"Greener pastures" made me smile.
That's what my daughter says. She lives in AZ now and longs to move back to the Florida panhandle.

 

Idaho... Idaho's the place to be... Clean air, low population, good wheelin', in the West, not far from civilzation... yet still far enough!

 

I'm with LEVE but it is hard to make a living in North Idaho. Best to bring your own job unless you have other means of support. There is absolutely NO middle class so if you if your line of work requires it you could be in for a tough haul.

 

My vote would be for heightened awareness, although confusion seems to be pretty popular up here in my neck of the woods.

 

Hear ya



Right now I am in the state of denial, But I know one day I will have to go back to working for a living. I made pretty good money when I sold my house, So before I Spend it all I would like to get another house in a stable area. I hate renting! So I want to stay away from the hot spots.
So I am just looking for Ideas right now.

 

NH all the way. We dont have allot of the HC rock trail you have out west but we have some good wheeling and if you like Guns this is the state to be in!

 

Ever notice that the places that are nicest to live in, it's tough to make a living? The Ozarks are a beautiful place to visit, roads are good, beautiful scenery, good wheeling, decent weather and friendly natives for the most part. But the only way to make a living is off the tourist trade four months a year, or providing a service for your neighbors. Same with the Florida Keys, western Massachussetts and upstate New York, the desert southwest - just about every place I've ever been that would be a fun place to live. It's probably because most places I'd like to live are sparsley populated because there's not many ways to make a living except off of tourists. Catch 22.

 

West Tn is not too bad other than Memphis. Eastern KY was great too. Stay away from the big cities! learn self defense and don't be afraid to use it, and if you can't buy something you are looking for locally in a small ,rural town, order it off the internet. Most places are too crowded for my taste these days,but the wife and kids wouldn't accept moving away from electricity. So I guess I'll stay here. I travel all over the country, most places are the same nice places until you get close to the "bigger" cities. A carry permit is nice to have also.
Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho always look good to me also.
Just my .2cents worth.
JD

 

I currently live in Central Oregon- Sisters to be exact. It's beautiful but cold alot of the time. Good hunting and fishing, and it's a "Shall Issue" state for CCW. BUT.... property values have skyrocketed in the past couple of years, driven by an influx of affluent transplants looking for their brand of paradise. Living alongside wealth isn't alot of fun, especially if they look down on your idea of recreation. Bend especially is getting too "trendy" for me, Mercedes and fur coats and accompanying attitudes I'd rather not have to be around. There's a high concentration of sandal wearin' granola eatin' tree huggers here, trying to save the world from the 4 wheeled "plague". Lots of retirees too. On the bright side, there are a couple of good 4X clubs, (But only 1 real 4X shop), a quarry turned into a rock crawl pit, and a couple of decent trails. The majority of the off-road recreation areas are in the God-forsaken barren wasteland, figure a good drive to get somewhere to go wheeling- because most of the nice, close, forest areas within a stone's throw are being closed to off-road travel.

Here's a web site for the biggest local club- Home

I'm looking to move, myself- to somewhere I can get some acreage and build a shop, and not have to be a millionaire to do it. Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Bitteroot Valley Montana areas are all on my list. I lived for 6 years in Ogden, Ut- really liked it there too.

I usually look for an agreeable climate (Can't take humidity), then check for Smog laws, Lift laws, and Gun laws. If there's no emission controls, lenient lift laws, and CCW is allowed, then I look at housing affordability.

If you do a Google search for Jeep places, Colorado is first followed by Utah.

 

Sta clear of Nebraska!!! lol nothing but corn and cows. And every time I come home from a vacation I wonder Why I live here. One nice thing is that I am centrally located, a day drive and I can be in Colorado, Black hills, Ozarks adn more importantly 12 hrs to Moab
Look at your hobbies and go where you can do the most of them and still have a good job.
Good luck

 

Oregon is a state that is not happy unless they are making a law against something. The legislature is ultra liberal, tax and spend. As Randyzzz says the tree huggers have gotten most of the woods closed off.

 

We moved from east of Seattle and bought a RV park on the south Oregon coast 6 years ago. We like it here and after saving up we bought this last August.
: Gallery

The Reedsport area is tourist oriented for now but soon to become more industrialized.
The Port of Coos Bay is planning to build a large container facility to compete with Long Beach and Seattle soon.
They are in the planning stages to build a large wave power generating research facility just north in Gardiner.
Taxes are OK and crime is low
Property values have been rising, not as fast as other places but rising nonetheless.
We have sand dune wheeling and 100's of miles of logging roads in the area.
Just as most every place else, in Oregon, it is a fight to keep our public property open, but if you get involved you usually get results!

My .02

 

Western North Carolina - Anything Southwest of Asheville.

 

We moved from east of Seattle and bought a RV park on the south Oregon coast 6 years ago.

We'll be there as soon as we can save up enough gas money to pull the Jeep over the mountains!

 

We'll be there as soon as we can save up enough gas money to pull the Jeep over the mountains!

View attachment 73026

Holly, how long is that thing!
We used to cringe when something that long would pull up.

Our park was called a auto court in the '30's when there wasn't anything nearly that big, and the spaces were 20-30 feet. Every year I make a couple more '60 sites using 3 of the '20s.
fill 'er up and come on down :]

 

I like Wisconsin...I'm near Madison...probably too liberal for most of you Wacko conservatives JK

Madison's got lots of opportunities for work and play with many state parks near the area plus a couple casinos and the Dells!!

Lots of land to wheel on if you get invovled with the 4x4 clubs...

 

They call it a 37 but it's 38 if you count the ladder. Add a 20' trailer for the Jeep and it's too darn big, but The Boss likes it.

 

Well I grew up in SoCal and really cant complain to much about my location here in South west MO. It's about a 30 min. drive to the insane trafic in N.W. Arkansas. There is plenty of job opp. there. I like it here, I live on a seven hundred acre farm with places to wheel and hunt in the back yard. Oh yah and it's right on the river with a lot of small mouth bass and catfish. I have Disney OK a hour and a half away, Cass AR about the same and Hot Springs is about four hours away hauling the jeep on a trailer. I heard of a couple more places down on the OK and AR border but haven't made it there yet. I do live in a tourist town and the summers are like Palm Springs and the winters are like a goast town, you wouldn't believe the amount of canoes on the river in the summer time. I have offered before, if anyone is looking for a place to get away from it all, give me a yell. I live on the lower side of the dam and it doesn't have the kaos that the upper side of the river has. We have some awsome scenery. My youngest son and I do a lot of fishing in the summer. It takes away all the stress and gives us quality time together. In all this is a pretty good area to live.

 

Yeah I am one of those that has to mull stuff over quite a bit before I decide anything. It isn't a matter of how empty or full the glass is, Its a matter of how thirsty I am and whats in the glass.
I am trying to keep an eye ( my good one anyhow) on Property prices, Taxes, income taxes, Stability of population, Emissions, as well as the good things in life.
I have been looking into some houses here in Phoenix area or thinking about a more northern location But I am just not feeling it here, and until the housing market settles down I would rather hold.

Thanks for the replies, and keep them coming.

Speaking of neighborhoods I am surprised no has mentioned I didn't precede the original post with O/T

 

Yeah, I noticed that right off, but figured that it is obvious that it's off topic, and I know that you can't go back and edit the title any way.

 

Before you worry about taxes and the like, you need to decide how much you like cold or bugs......Go North where bugs are scarce and the land abundant, it's going to be cold....so the money you save in taxes you will spend on heating.....

Go South where it's warmer....assuming you can get by without A/C, the bugs will carry off anything not weighed down. Anything in between (nice weather and no bugs)....high rent....one of the reasons people are there in the first place.

But my first guess for you would be Colorado....Not flat....plenty of off-roading....and if you find the right place....somewhat cheap......

Good luck.....but to be honest....you are about 50 years too late trying to find Utopia.......

 

Laws?

I grow up in Cincinnati Ok I lived in Cincinnati, I did not grow up yet. They have epa testing every 2 years. Any car newer then 25 years old. Cops will get out and mesure bumper height. Never saw any good off road parks. But had a friend that had a 100 acre farm to play on.
Now I live in Indianapolis. We have no EPA testing. { I have a '85 pro street Firebird does not even have a PVC valve. }
I have coworkers that run 6-8 inch lifts on 1-tons with 38's-bigger on DD
We do have CCW premits.
I have a 6' wooden fence all around my back yard. So thay will leave me alone on zoning. So I can rebuild trucks in outside. When it is not raining or snowing. I am down for the winter working on my Jeep. Only the work I can do in the basement will get done till spring.
They say there is a big park in southern Indiana that is good. Sand dunes around here somewhere also? Might check them out when Jeep is runing this summer.
But I'm building mine to get to work in winter, Also I have not had i convertable in 25 years. Summers can get nice around here .
Looney

 

Oh yeah!
That's why I threw it out for debate, Get as many opinions as I can, because the only places I have ruled out are New Jersey and California so far. I grew up north central Jersey Around 8 miles outside Manhattan, NY. I have no desire to move back there, a visit wouldn't bother me, but no way to move back.
California I just don't want the Hassle of living there, No desire to do it.

One more good Hurricane through Florida and you won't be able to get Household insurance. The crime in central Florida. Man they need to start hanging people down there, and the Language barrier is moving up from Miami with the crime. And they overbuilt like crazy during the housing bubble.

The Cold does bother me more than bugs, But the heat Even in Florida was nothing to compare with 113* + it hit here in Arizona this summer. Temperature inside my truck was like 180*. That's just unpleasant. And I do realize it was an unusually hot summer all across the country.

I am just on a fishing expedition sort of.

 

Oh yeah!
The Cold does bother me more than bugs, But the heat Even in Florida was nothing to compare with 113* + it hit here in Arizona this summer. Temperature inside my truck was like 180*. That's just unpleasant. And I do realize it was an unusually hot summer all across the country..

BUT It was a dry heat ...right?
JD

 

I like southern Indiana. You get all four seasons (sometimes in the same week), it's a rural area with lots of green space, trees, friendly people (with a few exceptions), good wheeling at Redbird, Attica Badlands, Haspin Acres, and a lot of local logging trails. Cost of living is reasonable, taxes are bad but not crazy, low crime rates, etc. I've done limited travels and always like to get back to Indiana. Northern Indiana is more flat and either industrial or farm ground, while southern Indiana is rolling hills with less population. As for the O/T label, if you're looking for a place to live where you can wheel you are on topic.

 

My oven's a dry heat, but will bake a 24 lb. turkey in the time it takes to commute across Phoenix.

 

South Carolina is the place to be, farm living is the life for me.

I like South Carolina. I lived in Salinas Ca. for 30 years and was glad to leave California. Here in Pawleys Island, Myrtle Beach you can still buy a home for under 200K. We have 60 miles is beaches and a good tourist industry. Jobs are plentyful in the summer and the weather is great 8 months a year. 4 months of very hot summer. Property taxes rates are low and the houses are cheap compared to out west. People are friendly and the pace is slow. Come on down and check us out.

 

It's amazing how many people you hear say they would never go back to California. I lived in Long Beach for 19 years and it was and probably still a crap hole.....