LIving in the boonies

[Koz]

Ad some of you know I recently from SC to GA, I'm definitely not a city guy, but holy cow this is a rural area.

 

If I need to go to a place like Bass Pro, Sam's Club, Best Buy, a sporting goods store, or just about anything other than Walmart it's a two hour round trip. On the flip side, most convenience stores carry some lures, soft plastics, live bait, and other tackle. They don't carry much, but it's something. While I can shop online, I prefer shopping for things like shoes, clothing, rods, reels, and baits in person.

 

And finding a house to rent is just about impossible. What little comes available is pretty bad. There are a few apartments here but those aren't great and not ideal for me because I really need a garage for all of my woodworking gear. I like my hotel but I really don't want to be living here.

 

Anyway, I've never lived in an area this rural and it's quite an adjustment.

[MN Fisher]

28 minutes ago, Koz said:

Anyway, I've never lived in an area this rural and it's quite an adjustment.

I don't think my adjustment was that huge - but at 14 I went from east-coast big city life to small northern MN town. Bemidji, MN was the largest 'city' in 90 miles and was smaller than the 'neighborhood' I grew up in...12,000 in Bemidji, 18,000 in Greendale/Worcester, MA

 

Quite an adjustment for a teen...

 

Grew to love it though.

[CountryboyinDC]

I was offered a chance to transfer to a place 40 miles to the nearest Walmart (Hamilton, MT).  I thought, 'How much closer to heaven could you get?'  I talked to my wife, and it became apparent I would move there alone.  I can understand why there would be a shortage of rental real estate.  There's probably a dearth of tenants too.  I'd try to learn to like something about the place with jobs as hard to come by as they are now.  And rural living does have it.  It's easy to get to know people, even those you'd prefer to know less.  There are usually lots of outdoor opportunities close by, and you're not shoulder to shoulder the way you are in suburbia.  I grew up in a rural farm district and wouldn't change that for anything, but I don't believe I'll ever get to live there again.  The experiences there made me as self-reliant as I am, and as comfortable by myself as I am.  It's taken over half my life living otherwise to get me to develop the social skills I have (which are just north of house breaking).

[TnRiver46]

You should see where my fiancé grew up.......

I think the “township” has population of 90 something. I’m from suburbia, I grew up within walking distance of the school, church, convenient stores, parks, driving range, etc. She had to ride 40 minutes to find a McDonald’s! (Yet ironically only 2 hours from Detroit)

[gim]

I've lived in the suburbs of a reasonable sized city my entire life.  Never in the inner city, never in a rural setting.  I don't think I could do either one for an extended period of time either.  I don't care for the "packed" setting of inner city and I don't care for the lack of options in a rural setting.  The lack of people doesn't bother me though out in the country.  I visit country folk a lot for work and the thing that really bothers me is overall messiness of properties compared to those in a suburb or city.  Cities and suburbs have city codes.  Country properties seem to always have junk sitting around like old cars, trailers, etc.  Its like when something dies, they just park it there forever.  I think more people are moving out of inner cities at the moment to get away from other people during a pandemic.

[DitchPanda]

When I was 18 I moved from a suburb of Houston...the greater Houston area had a pop. Of 6 million at the time...to small town Iowa with a pop. Of 2,000. My high school had more students then my town has population. 25 miles to the nearest wal mart or fast food..45-50 miles to our nearest sporting goods stores. Wouldn't change it. Yeah we don't have all the big stores and modern conveniences..but we have a pharmacy,grocery store, doctors office,hospital,hardware type store,small mom and pop resteraunts,gas stations..considering I buy my fishing gear primarily online what else do I need.

[lo n slo]

we used to be rural, and kinda still are, but more and more farm land is being sold to developers these days. they’re stacking McMansions on 1/8 acre lots and folks are dropping a half a million dollars on them like it’s nothing. good grief. 

[TnRiver46]

13 minutes ago, lo n slo said:

we used to be rural, and kinda still are, but more and more farm land is being sold to developers these days. they’re stacking McMansions on 1/8 acre lots and folks are dropping a half a million dollars on them like it’s nothing. good grief. 

Same here 

[CountryboyinDC]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Cities and suburbs have city codes.  Country properties seem to always have junk sitting around like old cars, trailers, etc.  Its like when something dies, they just park it there forever. 

That's why everything looks the same.  The developments are 400 houses with about 4 models, and the only thing to tell them apart is the vinyl siding.  I'm not crazy about sprawl, but I hate the city worse.  If you want to see something that looks like it needs some housekeeping, go to the city IMHO.  I would take the country any day over the conveniences that suburban areas have.  The traffic and general crowdedness get to me. 

[gim]

15 minutes ago, CountryboyinDC said:

The developments are 400 houses with about 4 models, and the only thing to tell them apart is the vinyl siding.

Totally.  Cookie cutters.  The trend is to build bigger homes on smaller properties and most of them are done by the same home builders.  The more homes that can be built on a plot of land, the more the city, county, and state can collect on property taxes.

17 minutes ago, CountryboyinDC said:

If you want to see something that looks like it needs some housekeeping, go to the city IMHO

 

In general, the suburbs I have lived in were pretty well maintained.  Perhaps that is because they had to keep the grass trimmed, there were parking restrictions, and other items as a part of the city code.  Out in the country, property owners don't have to abide by those rules.  I don't quite understand why properties out in the "boonies" have 10 junker cars sitting there.  If they're junk, get rid of them.  That would never fly in a suburb.

[12poundbass]

19 minutes ago, gimruis said:

In general, the suburbs I have lived in were pretty well maintained.  Perhaps that is because they had to keep the grass trimmed, there were parking restrictions, and other items as a part of the city code.  Out in the country, property owners don't have to abide by those rules.  I don't quite understand why properties out in the "boonies" have 10 junker cars sitting there.  If they're junk, get rid of them.  That would never fly in a suburb.

I grew up in small town USA with a population of 700, our school was made up of three towns. I still live in one of them. I like living in the country, but I’m right there with you. The nice houses in the country are few and far between. I try not to judge people, because I’ve been poor through my 20’s, but it’s really not that hard to take care of things and keep them presentable.
 

We moved to a lake. We’re fortunate that it’s not like most around here where you can reach out your window and shake your neighbors hand, but we don’t have sprawling lots either. It took my wife a bit to get used to having people so close and not having all the privacy we did at our old house. Once in a while I would take her down our old road in the country to remind her how our neighbors were....that seemed to speed up her process a bit. ?

[gim]

39 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

The nice houses in the country are few and far between.

 

I didn't mean to paint every property out in the country as being dumps in my previous post.  I have seen many nice homes and properties maintained in a rural area too.

[J Francho]

I grew up in the sticks, but it's a strange situation.  The ride to school was longer than a trip to downtown Rochester.  If I lived a few feet over the district line, I'd have gone to a school that was less than 5 minutes away.  I like rural settings, but I also like things to do in a city setting.  This area of the state is good for that.  You can be relatively isolated, but not too far from anything.

[throttleplate]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Country properties seem to always have junk sitting around like old cars, trailers, etc.  Its like when something dies, they just park it there forever. 

you mean like this,

 

[TnRiver46]

55 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I grew up in the sticks, but it's a strange situation.  The ride to school was longer than a trip to downtown Rochester.  If I lived a few feet over the district line, I'd have gone to a school that was less than 5 minutes away.  I like rural settings, but I also like things to do in a city setting.  This area of the state is good for that.  You can be relatively isolated, but not too far from anything.

That’s the way most of TN is. There are cities but the middle of nowhere is always only about 30 minute drive away 

[soflabasser]

I enjoy fishing in rural areas but would not enjoy living in these places. That is why I live in a big city where everything needed is a short drive away. I live less than 30 minutes from the Everglades, less than 45 minutes from the Ocean, less than 1.5 hours from the Keys, and I am surrounded by waters with very good fishing.

[CountryboyinDC]

6 hours ago, gimruis said:

I don't quite understand why properties out in the "boonies" have 10 junker cars sitting there.  If they're junk, get rid of them.

Where are you supposed to hide the mash?  If you leave your barrels in the woods or an outbuilding somewhere, a revenuer is bound to find it.  Got to hide it almost in plain sight.

[jimmyjoe]

   Boonies? It's not "the boonies" unless you have propane lights and fridge, a windmill with a cistern and a 12 ga. over the back door for weasels in the henhouse and deer in the garden.                jj

[Koz]

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

I didn't mean to paint every property out in the country as being dumps in my previous post.  I have seen many nice homes and properties maintained in a rural area too.

 

There are some nice homes around here on rural roads and around the lake. We also have Reynolds here (formerly Reynolds Plantation) that has lots of nice homes - but those are out of my price range for a while.

 

I looked at a rental house the other day that I wouldn't even let my dog live in and the crazy lady wanted $1,400 a month! And speaking of my dog, that's another issue. A few that I found that I liked don't allow pets.

 

I have a feeling if I rent I'll spend more than I want for less than I want.

 

However, because this is such a rural area there are special USDA mortgages that are dirt cheap. While my income level more than qualifies, my credit took a hit when I lost my job to COVID. I'm going to see if I can find a lender that can work some magic. There's a community down the road where they are building new homes.

[TnRiver46]

I wish I had an old junker car to park in my driveway. Thieves have formed the habit of casing houses without cars in the driveway and rob everyone while they are at work 

[throttleplate]

folks moved out to the boonies years ago so they could collect junk and keep it around their propery and now the city folk are movin out to the boonies and want to change everything.

 

I like hangin out at my sisters farm out by Delano MN and cruisin the backroads and lookin at peoples hidden treasures. Alot of the stuff you see are like time capsules going way back.

[Deephaven]

19 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Greendale/Worcester, MA

One of my offices is there.

 

As for rural, my wife grew up in a town of 219.  She is related to more than 100 of them.

[jbsoonerfan]

Living in the boonies and there is a hotel? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

[CountryboyinDC]

10 hours ago, Koz said:

I'm going to see if I can find a lender that can work some magic. There's a community down the road where they are building new homes.

That's probably the ticket.  A place of your own and you'll always have something to work on.  

10 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I wish I had an old junker car to park in my driveway.

I'm pretty sure I know of about a dozen sources for that particular commodity, and that's just family members.

[Koz]

18 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Living in the boonies and there is a hotel? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

 

On a big lake no less. After work I sometimes go out back to our docks and fish. Actually, there are two. Mine is the one that is NOT The Ritz Carlton.