Who else is truly living rural?

[Idaho45guy]

Seems there are more and more posts that simply don't apply to folks like me who live in low population areas.

I sometimes wonder if city folk really have any idea what it's like to live somewhere where you cannot get a pizza delivered. Or where going shooting means driving out of the town limits and finding a tall embankment along a dirt road. Or that if you get stuck behind someone going 10mph under the speed limit, you will be behind them until they pull over, or have reached their destination.

I live in a town of 1100 people. There are no stoplights. The tiny grocery store closes at 7pm. There is a bar/restaurant that closes by 11pm on weekends. There are no movie rentals in town. There are no food delivery services. There are no gas stations. The nearest town is 15 miles away via a rural 2-lane highway. It will get shut down during a bad snow storm.

But, this is big city living compared to a place I had in AZ. I lived on a 5-acre spread that was also 15 miles from the nearest town, which was Prescott Valley, AZ. I could shoot off my back porch up to 500yds. My driveway was 1.5 miles long and crossed the Agua Fria river. No bridge. During a heavy rain, the creek swelled up and you couldn't go to town. Sometimes for weeks at a time. I shot and killed a javelina in my yard that was attacking my dog. I used a burn barrel for garbage.


Just wondering how many other folks here truly understand what rural living is like and that running to Costco is a two-hour trip...

[Hannibal]

You, Sir, are still in suburbia. The nearest 'town' is only 2 miles away, but the population is 202. There is a Post Office. It's open 2 hrs/day, 6 days/week. And there are no other businesses. Shooting range is whatever door I walk out. There is no one around to notice what I do, let alone care except for my wife and kids. Other than stop signs, a 20 mile drive is required to encounter a flashing red 4-way or a gas station. It is only open 8 hrs/day, 6 days/week. Want a real stop light or Wal-Mart? That's 30 miles in the opposite direction, but at least there is a 24 hr truck stop there. Burn barrel for trash. And what is this Cosco of which you speak? Some type of new devilry, I expect . . . .

[runfiverun]

yessir.
a few years ago we moved here to the big town of 2,000.
before that we lived in the next valley over and this was the big town we drove over to for stuff.
no pizza, one bar [closed on sunday] a couple of gas stations, and the county seat. [big city life] we do have a drive-in theater though.
it's a bit over a mile to the range now, when it was a walk to the bottom of the pasture, and the shot gun target throwers were just 2 steps off the back porch.
the bridge over the river was out [unsafe] so we had to drive in a big loop to get to town instead of the straight 2 lane at highway speeds.
I could hear the little waterfall on the river over a mile away at night.
I can barely hear the ducks quacking on the kids fishing pond 3 blocks away at dark now.

[MaryB]

Pop 180, 60 mile round trip to the nearest Walmart for groceries. I am in "city" limits so no shooting unless I drive to a friends farm. Dead quiet after 10pm except for the occasional car leaving the bar/grill that is the town center. I live on the edge and have farm field 2 sides and a horse pasture across the street so no town noises to speak of! And DARK at night now that they have starting going to LED streetlights that only light the road and not every yard around.

[Idaho45guy]

yessir.
a few years ago we moved here to the big town of 2,000.
before that we lived in the next valley over and this was the big town we drove over to for stuff.
no pizza, one bar [closed on sunday] a couple of gas stations, and the county seat. [big city life] we do have a drive-in theater though.
it's a bit over a mile to the range now, when it was a walk to the bottom of the pasture, and the shot gun target throwers were just 2 steps off the back porch.
the bridge over the river was out [unsafe] so we had to drive in a big loop to get to town instead of the straight 2 lane at highway speeds.
I could hear the little waterfall on the river over a mile away at night.
I can barely hear the ducks quacking on the kids fishing pond 3 blocks away at dark now.

Yep, Soda Springs is indeed rural living... Went mule deer hunting up North of there off of hwy 15 near Dubois (20 miles out of Dubois) about seven years ago.

[Tracy]

We live on a dirt road about 7 miles from the nearest town, which has a population of 800. I have a rifle range in my backyard. ATVs constitute probably half of the traffic on my road, and the population in my hollow doubles or triples during deer season.
But I used to live truly rural, and off grid to boot.

[Blanket]

8 miles to nearest town pop 100

[labradigger1]

My entire county has one traffic light.

[GhostHawk]

I grew up in a town of 135 souls counting dogs.

One main street was also a county highway going east/west. 2 blocks east of us was the State highway running North/south.

We were on the edge of town, well we called it town, village or hamlet is more accurate.

Anyway there were no houses east of me so I could sit on my back steps and shoot blackbirds off the power line with my sheridan pellet gun. And did so, often. Cottontails in mom's flower garden all went into the pot of course.

A quarter mile walk in any direction would put you out of town, away from people.

As far as I know, no pizza was ever delivered to our house. Closest would have been 45 miles away in Fargo. They'd of wanted a dollar a mile to drive out there.

[Geezer in NH]

No traffic light, no store, no gas station nearest no named is 10 miles,1 tiny supermarket 15 miles one way, 3 Walmarts 35 miles one way no mater which you head for, big box supermarkets the same.

Elementary school is in town (small 8-10 pupils per class) middle school and high is 20 miles away.

Shoot in the yard like everyone does around here.

Neighbors mind own business but will help if you need it.

I love living in the country only time there is lots of people is in the summer we go from 1500 residents to around 10,000 split between the mountains and the Golden pond. (movie was filmed in our town) Also out town center is well seen as it was the town used in the opening of the Bob Newhart show. (VT did not have one as pretty)

[dragon813gt]

I am not living rural. But this is by choice. My entire family is here. That really helps when raising children. I grew up in the town I live in. Being able to ride your bike all over and cause chaos w/ your friends was great. I want my kids to have the same experience. Their friends that live outside town have to be driven everywhere.

There are pros and cons to both types of living. I like have everything I need w/in fifteen minutes. I like having good schools. And I like having good hospitals. But we also have a place in the Poconos to get away from it all. It's in the middle of a state forest, three miles back a dirt road. Thirty minutes to the grocery store, weather permitting. Everything else is further away. Once I go back that dirt road the last thing I want to do is drive back out it. One day when my kids are out of school I will move to a place like that. But it won't be until then.

[WebMonkey]

We were on 10 acres 2 miles from a town of 4500 a month ago. Now we are 25 miles farther out from that town on 100+ acres. A town of 1500 is 30 miles in the other direction.
Blessed to have sold the other property and move out to the "recreational property" full time.
:)
My wife home schools the last 2 of 6 children.
We coordinate feed store trips with church time to reduce in town time

[pmer]

I'm 5 miles from the nearest town of about 500 people. About 8 miles the other way to the nearest Walmart. I can hear recreational shooting from neighbors and have two pistol ranges and a 250 yard target I can shoot at till the field corn gets too high in the summer.

[jmort]

For the last 20 years I have lived in The Sticks. Unincorporated areas where I can do what I want where I live. Shoot, never see other people, whatever...I can get deliveries, and one driver asked "Who you hiding from?" I prefer counties with no building codes. And yes, I too hear a lot of gun fire, which is fine by me. Can't see who is shooting, but it reminds me that I am not alone.

[ole 5 hole group]

You have it made in the shade. Lived in Brimson, Minnesota (North of Two Harbors) - man who ran post office also ran the train depot, which no longer exists. One grocery store with limited groceries, which tripled as a bar and gas station. Haven't been back in several decades, so don't know if the grocery store is also the post office or not - I know John died over 40 years ago. Lived a couple miles out, didn't have electricity or running water until the power company brought in the lines and the two holer outside frosted up in the winter, so you always tried to be the second user, not the 1st!! - life was good, as we didn't know any better.:wink:

[rancher1913]

we are about 10 miles from the nearest small town and 1 and 1/2 hours from a city, more cows than people. yet we have city water. in the 70's for some odd reason a public water push went on and the government paid to have water lines ran all over our county and half of the neighboring one so we have a city water tap as well as several domestic wells serving the ranch. several of the taps only serve cattle water tanks.

[bearcove]

I live in the suburbs of albuquerque. But have 5 acres that I can have horses. My cabin is Remote, No road, boat or float plane access only, Other house is 7 miles from town in the woods, spend a lot of time there. I'd live in the cabin with no running water or electric. But having a float plane to take kids to the gym or music lessons or college would not leave much time to fish hunt or just wander around in the woods.

Yep done rural.

[GRUMPA]

I think I'm about as rural as a person is going to get.

HOUSE:
186693

SHOP:
186694

Chicken Coup:
186695

Nearest town: The actual town of Concho is so small all there is there is a small mini-mart of sorts with 4 gas pumps, an Elementary School, a Library, and the Post Office, no A.T.M. in town either.

What I do is done from the power of the sun, so when the sun doesn't shine I'm at a virtual stand still. There isn't any services here, no water, no phone lines, no power lines, no sewer lines, etc.

Takes me almost 1 1/2hrs round trip just to get to the P.O.


RANGE: Front door yields a 4 mile range as a crow flies. Backyard about 250yds.

We have 40 acres here..

OK!!...So WHAT DID I WIN?

[OutHuntn84]

I live in a little hamlet of just under 3k folks. Everyone at least has 5 acres plus to do there own thing and mind their own business. No post office or places to eat besides at the 3 convenient stores (Only 2 sale gas the other sells liquor because of priorities lol). Its a great little town and most everybody knows somebody and only about 25 minutes from walmart and the feed store. I like it but long for an even more rural life style.

[DerekP Houston]

nope not here....suburbia is as close as I've gotten so far....urge to flee in to the woods gets higher each year. I can't *stand* the repeating strip centers and box stores near us, it repeats every few miles with the exact same stores! Apparently 15 minutes is about the limit people will drive from their house, so we need a walmart or grocery store every 500'.

[waksupi]

I've lived back in the mountains for over 30 years. The thought of living in or near a town gives me the shiverboogers!

[HABCAN]

Pop <300............15 miles East or West for bread and milk, 72 miles West one-way to Walmart. Over 100 miles to a small city, 3-1/2 hours drive minimum to a big one.

[oldred]

Rather remote here too, I live on 46 acres "back on the ridge" where I don't see anybody, hear anybody and I don't bother anybody! My shooting range is as another poster already said, it's whichever door I walk out of. Next to no level land on the entire place but I have a huge spring running out of a small cave, cattle, chickens, pigs and other critters plus we garden and even grow enough apples and berries to have some to sell. We really don't need to go out for much and rarely do, groceries are pretty much what we grow so even a shopping trip to the supermarket is not often nor do we need to buy much while there, I can't stand the thoughts of living in or even near a town with all that traffic, noise and neighbors, maybe remote living is not for everyone but it sure suits me!

[Goatwhiskers]

Don't live there, but we hunted a ranch in W. Texas where it was 40 miles to the nearest fuel station, and 150 miles to the nearest WM. No cell service either. GW

[dragon813gt]

Apparently 15 minutes is about the limit people will drive from their house, so we need a walmart or grocery store every 500'.

This is southern NJ, right over the bridge from Philly. The same pattern repeats in the suburbs in PA but it's so built up and old it doesn't happen as often. If traffic is bad this pattern is great if you live there.

The homogenization of America is quite sad. I travel all over and most of the non-remote areas look the same anymore. I can't stand the chain restaurants. And local places are completely hit and miss. I'm guilty because I miss diners being everywhere and a WaWa or Sheetz all over.

[shredder]

Well my little town has 876 souls at our last census. I own a little hardware store in my town. We have most of the things you need right here in town but all the stores are like mine, small and owned and operated by locals. My hardware store is like an old time general store. I have most everything but groceries.

[Blackwater]

Well, I'm sorry to report I live only 5 mi. from a smallish college town. And they're 4-laning the highway we live just off of now, which took our community well, so we've got a drill rig in the back yard now, drilling a new one for us. I once tried to get my wife to agree to build out on my farm, but she said if she moved, it'd be closer to town. So ... we've sat right here for 39 years now, come next month. We have a "branch" that runs parallel to the highway by our house, and it provided a great place for my son to grow up in. But I STILL want to build a little home on my farm, with a big shop behind it - big enough to put my boats in and still work at the various benches I'd need. My county has grown by leaps and bounds, and all due to the college, and the libs here make me wonder how long we'll still be voting majority conservative. I'm a social creature, but like "home" to be solitary and outset from others. That's how I grew up, and I loved it. At my age, it's good to be so close to the things I need, since my wife doesn't "believe in" keeping a good supply of food, etc. on hand when "you can just go to town and get more." And I can't get her to see the benefits of a full larder, no matter how hard I try.

She spent 30 years in the education system, so I attribute that to her "thinking" now. But if I ever go anywhere, it'll most DEFINITELY be further "out" from "civilization," out where folks are friendly and just plain old "folks" who have a spirit that seems to have been wiped out in the more urban locales. And where I can shoot in my back yard again! Where I can burn any trash I deem advisable to do so with. Etc., etc., etc. Where a man genuinely FEELS "free" and the air smells so much better. I fear that will be clean out of this county if things keep progressing as it is now. But we have a couple of likely candidates adjoining this county. Hmmmm. Now y'all got me to wondering and pondering!!!

[paul h]

Would love to live out in the sticks, but my job is town based and I'm not so sure my wife would be keen on being remote. I am looking at getting a few acres to build a cabin on.

[shoot-n-lead]

I grew up rural, but since being grown...a long time now, I have lived closer in. I like the convenience of being close in...don't really have any desire to live out in the sticks, any more. We have property out there...but it was just to inconvenient to work and all of things the kids were doing while growing up. We have a place at the lake, about a 100 miles away and when I get to wanting to get away...a trip to the lake, helps my feelings.

[Sur-shot]

Well, I have a 40 acre farm, tree farm that is, about 7 miles outside of a 1,500 population "city" that is in decline. Last week we started building our new home on the farm. I have gotten pretty fed up with the small city where I live now, tourists in the summer drive me nuts. So I am headed back to the country, grew up 10 miles south of Pahokee, FL, edge of the everglades, on the big lake, no electric, no running water, no indoor plumbing until I was 14. Hell, I did not know there was a grid or we were off one. It is funny how the world got along just fine without me knowing one thing about it. I bet it will be just fine if I check out of the rat race and move to the woods.
Ed

[kmrra]

Dang I guess I live in the city then , My place is 5 miles out of town we have 6 acres , I have my own range here at the house , Im one of the board members of our local gun club , Town pop is just under 10000 , Any bigger than that I get road rage LOL. nearest big city is 70 miles away , But I wouldnt change a thing , other than I would like more acreage .

[308Jeff]

I WISH I still did. Grew up on a 150 acre farm in Kentucky. Been missing that place and that way of living my entire adult life.

[Blanket]

My entire county has one traffic light.My county has 0 traffic lights

[ericp]

I'm about 15 miles from a town of 1700. We do have a general store about a mile down the rd through.

Eric

[Wolfer]

While I shoot coyotes and crows out the kitchen window and pee off either porch I don't consider this remote. The towns of ash grove and walnut grove are only about 3 miles in opposite directions. 1 has 2 four way stops and the other has 1. You can get a pizza at the gas station. Ash Grove only has about 1000 people yet there's a grocery store, lumber yard, pharmacy, dentist, clinic and 2 feed stores. Both towns have a cafe. Wall mart is about 20 miles away.

While the neighborhood is relatively populated there aren't really any houses in sight and any day the weather is decent you will hear shooting in some direction, sometimes more than one direction. My driveway is 1/2 mile long but there is very little traffic on the road. When anybody comes to visit they often comment on how quiet it is.
Game of all kinds are often seen in the yard.

We like it here

[MT Gianni]

7 miles to town but it is on the interstate and a state highway intersection. It's a busy town for 1100 people in the impact area [15 mile radius]. Grocery store is open 6 am to 10 pm, two restaurants, and two fast food places, subway and A&W/KFC. 2 gas stations, one sells ammo and fishing stuff, Dollar store recently moved in. Ladies Auxiliary is open Fri and Sat afternoons and you can get all kinds of used stuff. 2 parts houses and tire shop/repair places. 4 bars and 11 churches. It's only 30 miles to a Mart store. WE get a lot of Canadian traffic so shops stay open longer than the next town over which rolls up the sidewalk at 6.

[jcren]

Live on the back side (about a mile down a dead end dirt road) of 225 acres. Only 3 other families on this road. Town (1200 folks) is 3 miles away. Not as rural as I would like some days, but wouldn't trade it for anything.

[MrWolf]

I just moved last week and finally got satellite internet working! My mailing address town has 500 people and I now live on 81 acres. Town is about 30 minutes for groceries and such. Costco is almost an hour away in Virginia. I love it so far!

[dverna]

Rural as well. Closest neighbor is 3/4 mile. Back onto thousands of acres of state land

Mailbox is 2.5 miles. Post Office 12 miles away as is the gas station and a convince store.

Don Verna

[Blanket]

I can shoot my full size cannon off and not raise a fuss

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I consider myself, living in a rural small town...but probably not to the standards discussed in this thread.
Glencoe's Pop. is 5500, it is the county seat in a county that is mostly flat farm land,
BUT,
I suspect, before I die, Glencoe will officially become a suburb of Minneapolis...or as a outer urban ring is often called a X-urb ?

Glencoe is about 7 miles from the county line...which borders what is called "The seven county metro area" of the Twin cities. That in itself, doesn't bode well from my ability to say I am rural.

[MaryB]

Jon do you know the Mustang Boys there in Glencoe? I met them way back when in the 80's helping a friend build a 70 Mach One 428cj. We were on a parts run and their name came up.

[hwilliam01]

I think I'm about as rural as a person is going to get.

HOUSE:
186693

SHOP:
186694

Chicken Coup:
186695

Nearest town: The actual town of Concho is so small all there is there is a small mini-mart of sorts with 4 gas pumps, an Elementary School, a Library, and the Post Office, no A.T.M. in town either.

What I do is done from the power of the sun, so when the sun doesn't shine I'm at a virtual stand still. There isn't any services here, no water, no phone lines, no power lines, no sewer lines, etc.

Takes me almost 1 1/2hrs round trip just to get to the P.O.


RANGE: Front door yields a 4 mile range as a crow flies. Backyard about 250yds.

We have 40 acres here..

OK!!...So WHAT DID I WIN?

What do you win???? Well...a free all expenses paid one day excursion to the country....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Jon do you know the Mustang Boys there in Glencoe? I met them way back when in the 80's helping a friend build a 70 Mach One 428cj. We were on a parts run and their name came up.

I don't know any people known as the Mustang Boys ...I didn't grow up here, my job moved me to this area in the late 80s. The only serious motorheads I know of, are the Christensen's, I don't know them personally, I just know they are Big in the Tractor Pull circuit, Team Rat Pack. But I don't know if they are/were into Mustangs or not?

[johnson1942]

i live in north western nebraska. the average ranch he is 10,000 acres in this county. i have one of the very few 4 acre spots in this county. i used to think n.dak was rural when i lived up there years ago. this is rural, it may get more rural than this but not by much. in the county just east of me the average ranch size is 100,000 acres. ted turners ranch is just 14 mile from me as the crow flies. it is in the millions of acres. their are villages that are very livable. hot springs, custer and rapid city s.dak are a couple of them. been thinking about renting my place out and moving up there in a couple of years. yard is getting bigger every year to keep up.

[snowwolfe]

Our house was built in the middle of 42 acres of mature oak trees. Closest town is 15 miles away. If I want to sit on the back porch in a rocking chair drinking my coffee while watching the fish play in our lake without wearing more than my underwear I do so. If I want to shoot a gun I shoot anytime anywhere. I can burn all the trash I want and cut down any tree I want.
We do have direct TV and internet and dont plan on giving up either of them.

[paul h]

Our house was built in the middle of 42 acres of mature oak trees. Closest town is 15 miles away. If I want to sit on the back porch in a rocking chair drinking my coffee while watching the fish play in our lake without wearing more than my underwear I do so. If I want to shoot a gun I shoot anytime anywhere. I can burn all the trash I want and cut down any tree I want.
We do have direct TV and internet and dont plan on giving up either of them.

If I leave Alaska when I retire, that's pretty much my exact blueprint for happiness. Being able to fish and shoot in the backyard and having a few acres to roam around sounds perfect.

[Mtnfolk75]

SWMBO and I have lived in our 536 Sq Ft cabin for 17 years, it is located in the Southern Sierras at about 6k feet. We have no Grocery, Bars, Gas or Restaurants unless we drive off the mountain, the nearest place with Bars & Gas is about 9 miles. Grocery, Banking & Restaurants are about 13 miles, closet Medical is about 25 miles, Walmart & Warehouse Groceries are about 60 miles as are our Primary Care & Specialist Doctors also. I can order a Take-out Pizza, but I have to meet the driver 9 miles down the mountain, 3K feet difference in elevation. It is a State Highway that is 13% grade in a few spots, average is about 8%.

We have one Full-time neighbor, a woman going through a divorce, her 18 year old Daughter also is staying there. Her and her ex built the place in 2008 as a Vacation Home, it is a 3k Sq Ft three story Log home, really improved the Property Value of our place ;-) She is a Flatlander and is finding out the hardway that the mountains are not for the faint of heart, we were all been snowed in from the afternoon of the 19th of January until I got my Dodge 4x4 finally dug out on the afternoon of the 28th, her BMW X-5 did not get out of her garage until yesterday, she missed 8 days of work and also ran out of Propane on the 23rd. The Propane Company thinks they may be able to get a truck in by the 10th if we don't get anymore snow. We have averaged about 165" of snow a winter since we moved here, from the 19th until the 22nd we got 64", still over 30" on the ground.

Forgot to mention, our Mailbox is about a 1/2 mile away and we use a 4x4 ATV or Side-by-Side for Mail runs. We are 1/4 mile off the County maintained Road & 1/2 mile from the State Highway by vehicle, as the crow flies the State Highway is only about 200 yards above us and the County Road about 100 below, the only things we normally hear is Logging Trucks & the State Snowplows. There is a Seasonal Day Use Ski Park about 3 miles by vehicle and 1/2 mile as the crow flies, because the forest is so dense we never hear anything from it. Our water comes from spring fed gravity tanks across the State Highway. We can ride our ATV/Side-by-Side for 30 miles in either direction right from our drive, I can legally shoot with a 2 minute ride on the ATV. We really do love living here and can't imagine living anywhere else, but the winters are getting hard on us. FWIW, I haven't lived in the City for over 30 years, prior to our moving here we lived in Tehachapi, a small community located about 60 miles away at 4k feet elevation.

[Hick]

There's a fellow we know who has helped us with our horses a time or two. He invited me to his place. When I asked for directions he said to drive south out of town on the freeway to the first off ramp (7 miles), ignore the paved road to the left and turn right on the dirt road. "Follow the dirt road 19 miles over the mountain and then look for a house" I did-- it was easy to find his place because it was the only house in the entire large valley and the dirt road ended a few miles past his place anyway.

[MaryB]

Dick and Dale DuBrava(sp?) I think was the name. They did a lot of work on steam power plants and the stacks etc, plus local plumbing... Lived across from the school of my poor memory is working. Thy had over $1 million in Mustangs back then...


I don't know any people known as the Mustang Boys ...I didn't grow up here, my job moved me to this area in the late 80s. The only serious motorheads I know of, are the Christensen's, I don't know them personally, I just know they are Big in the Tractor Pull circuit, Team Rat Pack. But I don't know if they are/were into Mustangs or not?

[MaryB]

Winter is one reason I am seriously considering moving south, cold = pain to me now. Problem is finding a rural tiny town with decent medical only 30 miles away in a state with good medicare advantage plans... TX is out, their advantage plans are bad.

[Idaho Mule]

Idaho45Guy, I am on 36 acres, not far from you. As a matter of fact I can possibly see your place from mine. We should have a beer at the Caboose some time. JW

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Dick and Dale DuBrava(sp?) I think was the name. They did a lot of work on steam power plants and the stacks etc, plus local plumbing... Lived across from the school of my poor memory is working. Thy had over $1 million in Mustangs back then...
I know of "DoBrava Brothers Plumbing", they are still here and doing business, besides plumbing, they also rent commercial equipment (small engine stuff, plumbing related, as well as lawncare), I wasn't aware they were Mustang aficionados.



Winter is one reason I am seriously considering moving south, cold = pain to me now. Problem is finding a rural tiny town with decent medical only 30 miles away in a state with good medicare advantage plans... TX is out, their advantage plans are bad.
when my parents retired in 1985, they started spending the winters down south...after 3 years of scouting out several states, they decided TX was the place to be, they bought a lot in a RV Park Co-op about 50 miles out of San Antonio. They spent nearly 20 winters there (summers in MN), but always kept their residence in MN, for just the reason you mention, Medical care/coverage through their insurance.

[Idaho45guy]

Idaho45Guy, I am on 36 acres, not far from you. As a matter of fact I can possibly see your place from mine. We should have a beer at the Caboose some time. JW

Heck, we probably know a lot of the same people! I'm headed into Moscow now to go feed my mom's horses and mule...

If you have been around long enough to remember the Husky Sport Shop in Moscow, then you will have known my dad, who owned the place...

187009

[Idaho45guy]

Winter is one reason I am seriously considering moving south, cold = pain to me now. Problem is finding a rural tiny town with decent medical only 30 miles away in a state with good medicare advantage plans... TX is out, their advantage plans are bad.

My mom and stepdad winter in Yuma, AZ and love it! Very conservative community with a LOT of snowbirds from Minnesota and Iowa.

They started off by going down there in an RV and renting a lot. Then they bought a nice little park model on a larger lot with room for another RV parked there. I think they paid around $70k for it.

Then they sold that place after a couple of years and put the money into a 3yr old normal stick-built home in a nice neighborhood for around $170k.

187008

They still have a home up here in Idaho, but spend seven months in AZ...

[Idaho Mule]

I know him, and where he lives. PM me when you have time. JW

[quail4jake]

OK, rural... Twp pop 1500, 58 sq miles. 2nd largest county in Pennsylvania...we burn PA anthracite coal in a PA built furnace, eat PA venison, garden and I have a rifle range in my back yard. I fire full scale Civil War artillery whenever I damn wish. And if not for the electoral college would be subject to the oppression of the urban liberal cartel. God bless this USof A, our Veterans and current Military Personnel. PRO PATRIA ET GLORIA!

[fatelk]

I miss living out of town. I grew up on a 200 acre dairy farm and didn't know how good I had it in many ways. My folks still own the back 40 (sold off the rest). They're several states away from there now, even farther out. The nearest stop light is a 45 minute drive.

[shdwlkr]

I grew up in a small town in upstate NY and at age 12 went to work on neighbor's dairy farm. I spent lots of hours in the fields and no people around. Then I went to work for the state on construction and again lots of open space few people Think 600 acres, worked on my cousin's place also that was like almost 1000 acres. Spent my free time many days hunting wood chucks that made holes that our cows stepped in sometimes, that is where I really learned to shoot. Army time again site chief on a few sights and when there was no training going on lots of open space few people.

Now I am in a city and know a few here, like my church but way to many people way to close, one day I hope to be able to go back to the country.

As to winter and enjoying it with my arthritis, it really is just a state of mind, this year we have had a lot of snow and I don't like shoveling, so will be glad when spring shows up, then it is grass that needs mowed and sweating. There is always something that can be a pain. Forgot to mention the garden work, but the food tastes so much better that it really seems like a good thing to be doing.

[KCSO]

I covered a County of 11,000 square miles with a population of under 10,00o and lived in Center...population 70. I even had a second bathroom right back of the Garage!

[shdwlkr]

kcso
I would have loved to have that much tuff to run around on my decades ago but getting older and health issues one needs to understand that you don't want to have to have a helicopter ride every time you need to go to the hospital and they are very expensive to boot.

[paul h]

The Scandinavians, Russians, Inupiaq, Inuit and other Northern peoples know the solution for cold winters:

https://www.cedarbrooksauna.com/info/images/igallery/resized/101-200/log_cabin_sauna_with_window-149-600-450-80-c-rd-255-255-255.jpg

After a good soak in a sauna, banya, whatever you call it and your joints will be young and supple.

[lancem]

I live in the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas, in the largest county in Texas comprising of over 6000 square miles of land with a population of around 9000. Alpine the county seat houses around 6000 of them I believe, leaving the other 3000 of us the other what, 5000 square miles to occupy... I live 60 miles south of Alpine, nearest neighbor is over a mile away, the next another mile, and the next another mile. Closest town is 30 miles south, has a PO, gas station, liquor store, and several bars and motels for the tourist visiting Big Bend National Park. I have 120 acres to roam around in, solar power, rain catchment for water, and my only bill is the phone/internet bill. Wouldn't have it any other way, only thing I wonder is what took me so long to get here!

[fatelk]

Kcso, I know the area; that's about as rural as you can get. You're just a bit north of my folks.

[Shingle]

Im 18 miles from a gas station, nearest Walmart is 40 MILES ONE WAY, I deer and hog hunt out of the window of reloading room, shooting bench is next to back steps and range is 900 yds. long.