Why We Live Where We Do

[DaveZinAz]

I would like to think we should be able to keep this fun and lighthearted. No reason to poke at other peoples experiences or views.

I was reading thru the California Straw thread and found it interesting. Not the law or straws or whatever, but the discussions about where we live.
People are usually passionate about where they live and I am always interested in learning about different areas of our country as well as the world.
I do not want this to be controversial but rather, I would like to see how informative we can be.

We all have at least one thing in common, the Can Am Spyder.
Since we all have something in common, let's discuss what you like about where you live, have lived or visited.

In that other thread, there was mention of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York as well as Rochester.
I was born in Canandaigua, lived in Lyons and finally Rochester.
What I remember is the snow and the green. Camping with the family at Moose River and enjoying the 4 seasons.
During the zombie apocalypse, I like the woods presumably stocked with food and free running surface water. (I know, it's a generalization)

We then moved to Arizona. Dry and Hot. As a kid, I enjoyed the lack of a lawn to mow, lack of leaves to rake, lack of snow to shovel and the lack of rain to ruin a day playing ball. There is a noticeable lack of flies and mosquitoes to deal with when outside having a picnic. They are up in the mountains but not so much in the Phoenix Area.
During the zombie apocalypse, we would be in trouble without air conditioning, grocery stores and water delivery. (I know, it's a generalization)

I then moved to Northern California, also mentioned in the other thread.
I have lived in Dublin, Martinez, Vacaville, San Jose, Citrus Heights (Sacramento), Carmichael (Sacramento).
I have spent time in SoCal as well. Lived in Westhills and worked in Westwood.
I loved the weather and the fact that there was ALWAYS something to do. Not too hot, not too cold and not too much rain.
The entire Bay Area is awesome. Monterey, Santa Cruz were a short trip from the Bay Area. Wine tasting day trip, no problem.
When we lived in Sacramento, we could be in The City/Bay Area or in Tahoe in just a few hours.
When we retire, CA is on our short list but not at the top because of their stance on the 2nd Amendment. Not saying it is right or wrong, just not the same as mine.
I'm not sure where different parts of California would fall in the zombie apocalypse rating system. There are woods and surface water in some places but...ya know, the 2A thing. (I know, it's a generalization)

We are back in Arizona now. It is a very diverse state. Everything from hot and dry desert to mountains with skiing.

As far as visiting other places or countries, I have been to Canada, Mexico and a fair chunk of the Caribbean.

I really want to visit Australia. I am really hoping this thread takes off and a lot of folks from "down under" (I wonder if they like or hate that term) post. I will probably only be able to make one trip and I don't want to waste it going to the "wrong" places.

Anyway, I just thought it might be fun to get other peoples perspectives on where they live.

Dave from "up over"...

[ARtraveler]

Currently living in Alaska. Been here since 2001. My jobs brought me here. I stayed for the scenery, the fishing, and NO state income tax. The jobs are done (retired) except for my University teaching (PT). Cost of living is now a factor. Everything is very high. Time to move back to the lower 48. I have lived in three other states. MN, WI, and IN. Going to try AR this go around. Brother and family live there now. Cost of living is what is the big draw. Scenery and fishing are still going to be good.

If the home sells next spring...I will be gone from AK.

[DaveZinAz]

My wife has family (not close relations) some place in AK. No idea where.
I will at some point visit there however, I fear the clouds of flying bugs during the summer months!!

[Bob Denman]

Our Spaceship lost power, and we had to find a place to land...

[ARtraveler]

My wife has family (not close relations) some place in AK. No idea where.
I will at some point visit there however, I fear the clouds of flying bugs during the summer months!!

Not a myth--but selective area.

Clouds of flying bugs will only be encountered if you go to the Tundra--by and above the Arctic Circle.

Here (Anchorage area) a few B-52's (big mosquitos) from May through June. Then...they are gone.

I have been using the same can of Deep Woods Off for a few years now.

[DaveZinAz]

Good to know. AK stay away from the tundra.
I remember giant (at least to a 10 year old) Horse Flies in Canada during one family camping trip.

[ARtraveler]

Good to know. AK stay away from the tundra.
I remember giant (at least to a 10 year old) Horse Flies in Canada during one family camping trip.

When venturing into the Boundary Waters Canoe area in Northern MN--the deer flies and mosquitos would seem like they would carry you away. We camped at Alder Lake one time and the mosquitos and flies were so ferocious that we had to fight them constantly. Repellent only made them mad.

[canamjhb]

I was a lifelong resident of Washington State until I retired in 2005. During a road trip, I visited my sister who was living in the same resort/retirement complex that our parents retired to. By the end of my 1st days' visit, I had purchased a home here in Mesa, AZ. I kept a boat in Seattle and snow-birded from here to there until the boat was sold. That was 2015. Bought a bigger home then and became a full-time resident of Arid-Zone-A. I enjoyed the beauty of Washington but the grey, moist winters and crazy political climate drove me away. The good riding season here is 8-9 months long and there are a bunch of good day rides in addition to longer multi-day trips. During the hot, unrideable summer we usually take a 6-7 week trip north and visit relatives and cooler places.

[easysuper]

Born and raised in the Willamette Valley in the great state of Oregon , as I stated earlier I have been a traveling construction superintendent for nearly 30 years and have worked and lived in 38 states. Some jobs run weeks some have ran a year or longer. I like the Pacific Northwest the best but the long damp winters can get to impede the winter riding, so I plan on Snow-birding this winter as I am retiring in December. I have found that most people are friendly and helpful all over this great country, but that may be just because I try to see the good in people and not the bad. I will always have an Oregon home address but until I can no longer travel you may find me anywhere the wind blows.
Next Spring my lovely bride for the last 43 years and I will ride Highway 20 Coast to Coast . The following year we plan on a North to Alaska ride. Looking forward to seeing some of you out there on the highways.
Open Range.jpg

[loisk]

Here you are - a reply from downunder... No we don't mind that word, quite like it... Great 'men at work' song - we come from the land downunder, where women glow and men chunder...

Yes we have woods and flowing water, in some places mainly around the edge of the continent and Tasmania of course, but so far no sign of a zombie apocalypse (generalising here lol)

If you overlay a map of oz over a map of USA, you'll see that, for example, our state of WA covers quite a few of your states - don't know how many, maybe you can tell me? Most states have a wide range of city/rural/outback and a wide range of roads from long, straight and unchanging to mountainous and twisty. Probably the same as USA states. So if you do visit, allow heaps of time! Lots of fun to be had.

[pegasus1300]

Born in Miami raised in New Orleans,but have lived in Utah since 1968.Came out here to go to school married a local girl and never went back. Worked in the steel mill in Orem and lived in Lehi along the Wasatch Front.Learned to ski and looked forward to skiing in the winter and riding in the summer. raised all my kids here and they are still here within a hundred miles of where I live now. The traffic along the Front is so bad I can't stand it. When I started at the Steel Mill and I would go home from swing shift at midnight, there wouldn't be anybody on the freeway except a few long haul trucker or two. Now it never stops.Glad I don't drive/ride that very much any more. I still love that within 10 min I can be in the mountains riding beautiful roads or in the desert alone desolate looking like it did a couple of hundred years ago. I can look off in the distance and imagine a herd of Bison coming over the ridge on the horizon.The west desert over by Delta or Faust still has herds of Antelope. I live now in Rural Sanpete County,very sparse area. Mostly sheep and cattle ranches. We still have hundreds of both going right down the main street at certain times of the year. Great place to live and ride.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Next Spring my lovely bride for the last 43 years and I will ride Highway 20 Coast to Coast .

I live right on US 20/26. Let me know when you're coming and we can get together for coffee, lunch, dinner, or something! I think I met you at Red Rock rally in '16.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I'll offer a different type of observation. I was born and raised in, and returned to, Idaho after retiring. I lived 8 years or so in the Quad Cities of Iowa & Illinois, and then 15 years in Louisiana outside of New Orleans. Here's my observation.

People stay in, or come back to, Idaho largely because of the geography and environment. Clean air, clean water, great hunting & fishing, and so forth. In Illinois a person could be born, go to school all the way through college or trade school, have a financially successful career, and retire well, all in the one area. Moline, IL was the farm implement capitol of the country at one time. So it was the economy that kept people there from birth to death. Then I went to Louisiana. Family ties there are the strongest I have seen anywhere. One couple whose house I looked at to buy were selling so she could move 50 miles back to the same neighborhood as her sister and mother! A guy told me once, "Don't you know that every girl born in New Orleans is born with a rubber band tied to her mother?"

So the the contrast is people stay or go back to Idaho because of the environment, the Quad Cities because of the economy, and NOLA because of family! Of course that may not hold true as strongly today because of economic changes, but for me the contrast I experienced was really interesting!

[SNOOPY]

Not sure how I ended up at the SPCA, but Charlie Brown adopted me and we now reside in Virginia after leaving LA making all those Holiday movies you love.

[retread]

Born in Pontiac, MI, moved to Clinton, MI, then Gila Bend AZ, and back to Pontiac. Then the fun began. San Antonio, TX, Biloxi, MS, Chicopee, MA, Watertown, NY, Topeka, KS, State College, PA, Matagorda Island, Crane, IN, Drayton Plains, MI, Wolverine Lake, MI, Waterford, MI, and finally, Bargersville, IN. There have been a few others, but the stays were fairly short. I've been in IN for 12 years, now, and am thinking of one more move, to Brown County, IN, if you've seen the roads there, you'd understand, they must've been laid out by a drunk snake, interesting curves all over the place.

john

[asp125]

A picture's worth a thousand words. This is one of the reasons I live in Colorado

[Chupaca]

Born and raised in Lima Peru (Pacific Coast) then lived in upstate NY, Florida three time, Colorado, Montana,Texas two times, Connecticut, California two times. Have for the most part been near the coast be it east coast, gulf coast but there is nothing like the Pacific coast. Weather is a plus if you are in the southern end. So we now reside on the border with Mexico which is also on the Pacific coast and if California fails we're off to Baja.....

[asp125]

I do miss the ocean, specifically the left coast. Grew up in the PNW with it's wild coastline and isolation. Spent a year in Laguna Beach, SoCal. Loved riding PCH and the canyons of Malibu, all the way to Santa Cruz.

[Gramp]

I live on highway 20 in northwest Nebraska, on your way thru stop and say "hello". we can have a coffee or lunch.

[sandeejs]

I grew up in New York, to the extent that I grew up at all. On any given day, I could hop on a train and be in the city in 30 or 40 minutes. Comes time to go to college, there was a "disconnect" between my testing (S.A.T. was good) and my grades (not so good). Michigan State University was the only place that would have me and I went there for a year, majoring in peace and civil rights protests.

I moved to Detroit for the summer of 1972 and forgot to leave until 1999. In the meantime I married, had 4 wonderful sons and got divorced. Then I moved to Ann Arbor, because their services for the handicapped are mostly good. So far, haven't needed them, so that was a good decision.

And I here I sit,in a paid for condo, with a beautiful 2016 white Spyder RTL-se out front (almost paid for) next to a 12 year old paid for Rav4 .

Life is good.

~Sandee~

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

born in mo. but lived in ny from age 4+ but won't retire in ny, i prefer keeping my money and want early spring
and late fall to keep riding. long island is not really made for riding, that is what upstate ny is for.

[DaveZinAz]

So we now reside on the border with Mexico which is also on the Pacific coast and if California fails we're off to Baja.....

Of all the places in "SoCal", I think we like San Diego and area the best. LA has some neat stuff but is just... too much.
Daughter lived in Pasadena for about a year and was glad to move back to Phoenix.

Speaking of San Diego, I am going to be there in a couple of weeks for 3 days for work. Any recommendations for a nice dinner?
We are staying within walking distance of the USS Midway.

[DaveZinAz]

... that is what upstate ny is for.

My wife is a native of Arizona and has never been to a place with 4 seasons. I will be taking her to the Finger Lakes and Rochester and the whole upstate area in the next few years.

[DaveZinAz]

I do miss the ocean, specifically the left coast. Grew up in the PNW with it's wild coastline and isolation. Spent a year in Laguna Beach, SoCal. Loved riding PCH and the canyons of Malibu, all the way to Santa Cruz.

Used to ride the "back way" from San Jose to Santa Cruz at least twice a month. Nice little trip off the main highway.

[DaveZinAz]

... then Gila Bend AZ, ...
john

You left that little slice of heaven?!