Can you answer my questions about the Tri-Cities? (Johnson City, Kingsport: apartment complex, shop)

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by rccrain

All trailer parks around here are dicey in my experience.

I have seen at least one here that has the sort of actual nice 'park like' setting that you can find in FL (unfortunately I don't remember where it was). But I agree that most of them tend to look pretty seedy, most of the ones I have seen seem to have no usable yard space either

https://goo.gl/maps/BF8aJDJyE9M2
https://goo.gl/maps/chNkoZqNCv52
https://goo.gl/maps/RTXusZxHoVK2

[rccrain]

Another typical trailer park: https://goo.gl/maps/QCkJ8B7Zjp42

[Jim37680]

I drive past this mobile home park occasionally. It's in the Fall Creek area southeast of Kingsport off Pettyjohn Road and Emory Church Road. I recall that it was created back in the late 60's or early 70's with the name "Urban Village". I knew a newly-wed young engineer at Eastman that started house-keeping there. He said that this park was intended to be an upscale alternative to the typical parks where the MH's are stacked like cord-wood on the side of a hill with barely the room to squeeze a VW (or a Harley) between them. It's maintained the open green spaces and it not as depressing to look at as most others around here.


https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5338...2!8i6656?hl=en

[TNGal78]

I disagree (my own opinion)...

Johnson City Downtown is a confusing cluster of 1 way streets, it has more bars for sure, but not a very family friendly place to be. Kingsport Downtown is easier to get around and there has been a lot of improvement over the past few years. Macados, Little Cake, several antique stores, great for walking around browsing especially in the Broad Street area.

Bristol has a lot of tourists due to Bristol Motor Speedway.

Winters CAN vary. We can have no snow in Kingsport and lots of it on Roan Mountain. We can have a dusting in Kingsport and 3 inches with ice in Bristol. It just depends. We have actually driven to Roan Mountain or Sam's Gap to show our kids snow back when it didn't snow for several years.

I would suggest a drive over the NC or VA mountains, absolutely beautiful.


Kingsport also has YMCA/Aquatic Center

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by TNGal78

Bristol has a lot of tourists due to Bristol Motor Speedway.

I'm going to guess a lot of that is all in the perspective and what you're used to. When I first moved to Bristol all the locals told me how bad it was during race week(s), crazy traffic, lots of tourist, etc. While I do see some increase in tourist in the area during that time it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and nothing at all compared to other places I've lived (like Elvis week in Memphis, lol!)

[Pnutty1]

I've never ridden buses exclusively so I am coming here for those that do currently or have in the past.

Please judge for me the better city if I dont own a car.

Im looking at Bristol, TN 27k pop and Kingsport TN 53K pop

https://kingsporttransit.org/routes/
scroll down on that link and it has the map of routes


Public Transit | Bristol, TN - Official Website
scroll down and you'll need to download the pdf to see Bristols map of routes.

Sorry, I dont know how to make the pictures show up here.


I dont like big cities. And Id rather not have the worst of summer or the worst of winter. So these small cities fit the bill. But if anyone has more ideas for me of locations with buses I would look into it.

Thank you

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Pnutty1

I've never ridden buses exclusively so I am coming here for those that do currently or have in the past.

Please judge for me the better city if I dont own a car.

Im looking at Bristol, TN 27k pop and Kingsport TN 53K pop

https://kingsporttransit.org/routes/
scroll down on that link and it has the map of routes


Public Transit | Bristol, TN - Official Website
scroll down and you'll need to download the pdf to see Bristols map of routes.

Sorry, I dont know how to make the pictures show up here.


I dont like big cities. And Id rather not have the worst of summer or the worst of winter. So these small cities fit the bill. But if anyone has more ideas for me of locations with buses I would look into it.

Thank you

I don't know if there is anyone here who is that familiar with riding the buses in both cities, as most of us do have cars. However I can tell you that I know some people who live in some areas of Bristol who don't drive and they get along pretty well just walking, biking and occasional use of the bus. The weather here makes it possible to be comfortable outside a large part of the year, so that helps.
I have looked at the bus route in Bristol because I figure that at some point in the next 10-15 years I may choose that option as I get older and driving gets more difficult because of poor vision. I think the route covers all of the areas I would need, medical and grocery shopping being the most important to me.

Bristol TN and VA work together so the route goes up into VA too, using the same tokens. I believe I read somewhere that the buses will go off route by a little bit to pick up a passenger if you call ahead (not 100% certain on that).
The downside is that the hours are pretty limited, and while each of the tri-cities has their own bus system there is nothing to take you between cities, other than the Bristol TN/VA connection I mentioned.

[Pnutty1]

Thank you DubbleT.

Both cities are good for retiring. But which is the better for buses. I think only a veteran who actually rode buses exclusively could look at these maps and discern the better city.

When I have that, then it would be the most strategic apartment complex for utilizing the bus.

Maybe I gotta find more cities to chose from?

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Pnutty1

Thank you DubbleT.

Both cities are good for retiring. But which is the better for buses. I think only a veteran who actually rode buses exclusively could look at these maps and discern the better city.

When I have that, then it would be the most strategic apartment complex for utilizing the bus.

Maybe I gotta find more cities to chose from?

Not to get too personal but can you do any walking? There are a few working class neighborhoods with old WWII postwar homes (nothing to write home about, mostly 2bdrm under 900K ft) that are within walking distance to grocery stores and bus stops. Maybe a few duplexes and smaller apts that might be within your price range. I can't really think of anything here that you might want to go to that isn't within a short walk of a bus stop. Is there some specific need you are thinking of?

[Serious Conversation]

Kingsport has buses that run along certain routes from 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM Monday-Friday.

https://kingsporttransit.org/routes/