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Could You Move to a Small Town

MaybeACoordinator

By MaybeACoordinator
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Couple of years ago I get a flat on a trailer outside of Justiceberg—between Post and Snyder—on the way to Lubbock. I hit the ditch to change it and have easy access to all my tools. No big deal. 

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I live in a tourist area, and by the end of the summer I will admit that I'm looking forward to them leaving.  But tourist dollars pay for everything in the Denali Borough.  The only tax levied here i

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I didn't have "welp, just let Republicans die" on the bingo card for today but here we are. People who can't find common ground and appreciation for people with differing political views are a hu

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TxEx99

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4 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

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. 

Tax reasons alone would justify leaving California for Wyoming.  

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Leeroy Jenkins

Leeroy Jenkins 2402

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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.


Do you live in GBC?
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ImissWallyPryor

ImissWallyPryor 9046

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On 9/3/2019 at 1:36 PM, BearSchlong said:

Did we ever determine what sized population is small town?

On the subject of college towns, I'm in love with Columbia, MO, but it doesn't really qualify as a small town.  Still, within 2 hours of KC and STL is nice.

My son and DIL went to grad school in Columbia.  It's a real nice town.  With Mizzou being there, it has a lot more to offer than similar-sized cities.  I don't care for KC or STL, so neither of those are a bonus to me.  Columbia is plenty big enough for 99.7% of my needs.

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ImissWallyPryor

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On 9/5/2019 at 8:05 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

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.

One of the problems hiring in small towns is the dating pool is small if you are under 30.  It improves a bit after that because of divorces, but it's hard to attract young professionals and skilled technical workers who are often single.  It can be a challenge to hire male doctors in particular even if they are married because they usually met their spouses in medical school or residency, so they are usually city girls.  The guys like the outdoor recreation opportunities, but their city-raised wives are terrified by the lack of shopping options.  Female doctors who are from smaller towns are easier to hire because their husbands often like outdoor recreation.  At least that's what I've seen.

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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3 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

One of the problems hiring in small towns is the dating pool is small if you are under 30.  It improves a bit after that because of divorces, but it's hard to attract young professionals and skilled technical workers who are often single.  It can be a challenge to hire male doctors in particular even if they are married because they usually met their spouses in medical school or residency, so they are usually city girls.  The guys like the outdoor recreation opportunities, but their city-raised wives are terrified by the lack of shopping options.  Female doctors who are from smaller towns are easier to hire because their husbands often like outdoor recreation.  At least that's what I've seen.

I once talked to Harry of Harry's Tinaja bar in Alpine. He said he had seen many couples end up moving back to the city because the closest Target to Presidio County is in Odessa. "Zey flunked ze Target-test," he said. (He is ein German.)

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ImissWallyPryor

ImissWallyPryor 9046

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2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

I once talked to Harry of Harry's Tinaja bar in Alpine. He said he had seen many couples end up moving back to the city because the closest Target to Presidio County is in Odessa. "Zey flunked ze Target-test," he said. (He is ein German.)

There is an advantage to online shopping.  I like places like Tractor Supply, Runnings, and Fleet Farm, but I'm not a metrosexual.

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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Just now, ImissWallyPryor said:

There is an advantage to online shopping.  I like places like Tractor Supply, Runnings, and Fleet Farm, but I'm not a metrosexual.

Agreed, but so many chicks don't think that way. I'm convinced Target pumps some kind of cracklike substance that only women can detect out of their air vents. I can't think of how else so many seemingly normal women lose all rationality about a store that's just a slight notch above Wally World. 

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ImissWallyPryor

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11 hours ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

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. 

I saw that flick.

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ImissWallyPryor

ImissWallyPryor 9046

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16 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Agreed, but so many chicks don't think that way. I'm convinced Target pumps some kind of cracklike substance that only women can detect out of their air vents. I can't think of how else so many seemingly normal women lose all rationality about a store that's just a slight notch above Wally World. 

I was going to add a Wally World jab at Target in my first response to your post.  We used to sarcastically pronounce it with a French accent (tar ZJAY) before Walmart ruined it by building more locations in cities.

Fortunately, my wife dislikes shopping almost as much as I do.  My daughters aren't big shoppers, either.  They know what they want and go straight for it and get out.  We raised them right.

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ImissWallyPryor

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10 hours ago, Chopper said:

Pretty sure I heard Rod Babers a year ago, maybe 2, talking about going to Jackson Hole and practically causing traffic to screech to a halt when he crossed a downtown street. I take it Kanye won't be walking around town much though. 

We were in Grand Teton National Park this summer.  Other than a couple of park workers, it was day 3 before I saw a black person, and it was a single person in a small group.  There were all colors of beans in the soup, but only one black bean.  

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Nice Guy Eddie

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Probably for 90% of my time, a small town would work out well as long as I had TV and internet.  But nothing better than waking up on a Sunday morning and trying a new breakfast place in a large city. I would get sick of the same handful of places. 

Also nice to be anonymous at times which can be a challenge in very small towns 

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royiv

royiv 9262

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3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Also nice to be anonymous at times which can be a challenge in very small towns 

This. I have a buddy that lives in a city of 50k, which isn’t that small, but he’s single and has a high paying job. The guy can’t move around in that town without the local sewing circles talking about it. 

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sullhorn

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On 9/7/2019 at 1:11 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

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. 

 

That's a terrible Albertsons.

Monster Lake gets a bit of H2S rotten eggs smell from the Oregon Basin oil field from time to time.   Wonder how that's going to go over.  For reference, it was for sale when I was up in Cody, finally sold, and they tried to make it into a hotel--which is way out of town and was unsuccessful. Glad to see someone's got it and will put it to use though.

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After irth

After irth 1243

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21 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

One of the problems hiring in small towns is the dating pool is small if you are under 30.  It improves a bit after that because of divorces, but it's hard to attract young professionals and skilled technical workers who are often single.  It can be a challenge to hire male doctors in particular even if they are married because they usually met their spouses in medical school or residency, so they are usually city girls.  The guys like the outdoor recreation opportunities, but their city-raised wives are terrified by the lack of shopping options.  Female doctors who are from smaller towns are easier to hire because their husbands often like outdoor recreation.  At least that's what I've seen.

Pretty much how I ended up in Lufkin. 

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ShaggyBevo RIP

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On 9/8/2019 at 12:35 AM, ImissWallyPryor said:

I'm more of a Harvey Dunn fan. This Andrew Wyeth painting is just stupid.  It makes no sense, but I'm not Surly elite enough to understand subtleties. Wyeth was from Pennsylvania, so he probably pulled for Pedo State.

He split time between PA and Maine.  That painting was of a scene in Maine and it is of a disabled women, Christina Olson, he saw crawling/dragging herself across a field to her home due to her legs not functioning from suffering from polyneuropathy disease. The house is now a National Landmark.

A computer image or print in a book us nothing like seeing his work on person. Neither of those capture what they look like in person. They are stunning in person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olson_House_(Cushing,_Maine)#/media/File:Olson_House,_Cushing,_ME.jpg

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deadshank

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23 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Have in the past and intend to retire to the NC mountains.

The Blue Ridge mountains are quite a glorious place.  I have long-range plans for living there.....if my wife will quit spending money.

So, I'll be staying in Houston.

Cherokee, Cashiers, Highlands, Tryon, Saluda, Zirconia, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, you name it.  All  good.

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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11819

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On 9/9/2019 at 10:22 AM, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

He split time between PA and Maine.  That painting was of a scene in Maine and it is of a disabled women, Christina Olson, he saw crawling/dragging herself across a field to her home due to her legs not functioning from suffering from polyneuropathy disease. The house is now a National Landmark.

A computer image or print in a book us nothing like seeing his work on person. Neither of those capture what they look like in person. They are stunning in person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olson_House_(Cushing,_Maine)#/media/File:Olson_House,_Cushing,_ME.jpg

I've been on Surly too long.  I assumed she was crawling toward the giant penis-shaped mowed area.

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South Austin

South Austin 52454

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On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 11:21 PM, Neonmoon said:

Does anyone live in North Carolina? 

Tagging @Walden Ponderer, as he just moved there.

I grew up half of my childhood on the North Carolina coast in Camp Lejeune.  If I had no family holding me to Texas or otherwise had to get the hell out of the state, I'd likely move to a small town somewhere near that area (not Jacksonville of course, because that place is an absolute shithole).  Maybe Swansboro, Morehead City, or New Bern (although the latter is not that small anymore).

I never got to the western part of the state, and I'm sure some of the mountain towns are great, but I was always more of a coastal person (I spent the other parts of my childhood on the Potomac in Northern Virginia).

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Walden Ponderer

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On 9/8/2019 at 12:21 AM, Neonmoon said:

Does anyone live in North Carolina? 

Just moved to Carrboro (outskirts of Chapel Hill). We're looking to buy land here in the Triangle and be hippie freak farmers; this is definitely the place for it, too. Think granola chomping 70s Austin, only, with seasons.

What's really amazing to me is that since leaving College Station, I haven't really changed my diet much (better quality ingredients, but same basic dishes), and I don't do much "on purpose" exercising, but I've still lost a lot of weight over the last month. Why? Because people walk here. Everywhere. And there's hills. And it's 15 degrees cooler, on average, than Texas. 

And the museums are free. With huge grounds to explore. And the black folk aren't afraid of talking to you like they are in College Station. 

It's just, you know... 18 gazillion times better.

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South Austin

South Austin 52454

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8 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Just moved to Carrboro (outskirts of Chapel Hill). We're looking to buy land here in the Triangle and be hippie freak farmers; this is definitely the place for it, too. Think granola chomping 70s Austin, only, with seasons.

What's really amazing to me is that since leaving College Station, I haven't really changed my diet much (better quality ingredients, but same basic dishes), and I don't do much "on purpose" exercising, but I've still lost a lot of weight over the last month. Why? Because people walk here. Everywhere. And there's hills. And it's 15 degrees cooler, on average, than Texas. 

And the museums are free. With huge grounds to explore. And the black folk aren't afraid of talking to you like they are in College Station. 

It's just, you know... 18 gazillion times better.

In all honesty, you could've moved to Jacksonville (see my comments above on that town), and it would've been 18 gazillion times better than College Station.

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Walden Ponderer

Walden Ponderer 12639

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1 minute ago, South Austin said:

In all honesty, you could've moved to Jacksonville (see my comments above on that town), and it would've been 18 gazillion times better than College Station.

True.

I haven't been down to the coast yet, but from the reading I've done, I'm definitely going to enjoy camping and hiking in the area. Not so much in summer, though. I think I'm done with sweaty swamps for a while.

The mountains are awesome, but there's too many white folk. I can vacation in Asheville / Boone / etc., but I wouldn't want to live there.

I love all the little towns around Raleigh, though. There's dozens of villages, all within 20 minutes of big city life; the best burger I've had in a long time came from the convenience store in Saxapahaw, which looks exactly as if Jimmy Stewart were running the Wheatsville Coop in 1920 in a random small town somewhere. 

And all the museums being free is just an amazing thing -- the kids have not had one boring moment since we moved here, and the TV watching is down about 900%.

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South Austin

South Austin 52454

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12 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

True.

I haven't been down to the coast yet, but from the reading I've done, I'm definitely going to enjoy camping and hiking in the area. Not so much in summer, though. I think I'm done with sweaty swamps for a while.

The mountains are awesome, but there's too many white folk. I can vacation in Asheville / Boone / etc., but I wouldn't want to live there.

I love all the little towns around Raleigh, though. There's dozens of villages, all within 20 minutes of big city life; the best burger I've had in a long time came from the convenience store in Saxapahaw, which looks exactly as if Jimmy Stewart were running the Wheatsville Coop in 1920 in a random small town somewhere. 

And all the museums being free is just an amazing thing -- the kids have not had one boring moment since we moved here, and the TV watching is down about 900%.

You're right about the coast.  I went back to Lejeune several years ago for my 20th high school reunion, which was during the week of the Fourth of July.  I had forgotten how ungodly humid the coast gets in the peak summer months.  As bad if not worse than Houston.  But the springs and falls are outstanding.   

As for the Raleigh area, I lived in Raleigh from 1992-1994.  A long time ago and the place has exploded since then, but you're right that there a lot of great smaller communities in that part of the state.  I actually had to stay in Wake Forest a couple years ago for a work trip.  It's north of Raleigh, and despite the name is not the location of the college.  I fell in love with the place. 

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Neonmoon

Neonmoon 38129

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46 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Just moved to Carrboro (outskirts of Chapel Hill). We're looking to buy land here in the Triangle and be hippie freak farmers; this is definitely the place for it, too. Think granola chomping 70s Austin, only, with seasons.

What's really amazing to me is that since leaving College Station, I haven't really changed my diet much (better quality ingredients, but same basic dishes), and I don't do much "on purpose" exercising, but I've still lost a lot of weight over the last month. Why? Because people walk here. Everywhere. And there's hills. And it's 15 degrees cooler, on average, than Texas. 

And the museums are free. With huge grounds to explore. And the black folk aren't afraid of talking to you like they are in College Station. 

It's just, you know... 18 gazillion times better.

We are visiting the Smokey mountains soon. Renting a house. We talk often of wanting to move to a smaller town and be away from the face of the sun. We don’t need or want to be around many people. The whole rat race is wearing on us so we want to see what it would be like there. I hope we like it. Again we would have to find new jobs which would be the main impediment, but North Carolina is a place we are looking at 

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Walden Ponderer

Walden Ponderer 12639

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25 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Again we would have to find new jobs which would be the main impediment, but North Carolina is a place we are looking at 

Depending on what you do, that could determine where you need to be. Asheville and Boone are the main mountain towns, and their economies are somewhat limited. Stable, but limited. Lots more jobs in the Piedmont, and then financial stuff down in Charlotte, but that's basically Houston (minus aggy).

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RDCanecutter

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I lived in Asheville NC in the early 90s. Culturally and climatically, it was like a cheap pre-Billionaire Tech Bros San Francisco. Probably paved-over and expensive as hell now.

The smaller towns to the west, Waynesville, Sylva, Franklin, Murphy-- good folk, varying amounts of banjo.

None of it remotely resembles Aggy.

I mean, nothing outside the Westboro Baptist Church compound resembles Aggy.

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Neonmoon

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38 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

I lived in Asheville NC in the early 90s. Culturally and climatically, it was like a cheap pre-Billionaire Tech Bros San Francisco. Probably paved-over and expensive as hell now.

The smaller towns to the west, Waynesville, Sylva, Franklin, Murphy-- good folk, varying amounts of banjo.

None of it remotely resembles Aggy.

I mean, nothing outside the Westboro Baptist Church compound resembles Aggy.

So we recently visited Asheville. We loved it, reminded me of the Austin vibe in the 90s. But we can tell they are pumping money and people into it, so it probably won't be long until it's overrun. We also visited Franklin and Sylva to teh west. Cool little small towns, but were a little too small for us, and yes, varying amount of Banjo and confederate flags. 

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