Could You Move to a Small Town

[Errestaurants 2570]

In Kemp-southern Kaufman County we only have Century Link and it's real shitty. There is a waiting list. 

[Guest Lobo]

Sorry for 

[Chewbacca 7779]

1 minute ago, Errestaurants said:

In Kemp-southern Kaufman County we only have Century Link and it's real shitty. There is a waiting list. 

Yeah, I forgot to mention the waiting list bullshit.  I got extremely lucky when I got my 40 MB service last year.  I got the last slot in the box.  Everyone who called after me is sitting on said waitlist.  Also with CenturyLink.

[Errestaurants 2570]

4 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Yeah, I forgot to mention the waiting list bullshit.  I got extremely lucky when I got my 40 MB service last year.  I got the last slot in the box.  Everyone who called after me is sitting on said waitlist.  Also with CenturyLink.

Yea those fuckers are the worst. Damn monopoly basically. I don't have internet because of that. I have a Barndominium with spray foam so I also get shitty cell service. 

[Sbbruin 21853]

I have thought about retiring on one of the San Juan Islands, or coastal Carolina somewhere.  But it's just a thought at this point, and everything will be driven by where my kids end up.

[cactusflinthead 27598]

On 4/10/2018 at 7:23 AM, Onboard 2.0 said:

What's the definition of this small town ?  population ?  geographic location in relation to larger population areas ?

 

On 4/10/2018 at 1:18 PM, bolverk said:

I decided to look up a list of the micropolitan statistical areas of Texas. There are 43 of them. The requirements for qualification is to 1) form an urban cluster of at least 10,000 and 2) NOT be a suburb of a major city as measured by commuting patterns (this is a legit Census Bureau designation).

I hope this image isn't too small. I'm still trying to figure out the imgbox thing.

Edit: There are several from this list I've never been to. Sell us on your top five. 

I read the whole mess. 

It's all about the money. Sack and the other 1%ers and the work from home types can afford to not have a job in BFE. If you still have to work for a living that part of the equation must be factored in. 

I make over twice in the bright lights of the Big City what I made in the low traffic country micropolis. You know why there's no Lowe's in Brownwood? Because they were going to pay too much. If you have the means to live in the country independent of their local economy it's great. If you are a working stiff you either go where the money is or you settle for less. If I could make the same money in Stephenville, Nacogdoches, or Brownwood I would go, but that's not likely. The country person goes to town because that's where they keep the money. 

And I would still make the drive to the city. Yeah, those 3 towns I mentioned are college towns. But, ain't no big time shows going to be there. It grants them a stable economic base, but what art and culture it might bring is highly variable. 

You think there's gonna be art in Brownwood? At HARDENED SINNERS?

Not unless you are bringing the ghost of Robert E. Howard. He stayed until he killed himself. Everyone else with some Elvis in them got the hell out. 

As Mojo said to Otis when speaking of small town teenagerdom.

"It was get drunk and ride around or ride around and get drunk."

No. I'll stay here in the Big City a while longer. 

Oh yes. The only time I have ever seen a Klan rally was in Stephenville. But, that's another story. 

[tbone_ 14123]

What do you small town dudes do for a living?

I’d love to do it but my profession doesn’t really work in a small town.

[mooseoutfront 3643]

2 hours ago, tbone_ said:

What do you small town dudes do for a living?

I’d love to do it but my profession doesn’t really work in a small town.

I'm a chemist. 

I'm fortunate to be able to live in the middle of fucking nowhere and use my education in non-illicit ways to make an extremely good salary.  If I had the balls I could make a lot more money a la the Walter White route. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by mooseoutfront
English is hard

[Shoxthemonkey 1981]

I'm an engineer for a small manufacturing company.  We design and build specialty manufacturing equipment like rollformers and cut-to-length lines for the metal forming industry. It's a family owned business with 20ish employees. Because it's small, I get to wear many hats and dabble in sales, design, manufacturing and field installations. I make about 75% of what I could earn if I worked in Wichita. I live 3 miles outside of town on 80 acres, no mortgage. My office is 3 blocks from the 9-hole golf course and I play at least 4 days a week. I intended to be retired by now, I'm 67, but I enjoy what I do and they let me come and go as I please, for the most part. The money is too easy to give it up.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

8 hours ago, tbone_ said:

What do you small town dudes do for a living?

I’d love to do it but my profession doesn’t really work in a small town.

Farm, but also maintain a law license.  There's a need for legal work, and it's hard to get kids back to a small town so it would be really easy to pivot back into law at any time.

In my area, there's almost negative unemployment and all sorts of businesses are hiring and paying at a rate that allows for a comfortable life.  It's just hard to get people (especially people under 30) to see the opportunity in small town life.

[Shoxthemonkey 1981]

The place I live is small but we are the county seat. It means we have several lawyers and a district judge in our community. We have a 30 bed hospital with full lab so we have a couple MDs and several nurses and technicians. KDOT has a regional headquarters here so we have several civil engineers in town. We are always looking for school teachers but the administration seems pretty stable. We have two manufacturing companies that provide jobs for 60 or so people. Many of those are skilled positions. Just because a place is small doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities for professionals. Our pressing need right now is for someone to fill the dining void. Subway and Casey's isn't getting it done. We have a couple of shuttered cafes downtown that need somebody to take over. One of them was recently remodeled. Great opportunity for the right person.

[clapclapclap 9000]

1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

It's just hard to get people (especially people under 30) to see the opportunity in small town life.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

9 minutes ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

The place I live is small but we are the county seat. It means we have several lawyers and a district judge in our community. We have a 30 bed hospital with full lab so we have a couple MDs and several nurses and technicians. KDOT has a regional headquarters here so we have several civil engineers in town. We are always looking for school teachers but the administration seems pretty stable. We have two manufacturing companies that provide jobs for 60 or so people. Many of those are skilled positions. Just because a place is small doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities for professionals. Our pressing need right now is for someone to fill the dining void. Subway and Casey's isn't getting it done. We have a couple of shuttered cafes downtown that need somebody to take over. One of them was recently remodeled. Great opportunity for the right person.

Sounds remarkably similar to where I live, but we have a couple of solid dining options.  Our pizza place is legitimately excellent - plenty of TVs for games, 12-15 local craft beers on tap, nice and clean, outdoor patio, good food.  They bring in live music 7-8 times a year and just pack it out for that too.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

4 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

I get it.  I'm just explaining why there are more jobs in BFE than people would think.

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

Also a chemist. But when the facility downsized (and just shut down completely) I took a lay-off package and became a stay at home dad/home school teacher thanks to my wife getting a nice job as the ceo of a small nonprofit. 

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

Grew up in small town Texas, so won't ever live in one again.  I want more of a "small city" than a small town.   The dream one is Bend, Oregon.  Love that place.  About 100k in population, and just gorgeous.  And yeah, it is all perspective.  100K feels a lot smaller than 1 million or whatever the Austin area is at these days.   Unfortunately, expensive as all get out, so loses any financial 'wins'.   Kicking myself for what I could have bought when I first visited it, but at the time my job wouldn't let me go full remote.

If not Bend, then some other small city in the Pac Northwest.  That's the fantasy, at least.  The climate and scenery out there is just perfect for me.  

 

[HRSchenker 2268]

I love small town Texas! I grew up in a small town and eventually lived in a big city. Advantages and disadvantages to both but I honestly prefer to be around less people. One thing i absolutely hate about small towns is they operate on their own traffic rules. Drive east away from Dallas and you'll run into a town called Gun Barrel City. The folks there use the middle turn lane as their own merge/acceleration lane. So if you're trying to turn left to get on the main road, normally you cross 2 lanes, the turn lane, then your lane. Nope. These folks turn into the turn lane, stop, put on their blinker, then wait to merge. Very annoying.

I agree with the guy above me about preferring a small city than a town but man today's "small cities" are so vanilla. Forney is a great example of one. How many pizza places, dental offices, donut shops, and nail salons can one zip code handle? Apparently a lot.

[bolverk 29672]

7 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

I love small town Texas! I grew up in a small town and eventually lived in a big city. Advantages and disadvantages to both but I honestly prefer to be around less people. One thing i absolutely hate about small towns is they operate on their own traffic rules. Drive east away from Dallas and you'll run into a town called Gun Barrel City. The folks there use the middle turn lane as their own merge/acceleration lane. So if you're trying to turn left to get on the main road, normally you cross 2 lanes, the turn lane, then your lane. Nope. These folks turn into the turn lane, stop, put on their blinker, then wait to merge. Very annoying.

I agree with the guy above me about preferring a small city than a town but man today's "small cities" are so vanilla. Forney is a great example of one. How many pizza places, dental offices, donut shops, and nail salons can one zip code handle? Apparently a lot.

I see this every morning coming up South Lamar into downtown Austin.

[Errestaurants 2570]

13 minutes ago, bolverk said:

I see this every morning coming up South Lamar into downtown Austin.

Yea. Dumbass drivers isnt just a small town problem. 

[Errestaurants 2570]

23 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

I love small town Texas! I grew up in a small town and eventually lived in a big city. Advantages and disadvantages to both but I honestly prefer to be around less people. One thing i absolutely hate about small towns is they operate on their own traffic rules. Drive east away from Dallas and you'll run into a town called Gun Barrel City. The folks there use the middle turn lane as their own merge/acceleration lane. So if you're trying to turn left to get on the main road, normally you cross 2 lanes, the turn lane, then your lane. Nope. These folks turn into the turn lane, stop, put on their blinker, then wait to merge. Very annoying.

I agree with the guy above me about preferring a small city than a town but man today's "small cities" are so vanilla. Forney is a great example of one. How many pizza places, dental offices, donut shops, and nail salons can one zip code handle? Apparently a lot.

Most of the dumbass drivers in Gun Barrel are the dallas folks with lake homes. 

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

23 minutes ago, Errestaurants said:

Most of the dumbass drivers in Gun Barrel are the dallas folks with lake homes. 

Should move to seven points. 

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

1 hour ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Grew up in small town Texas, so won't ever live in one again.  I want more of a "small city" than a small town.   The dream one is Bend, Oregon.  Love that place.  About 100k in population, and just gorgeous.  And yeah, it is all perspective.  100K feels a lot smaller than 1 million or whatever the Austin area is at these days.   Unfortunately, expensive as all get out, so loses any financial 'wins'.   Kicking myself for what I could have bought when I first visited it, but at the time my job wouldn't let me go full remote.

If not Bend, then some other small city in the Pac Northwest.  That's the fantasy, at least.  The climate and scenery out there is just perfect for me.  

 

I applied to several jobs in bend before moving to Wyoming. But the local talent pool between bend, Portland, and Seattle meant they didn’t need to consider nonregional applicants. 

Looked again after my layoff and shit is just too expensive, plus I’ve grown accustomed to zero state income tax, 4% sales tax, and 0.5% property tax. 

[Errestaurants 2570]

17 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Should move to seven points. 

I'm in Kemp. I'm an expert on Seven Points,Tx

[HOOKEM4 5037]

Once high speed internet is available everywhere, I will turn my "pole barn" (really a barn skeleton with no walls) into a bardominium and head out to a life of peace in the country. I might keep a house on the lake and come back here for my random weekend trips instead of the other way around.

[Sbbruin 21853]

I'm a chemist. 
I'm fortunate to be able to live in the middle of fucking nowhere and use my education in non-illicit ways to make an extremely good salary.  If I had the balls I could make a lot more money a la the Walter White route. 

[Upgrayedd 5812]

14 hours ago, tbone_ said:

What do you small town dudes do for a living?

I’d love to do it but my profession doesn’t really work in a small town.

Mine as well.  I need unfettered development and easy access to a major airport.

[DaysOff 7951]

I applied to several jobs in bend before moving to Wyoming. But the local talent pool between bend, Portland, and Seattle meant they didn’t need to consider nonregional applicants. 
Looked again after my layoff and shit is just too expensive, plus I’ve grown accustomed to zero state income tax, 4% sales tax, and 0.5% property tax. 

Medford looks nice. Lots of old hippies and possible young meth heads too though.

[Beau Vine 54230]

4 hours ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Grew up in small town Texas, so won't ever live in one again.  I want more of a "small city" than a small town.   The dream one is Bend, Oregon.  Love that place.  About 100k in population, and just gorgeous.  And yeah, it is all perspective.  100K feels a lot smaller than 1 million or whatever the Austin area is at these days.   Unfortunately, expensive as all get out, so loses any financial 'wins'.   Kicking myself for what I could have bought when I first visited it, but at the time my job wouldn't let me go full remote.

If not Bend, then some other small city in the Pac Northwest.  That's the fantasy, at least.  The climate and scenery out there is just perfect for me.  

 

Bend is pretty much the meth capital of the west coast.

[Beau Vine 54230]

3 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

I love small town Texas! I grew up in a small town and eventually lived in a big city. Advantages and disadvantages to both but I honestly prefer to be around less people. One thing i absolutely hate about small towns is they operate on their own traffic rules. Drive east away from Dallas and you'll run into a town called Gun Barrel City. The folks there use the middle turn lane as their own merge/acceleration lane. So if you're trying to turn left to get on the main road, normally you cross 2 lanes, the turn lane, then your lane. Nope. These folks turn into the turn lane, stop, put on their blinker, then wait to merge. Very annoying.

WHere do people not do this?

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

Bend is pretty much the meth capital of the west coast.

 

The longest I stayed there was a month.  I have also tried to go during each of the seasons to get a good feel for the place.  Would see some homeless here and there that definitely seemed meth'd out, but not all that many, really.  Maybe I had blinders on.  I've heard they have many camping out in the forest areas, so maybe there?

Schools rate high, pretty low crime rate, and the scenery all around was just fantastic.  Mountains in 15 minutes after finishing work.  A real river that runs through the town, part of which they've set up a surf park on.  Parks all over, all great.  Amazing hikes.  Name the outdoor sport and its all good there.  The people were incredibly friendly.  The beer is  just well, spectacular and if you stay long enough you find out on what nights you can get great deals.  Legalized MJ if that's your thing (I certainly tried it--felt like freedom).  Nothing's perfect, and the locals complain at how fast it is growing, which sounds familiar.   

The only thing holding me back on that one now is finances.  Which may stop me from getting to live it.  But boy, if I could make it happen, well yeah.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by MC Fresh Breath
where were bleh

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

7 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

I don't know why when there are random, raven haired, chicks ready for a roll in the clover.

[Errestaurants 2570]

9 hours ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

The place I live is small but we are the county seat. It means we have several lawyers and a district judge in our community. We have a 30 bed hospital with full lab so we have a couple MDs and several nurses and technicians. KDOT has a regional headquarters here so we have several civil engineers in town. We are always looking for school teachers but the administration seems pretty stable. We have two manufacturing companies that provide jobs for 60 or so people. Many of those are skilled positions. Just because a place is small doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities for professionals. Our pressing need right now is for someone to fill the dining void. Subway and Casey's isn't getting it done. We have a couple of shuttered cafes downtown that need somebody to take over. One of them was recently remodeled. Great opportunity for the right person.

The problem with small towns and dining options in my experience is that people typically don't want to pay the price for "good" food made from scratch other than Friday or Saturday nights. That's why they are dominated with DQs, Subways, Pizza hut, or the local family owned Mexican joint. They want chicken fried steak and 2 sides for $8. Hard to make a go at it when its slow monday-thursday and the labor aspect of the restaurant business in small towns is tough. I'm not saying there are not successful mom and pop restaurants in small town America but there is typically something else going that supports the business. Take Mary's in Strawn very successful with the locals but also big destination for hunters who are passing through. 

I'm in Kemp, TX (population 1,200) and we have a Sonic, Subway, Local BBQ joint (most of their business is catering around the lake area) and a Mennonite sandwich place that does well because it's tourist driven and low labor costs--all family of course.  We go over to Gun Barrel ( pop 5,800) for services and its all the fast food chains, cheap Tex Mex and Italian places locally owned. The one place that is kinda nice is the Brewery in Seven Points. they do well but its mostly tourist driven ( Dallas people with second homes on the lake and motorcycle groups stopping in) they also have their primary business of selling beer regionally. 

[Shoxthemonkey 1981]

The wife and I drive 15 miles just to get fucking pancakes on Saturday morning. I'm not asking for fine dining although that would be nice. I just want a good farmer Cafe for breakfast and lunch. We got spoiled , I guess, with two places in town but both owners got old and couldn't find a buyer. Rumor has it that our 1880s hotel has hired a chef for weekend suppers. Curious how that will be received.

[NorthLoop 14203]

15 miles? The horror. 

[Neonmoon 38129]

What kind of jobs do small towns have? Could one acquire said skills? 

[Errestaurants 2570]

13 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

What kind of jobs do small towns have? Could one acquire said skills? 

Mostly blue collar providing services to the communities. Cement work, septic, electrician, plumbing, txdot, county, coop electric company, welding, etc

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

Also O&G stuff. Upstream, midstream, and downstream, depending on the location. Not hard to make a good living in those fields if you can find something.

[MoJames 8244]

On 9/4/2019 at 11:46 AM, Chewbacca said:

Yeah, internet is a real problem in rural areas.  The best service we can get in the mountains is 40 MB service through DSL and that only happened a year ago.  Prior to that, our only internet choices were 1.5 MB DSL (yes, you read that right) or satellite.  Thankfully we get good cell service, so we could always stream movies and browse the web on our phones.

So about a year ago, we improved from 1.5 down to 10 down. Changed my life.

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

So small town update. About 10 miles south of us was a place called monster lake ranch, that had been run as a hospitality business where people stay in a rustic setting and fish and ride atvs and things. I forget exactly how large it is. I guess it didn’t make money because it went up for auction, was in the papers and whatever. 

The winning bidder at $14,000,000 is Kanye West. Apparently he’s here now fucking around on his new property. 

https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/report-rapper-kanye-west-buying-codys-monster-lake-ranch,21097

Edited September 7, 2019 by Pato del Muerto

[Schulz2.0 28951]

32 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

So small town update. About 10 miles south of us was a place called monster lake ranch, that had been run as a hospitality business where people stay in a rustic setting and fish and ride atvs and things. I forget exactly how large it is. I guess it didn’t make money because it went up for auction, was in the papers and whatever. 

The winning bidder at $14,000,000 is Kanye West. Apparently he’s here now fucking around on his new property. 

https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/report-rapper-kanye-west-buying-codys-monster-lake-ranch,21097

I’m imagining the South Park episode where all the rich Black people move in.

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

Just now, Schulz2.0 said:

I’m imagining the South Park episode where all the rich Black people move in.

We are in Park county...

[Schulz2.0 28951]

On 9/3/2019 at 1:24 PM, APEX said:

After spending a week in Colorado, I can picture myself somewhere between Denver and Colorado Springs or to the west of there (Fairplay). I have a realtor friend who is saying people are being priced out of Denver and are moving to northern Colorado Springs and commuting.  I-25 is a mess it beats I-35 here in DFW.  For a Texan, winter in Colorado can be brutal but it has so much to offer as far as outdoor.  Did I mention weed is legal?

CS isn’t much cheaper than Denver. Like you mentioned, depending on where you have to commute, traffic sucks ass. The winters aren’t that bad. Stop being a pussy.

[Errestaurants 2570]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

So small town update. About 10 miles south of us was a place called monster lake ranch, that had been run as a hospitality business where people stay in a rustic setting and fish and ride atvs and things. I forget exactly how large it is. I guess it didn’t make money because it went up for auction, was in the papers and whatever. 

The winning bidder at $14,000,000 is Kanye West. Apparently he’s here now fucking around on his new property. 

https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/report-rapper-kanye-west-buying-codys-monster-lake-ranch,21097

Kanye and the gang love Wyoming. They are in the Jackson Hole area a lot.

[tx 3 putt 76958]

i love jackson hole 

[Beau Vine 54230]

Was Kanye begging other people for money not too long ago?

[davidg 4038]

The part that I thought was unbelievable in that article is where it said KK is  working on a law degree. WTF?

[CleverNickname 1310]

6 hours ago, davidg said:

The part that I thought was unbelievable in that article is where it said KK is  working on a law degree. WTF?

It is known. I think she's doing that (old school cool IMO) option still available in CA whereby you basically intern for a few years, and then sit for the bar. Basically how everybody got law degrees until state Bars took over and regulated out of existence anything but expensive 3 year graduate education. You still gotta pass the bar exam, and the CA bar is not a cakewalk. 

[tx 3 putt 76958]

9 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Was Kanye begging other people for money not too long ago?

He banks on his adidas deal

I’ve read more than once that it’s the #2 show franchise behind Jordan  

Edited September 7, 2019 by tx 3 putt

[Degenerate Gardner 4085]

I could and I have.  5+ years ago I moved to a small town of 30k with the nearest city of semi-consequence about 45 minutes away after decades in Austin.  Obviously each person has to weigh the tradeoffs of what they're willing to sacrifice for what they'll gain, but for me it's been 5 of my best years.  The quiet and non-existent commute time has meant a fundamentally chiller life.  My wife dropped her debit card while walking home from work and a cop showed up at our front door later that day to drop it off after it was found by a citizen who turned it in.  You don't get that shit in 78704. 

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

Welp, wife heard that Kanye and Kim were at the school yesterday and are thinking of making this their primary residence. 

So maybe I will see them at the Albertsons or something.