[swake]

Actually, you might want to look at the Tahlequah/Lake Ft Gibson/Illinois River area in northeastern Oklahoma. Out of town it is very rural and quite beautiful. The region is very hilly and heavily forested and has the lake and the river. Tahlequah itself is a nice, small college town (16k) and is the capitol of the Cherokee Nation. It is not run down or dying like so many small towns in Oklahoma and will have most services/shopping you might need. If you need more you can be in Broken Arrow, a 100k+ population suburb of Tulsa, in 30-45 minutes or to Tulsa itself in an hour. Being close to Tahlequah will up the chances of good internet.

Areas around Wagoner, which is on the other side of Lake Ft Gibson, are nice as well. Wagoner is smaller than Tahlequah but is a kinda isolated ex-urb actually in the Tulsa metro area. You will certainly have good internet there and can be in Broken Arrow in 20 minutes. I would guess that Wagoner will be more expensive with commuters living in the area. Almost no one commutes to Tulsa from Tahlequah, they do from Wagoner.

[Johnhw222]

I’m reminded of a.post several years ago where someone was Lookingmforr a spot to be off the radar and able to feed his family. He chose talahina as I recall. He headed don there to look at property and found that town not as interested to sale 50 acres to an outsider.

He was in Austin when exploring this idea but ended up,in,Arizona near Prescott I believe though they did not consider that location a final spot. He was a digital nomad long before the Covid era made that even more common.

What he liked beside the off the radar angle was temperature and good rainfall and soil,to,grow things and feed livestock as well as the natural beauty.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by swake

Actually, you might want to look at the Tahlequah/Lake Ft Gibson/Illinois River area in northeastern Oklahoma. Out of town it is very rural and quite beautiful. The region is very hilly and heavily forested and has the lake and the river. Tahlequah itself is a nice, small college town (16k) and is the capitol of the Cherokee Nation. It is not run down or dying like so many small towns in Oklahoma and will have most services/shopping you might need. If you need more you can be in Broken Arrow, a 100k+ population suburb of Tulsa, in 30-45 minutes or to Tulsa itself in an hour. Being close to Tahlequah will up the chances of good internet.

Oh, yeah, Tahlequah quite easily rivals Stillwater as the best college town to live in Oklahoma, outside of a metro, due to the thrill of floating down the Illinois River and seeing fish beneath you. It also isn't as Christian conservative as other college towns in Oklahoma, such as Alva. Alva isn't very scenic with few trees. You can see a long way away, like in Enid and that's it. Alva is so remote and far right conservative that it's pitiful. Unlike Tahlequah it may never have a gay parade.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Oh, yeah, Tahlequah quite easily rivals Stillwater as the best college town to live in Oklahoma, outside of a metro, due to the thrill of floating down the Illinois River and seeing fish beneath you. It also isn't as Christian conservative as other college towns in Oklahoma, such as Alva. Alva isn't very scenic with few trees. You can see a long way away, like in Enid and that's it. Alva is so remote and far right conservative that it's pitiful. Unlike Tahlequah it may never have a gay parade.

To the OP, Tahlequah is in that Ozark Highland area on the map. River/creek valleys adjoining hills. Hardwood forests. Another pretty spot. Similar to the cross timbers but with prettier and somewhat taller forest. Slightly colder in winter with more snow than SE OK. But another spot to consider.

The thread that JD is in. The town he talked about Watts. OK is in this area. And not only Tulsa but NW Arkansas is easily accessible to this area.

[firemediceric]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

To the OP, Tahlequah is in that Ozark Highland area on the map. Similar to the cross timbers but with prettier and somewhat taller forest. Slightly colder in winter with more snow than SE OK. But another spot to consider.

Sounds very nice and certainly a possibility to look into. If only colder winters automatically equated to summers not being so hot, but I know that’s not always the way it works.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by firemediceric

Sounds very nice and certainly a possibility to look into. If only colder winters automatically equated to summers not being so hot, but I know that’s not always the way it works.

It doesn't get up to the hundreds in eastern Oklahoma every summer, but it does the majority of the summers. During the summer 2021 much of central and eastern Oklahoma never made up to a 100+. But lots of highs in the mid to upper 90s and that is plenty hot enough.

[TodGre]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

It doesn't get up to the hundreds in eastern Oklahoma every summer, but it does the majority of the summers. During the summer 2021 much of central and eastern Oklahoma never made up to a 100+. But lots of highs in the mid to upper 90s and that is plenty hot enough.

You must have jinxed it this year, haha!

[AnthonyJ34]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

SE OK simply doesn't compare to East Tennessee on any real level on a community/metro level. But if you want real pretty, cheap land and don't mind driving a ways for a lot of amenities it might be ok. If there was a suitable town in the mountainous, piney part of SE Oklahoma I'd probably be there now. But there isn't.

Most of the larger towns are on the periphery of that area and they are all 10-15 K.

The Quachita Mountains area of SE Oklahoma is very pretty. The areas in and around Poteau, Wister, Heavener and nearby areas are likewise very scenic. I used to spend every summer as a teenager in Howe, Oklahoma, which is a tiny town just south of Poteau. It’s a very hilly, green, forested area, very unlike the central and western portions of the state. But not much employment opportunity, unless one is a natural gas or HVAC worker or similar. I’d imagine that plumbers and electricians would do well there as well. Also masonry/construction trades. But overall the area is fairly isolated and any larger job market would be in Fort Smith, AR.

I still have family in the area. I also have family in Tulsa and Muskogee, but I much prefer the aforementioned rural areas for the scenery: Tulsa and Muskogee are not nearly as scenic in my opinion. But finding adequate employment would nevertheless be an issue in those small towns (but retirees would not have to worry about that).

Currently, I’m living temporarily in Chattanooga, Tennessee, so I can accurately say that this portion of southeastern Tennessee is very pretty. I’m actually staying in Cleveland, Tennessee, which is just northeast of Chattanooga, and it’s likewise very scenic here: a lot of rolling, forested hills and a few rivers and creeks nearby. But the forests are really thick here. I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest recently, and the forests here almost rival the forests up in Southern Washington and Northern Oregon — not quite, but fairly close. But the Pacific Northwest has big, impressive mountains and peaks, which neither Tennessee nor Oklahoma have.

[AnthonyJ34]

Don’t forget Honobia, Oklahoma. You might get to see Bigfoot strolling around town!

[firemediceric]

After tracking daily weather in some of the places mentioned early on in this thread, I am of the mind Oklahoma is just too damn hot. There have been a lot of days when the temperature exceeded what we have been dealing with down here in Florida.