Loved the smokies but is it possible to live near them? (Knoxville: insurance, home)

[FloridaKash]

Hi Guys and Gals - we live in Tampa, FL... moved here from Alaska about 3 years ago. Absolutely love it here but the daily thunderstorms and high humidity in the summer is causing a lot of pain in my wife's back which has arthritis. She went to Alaska this summer and the pain stopped but when she returned so did the pain....so she's confident its the storms and humidity here that is causing her pain.

We visited the Smokies (Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg) this early summer. We liked being around mountains and streams again and enjoyed that the people were a little more 'down home' like they are in Alaska. My wife thinks she would like to live in TN and we think if we lived in East TN there would be less humidity and storms than there is here.

Any suggestions for town where one could live? My job skill set is as a Business Analyst for the Finanical, Insurance or Technology industries. Also a SharePoint Administrator. We also have 3 kids, all school age. (I am not concerned about the quality of schools, because my wife stays home and will help supplement their education as needed.)

Thanks

[hiknapster]

Knoxville. Best bet for jobs, schools are excellent - stick with the western portion of the city - and it is a hop, skip and a jump to the Smokys. I used to live in Florida - I remember you from the Florida forums - and although there is humidity here, it does not come close to Florida. If you are in West Tennessee it can be compared to North Florida, of course. I used to live in Southwest Florida and after living in Knoxville for the past eight years I can tell you that this is a vast improvement, weather-wise and other.

Good luck on your search!

[FloridaKash]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Knoxville. Best bet for jobs, schools are excellent - stick with the western portion of the city - and it is a hop, skip and a jump to the Smokys. I used to live in Florida - I remember you from the Florida forums - and although there is humidity here, it does not come close to Florida. If you are in West Tennessee it can be compared to North Florida, of course. I used to live in Southwest Florida and after living in Knoxville for the past eight years I can tell you that this is a vast improvement, weather-wise and other.

Good luck on your search!

Silly question, but I suppose it would be safe to assume that a lot less storms move in and Knoxville area does not experience daily thunderstorms?

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

Silly question, but I suppose it would be safe to assume that a lot less storms move in and Knoxville area does not experience daily thunderstorms?

Sometimes we do in the summer but it isn't like clockwork, like Florida. Also, the severity of those storms are nothing like Florida's. I kind of miss those storms, to be honest.

[FloridaKash]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Sometimes we do in the summer but it isn't like clockwork, like Florida. Also, the severity of those storms are nothing like Florida's. I kind of miss those storms, to be honest.

We love the storms too but the fronts and the low pressure supposedly contributes to the pain.

[danielj72]

East Tennessee seems to get less severe weather than does middle and west Tennessee. We do however get humidity and storms frequent enough to possibly bother some one who is sensitive to it. Maybe you should spend a couple weeks here in the summer and see if it bothers her arthritis. I am sure Tennessee is a big mprovement over florida but have you considered the Rocky mountain west??? No humidity out there.

[DaveC20853]

Originally Posted by danielj72

Maybe you should spend a couple weeks here in the summer and see if it bothers her arthritis.

Exactly what I thought when I read the original post.

[J&Em]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

Hi Guys and Gals - we live in Tampa, FL... moved here from Alaska about 3 years ago. Absolutely love it here but the daily thunderstorms and high humidity in the summer is causing a lot of pain in my wife's back which has arthritis. She went to Alaska this summer and the pain stopped but when she returned so did the pain....so she's confident its the storms and humidity here that is causing her pain.

We visited the Smokies (Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg) this early summer. We liked being around mountains and streams again and enjoyed that the people were a little more 'down home' like they are in Alaska. My wife thinks she would like to live in TN and we think if we lived in East TN there would be less humidity and storms than there is here.

Any suggestions for town where one could live? My job skill set is as a Business Analyst for the Finanical, Insurance or Technology industries. Also a SharePoint Administrator. We also have 3 kids, all school age. (I am not concerned about the quality of schools, because my wife stays home and will help supplement their education as needed.)

Thanks

Since you have already been to the area this year your wife got an idea of how beautiful it can be here. Just understand that, depending on when you actually came to visit, you may have experienced somewhat cooler weather than we have been getting in the last decade. It still doesn't equal the heat feel of Tampa even at its warmest. This has been a humid and relatively cool summer with more rain than we normally get in a whole year already on the ground by the Fourth of July.

For jobs like yours the chances are better in Knoxville but it is not in the mountains like Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are. It is in a long and wide valley north of the mountains and south of the Cumberland Plateau. You could commute from closer to the mountains, where it does stay a little cooler, to Knoxville.

An example of a good town that might cover what both of you need is Maryville, which is south of Knoxville. Maryville is in the foothills of the Smokies and if you head south of that it becomes rural and wooded with ridges and mountain views like the ones you saw on vacation earlier this year. Whenever I've been to Knoxville I note that the temperature is always a few degrees cooler here than anywhere up there. It generally takes 35 minutes ( or less) to get to most of Knoxville and West Knox/Farragut from the areas closest to the mountains in this county, rush hour might add 10-12 minutes depending on where you drive to and when you leave.

Maryville has most of the shopping needs your wife could want for day to day living with several grocery stores, 2 Walmarts, Home Dept and Lowes as well as lots of smaller places. If you live even closer to the mountains your trip may be up to 15 minutes to town. Knoxville is an easy drive for anything else.

The city of Maryville (it is officially a city but looks like a medium sized town) has very good schools and everyone I have met with school aged children seems to be very happy with the education quality. Those who live outside of town in the county areas have less money going onto school (much less taxes) and it shows. The schools are not bad but do not have the reputation of city schools in Maryville, Knoxville or Oak Ridge. We no longer have school aged kids to worry about so I can't speak to how good or bad it is from personal experience.

Good luck with your search for a better place to live.

[FloridaKash]

We visited in the middle of June so it was still pretty cool. Maybe I can get my work to let me work a week or two remotely while we check out the area more. Not too interested in Colorado. It's expensive there and too long of a winter for us.

[KeepingUpwithUs]

Consider Northern Michigan, near Traverse City; you have beautiful views of the bay and a great culture.