25-30 minutes of say, Cabela's (she doesn't work there - but in the area)

 

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by BradInATX

[Gil Bang 26100]

I moved to a small town from Des Moines back in 2012, and really enjoy it.  Yes, I realize many Surly/Shaggy elite would classify Des Moines as a small town.  It's all relative.
I grew up on a farm about 30 miles west of where I currently live.  The farm is situated smack dab in the kind of terrain that Iowa is known for.  Flat, treeless, cornfields, windmills, soybeans, hog barns.  I was always forced to work as a kid and resented it, so I decided to get out.  I went to ISU, and got going in the pre-law program (ISU doesn't have a law school).  I would come home every summer and work on the farm, this time for a damn fair wage, and sort of fell back in love with it - I realized that it just ran deep in my blood.  About halfway through law school, I knew I wanted to farm.  My old man suggested I finish out, and if I was serious, I should look for a legal job back home.  I got hired as the DA in the county to the east of where I grew up, and moved back to take that job.  After a couple years practicing as the DA, I was absolutely fed up with being over worked, underpaid, and having the cops as my client.  This was also when my uncle was retiring from farming, and I had the opportunity to come back farming full time or join a local firm in private practice.  I took the farming route and haven't looked back. 
When me moved here, I was engaged to my now wife (who grew up about 40 miles from where we currently live in the other direction).  The county seat (where we live) is in a town of 4,000 people.  For reference, my home town has 120 people, but Des Moines is in the 700,000 neighborhood.  I adjusted pretty much immediately.  My wife took longer.  She was very into city life and had no intention of going back to a small town, let alone one in northeast Iowa.
Looking back on it now, it's been a great move for us.  One thing that really helped the transition was particularly where we moved to.  We're right on the western edge of the Driftless Area, which is a chunk of ground centered around the intersections of where Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin come together that wasn't flattened out by glaciers and is made up of rolling hills, forests, and rugged canyons with lots of exposed limestone walls.  There are some similarities to the Texas Hill Country or Ozarks.  Just 20 minutes east of us is Decorah, Iowa, which is home to Luther College.  It's a progressive little college town (about 8-9K) that offers some decent selection of restaurants (fairly impressive ones for buttfuck Egypt Iowa) and two excellent breweries - one of which (Toppling Goliath) has a major reputation in the beer scene.  We also have a load of outdoor recreation opportunities.  There are 3-4 river systems that are great for canoeing and kayaking,  a bunch of paved rail trails for road bikes, state parks with lots of hiking, really good (by Midwest standards) mountain biking trails, snowmobiling/skiing in the winter, and so on.
If I had set my home up back on the farm, I would be an extra hour round trip from these opportunities, which in my childhood seemed like a whole world away.  Specifically moving to a small town that had the kind of recreational opportunities that excited me made all the difference in the world.  Because it isn't my hometown, I'm judged (for better or worse) on my own merits, and not on who my family is, and I don't have to contend with some kind of childhood/high school definition of myself.  There's plenty of the small town gossip, but it's not really that hard to stay out of it, and I've been able to get really involved in the kind of local projects that matter to me (volunteer fire in particular).  I've got a pretty tight group of friends that I enjoy, and most of my childhood buddies live within an hour's drive, so I get to spend a lot of time with those guys too.
Lots of rambling aside, if you can isolate the things that are most important to you, and find those in a small town, it can be a really rewarding experience.  The cost of living is a fraction of city life, and it's not that hard to get your access to culture or larger cities when the mood strikes you.  
 

Mr. Douglas?

[Al_4_ISU 12535]

14 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Mr. Douglas?

Never practiced in the city.  Started applying for rural jobs towards the end of law school.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

1 hour ago, HenryJames said:

But does anyone really live in Cody?

I'd take Cody and hundreds of other towns of similar size I've been to over just about any city over 500,000 I've seen.  It's all personal preference, and if everyone shared my sentiments, all of those smaller would be flooded with folks from the city who would inevitably try to impose their wisdom on the local culture.

I've recently got to know a guy who was grew up on a pig farm near Scranton, IA, who got his degree in mechanical engineering from ISU.  He said fuck it to big city life in Des Moines (lulz) and moved to the Black Hills where he does all kinds of contracting, mostly involving heavy equipment.  He says he makes almost as much money, and he has zero regrets. He delivers firewood every other week to a glamping resort, and he has plenty of humorous stories about the big city glampers (mostly from Chicago and both coasts) who he has met doing work for the resort.  One guy chewed recently chewed his ass for deforesting the Black Hills, being totally clueless that just about every forested area in the West is carrying far more trees than they should.  He shares my opinion that growing up in a small town/rural area had advantages that we didn't appreciate growing up.  When I moved to San Antonio at age 13, my life got much less interesting until I went to college.

Edited August 27, 2019 by ImissWallyPryor

[Hate 20159]

Damn, you jumped to a lot of conclusions there.

We still get out and about, we get a sitter 1-2x a month depending. This month we've been to a show at Scoot Inn, and spent a Sunday fun day downtown and on the east side. Also have been out to various swimming/outdoor spots with the kids. On the scale of people with one year olds, we're still known as "the crazy kids that go and party with the 20 year olds" or whatever. We're going to Denver without the kid in a few weeks, going to two days at ACL fest, tailgating/going to games, etc.

When I say it's wasted on us, what I'm saying is , the things that we like to do still exist out there in NB/SM. We're not getting out frequently enough to burn through all of the restaurants/bars/fun stuff to where we need the zillion options in Austin. I will definitely miss the huge amount of options, though. And of course, we don't lose any outdoor stuff, in fact we gain a ton of it. A couple of the neighborhoods we're looking at in NB have private neighborhood parks on the Guadalupe river right where tubers go past. 15 minutes from Canyon Lake, 15 minutes from Gruene/Schlitterbahn/Comal River. 15 from everything in San Marcos. 20 from Wimberley. It's center mass of the Texas Hill Country.

I think our biggest concern is the one you highlighted, which is a huge shift in social situation. We've got a great group of friends here in town, mostly within 15 minutes of us. These are old, lifelong friends, some from high school (a bunch of us are native south Austinites). Everyone has slowed down with kids and families and careers, so we don't see each other as much these days, but we get together probably once every couple of months. And the issue about parties is a big one. We'll have this bad ass plot of land with a pool and outdoor area, but it's going to be tough to get our friends from Austin out there on any regular basis, given that we're talking an hour drive for most. More than likely we'd end up driving to Austin to hang with them.

Our compelling reason for moving is that we can get 2+ acres with sweeping hill country views, a private yard with a pool where we can't read our neighbors lips from our backyard, and stay within 15 minutes of two cities with plenty to do. I'm tired of being on top of my neighbors and them being on top of us. We want land for the kids to run around on, some space, some privacy, etc.

Definitely a tradeoff and I have some concerns that align with some of what you mentioned. You're only 10 minutes closer to Austin that we'd be, and I'd venture a guess that where we're looking has quite a bit more to do within a 10 mile radius that you do out there. I'm not trying to argue with you necessarily, what I wrote out above is sort of the case that my wife and I have made to ourselves for moving out there. So I'm looking for counterarguments and devil's advocate, and/or personal experiences with similar lifestyle changes. We're not dead set on it, we could end up with an acre in Buda or Manchaca, but we're not going to get the same quality of house or land/view - not even close. So it's a heavy decision. But generally, your situation is a fairly close approximation to our decision.  That said- would you do it again (move out towards Dripping) given the choice?

PS/FYI - Dripping/Oak Hill have a ton of great options but don't work due to proximity to my wife's job. We have to be within 25-30 minutes of say, Cabela's (she doesn't work there - but in the area)

 

 

 

I have several friends that live in the River Chase subdivision you mention and they love it. They use the river park you mentioned fairly often. I would make sure you get there early on any weekend during the summer. It gets crowded pretty quickly. Oh, the water is cold and the rocks are slippery.

 

[Hornius Emeritus 12497]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Different era but my parents followed the dream of small town living. The result was that I had a crappy education especially in high school. The classes were easy (high GPA!) which I ultimately paid the price for in college.  High school required zero studying/homework.

Small town schools can have large tax bases that make their schools physically look the same or better than urban or suburban schools but their academics are rarely as good. I don’t blame them as they usually have fewer students going to top colleges so it’s better to prep more students for lower and mid tier colleges, if not zero college.  

as a kid that got pulled along to a small town, I wish my parents had stayed in Houston.

Last advice - if anyone is hellbent on moving to a small town neighborhood, at least rent for a year or two. You might find you hate it, and renting allows an easy transition back.

 

My  experience was completely different. There were 40 people in my entire high school class, and it was an exceptionally large class.  But we got a very solid education. The fundamentals were drilled into us.  Our class average on the ACT placed us in the top 34% of all students.  Loved growing up in that small town and still have many friends there. 

[Cajun 11765]

On 4/9/2018 at 11:58 AM, Leeroy Jenkins said:

I already did. The only thing I really miss is a much larger choice of restaurants.

I don’t miss the traffic at all.

Having lived for some time out in Alpine, TX, I'll vouch for this post.

Especially the lack of restaurants.

And HEBs.

[Cajun 11765]

On 6/22/2018 at 12:07 AM, Pato del Muerto said:

Only one pharma company in the entire state...for now. 

Aren't there only 62 people alltogether in Wyoming?

I mean, that's a LOT of pharma if you think about it.

[po elvis 2091]

It all depends on the small town. I didn't think I could, but i've been living in the mountains of Colorado for the last 8 weeks and am loving it. It is not getting old. Nearest town is 20 minutes away (population 300 year round, 7-800 in summertime). Nearest real grocery store is an hour and 20 minutes away. No traffic. Most vehicles wave when pass by. Entertainment is driving around looking for the moose, elk or bears. could i live here year round thru the winter? not sure on that. will be back in SA mid September. but at least i spent the summer in the 70's.

[Chewbacca 7793]

11 minutes ago, po elvis said:

It all depends on the small town. I didn't think I could, but i've been living in the mountains of Colorado for the last 8 weeks and am loving it. It is not getting old. Nearest town is 20 minutes away (population 300 year round, 7-800 in summertime). Nearest real grocery store is an hour and 20 minutes away. No traffic. Most vehicles wave when pass by. Entertainment is driving around looking for the moose, elk or bears. could i live here year round thru the winter? not sure on that. will be back in SA mid September. but at least i spent the summer in the 70's.

Where are you?

 

And yes, winter in the CO mountains is a whole different animal, but I still love it.

[atomheartbevo 90058]

12 minutes ago, po elvis said:

i've been living in the mountains of Colorado for the last 8 weeks and am loving it. It is not getting old.

May not be getting old, but it'll be getting cold soon.  You should stay through a winter and see what it's like.

[po elvis 2091]

Just now, Chewbacca said:

Where are you?

 

And yes, winter in the CO mountains is a whole different animal, but I still love it.

on the Alpine Loop. in between Lake City and Cinnamon Pass.

[Chewbacca 7793]

Just now, po elvis said:

on the Alpine Loop. in between Lake City and Cinnamon Pass.

Shit, you really are out in the middle of nowhere.  Gorgeous part of the state, though.

[baboso 6057]

Who was the poster on the scat site that moved to Colorado to live in the mountains.  White dude that wore Steve Harvey suits and loved the sistas.

[immamac 43571]

1 hour ago, BradInATX said:

Damn, you jumped to a lot of conclusions there.

We still get out and about, we get a sitter 1-2x a month depending. This month we've been to a show at Scoot Inn, and spent a Sunday fun day downtown and on the east side. Also have been out to various swimming/outdoor spots with the kids. On the scale of people with one year olds, we're still known as "the crazy kids that go and party with the 20 year olds" or whatever. We're going to Denver without the kid in a few weeks, going to two days at ACL fest, tailgating/going to games, etc.

When I say it's wasted on us, what I'm saying is , the things that we like to do still exist out there in NB/SM. We're not getting out frequently enough to burn through all of the restaurants/bars/fun stuff to where we need the zillion options in Austin. I will definitely miss the huge amount of options, though. And of course, we don't lose any outdoor stuff, in fact we gain a ton of it. A couple of the neighborhoods we're looking at in NB have private neighborhood parks on the Guadalupe river right where tubers go past. 15 minutes from Canyon Lake, 15 minutes from Gruene/Schlitterbahn/Comal River. 15 from everything in San Marcos. 20 from Wimberley. It's center mass of the Texas Hill Country.

I think our biggest concern is the one you highlighted, which is a huge shift in social situation. We've got a great group of friends here in town, mostly within 15 minutes of us. These are old, lifelong friends, some from high school (a bunch of us are native south Austinites). Everyone has slowed down with kids and families and careers, so we don't see each other as much these days, but we get together probably once every couple of months. And the issue about parties is a big one. We'll have this bad ass plot of land with a pool and outdoor area, but it's going to be tough to get our friends from Austin out there on any regular basis, given that we're talking an hour drive for most. More than likely we'd end up driving to Austin to hang with them.

Our compelling reason for moving is that we can get 2+ acres with sweeping hill country views, a private yard with a pool where we can't read our neighbors lips from our backyard, and stay within 15 minutes of two cities with plenty to do. I'm tired of being on top of my neighbors and them being on top of us. We want land for the kids to run around on, some space, some privacy, etc.

Definitely a tradeoff and I have some concerns that align with some of what you mentioned. You're only 10 minutes closer to Austin that we'd be, and I'd venture a guess that where we're looking has quite a bit more to do within a 10 mile radius that you do out there. I'm not trying to argue with you necessarily, what I wrote out above is sort of the case that my wife and I have made to ourselves for moving out there. So I'm looking for counterarguments and devil's advocate, and/or personal experiences with similar lifestyle changes. We're not dead set on it, we could end up with an acre in Buda or Manchaca, but we're not going to get the same quality of house or land/view - not even close. So it's a heavy decision. But generally, your situation is a fairly close approximation to our decision.  That said- would you do it again (move out towards Dripping) given the choice?

PS/FYI - Dripping/Oak Hill have a ton of great options but don't work due to proximity to my wife's job. We have to be within 25-30 minutes of say, Cabela's (she doesn't work there - but in the area)

 

 

The bolded would be a dealbreaker for my wife and I. It's less about getting wasted together or anything like that, but this is how you "lose touch", everyone has kids goes their separate ways, moves just far enough away from eachother to be inconvenient and once or twice a year turns into once every 5 years turns into you don't even see them until their kid graduates college. We aren't moving to a new place to make new friends we like the friends we have.

 

[Chewbacca 7793]

4 minutes ago, baboso said:

Who was the poster on the scat site that moved to Colorado to live in the mountains.  White dude that wore Steve Harvey suits and loved the sistas.

Yeah, he also dumped his dog when he left the mountains.  Swell guy, that one.

[52-80 19281]

6 minutes ago, baboso said:

Who was the poster on the scat site that moved to Colorado to live in the mountains.  White dude that wore Steve Harvey suits and loved the sistas.

sounds like all of them

[MNLonghornFUKM 8916]

It all depends on the small town. I didn't think I could, but i've been living in the mountains of Colorado for the last 8 weeks and am loving it. It is not getting old. Nearest town is 20 minutes away (population 300 year round, 7-800 in summertime). Nearest real grocery store is an hour and 20 minutes away. No traffic. Most vehicles wave when pass by. Entertainment is driving around looking for the moose, elk or bears. could i live here year round thru the winter? not sure on that. will be back in SA mid September. but at least i spent the summer in the 70's.

Im as anti traffic as you can get and even I need a little road noise for my sanity sake. You're about as BFE as you can get

 

[clapclapclap 9000]

4 hours ago, immamac said:

I'm not trying to be judgy

 

You're doing a great job, Immagatsby.

[clapclapclap 9000]

22 minutes ago, baboso said:

Who was the poster on the scat site that moved to Colorado to live in the mountains.  White dude that wore Steve Harvey suits and loved the sistas.

Was that the guy who ditched his dog to go live in the mountains? 

[Chewbacca 7793]

3 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Was that the guy who ditched his dog to go live in the mountains? 

He ditched the dog when he left the mountains.