Is it because you were born nearby? Work/Job Transfer? Moved there by choice?

I was born about 2 miles from where my Great, Great Grandfather, his wife and 17 children settled when they came into the US in about 1820 from Kassel, Prussia {Germany}. Like my father, he was a farmer in a newly settled area of Upstate New York. All of my relatives until my generation remained in the general area, mostly farming. All of my siblings except one still live within an hour of the original settlement. I went to college within 1/2 hour of my parents home, then got a teaching job and house in that same area. Because of the retirement benefits and job, I was anchored there for 35 years. When I retired 11 years ago, I wanted to live on a waterfront home and moved only an hour away. Although I hate NY Politics, this is home for me and my wife who also was born and raised here. Of my 6 kids, 3 live within 1/2 hour from me, 2 live in Georgia and 1 in Minnesota, with the last 3 moving out of state for work. It seems more and more so, that today our kids have to move because of work, much more so than my generation. Plus many of them are moving by choice to get warmer weather.

So how about you?

Born, and raised here,

First came here in around 1992 because I had permission to hunt some good private land. Moved here for a career change in 1997. Lakes and public land are everywhere, so I'm still here.

It has a three mile view, it's such a sight,
And when I look around everyone is white.
No worries on my mind when I bed at night,
Knowing that the whole countryside is white.

Made a living here, now taking care of elderly parents.

On a lark.

When I got out of school I moved to Alaska. All alone, broke, and looking for adventure. Spent a decade up there going on adventures hunting and fishing and seeing the sights.

Had gotten married and had a son while up there and decided we didn’t want to raise him in the environment that the city we lived in provided. So we packed up and headed back where I’d grown up.

We like it here. Small town, relatively quiet. Low taxes. Generally friendly country people, most of whom have known me since I was born or I’ve known them since they were. Cheap pretty much everything compared to most of the rest of the country.

Hunting season is 5 months long plus varmints year around. Fishing is great year around but particularly from March through July. This allows us to easily spend 150 or more days a year on the water or in the field.

It's where I was nested and kicked out.

I’ve always lived in the Houston area, except 3 yrs in Dallas when I was around 11. I’ve lived on this place since 1973, probably die here.

I spent the first 50 years of my life in NY. Retired and moved to Missouri, could not be happier with that decision. The absolute [bleep] that NY is now is hard to belive. NY does have a good opportunity to make a decent living but as soon as one can afford to leave your best off to do so. I get a kick out of seeing all the ways ny makes honest people into felons and taxes the life out of them. 10 years of taxes in free America costs me less than one year in Ny taxes. No smog tests on my vehicles, my groceries are put in plastic bags. A standard capacity magazine does not land me in prison while child molesters get appearance tickets. Ny native poplulation will be replaced by illeagal aliens so that democrats retain power.My ammo gets delivered to my door.

Where in Mo?

Southeast Butler county, absolutely love it here.

born raised ..

Moved here after college, met my wife here, lived all over the Eastern Seaboard, but missed it here and job gave us the opportunity to move back. Voilà here we are!

Truthfully I’d live somewhere else closer to the 100 acres I own in Western Va, maybe one day!









Live at the beach want to exist at the farm!

Dad bought his home place (where he was born) in '60. I bought it from him in '06. I moved away for 30 years, but this was always home. Now, I live here.

Moved here from west PA in 1980

Continued my underground coal mining until the Wilberg Mine fire happened in '84

Hired on with UPS in January '85 till my retirement 27 years later

Now live where my UPS route was for 25 of those years

Still young & healthy enough to enjoy all that rural Utah offers

As in these pics.....public land as far as the eye can see

Was born in Johnstown PA. My family moved up here when I was 2. Grandparents ram a sporting goods store here for 20+ years.

Pretty good area. Can walk outside and hit National forest and walk all day. Rivers, lake, trout streams… wonderful area.


Wife and I now own 57 acres.. we talk about selling and moving around retirement age but I doubt we will…

Born and raised in this area. Military moved me out and ended up in AK for 18 years as a civilian.

Moved back to MI in 2013 due to my parents. Still regret the move. We are discussing where we want to move to after the family ties are no longer there

Never been quite that far SE. Been over west of you a bunch.

I moved to Florida to get out of NY. I moved to GA to get out of Florida. My next likely move is a dirt nap wherever.

Mountains, lots of mountains, sparse population, good people, good place to raise the kids.

Always lived in Cen\Tx.

Their was a Giant Pink Elephant in front of Mona,s Log Cabin back in July 90 when I rolled on up 41A on that shuttle van from BNA going to sign into the 101.

Knew right then and their Clarksvegas was gonna ROCK!!!

My Mom's side of the family have been here since the 1800s, dad's from turn of the century 1900.

I'm a direct descendent of the first Commander of Jamestown on my dad's side and French Canadians first settling in St Genevieve, St Louis area from around 1800 on my mom's side, then to California in the 1840s to grow grapes... My family's has always been on the forefront of the American frontier since the beginning.

I'm a westerner/south westerner/Arizonian/desert rat born and bred.

Kent

A series of restraining orders mostly. Plus the electronic tether. 🤔

Be glad you left Johnstown.
The air has gotten cleaner. Nothing else has improved.



Family has lived just west of here for 260 years.
Dad was killed in 72, Mom moved this way to be near her family.
I liked it here, never had any special skills to facilitate picking up and moving.

Would've, could've, should've?

Location is just one of many things I ponder about.
I've got it good. Not ideal.

If I had matriuculated, enlisted, moved.....I might be better off.
Or not!

I couldn't afford a mansion.

because I can…..

Born and raised. Area has everything I need or could want for the most part.

A while back we kicked around heading down your way or down in the Salem/St Robert's/Ft Leonardwood area.

A lot of stuff for an outdoorsman down that way.

Work/jobs is my biggest hang up.

I was born in Detoilet, raised in a suburb on the west side. When I left for the military I decided that I didn't want to go back there. Plus my wife's family is from this area.

Texan by birth, Okie by marriage and 40 inherited acres!

I've actually killed more and bigger deer in Ok than I ever did in Texas.

Yep.

I live about an hour away from my home town. My 2 brothers are there and the farm my parents bought in 1962 is still "the home place". My 2 kids live within 20 minutes of me. We take one grand daughter to school every day and pick her up after school is out and take her home. My folks and grand parents are all buried in the home town area. I guess I'm stuck here.

kwg

Born here and can't afford to get out....

Wyoming…… moved by choice, however, I was able to take a job transfer (oil/gas related)! Wanted an area of great hunting opportunities, much more freedom, much less crime, a lot of public land, and a much lower population (closest Walmart 85+ miles, closest interstate 100 miles, closest city over 15K people[excluding Jackson Hole] is 150+ miles)…….perfect for someone that hates cities and the pestilence they offer! I had to initially take a considerable pay cut…..but, more than made up for it over the years.

Even met/married a Wyoming girl that shares many of the same values/desires!

So far……pretty pleased with the move! memtb

At the end of a dead end dirt road, no visible neighbors, closest are 1/4 mile away.
Land butts up to National Forest with a trout stream, hunting and fishing right in the back yard.
Lots of room to roam the area on foot and by horseback. The back roads and trails around here make a great training area for competitive distance horses.

River on one side, mountain on the other. Over 1 million acres of National Forest out my door. Good job.

Grandkids

Mountains and job.

I live in Canada because I wasn't smart enough to go to the states and marry an American woman and get a dual citizenship when I was a young man.

Stupid....Stupid.........Stupid! lol

KB

Born and raised here. Family and friends are here. I haven’t been anywhere I like better.

I live here for my job, and the abundance of public land.

After first college graduation, wife and I left PA where our families had been settled forever and brought our 1 year-old daughter to Arizona. It was a paradise in the 60s. Lived four different places (all very good) in AZ as career progressed. After final degree, left for career purposes - 4 years each in DC area and then Seattle area - that was enough. Back to the southwest in AZ for 15 years and then 21 years in a chunk of mountain heaven in Western New Mexico. Surrounded by huge NF and lots of BLM land nearby.

Eventually my sweetheart could not live at 8k altitude to we tried to find the best area that met the important criteria. SE Arizona since 2019.

Work

Dad was a career Air Force pilot. I was born in Germany, but he moved the family to the Phoenix area (Mesa) in 1964 to be an instructor pilot at Williams Air Force Base. There was less than a million people in AZ when we moved here in 1964. I grew up there in Mesa, but wanted out as the Phoenix area was getting to urbanized for my tastes so traveled around the West building large heavy civil construction projects. There are almost 8 million people in AZ now.

So I designed, built my house, and raised my daughters in Flagstaff. I live less that 1/2 mile from the Coconino National Forest boundary. I can go for a 100 miles of forest when I need to get out in the woods.

I currently though live back in the Phoenix metro area again during the week to work as after I retired, my oldest daughter (both daughters now live in the Phoenix metro area) needed a very serious surgery to improve her quality of life as she has a rare and incurable health condition. I see my daughters 1-2 a week and have dinner with them.

I come up to Flagstaff about 2 weeks a month just to see my house, go out in the woods, and decompress. I hope to have her surgery related medical expenses all paid off in 2-3 years so I can live full time back in Flagstaff.

I live on the same land that my family has been on for about 200 years.

Getting off active duty staying in MD allowed me to continue to fly in the reserves and there was lots of work here so we've been here for 24 years, the longest I've ever lived in a place.

My wife retired in Nov and I'm using up the last of my leave and will formally retire 10 march. New house in NH should be ready mid-April and we're out of here.

Prior to this? Pittsburg, Chicago, Greenwood IN, Muncie IN, Pensacola FL, Oak Harbor WA, Anacortes WA, Monterey CA, Waldorf MD, and here

Family anchored me here.

Don't know any better.

Born and raised 3rd generation Arizonan. Kin was involved with railroad throughout southern Arizona and Mexico. Moved 10 years ago to panhandle of Florida, then back to southeastern Arizona this last year, back to home place.
No place like the high desert of SE Arizona for me.

40 years ago left a nice college town for a small rural community to secure a shorter commute for wife and extended family daycare for the kids. My sibling's education, professional and family obligations took them to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and then Washington state. Family roots in SE PA and S Central VA. SE PA now over run with $$$ commuter home developments and rural VA still pretty quiet the last tiem we were there.

Here we are rural residential with farm fields within sight and sound. Great place to raise kids and wife's family nearby. Deer hunting out behind the pole barn and neighbors who don't mind us crossing over to recover game. Couple of big box stores a few miles away. Pretty deep rooted here now despite limited shopping and entertainment options. I agreed to the relocation contingent upon regular excursions to other parts of the country. We've traveled to DC, FL, CO, WA/PNW, San Juan Islands, PA, KY, SC, AZ, VA, TN , Vancouver Island, and AK. 12 years ago we bought a UP camp...small cabin...near Cedarville and get up there several times a year. Trips to PA and SC planned this spring.

We're halfway between the kids and their families. About an hour and half each way. 3/4 hour each to Flint and Lansing for shopping and medical service not locally available.

Glad to hear you went back home!

Cause So Cal is so fuggen awesome, the people here are so fuggen awesome, the roads are in excellent shape, theres no traffic. no gang bangers, taxes are low, the political climate leans to the right. low crime, I just cant get enough...

Born on the coast. Work brought me to NE AL. I didn’t know what I’d think. 16 years later this place feels much more like home than Mobile.

I still love Mobile and miss it from time to time. But this area has been an awesome environment to work and raise my kids. We just got our first grandkid.

I’m very thankful for the blessing of the Lord. He blesses universally. But I’m glad He led us here.

No porch apes around here.

Was raised here , my dad was an avid houndsman , big time outdoorsman , have chased hounds over most of this countryside all my life, moved away right outa high school gone for 1 1/2yrs could not get back soon enough. I live less than 2 miles from the homestead ! My soul lives here !

Moved to north Idaho in 64. Just out of high school. 1300 from where I was born. Came for the hunting and fishing the mountains and water in every direction. The lack of people was a big plus. It all still the same except for the people.

Born in the U.P. , parents moved us to Chitcago when I was ten. Job moved me to Georgia when I was 38. Retired now but wife still works and just accepted a job in Appleton, Wi. Looks like we'll be moving there in the spring. With any luck
maybe move back to the U.P. when she decides to retire for good.

Work brought me here. Making a career out of the Coast Guard meant being on the coast somewhere. I like the mild winters and love the inshore fishing. Everything else about it sucks. Have to stay until I can fully retire and start drawing SS in less than 2 years.

Chocolate City?

I live in the Pritzger's Republik of Illinois. Born and raised, raised my family here and while I hate the corruption, taxes, repressive government and being held captive by three blue counties, I have too many reasons to stay.
My kids and grandkids all live within minutes. We have a great church, a good gun club (where I'm a director), a supportive circle of friends and neighbors, a paid for house and an hour away, 45 paid for acres of timber, creek, food plots, and a heated cabin.
And, at 78, I'm too darn old to start over somewhere else.

Born and raised in Minnesota, lived within 30 miles of the home place. After retiring needed to get away from the cold winters and land of 10,000 taxes. Go back for the summer. Kids are in Texas and Florida.

Do you not get along with your parents?

Running hounds or coon hounds?

Am not here by choice, but moved here to help family as Pa was sick and brother in law was getting worse with MS and his kids were still young and in school, so having an extra hand for farmwork or emergencies was handy. Now looking after my Ma, as it is my job as the eldest with no encumbrances. I would much rather be on ski patrol in the high country right now!

I was given a 5 acre patch and been buying around it for years up to 65 acres now

I was lucky enough to get Montana under my fingernails in the 70's because an uncle lived here and invited me to fish and hunt with him. Worked summers here during the 80's, went back to school here in 90's when it was cheaper than paying resident tuition on the coast. Lucky (and maybe stubborn) enough to get a job in wildlife and marry a native. I can hunt forest grouse, deer and elk, and annoy the trout anytime I want within minutes of my front door. Luckily I got here when homeownership was still affordable for the middle class.

Our deer camp is in Nahma. Love it there in the UP. Best Smoked whitefish dip I've ever had in Nahma inn.

I moved to Arizona almost 20 years ago to get away from Michigan winters and politics. Still love the climate but the politics are about the same as what I left. Sad.

Born 1958 in Nurnberg, West Germany. Came stateside in 1959 & settled in Deer Park, Tx as my family all lived in Houston metroplex. One thing I appreciate concerning the climate, My vehicles don't rust due to salted roads.

Born and raised here. Met my wife here and raised my kids here. Youngest is a freshman in HS & grandson is starting kindergarten next year.

Been caring for my mother in law who lives right up the street and was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s & dementia and we’ve been caring for her doing whatever we can to keep her out of an institution.

Once she is gone I’ll still be here tho many in another house.

Lotsa public land with good hunting, blue ribbon trout streams, great fishing in lakes rivers and streams tough place to beat.

Broader politics suck.

Because I can, and I worked hard to be able to do so. Was born on family farm in PA, dad moved us to OH when I was in middle school. My folks had lived for a couple years in Cascade ID before I was born so I grew up hearing about it. And dreaming about it. Finally saw the Rocky’s on a family trip when I was 12. Started working ranches in the summer in MT as a teen, and found that it truly was all I had dreamed of. Never wanted to see the world, but wanted to see enough to decide where to settle before I had kids. Worked a couple states in the mountain west, worked a summer living in a wall tent near Healy AK. Then reached all the goals I’d set for myself and married a pretty girl, had a son and made our home in the bitterroot here in MT. Wanted a life above the poverty line for my wife and kids so chose a career that let me do so and that took me to a whole different and beautiful part of the country, and slowly worked my way back here.

I stay because of the people, politics, and opportunity to live my life as I see fit. At least as much as a man can in this day and age.

I have family both blood and in-laws that live where the family lineage goes back further than reliable records. Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve done the same, but I was born with itchy feet, and as the second son in any prior century I would’ve had to make my own way anyways. I have plenty of regrets, but none in respect to where I chose to live.

Choice for both places.

I bought this place for three main reasons.
1. It is in the middle of a 20 miles radius from the larger cities that I get calls for my skills.
2. It is far enough off the main trek that it is peaceful and quiet with no neighbors in ½ distance.
3. This area is not known for out of control drug use. there are a couple crackheads/meth heads in the general area but I've made myself known as the kind of old man that will shoot your àss if you come snooping around. Only issue was when I first move out here about 12 yrs ago. Had a gas thief but I quickly took care of that.

Quiet, peaceful, everything paid for except the yearly government Rent payment (property tax) for giving me the privilege of squatting on THEIR land!!!

Born in the area. Stayed because of jobs. Can live anywhere now. Stay because of family, friends and church. Hasbeen

Born and raised. It's time to go. I pray that everything comes together concerning our plan. It's time to go.

I'm the 4th generation on my farm. Doing my best to have one of my kids make it the 5th. It's a hard life but rewarding.

Because of inertia - A body at rest.

I managed to experience living in 10 states and 6 foreign countries, courtesy of 8 years in the USAF. Now I live 80 miles from where my Scot/Irish ancestors arrived in the 1820's, and right in the middle of the area my Cherokee kin occupied for centuries before that. It feels like home.

I was born in Las Vegas, a fifth generation Nevadan. We moved a lot growing up due to my fathers occupation; Minot North Dakota, Cedar City and Salt Lake City Utah, Tempe and Tucson Arizona, Arvada Colorado. Spent the most time in SLC where I met and married and had my daughter and son.
I was a general contractor and when the building bust of the late ‘80s hit in Utah, I decided to return to Vegas where construction was booming and I still had a lot of relatives.
Economically, it was the best move I ever made. The roots have spread and there is no leaving now.
I love the desert and Nevada’s wide open spaces.

Born and raised in Northern Vermont. My whole family still lives here other than a brother who moved to Virginia for work. Just before i retired I bought a lake shore home on an Island on Lake Champlain. Good deer and turkey hunting here on the island and the fishing is fantastic.

Because there are less liberal pinheads in MT. MTG

didn't like living on the Gulf Coast, wanted to get back to Kentucky or better , close to Kentucky, Job opportunity allowed that to happen.

After 20 years I'm over that, want a change but can't make up my mind what I want

Grew up in the east, but with my first look at the western Cascade range I realized I could never live anywhere east of the Rockies.

After the army my dad's dad left central Pa to avoid the coal mines and came to North East Ohio for the steel mills.

Moms dad left West Virginia and spent some time in Korea, Vietnam, and bunch of other places. After retiring from the army he came to North East Ohio where his wife was from.

I spent summers in college in Rocky Mountain National Park and figured I'd move there after college. But ended up moving to Central PA and loved it.

Couple years later married a girl from back home and ended up back in Ohio.

Ain't terrible. But it ain't great. Cheap living here. Jobs mostly suck. Long archery season. Some big bucks running around. Still have parents and grandparents living and four kids. So I'm here for the foreseeable future.

We got a nice little place. I'm satisfied. I can travel to the cool places. And do.



-Jake

I was raised here.

Bought cattle... then Grandpa's home place.

Got married, had kids. Bought more land.


We just signed the papers on my folks farm last night.

That's why I am here.

Congrats

Born in NJ and left at 18 ...... been in or around here since. We left but always came back. Been here since 1988 and getting too old to move again. Envy you guys who live out west..........

My parents came North from Nebraska in 1977 and moved permanently in 1978. I have found myself in a predicament in that I am unable to live in any other state through the process of growing up here and going to university on the East Coast. It took me three years of hunting, fishing and loafing to get that wicked East Coast out of my system. I will visit other places but I am pretty well fixed on moving back out to the hinterlands and home when I retire. Fairbanks is a good place to be a'collecting. I am now at a point where I really don't need anything and probably should start looking for land. My family has a homestead and we own a fixerupper in Chitina. We probably will fix up the fixer upper and sell that and work on buying a homestead in Kenny Lake where I will become a homesteader full time ala Michel de Montaigne. I want to live my best life. I get into the best health shape out there and I won't be buying big fancy trucks or anything but I want to be able to go sheep hunting, raise bees, hunt moose cut fireword, run a greenhouse and probably write a little bit for a living. That sounds like retirement.

Was most raised in MN, still here due to business concerns. I’m slowly moving those concerns out of this state.
I’ve got places in 3 states, none of which I consider home.
I’m a lost citizen of nowhere and that’s how I intend to leave this life.

Osky

I live where I would vacation…

Great answer! memtb

Thanks!

We are pretty well tied down now.

Good deal Cuzzin' I'm happy for you guys!

I live in South East Missouri because it is the center of the universe

Grew up in the North Country of New York, near the Canadian border on the North edge of the Adirondacks. Beautiful country but not much for jobs when I got out of college. I got a ride to Eastern Washington with some relatives and lived there until 2002. I moved around a bit in Washington and did a hitch in the Army along the way. Lived in Walla Walla for 14 of those years. Those first years in Washington were pretty lean. But things picked up after a few years. When I got out of the Army the economy was pretty good and jobs were available.

Ended up in Wasilla, Alaska for 20 years, working corrections then the slope. When Etta's health required me to be closer to home I retired in 2020, ran my sawmill and took care of her. In September of 2022 we moved to Craigmont, Idaho. We didn't set out to chose Craigmont. The house we found checked enough boxes for us and it happened to be in Craigmont. Nice little town. We wanted either small town or outside of town. We ended up in a small house on a big lot with a huge garage/shop on the edge of town.

When my 40 foot conex arrived from Alaska I needed some forklift help to unload the safe and some other heavy stuff. I talked to the fertilizer plant a few blocks away and they said they would all be out in the field but the shop would be open. Just come and get the forklift and return it when you're done. Won't find that in a big city.

I thought for a while we would retire in Northern New York. It's beautiful country and still has good hunting and outdoor recreation but the political environment is too restrictive for me. It turns out I miss the New York of my youth. That place doesn't exist any longer.

I was born here, learned to hunt and fish here back when both were great, and I love the open spaces.

5-10 minute drive to 4 trout streams from the house 200 acres of private land for hunting.45 min commute to work hq when I want to go😉

Work for me. This is where the oil is (or at least the oil I’m familiar with). Raising money for exploration projects takes 4-5 phone calls. Most take their pieces without even seeing the maps.

https://www.wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/US287Lander/US287Lander.html

My home since 1940. In my later years I winter in Arizona as the winters in Wyoming are too much for me. My father's side of the family moved to the valley from Utah in 1901 and homesteaded, my mother's side came to town from Nebraska with the railroad in 1915.

It's a pretty horrible place but it's home. I hear Idaho and Montana are much nicer.

Low crime rate all homeowners have guns and know how to use them.Up to 2 years ago you could buy a 1970 ranch style 2000sf home on 2 acres with a pond for 100k.Still get permission to hunt on a few places for 2 gallons of fish filets and a half gallon of wiskey.[bleep] Biden sighs every 2 miles.Yes I live in rural Texas.

I grew up and lived in various places in Michigan until I came to Alaska for work in 2007. Probably moving back to my family property in two years when I retire to the UP of Michigan on the St. Marys river to be closer to family. We can fish and hunt a lot easier than it can be done in Alaska. I enjoy my time spent up here but the cost of living and travel has become alot tougher to get out to the road system. We have a place in Kenai as well so we will have options.

I added it up, I've lived in 15 or so different places, not different houses but different towns since we left the East for SoCal when I was a kid. Only one family home in SoCal too, so most of the moves have been all mine, or since married, all ours.

Lived in two different parts of PA 20 some years apart after moving back to Cali and then moving from SoCal to NorCal for school and work. Lived in Southern OR for a summer. Lived in two completely different parts of AZ, way different they might has well been different states, but then again that's the way it is Out West. Lived in NV for awhile while still working in AZ. Wife's work took her back to the Central Valley of CA, I left AZ/NV for a job in Juneau, then back to CA where the wife was when that job ended. Got a seasonal job in E.WA, lived in an RV there 8 months of the year, then went back to wherever the wife had ended up, from the Central Valley to the Sucktomento area, to the Potlandia OR metro area, and finally to here in a part of California that really isn't like any well known part of CA other than some silly lines drawn on a map by some folks long ago.

Having moved from the East, and then lived there a couple more times as an adult, but having spent most of my time Out West, I'd find it hard to live back there full time unless it was in an area like we lived in NW PA with a huge National Forest and public land. I've grown up as a "don't fence me in type" where there is lots of land to roam when off of private land.

And, I grew up with "hills" out here that are taller than most "mountains" on the East side of the Rockies and found it hard living where folks called some ridges "the mountains". Yeah, they were pretty steep and rough at times, but they topped out lower than the elevation of our house now. I can see a nearly 10,000' peak from my front door and it's only about 20 miles as the crow flies. Drive down the road a couple of miles, or climb the hill behind the house, and I can see Mt Shasta 100 miles away (screw a 3 mile view in Kentucky, I can lean back in the chair an look out the window and see farther than that).

I grew up with deserts too, and I never saw one of those back East either. See my sig line for an explanation of why I like deserts. This area I live in even qualifies. Not much out here and if a few more folks leave the county by the next census I'll enjoy it even more.

Family is great, I love mine, I just can't live where some of them do. The folks have passed on, we left the extended family in the 60s, in the hell that is the large metro areas of back east, and I'm eternally grateful the old man did that. One sibling still lives in the hell that is SoCal, another is renting a place there so he can work there during the week and go back to the desert in AZ on weekends, another lives in the mountains of AZ, and the last one lives in the "mountains" of NC where his son and family are established. That one's daughter lives in the Sierras about a 6 hr drive south of here. She's the closest relative I have in regards to distance. If one can't be happy living where "family" lives, honestly how is that helping the family if one is stressed and grumpy (er?) all the time? I could probably live where the two siblings are in AZ, mountains or desert. The NC one? I'm not so sure. I look on the map and there isn't much open land around, and awful lot of small communities, a big National Park though, but places are not cheap there and there's a lot of folks for my tastes. And it's pretty far from a desert.

I'm here because the wife got another good paying job here before she retired, we found a really decent property outside of town. Said property is surrounded on three sides by BLM land. I had an eye injury that prevented me from doing the job with lots of overtime in E WA, so rather than work 8 months a year up there earning the same amount as I could being retired I left that job and came down here. Now, we'd like to move, but there's not many places west of the Rockies we could find an equivalent situation for what we pay here. Yeah, CA politics suck, Yugely! That's the biggest drawback. There's trout streams and warmwater fishing around here, deer and antelope should one want to put in for a tag or over the counter tag areas just a couple hour's drive away (lotta folks back east have to drive that far to their "camps", here it's almost all public land), elk, the area is a well known waterfowl hunting area, quail and chukar and some grouse, ground squirrel/gopher hunting all around, no bear hunting in our local mountains but open areas are only an hour or so away, and jackrabbit and coyote hunting is open year round.

If we were rich, I'd be pushing for a move. We're not, so I'm just gonna be happy, mostly, with what we have.

Now, if the State game agency would just import some whitetail deer that could overpopulate the area like rats, as they do in some areas, I may be happier if I could just shoot deer out the back by the chicken Gulag.

Low crime rate all homeowners have guns and know how to use them.Up to 2 years ago you could buy a 1970 ranch style 2000sf home on 2 acres with a pond for 100k.Still get permission to hunt on a few places for 2 gallons of fish filets and a half gallon of wiskey.[bleep] Biden sighs every 2 miles.Yes I live in rural Texas.

Excelente!

Family land, family business.

I HATE the politics and 3/4 of the people.

But, love the weather, love our area (very conservative)
love the Sierra Nevada mountains and the ocean.

It's home. For now at least.

I own part of family homestead, and its a pretty good hunting area.

Born here and moved all the way to Alaska then Mississippi then Florida then back here to ND. The best thing here is the population is under 700,000 total. Edk

I am here for the job. In a few years when I retire we will be moving . We have not decided where.

I can identify with that. Got here right after college, & might've roamed had I not started a family so fast. 32 years goes by quick.

Still, the cost o' living is about as cheap as one can find in any decent-sized metro area, I got a great group o' friends, & a great church, too. I'm 'mongst plenty of like-minded folks in the red suburbs.

And besides, the local airport will get me anywhere I need to go.

With gratitude, one can make a great home anywhere. Without gratitude, nowhere seems like home, 'cause the grass will always be greener elsewhere.

FC

Well, Jeremiah Damn Johnson!

Industry connections, wife likes it, the rest is history.

I had a mentor, former navy, who told me there was pretty much no where bad to live in America, but there are a lot of bad jobs.

He was right.

Its 3 minutes from my favorite gun shop

Because my house is paid for and I'm too lazy to move.

Because I'm to stupid to move to a cheaper area.

Congratulations, Jim! And a sincere wish the dirt and the critters provide your family a good living!

I live in the town I was born in here on the Iowa/Missouri border. We own the farm my grandpa moved onto 85 years ago. Dad bought the farm that borders it and my brother and I own it in partnership. I'll try to have it so my kids or grandkids can own it if they want after my turn is done.

There's lots of cows here. It was a good place to raise my kids.

I'm the sixth generation of my dad's family that has lived in this general area since the 1840's.

Grew up in various places in the east. Due to outdoor magazines and National Geographic I was obsessed with the rocky mountain west at the age of 8. Realized early the east was too crowded and too polluted, and just had to get out. Moving to Montana was not really a choice, it was a necessity.I simply could not live back east. Promised myself as a teenager I would be able to look out my window and see the rockies everyday. Finished my last college final in NC one day at noon, and was on the road to Montana at 1pm.Been here ever since.
You give up a lot for a move like that, family, friends, loves and high paying jobs lost...but I would shovel horse schitt for $2 per hour to live here.Never belonged anywhere else.

Great and enlightening post Ingwe. Thanks.

Great News, Jim. GOD bless you and yours.

Childhood in England, always a citizen here by birth. First set foot here in my early teens. Holy crap! Miles of woodlands, even in NY State. Huge country, a paradise.

College in Upstate NY, NY is a beautiful state. Left college to see “the West”, woulda gone to Oregon but it was February soI picked out Las Cruces NM instead. Never made it, the engine seized in the early morning hours 100 yards east of Apache Summit. Pushed that little ‘69 Opel Kadette station wagon around and rolled it nine miles downhill to a convenience store parking lot in Ruidoso Downs.

Had a set of tools, stared as soon as I could see, crankshaft wouldn’t turn even with a breaker bar, took off the head the cylinders had play. Damn, seized main bearings. Long haired Apache guy from up on the mountain comes over to take a look, we get to talking, says I can stay at his place if I need to.

I had long hair, NY plates, limited funds. First light go into store apologizing. “Heck don’t worry about it” the guys says, “go see Russ up on Main Street. Russ up on Main Street tows me to his garage, lets me use his lift, lets me use his tools, lets me sleep in my car at night. I clean up with a garden hose out back or walk an hour to a campground each evening to shower.

Russ takes the crankshaft to Alamogordo (where he lived) to get it machined. The main bearings were a problem, all the way from Germany, took three weeks.

I worked most days doing day labor out of the employment office (I forget what it was called) so at the end of the month I HAD money. The only funds Russ would accept was what he paid to get the crankshaft worked on.

One day during that month after a heavy snow I was walking a couple of miles to the upper town to get my mail General Delivery.

A guy sees me walking up the street offers me a ride. We get to talking he takes me home to meet his wife and kids and offers me a meal, they are practicing, believing Christians.

Same week my car was finished I drive to Las Cruces, I needed a mailing address to join the Peace Corps. Sublet a room from a college student, ended up working day labor there six months.

Generally worked alongside Mexican nationals on various laboring jobs, lotta Highway work. Tough, older barrel-chested guys in western wear and straw hats. They would often share their lunch when I didn’t bring any, homemade tortillas.

Throughout this period, I was absolutely blown away by New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment. Beautiful state, friendly people.

Three years in Africa, a year working at my alma mater Forestry School in Upstate New York, grad school in Texas.

Didn’t make it back to New Mexico for five years. Russ was nowhere to be found, looked up that nice couple and their kids, been going back to visit them often over the last 39 years.

… and now I live in Texas 🙂

My great grandfather Busch came through Galveston into Texas from Germany and settled here. He was a farmer. My father’s family I can’t trace back to when they got here but a reletive on dad’s side fought in the Alamo. Dad was in the Navy so I was born in key west Florida. We moved back to here which is Elk, Texas. My brother died 3 years ago and left me some land. I had a place in Tours, Texas. I sold my place in Tours and built a house on brother’s place in Elk last year. I’ve been living in my new house exactly 1 year and 3 days ago. I live about 15mins from grandpa Busch’s farm. 15 minutes from where I graduated high school in 92. Went to Texas State Technical College about 15mins from here. Wife’s family is all around this area too. I’ll die here, hopefully at home or hunting somewhere and not some hospital or rest home.

That’s a good story

Moved here over 40 years ago for work and it is where the wife's family is from.

Just stayed around after getting broken up years ago,it's not to bad, once it grows on you.

I was an Air Force brat, raised in Idaho. Came up to Fairbanks for the summer of 68, dad was stationed at Murphy Dome. Spent 69and 70 at K I Sawyer AFB in the UP of Michigan. Dad was assigned to Elmendorf in the spring of 71, I finished the 9th grade there. Have lived here ever since, I'm the only member of my family to still live here. Wife was born and raised here.Her sister lives across town.

He's Jeremiah Damn Johnson Sr I think.

Transfer for work, when we retire it’s back to Montana.

No people close

Grandparents from Europe ended in MN and IL. What two liberal bastions! Looking to move where there are mountains and elk - either WY or MT.. Wife needs a little medical attention from time to time - so maybe not WY.. Stevensville or Billings she told me..............help?

Awesome

Amazing!

My parents grew up in Seattle. My dad joined the Marines and went to Vietnam. When he cameback he was stationed in the Mojave desert in California where I was born. Moved back to Seattle when I was a couple months old. Shortly after moved about 30 miles north where I’ve lived since.

I HATE the liberal politics of Western Wa but really do love the area. 3 hours west and I can be in the rainforest or the beaches of the Pacific Ocean. 3 hours east and I can be in the desert. 5 different mountain ranges. I can hunt 3 different deer species, 2 different elk, black bear, cougar and others all over the counter. Draw for bighorns,Mt goats, and moose.

We’re a few years out from moving to eastern wa which is essentially an entirely different state. Drastically different politics and weather

Actually, I'm one of a number of refugees who have moved to the void in the center of the triangle that's formed by Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati,...from those urban centers.

There's a few of us out here.

Because I suffer from inertia...

Not many people and lots of critters to shoot.

Originally work but after that I did not want to leave the area... I live on a 5500 acre lake that held the world record for freshwater striped bass (62 pounds 14 ozs), I am in a conservative state, taxes are very low (no state income tax and property tax is very low), close to mountains, streams, a bunch of other large lakes, The seasons are a great balance here... never too hot for too long or too cold for too long... spring and fall are incredible here... I could go on and on.... the only downside is all of the people from the west coast and the north moving here... I am sure they will end up ruining a good thing for us here..

Congratulations my friend. That ain’t tied down…that’s ANCHORED!!

Because they don't raise cotton or rice in Wyoming or Montana and don't limit one to a ten day rifle season for deer hunting!!

For those of you that visited my home, you understand why. For those of you who haven’t, if you did visit you would know without even asking. It’s that good.

Because our house hasn’t sold. How’s that for boring

Moved to Alaska in 82 for work reasons. Love it up here and will never move back down south. Wife, both boys and seven grandchildren are here so have no reason to move. Life is good and the hunting and fishing up here is awesome!

Alaska since 84 lived here to long to go back to the lesser 48! Winters are long but tax and other benefits allow me to visit warmer climates. More freedom up here!

Raised 2 boys here and it feels like home.

Grew up in ND. Went to school in CO. Wound up in Lubbock, TX for work and eventually ended up in the Houston area. That was in ‘92 - never intended to stay this long but here I am. I have a work team that I
Lead who is primarily based in the Houston area so moving is not likely in the near term. I’m not really enamored with the outdoors options nearby but have a great network of friends who would do anything possible to help should a need ever arise. Likewise my work team is a driven and talented bunch that is for the most part easy to lead. At some point I hope to end up in CO at least part of the time.

Just lucky...I guess.


But later this year we will ramp it up and move to either Tasmania or Ararat Vic.

Whichever suits us best.

I am plugging for Tassie for the trout and deer.

Most likely, it is just bad luck that I'm here.

Good to see you posting again.

Got back from Africa, thought to get a degree in Agriculture and take it back overseas. I wanted to get away from NY State laws and go where most people don’t so I applied in person up and down the Plains States, N. Dakota to Texas. It was February again, dropped off a pickup truck load of blankets and winter clothing from churches in NY to Pine Ridge SD en route. Turns out Texas had the best program.

I found agricultural research excruciatingly boring, knew I wasn’t gonna use it, but finished out my degree. Got into motorcycles while there, made Texas Redneck friends I still have 35 years later. I decided I was gonna go teach somewhere inner city, close enough to Mexico/Central America that I could travel down there to places in the sticks.

Came to San Antonio, found that San Antonio doesn’t do inner-city Hell, it only does inner city lukewarm. First summer I spent three weeks in Oaxaca, MX visiting a girlfriend.

Second year here I met my Ex, very pretty, ten years younger. If anyone started messing with her here in the US I could just shoot them, South of the Border, not so much. No interest back then in visiting touristy locales so no more trips down into Mexico. I have been to Costa Rica twice helping shepherd school groups.

Been here ever since, family ties keeping me here now. Prob’ly hit the road again if I’m able after I retire.

I feel fortunate... no reason for me to answer the question, nor question the answer.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Surrounded by a bunch of Mexicans.
Twenty-five yard view.

Congrats! 😎

Googling on “Eskimo Cattle Baron” didn’t yield a durned thing. This screenshot is best I could do….. 🙂

Why do I live where I do?

The answer is in three parts: George Westinghouse, Red Wine, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Part 1-- Geoge Westinghouse

D.J. O'Connor and Herbert Faber worked for George Westinghouse. At this time, the railroads needed vast amount of electrical insulators that were formed by using natural Mica. The O'Connor and Faber found that phenolic resin would work as well, and came up with the original Formica. O'Connor went to Westinghouse and explained all the the wonderful things this early plastic could do. Westinghouse didn't want to develop it, but allowed O'Connor and Faber to take the patents and go off on their own. They formed Formica in a little garage on Spring Grove Avenue in Cincinnati and eventually moved into a factory at the corner of Spring Grove and Winton.

Whitey Williams was a travelling engineering consultant working for Trundell Consulting. He'd been schlepping around the midwest at various assignments. His daughter, my mother, had been in 12 cities in her first 10 years. Williams was sent to Cincinnati in 1939 to consult with Formica. Dan O'Connor liked him and offered him a full-time job. The childless Faber liked Whitey's young daughter, and offered to adopt her. Yeah, creepy, but it was well meaning. Whitey worked for Formica until retirement in 1965, living mostly in College Hill most of that time.

Part 2 -- Red Wine
German-speaking settlers found the soil around Cincinnati to be ideal for growing grapes for Rhine wine. The topology around Cincinnati, reminded them a lot of the Rhineland. Pretty soon, word was getting back to Germany of a wonderland in the Ohio Valley. By the 1840s the majority of people living in Cincinnati, and nearby Covington were German speaking. There were vineyards all over the Ohio Valley, mostly run by Germans until some killer ice storms hit late in the 19th Century and wiped everyone out.

My family's first taste of the New World was as a Hessian mercenary that took a chance after Saratoga and went over to the other side. Serving with the Continentals, he received land in Pennsylvania after the war, and moved to the Toledo area later to take land in the Great Black Swamp. They sent word back, and a trickle of our family kept coming over.

My grandfather, Henry, had survived WWI and the aftermath. By 1923, he was seeing the way things were going. His brother had already had a run-in with the Brown Shirts. He decided to emigrate to America. His older sisters were already settled in Cincinnati, so that's where he went. He knew how to build and he quickly spun up a highly successful business as a homebuilder, By 1926, he was building houses inside Music Hall for the Cincinnati Home Show. The houses would be fully plumbed, wired and landscaped, and after the show, they would be sent to a lot at one of his developments.

Dad was born in 1926. He grew up in a building family. After service in WWII, he took up building himself and by 1956 had several houses and multi-family apartment complexes under his belt. The latest was in College Hill. He had been dating a schoolteacher at College Hill Elementary when he met her co-worker, my Mother.

Part 3--Martin Luther King Jr.

April 4, 1968, I was in front of the TV at our home in College Hill when news came of the murder of Martin Luther King Junior. At first, nothing much happened, but on April 10, riots broke out in Avondale, a nearby suburb. The National Guard was called out. I remember Dad coming home on Good Friday with two boxes of #4 Buck for his Winchester Model 12. They closed the schools for an extra week beyond the Easter Holiday.

After that, Mom and Dad accelerated their search for a house further out of town. They had been looking for as long as I could remember. The house we were living in was just 12 doors down from Grandpa Whitey's. We'd been there for as long as I could remember. That summer, we went looking for houses every which way. In December, we found a house under construction that fit our needs. The builder was the son of one of Grandpa Henry's homebuilder buddies. We moved in May of 1969. I went to school in the Greenhills School District. It was one of the best college prep districts in the area.

Epilog:
Not a whole lot changed after that. After I went off to college, Dad built a new house just down the road. When I started a family, Satan and I bought a house just up the road. Dad died a decade ago and Mom went into care. We ended up selling our house and moving into Dad's. That's the place we keep in town when we're not at the farm.

The farm is situated in Bracken County, about an hour upriver from Cincinnati. At one point, there was a sizeable German-speaking population, and there is one family running a vineyard up the road. There is goetta on the menu in the local diner. Some folks have a Kentucky accent with a bit of an abruptness attributable to their past.

I've got two places I call home. One's an old farmhouse in east central Mississippi that's family property, my family has been in the area since about 1840 and there's not many of us left. It'll be mine until I die. It's where I go to get my hunting and outdoors fix, I own everything that I can see from my house, about 220 acres around me. Nobody messes with me there, I do what I want without some HOA ninnies telling me my grass is too tall. It's cheap to live there, I can watch deer and turkeys out my windows, pee off my deck, shoot guns off my porch, it's just utter peace and quiet.

The second place I call home is a condo on the beach in the Panhandle of Florida. It's where I go when I want people, restaurants, the beach, boating, festivals, etc. It's great too, just different than my place in MS. It shares an attribute with the place in MS in that it's peaceful and nobody messes with you, everybody's friendly and happy here.

The common theme between these places, and which is absolutely required of any place I'll ever live, is limited government that doesn't stick their nose in your business every time you turn around. Also taxes, they don't tax the crap out of me in either of these places (although the Fed does a good job of taking much of my income anyway). There are only a few states that I deem livable due to taxes. Generally those are in the south but Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada would be OK in that regard also. I was born in Maryland but don't care if I ever set foot in that cesspool ever again, the entire eastern seaboard from Long Island to the North Carolina border can fall into the ocean and we'd be better off. I love Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and upstate New York but I'd never live there due to the political climate.

I live here in Oregon because I'm too old to move! (recently turned 70

I'm a fourth generation native here and bet my Great Great Grandfather is rolling over in his grave over how this state is being ran now days.

Virgil B.

Work, waiting for kids to finish high school and then I’m out back to the NW…. But Not home state of Oregon though.
Like Virgil said. It’s a dumpster fire. Unless things change next 6 years. I ain’t going back there for good

The chicks.

could have been worse I guess, he could have decided to live in Price Hill

Whereabouts?

Wife wouldn't leave her parents and get so far away that they couldn't have ready access to the grandkids, now the kids are grown, moved off and her parents are dead an I am stuck here with nowhere to go and nothing to do where I get there.

Dead end road.
No close neighbors.
Quiet.
360 degree view for miles.
Spring water.
1,000 yard target for those shooting 50BMG rounds.

We have taken elk, bear, lion, whitetail, mule deer, and lots of yotes here on the place within a 1/4 mile of the house, plus trout from a creek by house.

I plan to croak here.......way off in the future I hope.

Because I love mosquitoes, fire ants and hurricanes.

SE Ak by choice
One of the best decisions I’ve ever made

I moved to Colorado in1974 so I could hunt elk every year.I think I have missed two seasons since then. I was just lucky enough to find a good job too and worked there until I retired in 2003.

If I wasn't so old and gimped up,I would move out of Colorado as it has become a 2nd California and I probably won't be hunting much anymore.

Not to put too fine a point on it but MLK Jr. was killed April 4, 1968.

just because...........

You're right. I changed it. Thanks.






College Hill wasn't all that bad of a place to live in those days. It still had a bit of the old small town flavor to it. When I was growing up, it had its own movie theatre, car dealership, banks, basic retail, etc. You could still do all your shopping for the week just by going into town and walking the streets. By the mid-70s, all that had changed. It went downhill fast.

Price Hill was a lot further down that road in the late 60s.

Certainly is!

Moose, King Salmon and big Bacon jobs