Posted: 2/25/2012 6:29:28 PM EDT
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Hi all,
I have finally decided it is time to leave the PRK it has been great but is and has been going in a direction that I refuse to follow. I am looking for a new place to live out the rest of my life. My criteria for a new place is; VERY gun friendly, warm (lots of broken bones that don't do well in cold), and doesn't have bugs that will feed on me night and day. I am 61, retired two years ago after 31 1/2 years as an lEO, lost my wife to cancer 4 years ago and my son has been hired at a job he will probably be at until he retires, so I am on my own. I am searching for paradise but probably will settle for just plain ole great. I thought of Arizona but it might be a little toooo hot for me during the summer. I live in Southern Calif so heat is bearable but would like a place without a lot of humidity. So Cal has trained me to be a little liberal but god I hate it. Several folks have told me to check out the hill country of Texas. What I am asking is input from local people to help guide me in finding a spot I can coast till I die. I am secure in my retirement financially, I don't want to change the locality I move to, I will leave the Cali attitude at the border on my way out, but just fit in. It is a little scary packing up and moving to a completely new area but I can't stay here any longer. Thanks guys for any input you may wish to send my way. |
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Quoted:
My criteria for a new place is; VERY gun friendly, warm (lots of broken bones that don't do well in cold), and doesn't have bugs that will feed on me night and day. You want warm, no bugs and without a lot of humidity. Sounds like Texas isn't your place since it's gets muy caliente here with %110 humidity and has plenty of skeeters. |
| If you don't want humidity, you won't like anything but west Texas. We have bugs here, much more so than Kommiefornia, but not as bad as Florida. I live in Arizona for awhile, heat isn't that bad (we stayed over 100 just about all summer long last summer. In Arizona people don't go out after the heat get hot during the day, be retired that shouldn't be too big of a problem. |
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If you do reconsider Arizona, check out Tucson. We lived in Mesa (Phoenix area) for 27 years before moving to Spring, Texas in December of last year. Tucson is a little higher in elevation and about 5° to 10° cooler than the Phoenix metroplex area. Also, Arizona may be more gun friendly than Texas (if that is possible).
Check out San Angelo here in West Texas. A really nice city to retire in IMO. Kind of remote, but big enough yo have just about all you would need. Good luck and take care. |
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Not sure where or why a few posters are saying the humidity is bad here ? Towards Houston yes but if you stay away from that area and east of it you'll be fine. The Hill country in Texas is an AWESOME area. I have traveled through many times mostly on my bike. The scenery is beautiful and the people are Texans of course  .It has grown and is still growing so you'll need to visit the area with a good real estate agent before you buy or move to the area. If you dont like liberals stay far away from Austin as it is the Cali of Texas here. Go west. We have been looking at land in that area and have been looking by county. Choosing the right county in Texas can be more important than the right city. Good luck |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
My criteria for a new place is; VERY gun friendly, warm (lots of broken bones that don't do well in cold), and doesn't have bugs that will feed on me night and day. You want warm, no bugs and without a lot of humidity. Sounds like Texas isn't your place since it's gets muy caliente here with %110 humidity and has plenty of skeeters. Depends on what part of Texas... It isn't so humid out by, say, Fort Davis... |
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I lived in Tucson, AZ for 12 years and Texas for several years. This past summer, Dallas/Fort Worth broke the recored for hottest summer on record for the entire US. So far, your requirements could be met in Sierra Vista, AZ.
Both AZ & TX have the Castle Law, but gun laws in Arizona are much better than Texas (Open & concealed carry without a permit). Sierra Vista is the mountain range South-East of Tucson, so the temps are much more comfortable. It is a very nice community with a military base near-by if you relay on military retiree benefits. It's large enough of a city to have what you need, but if needed, Tucson is only 40 min drive away. YMMV! |
| To all those who posted, thank you. Several gave me information to follow up on. I might not have been very clear in my post. Heat I am use to, Phoenix heat is a bit too much. Plus I like the Texas attitude, the couple of times I have travelled through I was treated very well. Again thank you. |
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Houston sucks, plain and simple. I have lived here my whole life, and never have I grown to enjoy living here. Weather sucks, skeeters are bastards, and people are schmucks.
I would stay away from all the big cities in Texas. Houston, Dallas, especially, Austin, El Paso and San Antonio, are not great "over the hill" cities. Sure, they each have their own perks, but too many cons to be beneficial. The Hill Country, now thats the little Gem of Texas. It gets cold though, heat is not bad, its a dry heat, so its bearable. Not like Houston or any South East Region of Texas. Up in the hills, you got it all, great scenery, great people as long as you stay out of tourists towns, great weather year round, gun friendly as can be, good hunting, bird watching, whatever suits your fancy. Fort Worth is a good place too, best part of DFW. Great food, best steaks in Texas, gets cold up there and you gotta worry about Tornadoes, but still great Texas town. I havent been out in W/NW Texas in a long while, but still looked nice if you like to see really far. I was a kid last I went up there, so its been atleast 20 years since I been up Amarillo way. Texas is by far the best part of America. You got it all down here, good, bad, and the ugly. Texas women are the hottest America can naturally produce, except for the ETFBs, they get on the bad side of the ugly stick quite often. |
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Howdy rdubya...
Texas is big as you have found out from your travels here. And has many sides to her from desert to heavy woods to scrubs and coast line. I have lived here my entire life but did travel during my time in the Corps, including time in southern kali at Tustin. I grew up in what we call Central Texas, though that includes a lot of area. Right on the edge of the northern hill country. Guess you need to ask yourself do you want to live near a large city or a meduim size city or small city, large town, medium town or small town. We have all. Once you figure that out it will be much easier to help you locate a place you might like. Example, I grew up 15 miles from where we live now. I would call it a small city. But we have a gun range with membership prices at $35 a year. Can go shoot any time I want. Just police your tagets when your done. But we don't have a lot of places to shop but a fair amount of fast food and resteraunts. And we are close enough to a medium city that does have plenty of places to go shop and eat. It is 1.25 hrs from us. Cost of living not bad either. Austin is 2.5 hrs south, have to account for the traffic once you get close, and DFW is 2.5 hrs away as well. But there are lots of great places to set up shop here. Since you are retired you could just move around till you found the right place. Best of luck. Will be glad to help in any way. BTW, we are located near Brownwood. In the heart of Texas. |
| Gentlemen, Crocodile427 and Lariatdrvr, I thank you for more input. One of the problems with being retired is you are old. When you are old you will have a steady regiment of Dr's appt's to attend, so a decent hospital needs to be kinda close. 50 or so miles is OK. As much as I would like to hunker down in a small cave and not have to deal with the outside world I don't believe it is possible so a medium, not too large a town is probably what I'm looking for. I'm pretty sure Austin is out, might as well stay here if it's as liberal as people say. My brother recommends San Antonio or any town just a little west or northwest. When I say cold I spent 5 years in Maine as a teen, that is cold. As long as it stays above freezing the majority of the winter it's all good. Dry heat is the only heat to have, great for the pores and soul. $35.00 for membership, I pay $150.00 a year for my club and it is one of the best around. We have a lid on members at 300 and there is always a waiting list of folks trying to get in. I have a truck with a slide in camper that I was planing on driving out sometime in the spring to have a look see. How's the diesel prices there? $4.45 here. Again thank you gentlemen for the input, like I said the Texas attitude is really hard to beat. |