[Alaskamom68]

Originally Posted by Meemur

A move to Arkansas will be culture shock on many, many levels.

I'm no stranger to culture shock LOL grew up in Central California, the 10 Years in North Idaho and then off-grid Alaska.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Alaskamom68

Our family is currently looking into moving to Arkansas (not sure what area) and we have a lot of questions. We have never been to the state and are looking for some local feedback as part of our research.
Looking for an area that has a lower cost of living, a small friendly community that is a good place for our teenager who is homeschooled as well as for our 22 yr old daughter. She works in the foodservice industry and enjoys going out to live music and dancing. So someplace that has employment opportunities in this area as well as things for teens and young adults to do.


We love nature and prefer to live in a rural area.
I would love to hear how people living here like it or don't ( pros and Cons)


Thank you in advance

Traci

Might be a little tough to give you much information without knowing what rural and small mean to you? Also it might be a little hard to find a lot of night life and stuff for young adults to do in a rural setting. When I think of activities for young people I think of places like Fayetteville and Rogers but they certainly are not truly rural. There are small towns near both that would be considered rural. C of L is much lower than in Alaska I can assure you that.

We love living here, so does our daughter, son in law, their kids and their grand kids. We range in age from just little ones up to 80ish. Everyone seems to have something to do to keep busy. You can be as involved as you choose and the unemployment is very low.

There are lots of other areas in AR that might offer something similar. We are just very partial to NWA.

Hope this helps and BTW, there are lots of home schooled kids and outside activities for them as well.

I know what you mean about cultural shock and adjusting: we did the same thing in our somewhat younger years: Grew up in So Ca, lived for awhile in Sac, then Eureka. We also lived in Dallas , a small town south of ABQ and 7 years in theDC area. NWA offers a little bit of everything. The other area that has been mentioned and would probably be worth investigating is central AR, Russelville, Alma, etc. The biggest problem with that is the weather. Probably the coolest temps you are going to find are here in NWA. We are on the Mo boarder and have fairly decent temps year around, lots of trees, hiking trails, bike trails, etc. The further south you go the hotter and more humid the weather gets.

I don't think with your background you have to worry too much about cultural shock, you will be just fine.

[Alaskamom68]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Might be a little tough to give you much information without knowing what rural and small mean to you? Also it might be a little hard to find a lot of night life and stuff for young adults to do in a rural setting. When I think of activities for young people I think of places like Fayetteville and Rogers but they certainly are not truly rural. There are small towns near both that would be considered rural. C of L is much lower than in Alaska I can assure you that.

We love living here, so does our daughter, son in law, their kids and their grand kids. We range in age from just little ones up to 80ish. Everyone seems to have something to do to keep busy. You can be as involved as you choose and the unemployment is very low.

There are lots of other areas in AR that might offer something similar. We are just very partial to NWA.

Hope this helps and BTW, there are lots of home schooled kids and outside activities for them as well.

I know what you mean about cultural shock and adjusting: we did the same thing in our somewhat younger years: Grew up in So Ca, lived for awhile in Sac, then Eureka. We also lived in Dallas , a small town south of ABQ and 7 years in theDC area. NWA offers a little bit of everything. The other area that has been mentioned and would probably be worth investigating is central AR, Russelville, Alma, etc. The biggest problem with that is the weather. Probably the coolest temps you are going to find are here in NWA. We are on the Mo boarder and have fairly decent temps year around, lots of trees, hiking trails, bike trails, etc. The further south you go the hotter and more humid the weather gets.

I don't think with your background you have to worry too much about cultural shock, you will be just fine.

Thank you for all the information we were looking at NWA can you tell me if that area as tornadoes ( if so how often and how bad are they I have never experienced one LOL ) Also are there a lot of snake in NWA ?

These are my 2 biggest worries about moving to Arkansas LOL I can handle me a good earthquake though

[Hollynla]

Originally Posted by Alaskamom68

Thank you for all the information we were looking at NWA can you tell me if that area as tornadoes ( if so how often and how bad are they I have never experienced one LOL ) Also are there a lot of snake in NWA ?

These are my 2 biggest worries about moving to Arkansas LOL I can handle me a good earthquake though

Tornadoes only happen on every 3rd Thursday of the month.


Ok, kidding, but while tornadoes can and do happen here, it's not something to be concerned about. Tornadoes can and do happen in any state. Snakes are in AR but it's not as if they are waiting for you outside your door each morning. It's best to educate yourself to identify the venomous ones.


From your description of the kind of area you are looking for, NWA sounds like it would be too large of a city/urban area. If you are looking to live in nature/rural areas, you will encounter snakes at some point as well as lots of other wildlife.


You said you live in the woods, off grid, in Alaska but you're worried about snakes? Grizzly bears and moose are ok, but snakes scare you?

[DC at the Ridge]

I was thinking about this last night, and it occurs to me that the area between Joplin and Springfield in SW Missouri might work well. That stretch between the two cities is rural, but access to the cities and nightlife is easy, plus you are close to Branson where there is certainly nightlife as well as other activities. Someplace like Blue Eye, maybe?

[thewizard16]

I have observation bias because I'm most familiar with the area, but areas around Mountain Home, Harrison, Eureka Springs, etc. might be worth exploring. Branson is a different (maybe a little weird in my opinion) culture than either of those areas but also may fit the bill nicely.

Possible pros:
-Cheap. CHEAP.
-Easy to find rural homes/land/whatever within a short distance (10-20 minutes) of town.
-Beautiful. Lots of trees, rivers, lakes, etc.
-Four seasons, still some real winter but not harsh.
-Mountain Home and Eureka Springs are both touristy so have more dining and shopping options etc. than most towns those sizes.
-All are friendly, smaller areas
-I know Mountain Home is very imported population wise so fitting in/culture may not be as "southern" as some areas of the state. This also goes for NWA and some other areas, but they may be too large for your tastes

Possible Cons:
-Accessibility? Unless you fly private it's normally a couple hours or more to a decent airport in these kinds of areas. A consideration when thinking about visiting family/vacations/etc.
-Culture? I have no idea what rural Alaska is like so I have no idea how similar it will feel. That said I find a lot of the "culture shock" comments a little silly since literally everywhere I've lived or visited in the US has reinforced the idea "rural is rural" in my head. Maybe not universally the same and the favored activities definitely differ by region, but the people and attitudes of the people in rural Arkansas is not really any different, IMO, than that of rural Iowa, rural Ohio, rural Colorado, rural Montana, rural Illinois, rural Pennsylvania... etc. Accents change and activities change based off the area/climate/etc. but going from rural to rural hasn't been any adjustment for me... though I'll admit I've never visited my family that now lives up in Alaska.
-Driving in the winter is perilous... The state and communities aren't really equipped to deal with a lot of snow so things shut down when that happens. Roads are also curvy so it can be a little tricky if you really do need to go somewhere during the little spells of winter weather

Good luck with your search.

[Bungalove]

Originally Posted by Alaskamom68

Thank you for all the information we were looking at NWA can you tell me if that area as tornadoes ( if so how often and how bad are they I have never experienced one LOL ) Also are there a lot of snake in NWA ?

These are my 2 biggest worries about moving to Arkansas LOL I can handle me a good earthquake though

My brother lives in NWA (Horseshoe Bend) and has had only one tornado so far. It took out his porch and fireplace but otherwise the house was untouched. The town is really cheap to live in (his property taxes are incredibly low) but there aren't too many amenities. I know he does a ton of volunteer work with feeding schoolkids during the summer and just feeding regular folks anytime, so there seems to be a lot of folks who are living below the poverty level in the area. However, it's also an area where people look out for each other, so that's a big positive. There's a dearth of medical facilities, at least for vets (he has to travel to Little Rock for care at the veterans hospital) and the roads are bad, especially in the winter.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Bungalove

My brother lives in NWA (Horseshoe Bend) and has had only one tornado so far. It took out his porch and fireplace but otherwise the house was untouched. The town is really cheap to live in (his property taxes are incredibly low) but there aren't too many amenities. I know he does a ton of volunteer work with feeding schoolkids during the summer and just feeding regular folks anytime, so there seems to be a lot of folks who are living below the poverty level in the area. However, it's also an area where people look out for each other, so that's a big positive. There's a dearth of medical facilities, at least for vets (he has to travel to Little Rock for care at the veterans hospital) and the roads are bad, especially in the winter.

We have lived in Bella Vista for over 11 years and never had one. The closest one that did serious damage was Joplin, about 9 years ago. We worried a lot more in Dallas about them than we do here

[6.7traveler]

Missouri has very relaxed homeschool laws compared to Arkansas. This may be a good or bad thing for your homeschooling teen depending on your opinion.

I've never lived in AR or MO, but have driven through the ozarks in both states on backroads a few times. There's definitely some pretty and rural areas down there.

[Hollynla]

Originally Posted by 6.7traveler

Missouri has very relaxed homeschool laws compared to Arkansas. This may be a good or bad thing for your homeschooling teen depending on your opinion.

I've never lived in AR or MO, but have driven through the ozarks in both states on backroads a few times. There's definitely some pretty and rural areas down there.

What isnt relaxed about Arkansas homeschool laws? I homeschooled in AR. The only thing I had to do was notify the school of it and everything else was my decision. Not much more to it than that.