Buh-bye North Dallas office, hello alpaca ranch and homestead! (Rural areas question) (Arlington: fit in, transplants)

[Texas79]

Long-time reader, first-time poster here... I have learned so much on these forums. Y'all are so knowledgable and helpful and it's so fun to read. So, please snap me out of my analysis paralysis and help us pick our future small town!

Hubby is oil & gas broker, avid hunter and firearms enthusiast. I'm the work-at-home mom, natural childbirth enthusiast, love to garden, visit local farms, drink raw goat milk, and plan our future solar-powered home with composting toilet. (Ha ha, just kidding about that last one. But I might could be convinced.) We do have some things in common, we both love our God, our venison and our Texas dearly.

So, my heart was set on Greenville Christian School for the little ones, til I learned on these forums that the area struggles with crime and some lakey issues on the south end.

So I considered Joshua Christian Academy, til I learned that Johnson County and surrounding areas are booming and drilling and how no one can put their finger on why Cleburne is so weird.

So now we've decided to settle down in a small town of no more than 3,000 pop. with a 1A or 2A school district with where the little ones can play under the Friday Night Lights one day, and we can pursue our agricultural goals on about 15 acres or so. Commuting to north Dallas will likely be a reality in my husband's future.

Currently my top picks are Paradise, Forestburg, Muenster, Lindsay, Savoy, Grand Saline, or pretty much any Bosque County district.

Small towns/districts we've eliminated based on what we've learned in these forums:
Alvarado (drugs), Keene (Adventist), Ellis County (grew up there), Denton County (live there now, high taxes, booming, expensive), anywhere near future Tollway expansion northward.

So ... any thoughts? My husband is partial to wooded East Texas, but we would like to be within an hour of Arlington and Coppell so the grandparents don't complain that they never see their grandbabies.

Thanks y'all.

[momof2dfw]

I was going to suggest something like Fredericksburg till I saw the commute to North Dallas. Only if he has his own small plane to fly back and forth would that work.

How about Wise County? Rolling hills, small towns, close enough but far enough away......... just that drilling for natural gas thing going on though.

[destin04]

I think the Grand Saline is a good choice...but you can see from my tag line...that I live in East Texas. I guess I would be partial. Have you looked at Van or Canton? We live in the Lindale area...which may be a little to east for you. The commute time would be about 1.5 hours to far north Dallas. Although with traffic it would probably be about the same from Greenville. The Lindale ISD is a wonderful district and we moved here from Denton County just for that reason. Although...we are 4A it gives the kids a lot of programs that a smaller HS may not offer. Keep that in mind.

[GayleTX]

Take a look at Trenton on Hwy 121.....easy commute to No Dallas, nice little town, good people, combination of agriculture backroungs and city folks, no crime, outstanding school district (no football, but great basketball tradition), very accepting of newcomers, social llife center around school and churches (all Protestant). A similar town, altho a little larger with a little more crime but nothing to make you fearful - and they do play football- is Whitewright, also an easy commute into No. Dallas.

Muenster is a very nice little town, very family orientated but if you're not Catholic and/or German/Polish you may never really feel you fit in.

[Canine*Castle]

I don't know anything about the towns you mentioned, but I do know Bosque County and it's very nice. If you like rural with a low population of about 19,000 people in the county and 990 square miles, you can't go wrong. It still has "room" to become over-crowded and hopefully, that will take many, many years to happen.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

I don't know anything about the towns you mentioned, but I do know Bosque County and it's very nice. If you like rural with a low population of about 19,000 people in the county and 990 square miles, you can't go wrong. It still has "room" to become over-crowded and hopefully, that will take many, many years to happen.

Can you imagine how long of a commute the OP's husband would have to North Dallas from Bosque county! I am guessing it would take about 2.5-3 hours. He would need a helicopter!!

[killer2021]

Originally Posted by $DFW8$

Can you imagine how long of a commute the OP's husband would have to North Dallas from Bosque county! I am guessing it would take about 2.5-3 hours. He would need a helicopter!!

No kidding the commute idea is unrealistic. It is not going to work. Just wait until gas prices start to make their trek upward again.

I plan on living rural about 150 miles from any metro area and I plan on living in the city monday through friday in a cheap apartment so I don't have to commute. Only realistic way to do it.

[Texas79]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great input!
Yes, Wise County is a realistic choice right now, I do love Paradise and Boyd, but am hoping that as Argyle and Justin explode, the boom and high land prices don't expand westward.
I think we have removed Savoy, Trenton, Fannin County from our options because hubby's family lives in Bailey, he grew up there, too close for comfort!
And you are all right, Bosque County is not realistic for a commute.

So I will look into Lindale and Grand Saline, etc.

What about Hill County for a commute?

Also, if we don't do private school, maybe he would not have to commute as much... That's what the alpacas were going to be for ... produce us a fiber crop to sell and put aside the money to pay for a tiny school's tuition. But I'll do public school if it's small.

Thanks everyone! I posted my first post late on a Friday night and was wondering when I'd get a response ... I was thinking, wow, disgruntled SoCal transplants and Tyler-bound agnostics get lotsa responses, but I just need some help picking a rural area! ha ha. I guess it's like craigs list, if you post on a weekend, it gets buried quickly. Thanks!

[Texas79]

Also, I did learn on these forums that Canton first Monday is a dealbreaker for us. Traffic, etc. not something we want to deal with.

And from the Gainesville thread I learned that Lindsay and Muenster are expensive. So at this point we are going to look into Paradise, Grand Saline, other east towns, and possibly Hill County.

Does anyone know anyone that lives around Greenville for Greenville Christian School?

[ricwil]

Hi Texas79! Milford, Italy and Maypearl have good performing little school districts last time I checked on greatschools.net. Prices get more reasonable further south you go. Expect to commute at least an hour to north Dallas up 35E. There are good towns and schools in Grandview, Itasca and Hillsboro but with even longer commute times, while going green a hybrid car may work for yall.

BTW: No one I know in Cleburne thinks they're weird,