Could You Move to a Small Town

[TwiceHorn 31478]

The wife and I have considered more rural living, as in lake or ranch property.  The issue there is having more land and/or waterfront, rather than being small town or rural per se.

Sort of by accident (mountain biking in South Dallas), I discovered that there are two hunting and fishing clubs founded in the 19th century by Dallas' leading citizens at the time.  One has fallen into disrepair but is being re-developed, the other has continued.  These are on small lakes in south Dallas, Hutchins to be precise, and there are lakehouses and boat docks.  The lakes are adequate for fishing and duck hunting, but not skiing or powerboating.  And the areas are quite rural despite being 10 minutes from downtown.  The one problem is that the lakehouses are all right next to each other, as most lakehouses tend to be.

They are kind of secretive, but the lakes and other aspects of the property are clearly marked on google maps.

I am super-intrigued by having a lakehouse that close to being in town.  

Edited August 27, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[po elvis 2070]

29 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

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

 

this place is known for Texans during the summer. there is enough of them zipping by in their ATVs for the noise. this weekend there is actually an ATV rally, so there might be too much noise.

[Pato del Muerto 52499]

37 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

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

A’s fan I think, so ya know 

SMG or something?  Teacher/basketball coach. 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Pato del Muerto

[po elvis 2070]

10 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

A’s fan I think, so ya know 

SMG or something?  Teacher/basketball coach. 

yeah something like that. I was driving thru his area a few weeks ago and thought about him. seemed like he was near Hartsel or Fairplay.

[Tylerocks 2553]

Did it right after college in Ketchum/Sun Valley, ID.  

Of course being 25 and single is quite different from being 44 and married.  No kids to worry about though, so that's a plus.

I would do it again.   I don't know if my wife would be able to handle it.

[Pato del Muerto 52499]

Being in downtown Denver for a few days has reminded me about what I miss about cities (food, entertainment options), and what I hate about them (traffic, people). 

 

[BradInATX 9208]

 
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.
 

Good info. Thanks. Do you have a feel for the general attitude/demographic of the neighborhood? At 38/34, will we be the youngest people in the neighborhood? Is it stuffy or laid back? Anything you can tell me would be great. Hard to judge a neighborhood just by looking at a house and driving around.

[Chewbacca 7780]

22 minutes ago, po elvis said:

yeah something like that. I was driving thru his area a few weeks ago and thought about him. seemed like he was near Hartsel or Fairplay.

He was in Alma, between Fairplay and Breck.

[Cajun 11705]

Best depiction of the small town Restaurant situation...

Alpine, at least.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Cajun

[Hate 20108]

From what I can gather it’s a pretty good mix of young and old. It’s very laid back from what I can tell as well. My best friend and his family live there. They are around 50. We usually go there at least once a year for a river day and it’s a good time. Since they’ve built all of the shopping areas at 306 and 35, there isn’t really much they miss. They were never really the type to go out in the town anyway, so they’ve always been happy there. I have some other friends who retired there, others that are in their early 30’s and starting a family (they have a one year old), and another set of friends with teenagers. All of them love it.

 

[immortal13 4059]

 

[RPM 26321]

2 hours 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.

Wasn't it TJ? He didn't ditch the dog, he sent it to live with his gf in NY, then moved in with her and went silent after that. 

Edited August 27, 2019 by RPM

[GotThatFire 166]

On 6/22/2018 at 9:06 PM, Schulz2.0 said:

Good luck Duck. The wife and I have talked about moving to Wyoming or Montana in a few years.

 Two states that we have discussed very seriously. Don’t know much about them now other than what we see during road trips. Beautiful, and something about them states feels like it’s calling me. Have you researched them at all? Any input you could give us? 

[huge 3793]

Spent some time in New Braunfels last weekend.  I could live there.

 

But something like Navasota?  No thank you.

[SydneyCarton 48107]

My wife and I are concerned about the land disappearing and the skyrocketing cost. I saw a place that came available on the waterfront in San Marcos, in 2017 it was appraised at like 200k. Not it was selling for like 450-500. Basically a shack. 

We definitely think we can live in a smaller-ish town like Wimberley, or even Johnson City if it continues to develop, or New Braunfels or anywhere in the hill country. Of course, the question is, what will it cost when we can afford to look to buy land there? We feel some urgency to try and purchase something in the next 5-10 years just to HAVE something, even if it's land we can't develop immediately. It's going like hot cakes. But the older I get (about to be a MAN), the less I think I'd really need to live in Houston. We live in a great area, with dozens of outstanding restaurants we can ride a bike to, endless entertainment, friends and family, etc. But I don't think I'll need those things in 10-15 years, if not sooner, but if I wait that long to buy land in the hill country, 4-5 acres of waterfront might be 2-4 million dollars. 

Worrying about being able to afford moving to a small town I'd want to live in feels like a real odd piece of irony. 

[hayden_horn 11362]

if there is high speed broadband, then yes. otherwise, nope.

and i agree, wimberly, johnson city, maybe even hye, if there is quality internet.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

3 hours ago, po elvis said:

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

That's a spectacular area.  I've climbed all the Lake City 14ers (done the Wetterhorn/Uncompaghre combo twice).  Honestly, one of the coolest places on the planet.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

i grew up in a tiny town.  things get insular awfully fast.  i would challenge anyone to fight that.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

4 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

if there is high speed broadband, then yes. otherwise, nope.

and i agree, wimberly, johnson city, maybe even hye, if there is quality internet.

It really is a huge part of narrowing the gap.  When I was a kid (born in '85), the internet was in it's infancy, and wasn't really in rural areas until 1999 or so.  And that was dial up.  It just created a higher level of isolation from the rest of the world than exists in the same place today.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

3 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

i grew up in a tiny town.  things get insular awfully fast.  i would challenge anyone to fight that.

That is a real issue.  The town I live in gets (relatively) spared that due to 2 things:  1) the nearby 4 year liberal arts school; 2) the number of people that live there due to COL but commute to larger towns (Rochester MN, LaCrosse WI, Waterloo/Cedar Falls IA) for work.  It still gets pretty damn insular, but the community where I attended school (20 minutes west of my current home) is "comedic film about the rural Midwest" levels of insularity, and it's a definite downside.

The internet, and just a greater focus on travel by most people has lessened it from when I was growing up, but it's certainly still a thing and one of the main drawbacks.

[hayden_horn 11362]

7 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

i grew up in a tiny town.  things get insular awfully fast.  i would challenge anyone to fight that.

i would argue that in a more connected world, that insulararity (did i just make up that word) could be stifled somewhat. i would also argue that with a more connected world, people with the more open worldview (ie, the yous of the world) might be more inclined to stay instead of moving to the big city where the jobs are. that's for people who have a job that can be more remote, which i realize isn't everyone.

as it stands, small towns are dying because of that lack of connection. the smarter ones are realizing it, and actively doing something about it, whether it be deploying a municipal or utility broadband network, or applying for federal grants.

[BradInATX 9208]

32 minutes ago, huge said:

Spent some time in New Braunfels last weekend.  I could live there.

 

But something like Navasota?  No thank you.

about 15 years ago a buddy and I once drank so much Jagr at a bar in Navasota that they ran out and sent one of the emloyees to the local liquor store to buy more. Which I'm pretty sure isn't legal, but nobody cared. I was wearing a giant foam Cowboy hat. True story. The next night we went to the other bar in town and everyone there had heard of us.

Edited August 27, 2019 by BradInATX

[hookem2010 2624]

Great to see all the Decatur love at the beginning of the thread! We just moved out here for the wife's clinicals a couple weeks ago and will be here until she finishes at the end of 2020. I've been working in Denton since we initially moved to FW a year ago, so I'm still in a decent-sized city most days. I grew up in the Houston suburbs and moved into the city for a few years after finishing school, so this will be an interesting 16 months or so. I'm white but my wife is part of the sub-1% Asian population in town, and I don't really look forward to being recognized at the bar or handful of restaurants when we don't feel like driving 45-60 minutes into Denton or FW. It shouldn't be hard to entertain myself during the CFB season, but 2020 could be a long year. I don't imagine I will want to live in a small town when this era is over. The anonymity of a decent-sized city with nearby natural areas to explore is hopefully where we end up after this.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Sbbruin 21854]

2 hours ago, Cajun said:

Best depiction of the small town Restaurant situation...

Alpine, at least.

Pretty sure I'd tell that old bat to get fucked.  Then I'd ask what kind of sushi they have.  And if I could have a kale salad.

[mooseoutfront 3643]

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.

Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 

Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

[Hate 20108]

Damn, as awesome as that sounds I know I could never live like that.  I don't need a cosmopolitan metropolis, but I do need indoor plumbing.  Hats off to you and Mrs. Moose.

[Neonmoon 38129]

4 minutes ago, mooseoutfront said:

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.

Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 

Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

[SydneyCarton 48107]

9 minutes ago, mooseoutfront said:

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.

Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 

Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

But how’s your internet? 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

38 minutes ago, hookem2010 said:

Great to see all the Decatur love at the beginning of the thread! We just moved out here for the wife's clinicals a couple weeks ago and will be here until she finishes at the end of 2020. I've been working in Denton since we initially moved to FW a year ago, so I'm still in a decent-sized city most days. I grew up in the Houston suburbs and moved into the city for a few years after finishing school, so this will be an interesting 16 months or so. I'm white but my wife is part of the sub-1% Asian population in town, and I don't really look forward to being recognized at the bar or handful of restaurants when we don't feel like driving 45-60 minutes into Denton or FW. It shouldn't be hard to entertain myself during the CFB season, but 2020 could be a long year. I don't imagine I will want to live in a small town when this era is over. The anonymity of a decent-sized city with nearby natural areas to explore is hopefully where we end up after this.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Pics of asian wife?

[Chewbacca 7780]

17 minutes ago, mooseoutfront said:

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.

Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 

Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

You are fucking hard core.  My hat's off to you.  I love the mountains and the wilderness, but I need plumbing and electricity.

[Schulz2.0 28951]

1 hour ago, GotThatFire said:

 Two states that we have discussed very seriously. Don’t know much about them now other than what we see during road trips. Beautiful, and something about them states feels like it’s calling me. Have you researched them at all? Any input you could give us? 

Haven’t researched it too much. I have a 15 month old son and another on its way. I’m hopefully landing a job in the next few days that should allow my wife to go back to school for a Mechanical Engineering degree (she has a Nuclear Engineering Technology degree now). So any move is probably at least 4-5 years out.

Jobs are a pretty limiting component. There’s a handful of metro areas bigger than 75,000. Other than that, you’re looking at scattered towns that might have 10-15k. A lot of the area is ranching, farming, or oil and gas. Pato del muerto is probably a better guy to ask than me.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

5 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

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. 

There are always exceptions. The talk here has been about New Braunfels schools which I admit I know very little. From a few internet searches, NB High School looks to be average to below average. US News ranked them as the 30th best high school in the SA area out of ~130.  Math proficiency at 33%. Reading at 73%.  Probably not bad for a small town.  NB looks to be much better than my old high school.

[GotThatFire 166]

43 minutes ago, mooseoutfront said:

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.

Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 

Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

This feral ghoul in the rural Alaskan wilderness  found a way to post, but Bizzle can’t manage to logon from Vancouver ...

Edited August 27, 2019 by GotThatFire

[Schulz2.0 28951]

42 minutes ago, mooseoutfront said:

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.

Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 

Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

I told my wife, prior to kids, that I’d move to Alaska if she wanted to. My request was that we’d have to live in the middle of nowhere similar to what y’all did. She said no.

[Beau Vine 54230]

New Braunfels is not a small town, you stupid chucklefucks.

[Updawg 2266]

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.
Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 
Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

That's hardcore...you need to start a thread about it. Especially how you handle the winter. How close is you closest neighbor?

[Sbbruin 21854]

1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

But how’s your internet? 

Electricity free, somehow.

[SydneyCarton 48107]

I 100% couldn’t make it without college football. 

[CooterBrown 18013]

That's hardcore...you need to start a thread about it. Especially how you handle the winter. How close is you closest neighbor?

I’m more interested in hearing his serial killing stories.

[mooseoutfront 3643]

To answer the questions:

Internet is actually pretty good.  We have 4G at the cabin and can stream on our devices.  We use a generator to keep things charged up.  Electricity is available, but it's expensive.  We're about 20 to 30 poles away from being able to hook up to it, but at $8000 per pole it's not worth it.  With all the tourists in the area right now internet can be spotty during peak usage hours, but in the Winter that's not a problem since 80% of the population leaves.  I've let go of basically all sports except Longhorn Football.  I usually stream the Craig Way radio feed for the games.  As far as Winter goes, it gets cold where I am. It's typically in the 20 to 30 below zero range.  The coldest I ever saw was 72 below.  The warmest we've seen is 94 above.  My closest neighbor is about 800 yards as the raven flies through the woods and we do not get along.  I might have some serial killer stories if I ever find him on my property again.  The famous "Magic Bus" of "Into the Wild" fame is about 30 miles from my front door.

[SHOOTER12 8810]

17 hours ago, RPM said:

Christie?

Christy?

[Pato del Muerto 52499]

3 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

But how’s your internet? 

He’s posting isn’t he?

[SydneyCarton 48107]

1 minute ago, Pato del Muerto said:

He’s posting isn’t he?

1) it was a joke

2) he clearly said he wasn’t currently in Alaska. 

[Pato del Muerto 52499]

6 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

1) it was a joke

2) he clearly said he wasn’t currently in Alaska. 

2). Did he?  Moved back to cabin in April was last thing I see. 

[SydneyCarton 48107]

2 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

2). Did he?  Moved back to cabin in April was last thing I see. 

My bad. Clearly I missed that. In my head I read it was moving back. 

[DaysOff 7951]

Been looking for an excuse to stop lurking.
Backstory...wife and I moved to rural Alaska 12 years ago from Texas and went feral.  Lived in a log cabin in the Denali Borough.  No electricity.  No indoor plumbing.  Hunting and fishing and gardens and chores.  We both loved it. 
Two years ago we had to move back to Texas for some family reasons.  Moved to a big city and could not stand any part of it.  We're both done with the city and "everything" it has to offer.  Family reasons are settled to the best of our abilities.  Moved back to the cabin in April.  Couldn't be happier.  It's cooling down.  The Fall colors are starting to show.  Moose season starts next week.  Can't wait for Winter and the Northern Lights.  Unless something goes really wrong, I'll never live in a city again.

Cherish the cabin.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

I figured it out. Mooseoutfront is Richard Proenneke back from the dead.

[McCroskey 1504]

When our parents are gone and our children grown, we’re buying a place in Montana or Wyoming. Somewhere remote but still within a reasonable drive to an airport that connects to SLC or SEA.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest Lobo]

Don't let other's dying delay your living.  Or so it has been explained to me by dead people.  

[Pato del Muerto 52499]

1 hour ago, McCroskey said:

When our parents are gone and our children grown, we’re buying a place in Montana or Wyoming. Somewhere remote but still within a reasonable drive to an airport that connects to SLC or SEA.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yellowstone regional (COD) is served year round by United to Denver, and during summer by delta to SLC. 

Several former coworkers went to a GSK facility in Hamilton, MT that looks nice and is pretty close to Missoula.