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Could You Move to a Small Town


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46 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I'm sure you found the last hour/45 minutes to be quite surprising, topographically.

My brothers first job after college (KSU) was as a mechanical engineer for Trane Corp in LaCrosse. I have been familiar with the area since 1980 or so.

 

But, yeah, it's really scenic. Unlike Ames.

 

Or Wichita.

Edited by Shoxthemonkey
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24 minutes ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

My brothers first job after college (KSU) was as a mechanical engineer for Trane Corp in LaCrosse. I have been familiar with the area since 1980 or so.

 

But, yeah, it's really scenic. Unlike Ames.

 

Or Wichita.

Oh, nice.  Even the difference between the Mason City area and there is drastic, and the transition happens suddenly.  I live almost literally along the edge of the plateau where the plains give way to the hill country.  All of our farmland is flatlands, and I can hiking/biking/canoeing on the weekends without any real commute.

IMO, Ames and Wichita are both located in areas that essentially typify the stereotypes of Midwestern topography.

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1 hour ago, SHOOTER12 said:

I remember when I worked in Kentucky back in 79-80 I had the shock of my life when I moved there. I was living in Lebanon, which thinking back, I don't recall EVER seeing any person of color. I was working on a cross country transmission line so some days the trip to work could be 90 miles away. Anyway, one of the little burgs I drove through had a sign at each end of town which read "N***** Don't Let Sundown Catch Your Black Ass Here". Needless to say I nearly ran the pickup off in ditch the first time I saw it. It wasn't just some small sign either, the damned yhing had to be 16 X 20. Didn't think I'd ever forget the name of that shitehole, but alas, senility calls. I want to say Danbury, Denwall, Danville, "D" something. 

Being from a small South Texas town I had seen some racism but never dreamed that the crap in Kentucky still existed at that time. Damned disgusting.

*not even close name wise, Rayburn, Raymond,  something like that...

Two kids from Arkansas transferred separately into my high school.  One was from Springdale, the school Mitch Mustain played at.  Said it was racist as shit. 

 

Another, from another Arkansas town told me "we didn't let blacks or Mexicans live in our town.  Just harassed them." 

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14 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Oh, nice.  Even the difference between the Mason City area and there is drastic, and the transition happens suddenly.  I live almost literally along the edge of the plateau where the plains give way to the hill country.  All of our farmland is flatlands, and I can hiking/biking/canoeing on the weekends without any real commute.

IMO, Ames and Wichita are both located in areas that essentially typify the stereotypes of Midwestern topography.

I dated a girl from Holy Cross, IA one summer. She came to Texas to spend the summer with her aunt, in Clifton. She had the most spectacular tits of any woman I have ever been with. Pre-IPhone years, so, unfortunately, I have no pictures but wish I did.

Thats my only Iowa story.

CHIEF

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13 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

I dated a girl from Holy Cross, IA one summer. She came to Texas to spend the summer with her aunt, in Clifton. She had the most spectacular tits of any woman I have ever been with. Pre-IPhone years, so, unfortunately, I have no pictures but wish I did.

Thats my only Iowa story.

CHIEF

I bet she was a good Dubuque County Catholic.

6 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

Fucked a real fat chick in Davenport, IA that I met at some shitty bar. Iowa holla

Sounds like Davenport.  I've only been there twice.

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On 3/8/2023 at 1:42 PM, Captain Ron said:

Totally missed this thread when it popped up. It's an interesting read, though I was disappointed when it had the 3 year gap that missed the pandemic. Talk about a chance to maybe live the dream.

So I live in the Greater Boston area. Winchester to be precise. I didn't mean to really like/love the Boston area, but it's really fucking great. 10 years going, I don't have many regrets on moving here.

Now to the small town part: one thing about living here is that people get away for the weekend. Sometimes the Cape, winter sees a lot of ski weekends, summer there is hiking. You have Martha's Vineyard, the Berkshires, New York and the Hamptons aren't far off. Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, you name it. There is a lot to do here. Having a second place isn't an oddity here.

But as someone coming from Texas it made no sense to me. I mean we have everything we need at home, why get away? What can somewhere else provide that home doesn't have?

The answer is that everyone here basically lives in the cities and you just want to get away from that.

About a year and a half ago the wife and I found and bought a place up in BFE Vermont. The town is called Waterford, Vermont - population 1,441. Town? Well that link is the google map to "downtown." That building is "city hall" and the post office. We have a fire department, transfer station for trash And that's about it. The place is tiny. Two closest towns: St Johnsbury, VT - population 7,403 and Littleton, NH - population 6,015.

Dairy Queen? The closest is 60 miles away, the easiest to get to is 78 miles away (drive time to each is about the same).

But I will say this, given that I turn 50 in a year (literally my 49th bday today), the wife and I totally see this place as the future place to chill out at. It's the weekend place now, will be the full time home when the nest is empty. I love living in Boston, but this place 2 1/2 hours away is great. The small town vibe up here is really cool. We have a few good restaurants, some great breweries. I'm about to get fiber Internet (finally, no more Starlink!). The house is a bit of a project (inside if not out), so there is something to do up there. Littleton has good enough shopping, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's. There are good enough groceries close by. Come winter I have about a few ski resorts within an hour or so.

And the weather isn't too bad. Summers are mild, winters are fun. The spring is great and fall ...

 

And our view isn't too bad either 

 

Would you recommend the Winchester area for a family with middle school kids?  My wife works for a company out of Framingham but has to fly up to Boston so often now that we're considering making a move.  I only know downtown Boston (a bit) and don't even know where to start regarding areas to look. 

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I live just outside of Navasota and really like it (aside from the aggy infestation), so, yeah.  I've also lived in a small East Texas town.  I might could live there, but there's no way in hell that I was going to raise my kids there.  Some of the folks there were the most backward, proudly ignorant people I have ever run into.

I would say that if you find a small town populated by people with similar values to yours, you can do well.  If you have different values from most in the town, it won't be so pleasant.

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1 hour ago, Scheiss Meister said:

I live just outside of Navasota and really like it (aside from the aggy infestation), so, yeah.  I've also lived in a small East Texas town.  I might could live there, but there's no way in hell that I was going to raise my kids there.  Some of the folks there were the most backward, proudly ignorant people I have ever run into.

I would say that if you find a small town populated by people with similar values to yours, you can do well.  If you have different values from most in the town, it won't be so pleasant.

So nowhere in TX?  I could probably sign up for a mountain town, or a beach town, but there needs to be a draw other than it’s a small town.  My uncle grew up in Brownfield, TX.  Drove through there a few years ago on our way to Ruidoso.  That was the most depressing place I’ve ever seen.

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9 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

So nowhere in TX?  I could probably sign up for a mountain town, or a beach town, but there needs to be a draw other than it’s a small town.  My uncle grew up in Brownfield, TX.  Drove through there a few years ago on our way to Ruidoso.  That was the most depressing place I’ve ever seen.

If I ever get to retire, my wife and I have talked about staying put, or maybe moving to the Taos area.  Who knows?  But I agree that there are few places in Texas that I find more attractive than right where I am.  I've put work and sweat into this place, and it's kinda got ahold of my heart.

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18 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:
31 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

So nowhere in TX?  I could probably sign up for a mountain town, or a beach town, but there needs to be a draw other than it’s a small town.  My uncle grew up in Brownfield, TX.  Drove through there a few years ago on our way to Ruidoso.  That was the most depressing place I’ve ever seen.

If I ever get to retire, my wife and I have talked about staying put, or maybe moving to the Taos area.  Who knows?  But I agree that there are few places in Texas that I find more attractive than right where I am.  I've put work and sweat into this place, and it's kinda got ahold of my heart.

You talking about Brownfield, @Scheiss Meister?

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4 hours ago, CHIEF said:

I dated a girl from Holy Cross, IA one summer. She came to Texas to spend the summer with her aunt, in Clifton. She had the most spectacular tits of any woman I have ever been with. Pre-IPhone years, so, unfortunately, I have no pictures but wish I did.

Thats my only Iowa story.

CHIEF

Sounds like a pretty bad ass Iowa story, tbh. I am biased towards stories about great sets of tits tho. 

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3 hours ago, Scheiss Meister said:

I live just outside of Navasota and really like it (aside from the aggy infestation), so, yeah.  I've also lived in a small East Texas town.  I might could live there, but there's no way in hell that I was going to raise my kids there.  Some of the folks there were the most backward, proudly ignorant people I have ever run into.

I would say that if you find a small town populated by people with similar values to yours, you can do well.  If you have different values from most in the town, it won't be so pleasant.

Wise words. Currently living in Lufkin, and the people here…definitely a mixed bag. 

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12 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

He's a wrestling ref/part time coach

If he ever leaves town, it won't be due to racist taunts. It'll be because he's tired of hearing the Iowa mating call of "STALLING! STALLING! " all winter and spring.

/disgruntled OSU fan

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14 hours ago, Scheiss Meister said:

No.  I'm talking about outside Navasota.  There's nothing here, but I can get to it from here.  I hear that you can't get to anything from Brownfield.

About the same distance from Brownfield to Lubbock as Navasota to Bryan/College Station.  In terms of living near civilization, Brownfield gets the nod, barely.  The distance to Houston might push Navasota over the top, I suppose.

Edited by Samson's Wig
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20 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

About the same distance from Brownfield to Lubbock as Navasota to Bryan/College Station.  In terms of living near civilization, Brownfield gets the nod, barely.  The distance to Houston might push Navasota over the top, I suppose.

Plus the distance to Austin and proximity to my dad and brothers.

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1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

When compared to Bryan/College Station?  Yeah, without a doubt.

I mean it's hard to beat the attractions of Lubbock, but I think proximity to Houston and Austin gives Navasota a slight advantage.

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1 minute ago, Samson's Wig said:

Completely agree.  The discussion was about living in a small town close enough to civilization to get the necessary things. 

I guess it depends on what you call necessary things. Lubbock doesn't have the necessary things in my mind.

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2 hours ago, royiv said:

I guess it depends on what you call necessary things. Lubbock doesn't have the necessary things in my mind.

Agreed.  Again, the point was that it has more going on than Bryan/College Station, and that it's just as close to Lubbock as Navasota is to BCS. I never claimed that Lubbock is great.  I certainly don't live there and have no desire to. Austin is the smallest of the cities I've lived in over the last thirty years, so you'll get no argument from me regarding big city life.  I'm not sure why the pedants are out in force without bothering to read the context.   I feel like I'm on a merry-go-round.

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3 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


Desert rats are a different kind of folk.

From what I can see on street view, it looked almost uninhabited.

Reminded me of the shithole in NE New Mexico, just down the road from Dalhart that I drove through a couple of years ago.  It was wild to me how quickly you transition from a landscape and world that appears essentially Midwestern (Dalhart could almost pass for a myriad of small towns in Nebraska, Kansas, or Iowa) into creepy abandoned desert.

EDIT:  that town in New Mexico was called Nara Visa

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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That looks like a hoot.  Where do the people come from for it?  Marfa?
I did click on the Valentine bar whilst Googling and thought that place looked like a hoot.  As complete outpost bars tend to be.

The Trans-Pecos is such a cool part of Texas. Unless you are a musician on a tour bus in Sierra Blanca.
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There's something about the desert I've always connected to.  My old man has a place in Tucson and so most of my desert-ing has taken place in Arizona, but I've been eyeing a "someday" trip to hike both Guadalupe Peak and a day or 2 in Big Bend, with a stop in Marfa in between.  Being as Valentine's on the route, I think there's a fair chance I stop for a beer someday.  If it's still there.

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