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I have lived in both places and do think both meet all 5 criteria but to lesser or greater degrees. I do see pros/cons of each.
Why don't you call people in the food truck community and get their feedback? Seems like a great way to make such a huge business decision. Here is Bham:
OP have you compared cost of living in both cities? Is that a factor to your decision? A comparison tool I use says Bellingham is 23% higher cost of living than Boone.
Only 23% higher COL? Doesn't seem like that much more expensive to me when another poster said Boulder seemed to be 3X higher than another place they were considering. In that case I would take Bellingham sight unseen based on what I've read so far.
For those interested in a conclusion... After much deliberation, we have settled on Bellingham!
Now for finding a rental... If anyone has recommendations for local housing sources, please do let me know. We are currently stalking Craigslist with no luck so far. Looking for a pet friendly studio or 1BR/1BA at 1000$/month or less including utilities (yes, we realize this will be tough but it does seem very much possible). Ideally in a segmented home, "mother in-law", etc. rather than an apartment complex.
Thank you to all who commented here and/or DM'd me.
It seems you made a great choice. I lived in Asheville for almost two decades and was very involved, but never really made it to Boone. Your phrase "locationally isolated" was spot on, and it looks like Bellingham is what grabbed your gut. Godspeed!
I think Boone is actually less "locationally isolated" than Asheville at least as far as North Carolina is concerned. Same distance to Charlotte, but also even closer to the Triad and just an hour and half or so further to the edge of the Triangle. Asheville is a lot further from the rest of the state. This is why when NC-ers from elsewhere in the state go to the mountains, we don't go all the way to the Smokies as much. That's a LONG way from Raleigh (5-7 hrs), but Boone is just 3-3.5 hrs away, Asheville 4-4.5 hrs away.
I think Boone is actually less "locationally isolated" than Asheville at least as far as North Carolina is concerned. Same distance to Charlotte, but also even closer to the Triad and just an hour and half or so further to the edge of the Triangle. Asheville is a lot further from the rest of the state. This is why when NC-ers from elsewhere in the state go to the mountains, we don't go all the way to the Smokies as much. That's a LONG way from Raleigh (5-7 hrs), but Boone is just 3-3.5 hrs away, Asheville 4-4.5 hrs away.
Asheville is, of course, closer to Atlanta.
If you want to include SC, Asheville is very close to DT Greenville/Upstate (about an hour) - in fact the Upstate and Asheville are part of the same television market - I get my ABC station out of Asheville
Remember that there are a lot of oil refineries in the Bellingham area. This presents potential environmental disasters and pollution. Although the few times I've been there I never smelled anything from a refinery, doesn't mean it's not there. Knowing this impacted my decision to move elsewhere.
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