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If having a music scene is that important to you, I think you could still go rural. Just get your acreage within a couple hours drive of a place like Nashville or Lincoln.
Or Marfa, TX. Land is fantastically cheap down there....at times, in certain locations. Catch is, being so close to the Texas/Mexico border, to me, that's a war zone region.
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Originally Posted by Major Barbara
No, just an out of the way eatery. No linen tablecloths. In the boonies meanwhile, $6 will get you a pitcher.
Mmmmmmm, reminds me of my marine biology studies down at Port Aransas in the last century where a good meal meant a table covered by butcher paper, a pitcher of beer, and a bucket of corn on the cob and seafood dumped on the table. The wreckage was then tossed down a hole in the middle of the table. I rather miss those times.
I was thinking about this topic as I was doing my weight work out tonight. Right now, I live in a house, rental, in town, but I am meeting with the architect soon to start getting my house on my ranch, 10+ acres 25 minutes outside of town, built.
One of the the things I've heard is that if your life is one of restaurants, needing the night life, living to shop, not only will you not like the country but you will probably sell the place in 6 months. That's not my life for a reason already said (graveyard worker), as just demonstrated (weight workout).
AHHHH, Tamara, but what about the Net? Well, I'm trying to get away from the Net when not at work. I have been one prone to computer addiction since 1979, and the best solution is just to turn off the computer when I can. Had to be active today at home because of an email I was waiting for.
There is probably a defined difference between living out in the country and rural. As said, the ranch is 25 minutes from the city, from HEB, Wally World, the Vet, my work, car dealerships, malls, and the like. There isn't a gradual in-out, just one moment you are there, the next you are out. Rural, I suppose is, is like Thall, TX (t'was on the route when I use to travel Austin-TAMU).
Am I ready for that kind of life? Well, from the stand points already mentioned, I have pretty much given up on dating nor am I looking for a mate. Work does a terrific job of socially isolating me, and I suppose I pretty much feel indestructibly immortal......especially since the reality of life has me driving anyhow 30-60 minutes to see my doctors and dentist.
As far as the silence of the surroundings go, two things I found when I lived in apartments. First, I had at least 7 other "families" in the same building where if one of them made a mistake, they could burn down the entire building for all of us. That's not counting anyone else given the closeness of the buildings. Secondly, was the harsh feeling of "the lunar surface" I would experience on EARLY Sunday mornings.
I would be awake due to my schedule, there would be "nothing left to do" as that tends to be the deadest part of the week (after all, it is when we change the clocks), and the outside floodlights would be shinning through the blinds like Sol through a vacuum.
I sort of look forward to an environment where I can tailor my existence to be more on my terms, such as being able to take up star gazing. That is one thing you can't do in the city due to the glare.
As far as being a dropping point for animals, miserable subject, but a thing or two. First of all, even in the city, I tend to be something of a magnet for such. Melinda, the black cat by my feet, was one of a pair (Warren is no longer with us) of catch and released cats that moved into my apartment complex and eventually adopted me. Another time, I was out walking Mom's dog, inherited, and a lost dog came right up to us (he had escaped from people moving in). Before that, I was unloading the car when a cat came meowing right up to me. I called her Nimr, Arabian for Tiger, and found her a home at a co worker's ranch as a barn cat.
It is as if the Angels say, "Go find Ounce! She's a marine biologist, she'll find you a good home."........or there is this sign on me that says "Pushover". In any case, I've talked to my other ranch friends about how to take care of barn cats. It's a thing I wish would not happen, but if they come to me, I'll handle it the best I can.
Cars wise, I think I'm sort of geared that direction, having a well traveled Forester and a higher F-250.
Etc, etc, etc..
I suppose one has to be oriented to accept that kind of life but it is like the time when I was caught in a rain storm when I was at a stage in my life of thinking of becoming a game warden. Ie, "if you are going to be outside, being in the rain better not bug you.".
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 07-07-2015 at 10:08 PM..
Indeed. 30 years ago, I lived in Northern Virginia, and frequently visited the tourist sites of DC. There was ubiquitous warning to not venture more than a block east of Union Station. But ~3 years ago, an acquaintance bought a $700K townhouse on the NE end of Capitol Hill, and prices are relentlessly rising. The major urban problem faced by local residents is finding curbside parking.
Yes, in the 70s and 80s, I had a semi-regular midnight or so need to drive into DC on Central Avenue, then cross Capitol Hill on the way over to Virginia. Most of it was a pretty sketchy area. Today, those same townhouses go for $1.5 to $2 million and 8th Street SE is the new Georgetown or Dupont Circle. All of that of course has resulted from urbanism, which was my point. Urbanism is not dead, and is in fact alive and well and continuing to help reshape many of our most dynamic cities.
We have had a long continuous trend for many years of people leaving the country for the big city. Usually its for jobs, which is understandable. But I've also heard of cases where, even if there are jobs in the rural area, that pay very well, people will instead lower paying jobs that allow them to live in the city. Is small town America that unpopular that few people want to live there anymore?
I live in a neighborhood/development out in the country. I couldn't live in the city!
I was raised in a country development with farm land all around us. If we went out/home at the wrong time of day {twice a day}, we had to wait for the cows to finish crossing the road at milking time!
Corn/wheat/alphalpha was grown in a field abutting my{our} {childhood} home's back yard.
We are close enough to our citified area that I can get there within a 1/2 hour -45minutes, I can deal with that to have some space/grass {and yes, cows!} around me.
I DON'T want to sneeze and have my neighbor say "Bless you"!!!
I don't want to "reach across the hall" with my feet in my apartment for a borrowed egg!
I like to see the stars at night! If I look towards the city though, I get "light pollution", and cannot see them. If I am in the city, I cannot see them.
I find it hard to park my car downtown. I LIKE having my OWN transportation to go where/when I want to.
I can live on the first floor here, and not have any steps to climb. Few buildings in my city have elevators, so I'd have to climb.
And finally, {no offense to them}young people tend to habitate in the city. Most of us "older folk" live out in the country. I don't know if I want a bunch of rowdy college students and young folk living around me...
SO, regarding a city for me, AS a shark from shark tank would say "I'm OUT".
When we were younger, we'd head upstate because my uncle has a property there. As lovely as it is to visit/vacation, I wouldn't want to live there. The basics require a drive into town, whereas everything else requires a VERY long drive. Over time, many of the businesses have shuttered and houses are for sale, everywhere. It has been sad to watch but there is nothing to really do around there anymore.
When my dad always complained about living in the city, I'd say, "Then move." And he'd say, "There are no jobs." Now that my parents are getting older, they are having more and more mobility issues---I can't imagine living somewhere where everything so far away, including other people who might otherwise be able to help out, especially when it's cold and snow is everywhere.
Also, in certain areas upstate, the taxes are quite high---most of the jobs up there are low paying
It depends on the part of the country, if people are leaving the rural area or not. Some areas are seeing moving out, and some are not with people moving in.
As far as high paid jobs being in cities, when the wages are adjusted for cost of living, many cities have lower actual spendable incomes after adjusting for taxes and cost of living, than more rural areas.
Many cities, have much higher unemployment rates than many rural areas.
Many cities, and big city states, have extremely high poverty rates, compared to more rural areas. Example, California has a much higher poverty rate than any other state, due partly to the high cost of living there. Yes over 23% of all people living in California are living in poverty.
It's true there are few people in truly rural areas these days. I am from a small town in east TN and moved to Des Moines, IA three years, and outside of Des Moines, Iowa was the most isolating experience I've ever had. It's hours from anywhere, and most of the places you can get to from Des Moines are isolated themselves.
I now live in Indianapolis and would like to move somewhere smaller, but I don't know how possible that is and make what I make now, and I am not getting rich. My home town in Tennessee has practically no jobs outside of medical and education, and many small towns are like that. The economy has shifted in such a way that the best paying jobs are clustered in office parks in urban or suburban settings, not out on the farm or factory in a small town or rural area.
I'm a borderline Gen Xer / millennial that has always lived in the suburbs or city areas. I can't wait to get out to a rural area. My wife and I are sick and tired of most aspects of suburban and urban life. We just want to move out to the woods so we have to deal with as few AH's as possible.
That said, I am well aware that this is a completely abnormal viewpoint for my generation and upbringing.
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Originally Posted by Mandalorian
Try going from high speed city/suburban internet to rural grade, it sucks the big one.
Decent internet speeds are one of the few things I would miss from urban/suburban living. This will become less of an issue in the future, but for now it would still be the major thing I would miss.
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Originally Posted by zenapple
Culturally, there are tons of awesome people living in the rural areas. There are also, I hate to say, a lot of people who... I don't even know how to put it. They've grown up in the same area their whole lives, with their families, and are either outright distrustful of newcomers, or just not interested.
I have seen the same thing in cities. I have some extended family in the NYC/NJ area and it amazes me how little they know about anything beyond the tri-state area. Here in the Houston area, I have encountered numerous people that have never left Houston. I'll definitely grant that living in a city means one is more likely to have an expansive worldview, but it's not always the case.
Last edited by War Beagle; 07-08-2015 at 08:26 AM..
I live in a pretty rural area outside of Houston, and I just find it too inconvenient to live here. I moved here when I moved in with my wife a year ago from a large suburb in Houston, and I dislike having to drive so long to get to anything. My job is 25 minutes away from our town, and there's nothing much here but ranches, a cattle auction area, and other farms. We have a grocery store, but the stock is limited and expensive, so we have to go to the next town over. Everything we want to do involves the same 25 minute drive. Over and over again, day after day. Even the bank is in the other town. And things close up too early. There is only one gas station open after 11 PM! I can't believe my wife has already lived here 18 years. But we only have five more months until the mortgage is paid off. After that, freedom to move
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Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah
Seems to me that a 25 minute drive to work for Houston would be a dream.....as oppose to the hour or so because of traffic that most people have to go through.
I don't work in Houston. I work in another suburban area outside of Houston, so it doesn't involve driving into the city proper.
You weren't the only one who thought that, but the global trend is indeed the opposite way. I just saw a detailed map of population changes in Europe, and there too people are abandoning not just rural areas but mid-size cities in favor of a few large ones, like London, Stockholm, and Madrid. The pattern is especially stark in the former communist countries, with everything but capital cities turning into ghost towns, but that's perhaps understandable. The communist govts really spoiled their rural environment with pollution, and a lot of the mid-size cities were basically set up as company towns around one giant factory (now closed).
Ditto Japan, where the countryside and even smaller cities are becoming the province of the elderly while Tokyo can't keep up with the booming demand for housing from young professionals.
Studies by economists have found that the wage benefit of living in a dense urban area has actually increased, not decreased in the internet age. Want to get rich? The best way to do it is to live in an area packed to the gills with other smart, ambitious, well-connected people.
There are certainly exceptions doing the remote thing, like a friend who is an exec at a prominent tech company in the DC area followed his partner to a rural college town in Ohio. The exec flies to DC for 2 or 3 days a week and works from their big farm house the other half. Mostly my tech industry friends though, initially dispersed widely after college but are steadily being sucked together into Silicon Valley. Ditto my lawyer and MBA friends, though NY/DC/LA as well as SF. The college professors and the medical doctors are just about the only ones living outside of high-speed megacities.
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Originally Posted by rruff
I thought when remote work via the internet became popular you'd see more people moving out of cities. Guess I was wrong.
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