Appalachians or Blue Ridge Mountains (Jefferson, Forest: for sale, real estate, hotel)

[KewGee]

Good point. I believe I'd rather shovel than skate as well.

[GypsyLdy]

Honestly, I now live in Floyd, and am planning to move to Texas. (Never to move again). Floyd is great, don't get me wrong, it's just...settled...if you are a mature person who doesn't like or desire a lot of nightlife, or if you are just mellow and laid back, Floyd will work for you. I've discovered after nearly two years here that I need more stimulation to grow, but Floyd is a great little town, with lots to recommend it...if we grow wisely. There is a great Blog written by Fred Frist, one of our local artists that gives a fairly honest view of the ups and downs in Floyd. http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/ It's not where I belong, but it's a good place if you belong here. Just rampant curiosity here...what part of Texas? I'm planning to move to Dale (Southeast of Austin) eary next year.

[KewGee]

Originally Posted by GypsyLdy

Honestly, I now live in Floyd, and am planning to move to Texas. (Never to move again). Floyd is great, don't get me wrong, it's just...settled...if you are a mature person who doesn't like or desire a lot of nightlife, or if you are just mellow and laid back, Floyd will work for you. I've discovered after nearly two years here that I need more stimulation to grow, but Floyd is a great little town, with lots to recommend it...if we grow wisely. There is a great Blog written by Fred Frist, one of our local artists that gives a fairly honest view of the ups and downs in Floyd. http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/ It's not where I belong, but it's a good place if you belong here. Just rampant curiosity here...what part of Texas? I'm planning to move to Dale (Southeast of Austin) eary next year.

Thanks for your post. I live outside of a small town in Central Texas about 45 miles north of Waco, 65 miles south of Fort Worth.

I'm defnitely looking for what it sounds Floyd has and will check out what Fred Frist has written. My nightlife consists of being in my cozy home. The simple things in life are what's important to me and it doesn't take much to make me contented. Of course, I'm probably a lot older than you are although many people my age still have to run around and never stay home. My home is my castle; it love it but I don't like the heat in Texas. It is totally unbearable.

I love the mountains and this is my dream to live within a lovely view of them and some place where I don't roast for six months out of the year.

Good luck to you.

[KewGee]

Since you've lived in the area for a while, I would love to know if you think there are other areas I should check out when I go on my trip next summer. I really want the beauty of mountains all around me and I see that Floyd County appears to be on the edge of the Blue Ridge, at least from maps I've seen.

If you have any other suggestions so I might add them to my itinerary, I would be very appreciative.

Thanks so much, and if anyone else has some great ideas, I'd love to hear from you as well.

I'm definitely looking for a place that is not looking like it's going to grow much at least not for about 20 years which I feel I still have left on this Earth.

Crime is important (lack of it), not too much snow, low poverty, majority of Caucausians in the population like over 95%, few tourists, lack of flooding as I hear some parts of VA are prone to flooding, and little tornadoes which I'm checking out very closely and I know Floyd hasn't had any in over 50 years. I'm being extremely so picky but if I'm going to make a MAJOR move at my age, all has got be to almost perfect.<p>I'll do all the checking out of the statistics if I can just have some great recommendations. It doesn't have to be VA. I've even considered TN and NC but they seem to be growing too fast for me. WV will be okay as will KY.

[rheaburris]

I can't speak from experience on this subject. But I can tel you about the area that I'll be moving to. I'll be in the area where I-81 and I-77 intersect in SW Virginia.What the local people told me about their community is: It combines the best of small town living with major hiway access.It allows them to be in many large cities within 2-3 hrs drive I.E. Charlotte,NC or Richmond VA or Knoxville Tn.But they still can have the small town living and the mountains to call home.

[KewGee]

Originally Posted by rheaburris

I can't speak from experience on this subject. But I can tel you about the area that I'll be moving to. I'll be in the area where I-81 and I-77 intersect in SW Virginia.What the local people told me about their community is: It combines the best of small town living with major hiway access.It allows them to be in many large cities within 2-3 hrs drive I.E. Charlotte,NC or Richmond VA or Knoxville Tn.But they still can have the small town living and the mountains to call home.

Yes, that's kind of where I have in mind. I know one thing though....I don't want to live near I-81 and for that matter, not near any major highway or interstate. Some place on one of these threads it said I-81 is terrible, very congested, too many trucks, and everything else one doesn't like about interstates. Not only that, the quality of air in a town lessens due to all that traffic. Therefore, I'm checking out all the towns and their air quality as well as tons of other things.

Thanks for your post. I'm just being very fussy. I don't want to hear cars, trucks, trains, or planes and the list of fussiness goes on.

[quinnellabella]

blue ridge summit pa awesome hidden area

[Rhett_Butler]

Head out 64 West off of 81 then..... I was scouting territory and found a beautiful town called Covington, VA (I think)..... It's out there, but close enough to things one may need. I 64 didn't seem to have as much of a truck issue on that portion anyway.....

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by VAFury

Head out 64 West off of 81 then..... I was scouting territory and found a beautiful town called Covington, VA (I think)..... It's out there, but close enough to things one may need. I 64 didn't seem to have as much of a truck issue on that portion anyway.....

We did a ride thru there several years ago. While we were admiring the town and some spiffy old buildings, we did notice a powerful stench hovering over the area. Your post just reminded me of that trip, so I checked the town's website. A paper mill is located there. You might want to keep that in mind.

Outside of Covington (AMJB this might interest you ) we took 220 north to Warm Springs, then 39/42 back down to the Lexington area. Oh man, talk about purrrty! It was a bit of a twisty road, taking us higher in elevation and then opening into a valley. This is in Bath County http://www.discoverbath.com/ If you've seen the Jodie Foster/Richard Gere movie "Sommersby", much of it was filmed in that county. We stopped and had lunch at a restaurant near The Homestead (http://www.thehomestead.com/about-resort.asp (broken link)) in Hot Springs (found this picture looking down into the valley)


And took a walking tour of the area.

Making a return loop on 39/42, we passed through Goshen Valley, another one of those places you come upon without knowing about it that just takes your breath away. I poked around and found these tourist photos of the area
http://personal.cfw.com/~dlittle/photopg2.htm

If we can ever find time between work and responsibilities, that's an area we definitely want to return on to our motorcycles.

[KewGee]

Thanks, everyone, for more information, links, and photographs to add to my "list" that is becoming a mile long. I really appreciate it very much.