Could You Move to a Small Town

[hornian 5,299]

16 minutes ago, NoName said:

craziest and hardest rain i have ever driven through was just outside of Sanderson. obviously in the middle of nowhere. road was decent but went from dry to water standing on road in no time. crazy wind...had to pull off on the side of the road in the MIDDLE of nowhere. scared the hell out of me. 0/10 do not recommend.

Sanderson, that Cactus Capital of the World.

Can attest that is not a misnomer. Used to hunt mule deer out that way. I think I probably had about 2,000 cactus spines in me after a normal hunt. More if I actually shot a muley and had to traverse multiple canyons to drag it to a road. 

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

I dig Sanderson. Not a whole lot of options for food though. I took this last year.

[closetohumping 17,831]

Curious about the ethnicity of those wanting a small town.  Being the only minority in town could be ........awkward. 

[NoName 17,197]

7 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

I dig Sanderson. Not a whole lot of options for food though. I took this last year.

you don't need me to tell you this, but that is a phenomenal photo.

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

you don't need me to tell you this, but that is a phenomenal photo.

Thanks. I wish there had been a bit more clouds to get some more color in the sky.

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

Curious about the ethnicity of those wanting a small town.  Being the only minority in town could be ........awkward. 

Well, I’m not wanting for one. If I didn’t have a wife and kids, hell yeah I would. Tired of all the fucking idiots and traffic in Houston.

I do dream of a small or medium sized city though.

Yours truly,
White latino

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

43 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Curious about the ethnicity of those wanting a small town.  Being the only minority in town could be ........awkward. 

I've got a buddy who's kind of the token black guy in my small rural Iowa town.  He's not the only minority in town, but there aren't many, and he's an extremely outgoing character that pretty much everyone at least casually knows.  He's real involved in the community too.  He's a wrestling ref/part time coach, volunteer fireman, works lots of visible odd jobs, and his wife's a teacher and member of a real involved local family so people just run across him all the time.  He's told me the main racism he encounters is from super old people at the hospital (his day job is a CNA) who don't want to get care from a black guy.

I think he kind of relishes the "unicorn" role.  He cracks a lot of racial jokes and makes it pretty clear that he's not particularly sensitive about the subject.  I can relate on a much smaller level because I think it's kind of fun to be the outlier in situations too.  I can't imagine being in his shoes, but it seems to suit him.

[fattyflattie 4,640]

55 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Curious about the ethnicity of those wanting a small town.  Being the only minority in town could be ........awkward. 

There are minorities in most if not every small town.  Sometimes, a lot of them (%).   I’ve lived in small cities, towns without a single red light, and now Houston.  I do find it ironic I’ll work my entire life in this hole just to have enough money to maybe be able to afford to move back out of it.  
 

*Texas towns, ymmv elsewhere. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by fattyflattie

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

Just looked up my town's demographics on Wikipedia.  It was 98.77% white in 2000, 97.3% white in 2010.  It has 2020 population listed, but not racial demographics.  It's more diverse than it was when I moved there (2012) but I'd be shocked if we were less than 95% white today.

Jesus.  Lol.  That is fucking white.

[BabaYaga 15,632]

4 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I've got a buddy who's kind of the token black guy in my small rural Iowa town

[closetohumping 17,831]

3 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

There are minorities in most if not every small town.  Sometimes, a lot of them (%).   I’ve lived in small cities, towns without a single red light, and now Houston.  I do find it ironic I’ll work my entire life in this hole just to have enough money to maybe be able to afford to move back out of it.  
 

*Texas towns, ymmv elsewhere. 

Gonna butcher this, but this reminds me of this proverb I saw on the internet.  Young fisherman wants to do well enough in life so he doesn't have to fish for his food. It happens, he's a big corporate exec who dreams of beign able to move back to small town to fish for his food.

6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I've got a buddy who's kind of the token black guy in my small rural Iowa town.  He's not the only minority in town, but there aren't many, and he's an extremely outgoing character that pretty much everyone at least casually knows.  He's real involved in the community too.  He's a wrestling ref/part time coach, volunteer fireman, works lots of visible odd jobs, and his wife's a teacher and member of a real involved local family so people just run across him all the time.  He's told me the main racism he encounters is from super old people at the hospital (his day job is a CNA) who don't want to get care from a black guy.

I think he kind of relishes the "unicorn" role.  He cracks a lot of racial jokes and makes it pretty clear that he's not particularly sensitive about the subject.  I can relate on a much smaller level because I think it's kind of fun to be the outlier in situations too.  I can't imagine being in his shoes, but it seems to suit him.

I think people are inherently good, but I'd guess things could get ugly in the wrong towns.  

[BabaYaga 15,632]

1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

Gonna butcher this, but this reminds me of this proverb I saw on the internet.  Young fisherman wants to do well enough in life so he doesn't have to fish for his food. It happens, he's a big corporate exec who dreams of beign able to move back to small town to fish for his food.

I think people are inherently good, but I'd guess things could get ugly in the wrong towns.  

What was it?  Maslow's hierarchy of needs?  Starting off, you just need to be able to support yourself and family.  You may make concessions and seek out the best options.  Later, once more financially stable, you seek out other comforts such as less traffic, a slower pace, a smaller town, etc.  You have also seen the other side and may make the decision that a slower pace suits your current lifestyle?  At that point what you've cultivated for yourself are options with a stable financial base.  

It's one thing to fish recreationally, it's another to have the weight of a successful catch to feed your family.  

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

Gonna butcher this, but this reminds me of this proverb I saw on the internet.  Young fisherman wants to do well enough in life so he doesn't have to fish for his food. It happens, he's a big corporate exec who dreams of beign able to move back to small town to fish for his food.

I think people are inherently good, but I'd guess things could get ugly in the wrong towns.  

I think you're right.  What I've found is that overall, small town white people are pretty eager to welcome minorities who embrace the local culture.  Less so towards ones that don't.  One of the other prominent black persons in our town is the wife of a plumber who got very into some of the local clubs, had really strong opinions, wanted to change everything, and quickly pissed people off.  She is not treated the same as the guy who joined the volunteer FD and helps out with youth wrestling.

I think a lot of societal hate has shifted off outward race and more onto someone's cultural values.  Which isn't necessarily any better, but it's definitely different.  A black person with moderate to mildly conservative viewpoints will be embraced in my town much more than an outspoken radically liberal white person.

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

A black person with moderate to mildly conservative viewpoints will be embraced in my town much more than an outspoken radically liberal white person.

Well, probably up until the point that the he wants to marry the white hardware store’s daughter. Then they are probably both on equal footing.

[Brisketexan 107,044]

What I have learned about minorities in small towns is that there is usually one, he or she often works in the coffee shop, dispensing witty and wise advice, often to attractive young women who end up in the small town because her corporate employer sent her there for a random project, and it just so happens to be right around the time of the town Christmas Festival, where she ends up slowly falling for the hunky local guy who does the carpentry for the holiday displays.

I mean, those Hallmark Movies the wife has on are documentaries, right?

[Schulz2.0 29,306]

1 hour ago, hornian said:

Sanderson, that Cactus Capital of the World.

Can attest that is not a misnomer. Used to hunt mule deer out that way. I think I probably had about 2,000 cactus spines in me after a normal hunt. More if I actually shot a muley and had to traverse multiple canyons to drag it to a road. 

Yep. My dad used to own some land just east of Sanderson that we'd go hunt mule deer on. The little hedgehog cactus were the worst. Can confirm that there is now jack shit out there.

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

2 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

 

Well, probably up until the point that the he wants to marry the white hardware store’s daughter. Then they are probably both on equal footing.

 

Not in my town.  My buddy's married to the daughter of a prominent dairy farmer.  If anything, it helped his level of acceptance.

But that might say more about the disdain for outspoken liberals than acceptance of minorities.

[Schulz2.0 29,306]

10 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

A black person with moderate to mildly conservative viewpoints will be embraced in my town much more than an outspoken radically liberal white person.

Well, yeah. Everyone needs that one black friend to prove they aren't racist.

[closetohumping 17,831]

6 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

 

Well, probably up until the point that the he wants to marry the white hardware store’s daughter. Then they are probably both on equal footing.

 

Not meant to be humorous at all, and certainly not implying all towns, even southern towns, even this town represented here is full of racists.  Given that the guy is white, and this was at the height of the BLM cause, emotions were certainly elevated.  However, I will say, per capita, maybe racism is a little more acceptable in small towns, southern ones anyway:

 

 

 

Again, yes, there is likely some manipulation and manufacturing and I'd bet he got equal amounts of positive responses, but just sayin, small towns.  Point of my post is not to demonize small southern towns.  Be clear.

[closetohumping 17,831]

6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Not in my town.  My buddy's married to the daughter of a prominent dairy farmer.  If anything, it helped his level of acceptance.

But that might say more about the disdain for outspoken liberals than acceptance of minorities.

Different level of racism.  I've known men married to minority women that are racist against their wife's race.  

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

I think there's casual racism pretty much everywhere in America, but I would agree that the acceptance of it is higher in small towns, and I'm not sure it's just in the South.  There's plenty of it in the Midwest and even the Northeast.

Like I posted earlier, where I'm from is so fucking white that there wasn't even an opportunity for people to be racist until recently.

Just now, closetohumping said:

Different level of racism.  I've known men married to minority women that are racist against their wife's race.  

Now that's fucking weird.  I've heard of this, but never really observed it.  Eventually that means being racist towards your own damn kids.

[hornian 5,299]

26 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Just looked up my town's demographics on Wikipedia.  It was 98.77% white in 2000, 97.3% white in 2010.  It has 2020 population listed, but not racial demographics.  It's more diverse than it was when I moved there (2012) but I'd be shocked if we were less than 95% white today.

Jesus.  Lol.  That is fucking white.

The whitest plane flight I've ever been on (passenger wise) was a flight to Indianapolis. Geez, that was a white crowd (and I'm white!). 

 

[hornian 5,299]

13 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

Yep. My dad used to own some land just east of Sanderson that we'd go hunt mule deer on. The little hedgehog cactus were the worst. Can confirm that there is now jack shit out there.

My dad calls those "jumping cactus" in that it seems like they will jump off the ground to stick you. 

 

[Steel Shank 9,564]

Neighbor down the street has a place just outside of Sanderson. /csb

[closetohumping 17,831]

18 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I think there's casual racism pretty much everywhere in America, but I would agree that the acceptance of it is higher in small towns, and I'm not sure it's just in the South.  There's plenty of it in the Midwest and even the Northeast.

Like I posted earlier, where I'm from is so fucking white that there wasn't even an opportunity for people to be racist until recently.

Now that's fucking weird.  I've heard of this, but never really observed it.  Eventually that means being racist towards your own damn kids.

Fair and the PNW outside of the major cities has plenty of racist fucktards.

 

I'm afraid I may lead this down a path that may be too far off topic, but maybe not, as we're talking small town living and whether race is a factor.  

 

A good percentage of blacks born in our country have caucasian in their lineage.  Slave owners used to have relationships, whether voluntary or not, with female slaves.  A lot of American blacks look different than their African counterparts.  

 

Those slave owners were racist.

Edited March 15, 2023 by closetohumping

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

I grew up in a North Texas German town in the 90s.  We had the school gym open on Sundays for free play.  Every now and again a black kid from a neighboring town would find his way to the gym.  I remember the mom of a good friend of mine saying "I don't mind when one shows up. It's just that when one is there, usually more end up coming."  I don't think she even thought it would be even a moderately controversial statement or belief. 

[closetohumping 17,831]

1 minute ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

I grew up in a North Texas German town in the 90s.  We had the school gym open on Sundays for free play.  Every now and again a black kid from a neighboring town would find his way to the gym.  I remember the mom of a good friend of mine saying "I don't mind when one shows up. It's just that when one is there, usually more end up coming."  I don't think she even thought it would be even a moderately controversial statement or belief. 

White gf of mine had thoughts of moving to NC.  So she went on a trip (without me) to look at apartments.  One of the leasing agents voluntarily told her "there's a black family a few doors down, but they don't cause any trouble. Very quiet."  This wasn't too long ago.

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

White gf of mine had thoughts of moving to NC.  So she went on a trip (without me) to look at apartments.  One of the leasing agents voluntarily told her "there's a black family a few doors down, but they don't cause any trouble. Very quiet."  This wasn't too long ago.

Wow. I would have looked her in the eye and asked “what the fuck is wrong with you?”

[closetohumping 17,831]

Just now, Patricio Swayze said:

Wow. I would have looked her in the eye and asked “what the fuck is wrong with you?”

She was more of a FWB than a GF so I wasn't that pissed. Honestly glad to be rid of her.

[DigglerontheHoof 21,565]

19 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

I grew up in a North Texas German town in the 90s.  We had the school gym open on Sundays for free play.  Every now and again a black kid from a neighboring town would find his way to the gym.  I remember the mom of a good friend of mine saying "I don't mind when one shows up. It's just that when one is there, usually more end up coming."  I don't think she even thought it would be even a moderately controversial statement or belief. 

Muenster?  Love riding my motorcycle up around there and St. Jo

[Texzilla58 4,798]

Fair and the PNW outside of the major cities has plenty of racist fucktards.
 
I'm afraid I may lead this down a path that may be too far off topic, but maybe not, as we're talking small town living and whether race is a factor.  
 
A good percentage of blacks born in our country have caucasian in their lineage.  Slave owners used to have relationships, whether voluntary or not, with female slaves.  A lot of American blacks look different than their African counterparts.  
 
Those slave owners were racist.

Washington and Oregon were the last states with towns with sundown laws. There is also significant racism towards native Americans up there.

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

21 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

I grew up in a North Texas German town in the 90s.  We had the school gym open on Sundays for free play.  Every now and again a black kid from a neighboring town would find his way to the gym.  I remember the mom of a good friend of mine saying "I don't mind when one shows up. It's just that when one is there, usually more end up coming."  I don't think she even thought it would be even a moderately controversial statement or belief. 

I'll harken back to my statement about people hating other cultures more than hating other skin colors, but there's a very real belief (not to get into CR shit) among many small town white people that the world at large wants them gone.  I think that belief is the height of absurdity, but my opinion doesn't stop others from believing it.

So they see something like that less through the lens of "eww, N____ers" and more through a lens of inevitable loss of the community they knew.  I see it in the rural Midwest with the growing Hispanic population in agriculture.

The massive irony, especially where I'm from in north Iowa where everyone is of either German, Czech, Irish, or Norwegian ancestry, is that the WASP Americans in the late 1800's thought the same thing about their great grandparents.

[Texzilla58 4,798]

Fair and the PNW outside of the major cities has plenty of racist fucktards.
 
I'm afraid I may lead this down a path that may be too far off topic, but maybe not, as we're talking small town living and whether race is a factor.  
 
A good percentage of blacks born in our country have caucasian in their lineage.  Slave owners used to have relationships, whether voluntary or not, with female slaves.  A lot of American blacks look different than their African counterparts.  
 
Those slave owners were racist.

Washington and Oregon were the last states with towns with sundown laws.

[closetohumping 17,831]

28 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I'll harken back to my statement about people hating other cultures more than hating other skin colors, but there's a very real belief (not to get into CR shit) among many small town white people that the world at large wants them gone.  I think that belief is the height of absurdity, but my opinion doesn't stop others from believing it.

So they see something like that less through the lens of "eww, N____ers" and more through a lens of inevitable loss of the community they knew.  I see it in the rural Midwest with the growing Hispanic population in agriculture.

The massive irony, especially where I'm from in north Iowa where everyone is of either German, Czech, Irish, or Norwegian ancestry, is that the WASP Americans in the late 1800's thought the same thing about their great grandparents.

Yep, every incumbent group, at every point in this world's history, has had the same thoughts. 

[CleverNickname 1,346]

4 hours ago, NoName said:

craziest and hardest rain i have ever driven through was just outside of Sanderson. obviously in the middle of nowhere. road was decent but went from dry to water standing on road in no time. crazy wind...had to pull off on the side of the road in the MIDDLE of nowhere. scared the hell out of me. 0/10 do not recommend.

Bad rains happen there. From our own ToT: https://m.facebook.com/TracesofTexas/posts/1770249726340482

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

Bad rains happen there. From our own ToT: https://m.facebook.com/TracesofTexas/posts/1770249726340482

Yep. So the town built dams and big concrete ditches along the residential streets.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

2 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

Muenster?  Love riding my motorcycle up around there and St. Jo

not the hated hornets.  the brave and noble knights.

[Shoxthemonkey 1,995]

On 3/14/2023 at 12:36 PM, Al_4_ISU said:

I get a kick out of looking up some of the small towns mentioned in this thread, but Dell City looked like it was on it's own level of isolation.

From what I can gather, it just looks someone dug a bunch of wells in the desert to irrigate hay fields, and that's basically the economy.  The random burst of farms in the middle of hundreds of miles of desert is interesting to view on Google.

Zoom in on Wonsevu, KS and I'll wave backatcha.

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

6 minutes ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

Zoom in on Wonsevu, KS and I'll wave backatcha.

Even smaller than my hometown of Meyer, IA.  At least Google Street View went through Wonsevu.  This is the closest it gets to Meyer.

https://goo.gl/maps/tenkQTNH2KaVWY8D7

Edited March 15, 2023 by Al_4_ISU

[SHOOTER12 8,890]

4 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Well, I’m not wanting for one. If I didn’t have a wife and kids, hell yeah I would. Tired of all the fucking idiots and traffic in Houston.

I do dream of a small or medium sized city though.

Yours truly,
White latino

Honky Vato?

[Shoxthemonkey 1,995]

@Al_4_ISU I've been close to your home. I drove from Mason City to LaCrosse, WI one time. No idea the exact route but we couldn't have been far away.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Shoxthemonkey

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

4 minutes ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

I've been close to your home. I drove from Mason City to LaCrosse, WI one time. No idea the exact route but we couldn't have been far away.

That wouldn't be far off the route at all.  My guess is you just took I-35 to I-90, but if you took two lane roads, and took the most direct path, you would have traveled within 8 miles of my home farm and 11 blocks of my current house.

I've actually been close to your home.  Drove a car out to Tucson last winter, and took 50 from Emporia to Newton.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Al_4_ISU

[Shoxthemonkey 1,995]

1 minute ago, Al_4_ISU said:

That wouldn't be far off the route at all.  My guess is you just took I-35 to I-90, but if you took two lane roads, and took the most direct path, you would have traveled within 8 miles of my home farm and 11 blocks of my current house.

I've actually been close to your home.  Drove a car out to Tucson last winter, and took 50 from Emporia to Newton.

All 2-lane from MC. One of the pleasures of selling equipment to Mom & Pop companies is getting to see some remote and scenic areas that I would never see otherwise.

[Chewbacca 7,830]

4 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

*Tolkein

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

Honky Vato?

Honky beaner. But alas, not of Mexican descent.

[fattyflattie 4,640]

3 hours ago, closetohumping said:

However, I will say, per capita, maybe racism is a little more acceptable in small towns, southern ones anyway:

Well, that was Arkansas.  The cultural fit that aggy loves so much, right there on display. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by fattyflattie

[SydneyCarton 49,537]

1 hour ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yep. So the town built dams and big concrete ditches along the residential streets.

I'm sorry, I'm from Houston, so a city making investment in things like flood control is a completely alien concept to me. 

[SHOOTER12 8,890]

3 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

Washington and Oregon were the last states with towns with sundown laws.

I remember when I worked in Kentucky back in 79-80 I had the shock of my life when I moved there. I was living in Lebanon, which thinking back, I don't recall EVER seeing any person of color. I was working on a cross country transmission line so some days the trip to work could be 90 miles away. Anyway, one of the little burgs I drove through had a sign at each end of town which read "N***** Don't Let Sundown Catch Your Black Ass Here". Needless to say I nearly ran the pickup off in ditch the first time I saw it. It wasn't just some small sign either, the damned yhing had to be 16 X 20. Didn't think I'd ever forget the name of that shitehole, but alas, senility calls. I want to say Danbury, Denwall, Danville, "D" something. 

Being from a small South Texas town I had seen some racism but never dreamed that the crap in Kentucky still existed at that time. Damned disgusting.

*not even close name wise, Rayburn, Raymond,  something like that...

Edited March 15, 2023 by SHOOTER12

[Al_4_ISU 12,668]

36 minutes ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

All 2-lane from MC. One of the pleasures of selling equipment to Mom & Pop companies is getting to see some remote and scenic areas that I would never see otherwise.

I'm sure you found the last hour/45 minutes to be quite surprising, topographically.

[SHOOTER12 8,890]

4 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

 

Well, probably up until the point that the he wants to marry the white hardware store’s daughter. Then they are probably both on equal footing.

 

Hardware stores daughter,  wow, bet she gets hammered and nailed regularly.