Things to Know Before Moving to Kentucky (Lexington, Louisville: low crime, new house)

[martylonleela]

Originally Posted by savvywoman

Croce you and I have had two totally opposing experiences. I grew up in Louisville and moved to central California when I married my husband. Fortunately I talked my husband in moving back here. He's been here 10 years now and said he'd never want to live any place else even though all his family is still in CA. In fact, he is trying to get them to move here.

Weather- Yes I'll give you that it does get very cold here and in the summer you will find the humidity unbearable compared to the dry heat in CA. 120 degrees there is nothing compared to 70 degrees here with 80% humidity. However, being a Kentucky native I've never seen anything like the mold growths you claimed to have seen. I would suggest that you have an expert out to find out why you are having such a problem with mold. There may be something seriously wrong with your home that is more of a health risk then radon gas. If there is, that is something that could have occurred just as easily in CA. In fact, it is actually more common in the warmer areas of the country. Or, you could be confusing moss with mold. If you live in old Louisville moss growth is common. Moss is an algae is not harmful. Mold is fungus and can cause all kinds of respiratory problems in humans.

When I lived in CA I loved the warm weather but I did miss the rain. I started yearning for rain. I could care less if I never saw snow again but the rain I missed. I felt sincerely deprived from the lack of it. Since moving back here I've loved everyday of rain we've had.

Taxes- It is not uncommon in most of the country to have a state, county and local tax. It even occurs in many CA counties.

Housing- I really didn't see anything all that great about CA homes. Certainly nothing all that energy efficient. Most, if they have any kind of heating system at all still use the old spacer heaters that the rest of the world gave up in the 19th century. Then for air conditioning they plant this huge fan on the top of the house and have it blow down into your home from a hole in the ceiling. Its called a swap cooler but wind tunnel would have been a better name. If you want to stay cool you have to have one part of your home subject to 70+mph winds at all times. Plus, you have to keep every door in the house open so it will cool those rooms. Nothing really energy efficient in that.

And the homes...it appeared to me that 70% of the state lives in trailers. I never saw so many trailers in my life. The few that have real homes lived in boxes that are covered with plaster swirled walls similar to the popcorn ceilings that are so despised in the rest of the world. When I asked my husband why everyone did that to their walls he couldn't answer. With the exception of San Francisco, architectural features were rare. There was no craftsman ship at all. Every home was built on one of 2 different plans. One faced east the other faced west. This way they could pack in the most people in a square mile. The yards are about as big as a sidewalk. These homes frequently sold for over a million dollars for a 800 square feet home. If you included the lot you might have 850 square feet. No wonder they all chose to live in trailers.

Roads/Traffic--As far as road planning everything in the CA flat lands or the valley as it is called is on a grid because there is no topography to have to deal with. It is hard to get a grid plan wrong. In the mountains where we lived it is quite a different scene. You have to have a strong heart to drive those roads. Can you say clifthanger......They also have a portion of the road between Southern and Central CA called the grapevine. You can imagine why it is called that. It makes our spaghetti junction look like a kiddy ride. It wasn't built for normal vehicles. Because they have to work so hard to get up and down the hills most cars will overheat traveling it which is why they have to have watering stations every mile. In Kentucky they would have blasted a straight road through it. Traffic is unbearable. I5 during rush hour truly makes you wonder why they call it rush hour. 5 hours to travel one mile.

The highway on and off ramps can be dangerously close to one another. This can make merging on and exiting sometimes seem like a scene from a Mad Max movie.

I had to laugh when I read this. In CA the on ramps have red lights. Of course since the traffic never moves faster than 5mph I guess it really doesn't matter if you are forced to enter the interstate from a dead stop.

On the subject of snow and ice. We lived in the mountains so we would get an occasional dusting of snow. The first time it happened while I was there I felt like I was in the twilight zone. No one wanted to drive because it was snowing. I was like, "snow, what snow? There isn't even enough snow out there to cover the grass let on stick to the road."

My auto insurance rates skyrocketed when I changed my address to Louisville.

I found this interesting since mine quadrupled when I moved from Louisville to CA and dropped by the same amount when I moved back. The fact that rates are higher in CA then most any other state in the union is well publicized.

Cost of Living-- YOU JEST! I experienced major sticker shock when I moved from Louisville to CA and not because prices were low in CA. I thought I would have a stroke every time I opened a bill. It got to the point where I would have to start taking deep breaths and brace myself for what I knew was coming. Food prices were unbelievably high. I could feed my whole family for a month on what would buy a weeks worth of groceries in CA. However, the selection was much better. I loved shopping for produce there. I still miss the selection.

There was one item that was cheaper in CA then Louisville and it was the last thing I would have expected...Medical insurance! They have huge HMO's there that keep the prices low. We got insurance through Kaiser Permante that covered our whole family for 1/10 what it would have cost us in Louisville.

The job situation in CA was horrible. When we left Louisville employers were so desperate for employees that they were paying twice the minimum wage for jobs at places like McDonald's and still couldn't find anyone willing to work at that wage. In CA they were lining up for a chance at a minimum wage job that still paid minimum wage. In fact, when my husband was laid off I talked him into moving to Louisville because jobs that paid a living wage were plentiful.

Safety-I lived in CA for 15 months. We lived in the middle of no where in the mountains up near Yosemite Park. In that time they tried to break into my home 3 times and I when I was 8 months pregnant I was chased by a crazy man with a rifle because he didn't like the fact that I delivered his mail last instead of first.

Anyone reading this I don't want you to put much stock in Croce's point of view. From the viewpoint of a native I can tell you that most of it is inaccurate and very jaded. He/she obviously misses their home and that has clouded their views. Louisville is a beautiful place to live and most that move here are very happy they came here.

I have to say i disagree with you and agree with croce everything croce says is on point here as a southern california native who has been living in louisville ky for 2 1/2 yrs now and on my way back to so. cal . i don't know where you get your trailer mess maybe because you lived in bakersfield/lancaster/ fresno the hillbillie california ,our homes are designed for earthquake your brick homes are designed for tornados i would prefer a cream, peach colered home anyday with lavish landscaping (are you serious) no one from the country moves to LA and does not like it they act as if they don't because of they're insecurities well the traffic is bad here and in la and the kroger is expensive and so is ralphs in california but cali has a larger selection of stores , malls and anything else is just much more plentiful there so you can always find a deal when in louisville kenntucky your options are very limited the cost of home buying is cheaper here because it is slooooow!!! here the weather and the lack of culture, diversity and the arts
so in sunny so. cal you pay for the weather so. cal edison is no where near as expensive as lge that makes the difference in the lower cost of living her e i will not pay 1200. a mnth to live in snow 22 degree weather, low paying jobs, no diversity, rudeness, limited shopping options ,nail shops that charge 30.00 for a full set 15.00 for a fill and people who think they can says and do whatever they wantr, catholic churches who have alcohol at they're picnics(that is crazy !!!) and rent out they're halls for parties , self righteous southerners who claim to be holyer than thou and drink bourbon, and curse and everything else everyday besides sunday. You like louisville because you are a native of here and you may not fit in the city life just like the coutry life is not for me but to act as if LA is nothing you are naive, clueless southerner don't be nmad because we grew up in the city and you didn't !!!!!!!

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by martylonleela

I You like louisville because you are a native of here and you may not fit in the city life just like the coutry life is not for me but to act as if LA is nothing you are naive, clueless southerner don't be nmad because we grew up in the city and you didn't !!!!!!!

Woa woa woa sister.... I try very hard not to be ugly or hateful but that right there is where you have crossed the line. You don't have to like it here but how DARE you call any of our people "clueless Southerners" when you can't even put together a post that isn't one large run-on babbling sentence? Head on back to LA please and don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split ya! Bless your heart.

[Toria]

do they teach use of punctuation in the California schools systems?

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by Toria

do they teach use of punctuation in the California schools systems?

well considering many Californians post here and use them I am going to sat yes. Apparently this one missed the class.

[rpb502]

How can you expect Louisville to compare to a mega city like Los Angeles? Its just simply not fair. Louisville is definitely no L.A., but its not "country life" either. And another thing, do not label us southern, because we are not. Some places might feel a little southern, but Louisville is also Midwestern...and probably more Midwestern then anything. Thats the way I see it anyway.

I take it you California folk aren't the sharpest tools in the shed...

Good riddance. You won't be missed.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by rpb502

How can you expect Louisville to compare to a mega city like Los Angeles? Its just simply not fair. Louisville is definitely no L.A., but its not "country life" either. And another thing, do not label us southern, because we are not. Some places might feel a little southern, but Louisville is also Midwestern...and probably more Midwestern then anything. Thats the way I see it anyway.

I take it you California folk aren't the sharpest tools in the shed...

Good riddance. You won't be missed.

While we won't get into that debate again I do agree that you can't compare a city the size of Louisville with LA. If you wanted the same kind of amenities you should have moved to a similar sized city. I do consider myself Southern and for you to use that as an insult is just downright aggrivating!

[Off Topic]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

how DARE you call any of our people "clueless Southerners"

Maybe he read some of my posts.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by Off Topic

Maybe he read some of my posts.

Baby I doubt it. I would never call you "clueless". Southern Gentleman maybe but never clueless

[censusdata]

When I was a teenager in Lexington there were some yankees from Pennsylvania who lived to the back of my yard and always complained about how our yard had weeds and the grass was too long.

Unfortunately for them, they resided downwind. Everytime they tried to have a backyard grill out I would burn a bunch of plastic bags in the fireplace and I would smoke 'em out of their hole. They would try to tolerate the smell for a while before going back inside

[louroclou]

... and you're, uh, proud of this?