We're about done with W Washington. Been cogitating on some moves in the near future. Both literal and figurative.

Have been working on an opportunity in Walla Walla, but as of late I've been thinking about moving all the way back to the southeast.

Folks are in E Tenn and not getting any younger. Thinking a move to the Chattanooga area may be where we go?

Thoughts on the Chattanooga area?

Bro.....Its got MILES of cable!!!!!

Lots of choices there. I am an hour north of Chattanooga and really like that I am that close to a metro area and still able to live in a rural area. Chattanooga has really come a long way since I worked there in the early 70s. It used to be one of the most polluted cities in the country and now it is one of the cleanest. There are lots of opportunities for outdoor activities with the Tennessee River and the Smoky Mts. nearby.

Lots of folks live in surrounding counties for lower taxes and still commute to work in Chattanooga. When highway 111 was finished across Walden's Ridge, people started a land boom on the Ridge as they got away from the high taxes, but were still close to work. The downtown area has completely transformed itself. Now there are condos in areas that used to be abandoned business buildings. Many small businesses have cropped up in the downtown area neat the Aquarium and the Lookouts ball park. There summer concerts in the downtown area almost every weekend during the summer.

Its really beautiful at Christmas time.
I love the area, and actually wish I could move there.
My other choice would be Kentucky, near Daniel Boone National Forest, on the Southeast corner.

Figured it was just a matter of time before you returned. No Georgia huh?

I've been looking in that same area of east TN as well as South West Virginia. And lately areas around MT Mitchell, NC.

I like the tax benefits of TN but it does take on some extreme weather. SW Virginia is absolutely beautiful. NC has some weird laws and strange people. Think they all came from Walla Walla.

Headed down to the Chattanooga/Cleveland areas over the next 3 weeks. Also looking at a nice home with 60 acres in Turtletown for 499k. Probably take a look at Old Fort and Dalton as well. Will let you know what I learn.

BTW Greenville, SC is still a great town. BUT just not the same Greenville that I was born and raised in. It has been discovered by many from all over the globe!!

well comon' down!!

Hah! It's in my blood!

My folks have some acreage over looking the mountains just up from the Hiawassee river and 411. Beautiful place. Wheat fields are leased out, mom raises some sheep and alpacas, pop rides around on his tractor hauling wood and tending his chickens. Nice way to live!

Hell, shoot me a PM and I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you!

Forget Atlanta. Been there and done that. Lol. Chattanooga is close to the folks, my main reason for wanting to move back, and seems like a great place for work and kids.

Walla Walla would keep me next to the Mountains and western hunting, but very limited opportunities for my wife and schools are lacking.

Very bad housing market right now in my area. No jobs.
Can't sell the house.

Funny. Many years ago, I lived in Greenville, SC for 2 years. I worked at the old Greenville General Hospital. I lived right near Old Easley Bridge Road.

I would like to live in Georgia. I liked it when I visited friends. I like pine trees, most people don't.

I was born in that hospital!!!!

OEBR is still there.

Small world.

Sounds like my kin in Greenville and Asheville!! Aren't there some great tax breaks for raising alpacas?

I will indeed drop you a note.

Thanks,

David

You should move to Texas. We got deer, beer and fish. You could then enjoy cowboy and indian games.

Byc,I mighta been your mama's nurse, maybe even powdered your baby butt, back in the mid 70's. But I'll bet you're older than that.

I should of typed "alpaca" as she is down to one. Being in their 70's and 80's, they don't chase the animals around like they used to!

Don't know anything about tax breaks for the animals, but I think the Feds send a check for not planting tobacco? I'd have to ask.

HA! So that's what went wrong and sent down this path I'm on!!

How on Earth does one wind up in Greenville many years ago when it was nothing?

Followed a boyfriend.
Don't blame yer path on me. It was just a fluff an buff.
If you need to, blame it on that nurse Opal. She was a nonstop talker and hugger with red hair.

Hey, Greenville wasn't "nothing."

It was the buckle of the Bible Belt.

Where in Wyoming are you located?
Maybe it's time for me to go house shopping.

Riverton. Houses on the market right now, are still artificially inflated, and people won't budge on selling price.
Its really nuts. Over 500 listings in Fremont county alone, and of course nothing selling.
I'd wait awhile, maybe another year....or three. Prices can't survive at what they are now.

What's hooking people in right now is for people to do "bridge loans", borrowing against the value of their home, in order to upgrade or move into something nearby. Then they have to pay the entire amt of the new place within 3 or 5years. If their house doesn't sell soon, they're screwed. Especially since they're buying a home now, at an inflated price. There will be a bunch of desperate sellers in 3-5 years.
Its all a scam IMHO.

you're dead on about the A-T-L. the traffic is choked, and that goes for the counties surrounding atlanta as well. what used to be nice suburbs have become choked with traffic. literally.

east tennessee is attractive, maybe around maryville area. but their winters are more harsh than in the atlanta area.

Interesting, thanks for the info. I spent the night in Riverton back in 2011 and kind of liked the town. We went hunting above Red Canyon outside of Lander afterwards.
I didn't think there were many jobs there to begin with so I'm surprised it's different now.

LOTS of empty storefronts, empty industrial wherehouses, etc. You'd be surprised.

Yup...some things never change. First 2 questions folks have for you in Greenville is what Church do you attend and are you a Gamecock or a Tiger?

But again GSP has really gone global. I'm amazed at how much the once small city has exploded. Still small just crowded.

Nice that you can drive 15 minutes up the road and be in a National Forest but it's all moving outward 360 degrees.

You would love downtown. Especially, at Christmas.

As for Atlanta Gus it's all yours buddy!!

this is pretty much anywhere you go. folks move somewhere and put
thousands into decorating and think they'll get thousands more
than they put into it. (maybe real estate people or home improvement
people tell them this ?) i learned a long time ago not to look at
anyone's "dream house" because they tack on a lot of emotional and
sentimental value on it that nobody will pay extra for.

Madmooner, I certainly don't blame you for wanting off this sinking ship, we haven't had a competent captain since Spellman. The freaks and geeks are ruining this place. Being close to your mom and dad is decision that I admire for you and your children. You'll look back someday and thank God you spent their last years together surrounded by love and laughter. Your children will carry the memories of their time spent with grandma and grandpa, memories they'll cherish all their days.

I can't offer any help about Tennessee but my observations of the south in general is that good, warm hearted folks inhabit every corner of our nation and once you're out of the cities you'll be in the company of the best of people. Southern folks take pride in their cooking, hospitality and politeness and do so sans-pretense. The flip side is DAMN there's a lot of black people down there which is something I'm not used to. 😬 In their defense I saw more black guys WORKING in one week down there than I ever have up here. I'm a Pacific Northwest guy and can handle the cold but not the heat, humidity, snakes and snakes.

When you said East I thought Idaho or Montana but I can't think of a better reason to move than family. Good luck and I'm sure that you'll not regret it.

Have to say I am going to miss Virginia. Especially, South West VA down 81 and along 64. That is simply God's country!!

Craig you're a lucky man to be living where you are!!

[/quote]

Yup...some things never change. First 2 questions folks have for you in Greenville is what Church do you attend and are you a Gamecock or a Tiger?

But again GSP has really gone global. I'm amazed at how much the once small city has exploded. Still small just crowded.

Nice that you can drive 15 minutes up the road and be in a National Forest but it's all moving outward 360 degrees.

You would love downtown. Especially, at Christmas.

As for Atlanta Gus it's all yours buddy!! [/quote]

if it were mine, i'd put a fence (wall?) around it, and have gated entrances. actually, atlanta is no longer like it was when the Belles of Southern Bell would walk down Peachtree street to lunch and back. those days are long gone.

there was a time that it was a local southern city. folks might move in from chicago, new york, or florida. but they sought out neighborhoods of their own kind. nowadays, it's a hodge-podge of nationalities. tons of different languages spoken in each county school system. a nightmare some say.

and tongue in cheek, once upon a time i had a dude fresh in from texas tell me that if he owned texas & hell both that he'd rent out Texas. i know he was jokin'

Mooner,

good luck wherever you end up. If it's as far back as TN, just remember to be polite when they mention going up to the mtns. Those are what we out here refer to as ridges and hills. There are no Cascades, Blues, Rockies, Tetons, etc back there. Just be polite and go along with them calling them mountains.

And remember, you can always come back to hunt and fish as a non-res.

After 10 years living and working most of the year away from my wife and dogs I'm ready to pack it in and join them, retired like.

I wish you the best.

Geno

Blake, you are always welcome back to Florida.

Sold my home in Port Orchard and heading for Tonasket next week after I retire Friday.

Thanks Sam!

Pensacola area is on my radar as well. Chattanooga seems to have better schools and of course more jobs.

Would be nice to stay by the salt though!

Bird- Tonasket is a cool spot!

I'm right down the road on Fox Island. Where are you retiring from?

Thanks Geno!

Kind and true words!

Thanks!

Good move! I've got acreage up above Republic, I'll honk as I roll through.


Congratulations and enjoy your retirement.

P.S. We were neighbors when you were in Port Orchard.

I enjoyed Chattanooga as a kid.. My Step Dad was from there and is buried in the National Cemetery... he lived just up the street, on Bailey Ave... use to play baseball in the Cemetery when he was a kid during WW2.

Grandparents home was up on Signal Mountain when they passed...

Grandpa use to work for Old Man Pound, who lived up on Look Out Mountain...Mr Pound was the Hilton of the Southeast and South way back in the early part of the 1900s up thru the 1950s.. he had the primo property on Look Out Mountain.. across the Street was the home of the Guy who invented Coke Cola...

Seen "Rock City" a zillion times... and Ruby Falls, plus a host of other places ( tourist Traps) that were up there back in the 50s...

When I went thru there last year, to pay my respects to family's resting places, I sadly thought a lot of the areas there around Signal Mountain, East Ridge, and East Brainerd were kinda run down compared to the way I remember them 40 and 50 years ago...

Bailey Ave near the National Cemetery was really run down.. the house my step dad and his brothers grew up in, after Homer sold the farm up at Livingston.... now had a bunch of Guatemalans living in it.. sadly it looked pretty trashed..

Leaving I headed up old US 27 north bound. Sure was a lot of nice places up that way.
Enjoyed visiting Dayton for the first time in years... but was really bothered when I stopped at the Walmart in Town..

Bunch of buses in the parking lot with Fla plates and full of Guatemalan farm workers/laborers....the were flooding the store while others worked on those old school buses..

watched them swiping all sorts of stuff, and they were being pretty lewed and crude to most of the women in the store, especially high school and college aged...I was imagining how that would have flown back there during the 60s and 70s..

Spent some time traveling up old US 70 west also.. love of pretty back in time 2 lane road there...Old Tennessee there.. really enjoyed that a LOT...

Tennessee use to really be a great place.. but like everywhere else nice in this country.. its sorta been ruined by Liberals and Immigration policies...


Where ever you end up Blake.. hope your family enjoys it immensely. Sad the Pacific NW has to lose your type of person.... would rather have 10,000 illegals sent out of here instead....and 10,000 liberals and hippies 'abducted by aliens'....

and the time I got to meet you up in Tacoma there... thanks for your hospitality and for lunch...

anyone who has never met Blake, believe me, he's one of the campfire's finest...If you ever get the chance, don't miss the opportunity!

Thanks John!

I'll be back west before long. We're still working out a plan.

I figure I can make opportunities anywhere, but can't make anymore time with my pop. I want my boys around him as much as possible. Ain't many still around that've seen the world he has.

Besides, this weather has turned me the color and consistency of an unbaked biscuit! I need some sun and red dirt!

Mooner. Moved to the southeast almost 2 years ago. Haven't been back since with no plans to in the near future. Don't miss it one bit. It's nice wearing shorts year around and not get looked at funny for wearing camo.

I would literally slash my wrists before I moved east of the Miss. River. And I would have hung myself long ago if I'd been forced to live in the PONW...

Theres LOTS of decent places between the Columbia River and the Miss. river....

Cardinal healthcare in Fife. 39 years of driving a semi truck delivering medical supplies. My wife is the new ER manager for North valley hospital in Tonasket. What a different world up there. Small town no traffic lights or traffic. Friendly people and lots of hunting and fishing opportunities. Glad I married a sugar momma. If only we could secede from the wet part of the state.

Blake, I can understand that...I moved to Oregon to be near my folks.. they moved from Hawaii back to the west coast full time back in the 90s...

Figured they weren't getting any younger and I needed the mountains etc...got that way when stationed at Madigan back when I was in the Army.. came to the Pac NW and thought I'd died and gone to heaven...lot less people then...

but be near family while you can...

my wife has lost both her parents over the last 5 years and my mom will be 86 this summer... guess I don't have many opportunities to spend time with her left...

funny, when I go down to CA to visit her, she always wants to take me with her while she goes to the local Indian Casino...