Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I'm Moving. Question is, Where?

I've been fortunate enough to have visited or at least passed through just about every local in the U.S. Now I find myself restless. I'm kinda retired, most of my family is gone or not-relevant, no close personal relationships in the area, and basically nothing tying me to this area other than chili and mountains.
SO, I've decided to move somewhere more to my liking, and not the desert I've inhabited for 50 years. My idea is 2-5 acres, semi rural (but remember 'rural' to me is a neighbor 20 miles away.) 1500ish sf home. Just me and dogs, so 'fancy' isn't much of a concern.
Montana is near the top, but I hate the cold. and I'm afraid of Jim Conrad.
Missouri- Enough hills and streams to make it interesting.
South Carolina- Food, water, mountains and maybe enough country.
Tennessee-Spent months at a time there, but it may actually be more backwater than is N.M.
Kentucky. Beautiful, water, and seemingly reasonably price.
Maybe West Virginia.

What are y'all's opinions? Just gathering all info possible to decide where to vamoose too. (Is it correct to use two apostrophe's in one word?)

Just depends on what you want. I don't ever want to live in a blue state, or east of the Mississippi or west of the Rockies. Way to full of "libtard" thinking for me. i been in Alaska since 1965 and dying here is just fine with me.

Agree with most of your sentiments. No blue states for me. East of the Mississippi is nearly one big town, but there are pockets of relative isolation. Alaska is intriguing, but still too damn cold.

West Virginia? You were doing fine until you said that! If you could live there, you could live anywhere.

You're not on my ignore list like that other guy holding his catch, so here's my .02c.
I don't know about your property taxes, but I'd check to make sure that won't be an issue wherever you might go. Californians are fleeing their ruined state for lack of retirement rent to their beloved state. Some here, but others Florida, etc.

If you are a desert dweller, I would ask myself if I would be comfortable in a colder or place with high humidity.
In WVa it's obviously both. Weather variety, but not usually too much of either. Once you get acclimated to 97°+/-. it starts back down. Same goes with the couple weeks of hovering single digits.

Economy is awful in most of it. It will likely continue that way as joe closes coal plants and mining.
The places I've been, the people are friendlier than city folks, with exceptions.
Rural land far from cities is available. Close to....scarce but takes time.

It's a statewide second A sanctuary.
Virginia is for Lovers they say.
West Virginia is for lovers of 2A freedom.
One of the first to become Vt style carry any way you want.

If you really want your neighbor 20 miles away your options in the lower 48 are pretty low.

And people usually find they don’t want to live THAT rural.

^^^ This ^^^

Pretty much any state bordering the Mississippi River and eastward you most likely would not find available real estate anywhere even close to being 20 miles to the nearest neighbor. Acreage in general and homes with small acreage has gotten ridiculously expensive, too. Even in areas with what are seemingly reasonable property tax rates, the increase in appraisal values have gotten so high you still wind up getting hammered hard. Homeowners insurance on rural property can get pretty expensive too due to either none or a formal fire department within a reasonable distance.

As to living "THAT rural", fact is, as we age, visits to doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, etc., typically get more and more frequent for most of us.

Watched my father and mother-in-law go through that. For years they lived in the church parsonage in a small town and planned on retiring on their semi-rural farm. As they got older though, and their medical care needs increased, they saw and accepted the 'writing on the wall'. They decided to continue to rent the farm house out and bought a little, easy to care for house with a small yard in a town of around 25k population with multiple doctors, pharmacies, a full service hospital, stores, and close enough to a larger town with 3 major hospitals, many, many more doctors, specialists, etc, that they could drive to in 15 - 20 minutes.

You impress me as an exceptionally miserable excuse of a human.

Budget?

It seems like TN would be a good bet. If I were in your shoes WY would be high on my list but since you don’t like the cold TN is a beautiful state and has the moderate winters you’ve looking for.

TN, KY, AR... all have some great spots and can be affordable. Folks retired to TN almost 25 years ago and love it. Very tax friendly.

I'm partial to water. FL panhandle and Carolina and Georgia coast's have always appealed.

W Nebraska can be a great place.

Buy a used travel trailer and hit the road the next 4-6 months. See what ya see.

😂

Do you like wet or dry? In general, the east is wet. Then you go over the hump to western slope of the Rockies and it's dry. The last few years it's been REALLY dry. We haven't had more than an inch of rain at the same time for a couple years. The dry lasts until you cross the Cascades where you get rain and liberals - think Seattle and Portland.

I like Tennessee and North Carolina but your money stretches more in West Virginia.

I would look for a state without a state income tax, as well as what the cost of living is.
Another concern as you/we get older is what is health care like and how far would I need to travel in order to get to quality heath care

Huh don't think I ever corresponded with you

+1

Then why would you consider Montana?

Lotsa folks overlook SE OK, AR, and SW MO.

Decent weather. Decent politics. Lots of fishing. You can still be “rural”, and be 45-60 minutes from decent healthcare/etc.

Other than the mountains you described south western Kansas. Low humidity and plenty of open spaces.

kwg