If you moved, and wanted...

[Curtis Enlow]

Honestly, Eastern Washington has the benefits of remote western spaces but you're one mountain pass and a few hours from rain forests, the coast, and big city sports and entertainment as well as some of the best medical care in the US. Even in the central plains you are maybe an hour from beautiful Pine forests and rolling hills. Weather is milder than other places (no tornadoes, no death-by-A/C-failure, a little snow in the winter (NOT Midwest/Rockies snow!) but you can still go outside June-August without dying). All HPR launches are in Eastern Washington (YouTube "Tri-Cities Rocketeers")

 

[boatgeek]

So a good question here is what your climatic requirements are. Are you OK with AC all summer? Do you hate snow in the winter? Do you have any known medical issues that require regular visits to specialists? The latter really nailed some of my in-laws. They had a beautiful place on the beach, but 2-3 hour trips to the doctor's office (if they hit the ferry just right) wore them out and they moved back to town.

On the rocketry front, Tri-Cities Rocketeers (Pasco, WA) has a waiver to 8K, Gorge Rocketry Club (Goldendale, WA) has a waiver to 14K, and the big daddy is Oregon Rocketry (Brothers, OR) with a waiver over 40K.

 

[rdrown]

Argonia has a 50 k waiver.

 

[Tech 68]

Jeff,
After my first reply I got to thinking... one of the tough things in moving, is leaving your friends behind. Perhaps now is not the best time to do that.
It sounds like your reason for leaving California is primarily economic. Check out Ridgecrest or for that matter, Cal City. You'd be close to Aerial Acres and FAR, and the cost of living might be reasonable. You'd be in Kern County, and close to the Sierras.
Just sayin'...

 

[gdjsky01]

Thank you all for the ideas. I am a day or two from this chapter ending and I know I am not thinking straight now. And it would be months before any move if I move. But it never hurts to explore.

I grew up in Rochester New York. Spent 15 years there after 5 in the USAF. So I don’t want the long winter snow and summer humidity. I do not want a building season. Here within a mile of the beach i get a sea breeze so I don’t need a lot AC but yes, any humidity or temps over 80F I use it. When we lived inland where temps were alway 80+, yes we used AC all Summer and paid the price. But then there is Solar now. Or at least BETTER Solar now. And since I want a load of clear nights, solar will work.
Medical? Right now it’s nothing most places can’t provide. And I have thought of Kern county. Our plan had been Tucson or Prescott. Never thought about west WA tho the Table Mountain Star Party is there I think… interesting. Austin might be nice. Anyone from the Albuquerque area? Santa Fe BTW Great internet would be essential

Friends? All our causal friends moved away as they got older. Mostly to be nearer to family. The rest of mine (and a few of hers) are astronomy or rocketry buds. Or people I only connect with online. I have a sis in WV

All my experience with north Texas was from Shepard AFB in the mid 70s and it was desolate. THAT isolated is not really me.

 

[Tech 68]

Thank you all for the ideas. I am a day or two from this chapter ending and I know I am not thinking straight now. And it would be months before any move if I move. But it never hurts to explore.

I grew up in Rochester New York. Spent 15 years there after 5 in the USAF. So I don’t want the long winter snow and summer humidity. I do not want a building season. Here within a mile of the beach i get a sea breeze so I don’t need a lot AC but yes, any humidity or temps over 80F I use it. Medical? Right now it’s nothing most places can’t provide. And I have thought of Kern county. Our plan had been Tucson or Prescott. Never thought about WA… interesting. Austin might be nice. Anyone from the Albuquerque area? Santa Fe? BTW Great internet would be essential

Friends? All my friends are astronomy or rocketry buds. Or people I only connect with online. I have a sis in WV

Austin (Travis County) property taxes are outrageous.
Starlink will get you respectable speeds, just about anywhere (it is a bit expensive, though).
Finally, I forgot to mention, Ridgecrest/China Lake has (at least had) a respectable astronomy group.

 

[gdjsky01]

Austin (Travis County) property taxes are outrageous.
Starlink will get you respectable speeds, just about anywhere (it is a bit expensive, though).
Finally, I forgot to mention, Ridgecrest/China Lake has (at least had) a respectable astronomy group.

Worse than Los Angeles? Ah no prop 13…
Yeah I contacted group once. Never went. Still quake country but that’s where I’ve been for 27 wonderful years.

 

[Sandy H.]

My brother is planning on retiring later this year and has been pondering where to go. He has a small horse farm (no horses, but it was that in years past) in middle Florida. He's 99.9% sure he wants to sell it and move somewhere less hot. The problem is he doesn't like cold at all and even though there are some places in the country with perfect weather (i.e. kind of like where you currently are) those places are just too expensive for someone to retire to if their earnings have been South East pay scale. He's thinking of Arkansas or Tennessee possibly, but his plans are somewhat based on being more centralized to a certain racing series. The 3 things we talk about most is:

1: Weather
2: Bugs
3: Taxes

The best advice I've heard is, if practical, visit the place you want to move for a week or two in each of the major seasons. A former co-worker changed his mind about his retirement location due to stink-bug season in one place he was considering. He said it was completely miserable. While not practical for most people, he bought an Airstream and he traveled across the US 4 times over a year and a half before buying his retirement house and doesn't regret it at all.

Sandy.

 

[jsdemar]

Anyone from the Albuquerque area? Santa Fe?

When I moved from your former area of the great white north almost 20 years ago, I considered Tucson, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. I had job offers in those cities. But, I took a lower offer to be based out of Las Cruces, NM. Smaller, friendlier, lower cost of living. More moderate climate (10-15 degrees average cooler than Tucson/Phoenix, no snow like there is in ABQ and Santa Fe). Low property taxes. Low utilities. Many people retire from CA to here, which drives up the house prices some, but they get a bigger house for <1/2 the price.

I have lots of friends from all over the country who live here in Las Cruces. Rocketry clubs, Photography club, hiking, music (I play at open mics), Jazz&Blues society, good Astronomy group (I live in a dark skies community outside of town), and a great art community. 100K population but it's also a college town (New Mexico State University), and a bedroom community for White Sands and Spaceport America. And traffic? I complain when there's more than 3 cars in front of me at a stop light.

 

[Tyeeking]

Some people here have mentioned high crime as a reason to avoid some locales. If that is a consideration I would encourage you to do some more in-depth research on that topic. Many so called high crime states really have one or two cities driving those numbers while the lower population cities and surrounding countryside are relatively crime free.

 

[Exactimator]

The town of Ocotillio, CA ticks several of your boxes. Just east of the mountains inland of San Diego in Imperial County. You can get a house and a couple acres for around $300K. It's desert land, though so plan on not much growing but scrub. About an hour and a half from LPR/MPR Fiesta Island launches, 45 mins from our HPR Holtville field. Blue Angles practice out of nearby NAS El Centro before doing their summer airshow circuit.

It's low desert hard living, though. Very hot in the summer. Imperial County has a high poverty rate, so you'd need to deal with that too.

 

[fyrwrxz]

Austin (Travis County) property taxes are outrageous.
Starlink will get you respectable speeds, just about anywhere (it is a bit expensive, though).
Finally, I forgot to mention, Ridgecrest/China Lake has (at least had) a respectable astronomy group.

Holy crap! This is a bit scary to me. China Lake/Ridgecrest? Jeez! I was so sick I couldn't fly at Rocstock the past weekend. My son, who's been there with me in the past, came down from Hollywierd and drove me out. I took care of business and we posted up next to the car to relax and have one beer (kinda tradition). A random dude walks by us and I just naturally said Hi. Turns out it was the "other" Mike from MadCow Rocketry I had never met. He had qualified 17 fliers that morning as level 1's. My son jumps up to shake his hand and the race was on. Long story short, Mike's son George joins us and reveals he works at China Lake. I had done a stint there as a tech writer when I was single and we all laughed when I told him I had a bumper sticker on my sportscar that read "Where the hell is Trona?" Yep I got stories. Ridgecrest really not my cup of tea. Loved driving way too fast over the whoopties on 395 during a full moon with the headlights off and is a great memory. Top down, wind in the hair when I had it and the desert smells make me smile to this day thinking about it. Thx for posting and stirring this up.

 

[gdjsky01]

When I moved from your former area of the great white north almost 20 years ago, I considered Tucson, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. I had job offers in those cities. But, I took a lower offer to be based out of Las Cruces, NM. Smaller, friendlier, lower cost of living. More moderate climate (10-15 degrees average cooler than Tucson/Phoenix, no snow like there is in ABQ and Santa Fe). Low property taxes. Low utilities. Many people retire from CA to here, which drives up the house prices some, but they get a bigger house for <1/2 the price.

Well there is that one guy who said all you @$@@! stay out of our state.

I have lots of friends from all over the country who live here in Las Cruces. Rocketry clubs, Photography club, hiking, music (I play at open mics), Jazz&Blues society, good Astronomy group (I live in a dark skies community outside of town), and a great art community. 100K population but it's also a college town (New Mexico State University), and a bedroom community for White Sands and Spaceport America. And traffic? I complain when there's more than 3 cars in front of me at a stop light.

Ok John. Added to the list. Thanks. Like I said... more likely a year out... but right now... I feel guilty about even talking about it. But slowly I am wrapping my head around I am alone again and need to figure out the next chapter. Or at least start researching the story line.

 

[fyrwrxz]

The town of Ocotillio, CA ticks several of your boxes. Just east of the mountains inland of San Diego in Imperial County. You can get a house and a couple acres for around $300K. It's desert land, though so plan on not much growing but scrub. About an hour and a half from LPR/MPR Fiesta Island launches, 45 mins from our HPR Holtville field. Blue Angles practice out of nearby NAS El Centro before doing their summer airshow circuit.
It's low desert hard living, though. Very hot in the summer. Imperial County has a high poverty rate, so you'd need to deal with that too.

Whut Mark Sez!

 

[gdjsky01]

Whut Mark Sez!

Yeah... that might be a little TOO desert rat for me. Might. I don't care about growing. But I am not sure I am cut out for that. I have contemplated going to holtville many times because of the two day (or more events)... just never did. from here it was a 3hr+ drive. But I have observed from Little Blair Valley (tho not in a few years)

 

[Ez2cDave]

Austin (Travis County) property taxes are outrageous.

Austin, and the surrounding area, have some other "outrageous things" to avoid, also. The rest of Texas, for the most part, is mighty fine !

Dave F.

 

[bjphoenix]

All my experience with north Texas was from Shepard AFB in the mid 70s and it was desolate. THAT isolated is not really me.

You might have conflicting requirements. Wichita Falls has a population of about 100k, if you go anyplace larger you will have more light pollution. Wichita Falls is 100 miles from the DFW metroplex, a little farther than that from Oklahoma City, about 50 miles from a Tripoli launch site. It's a quiet city, not real exciting. There are other small towns around that would fewer people and darker skies, either farther from the big cities or closer to the big cities whichever you prefer. (I grew up near Wichita Falls.)

 

[Peartree]

In our corner of Ohio $600k will get you close to 50 acres. That includes a nice house, some outbuildings, and your own forest.

Dark sky is a little harder in NE Ohio but not impossible. Central and West Ohio gets you farther from cities and the land gets even cheaper if you stay away from Columbus.

 

[cwbullet]

Looking like I am coming to a crossroads of sort in my life, see (what I did instead of rocketry thread)

1. Reasonable cost of living
2. Access to dark skies within an hour and usable skies from a backyard
3. A decent percentage of clear nights
4. Access to a LPR/MPR club that launches once (at least) a month
5. Access to a club with HPR and a decent waiver (decent for me = 6k feet) that launches once (at least) a month
6. Modest cost for a few (or an) acre(s) of land and a 3 bedroom house. (modest compared to Los Angeles or San Diego counties where this item would be ~$600k and 2 is pretty tough, and 1 is subjective)

Where would you be? In na na land? Fantasy? No place like it?
To be honest California has quite a few places that tick every box to a degree except 1 and probably 6 (tho it is locale/county specific). Is it Arizona? Nevada? New Mexico? West Texas? Certainly no place further north or east. Oz? Though I probably could not get a visa. OZ would be a dream.

You would do well in South Carolina. The winters are awesome. We launch 12 months a year. You could probably get 50 acres and a decent home for 600K here.

 

[MikeT]

Left New York 50 years ago for Texas and have never looked back.

 

[jsdemar]

Ok John. Added to the list. Thanks. Like I said... more likely a year out... but right now... I feel guilty about even talking about it. But slowly I am wrapping my head around I am alone again and need to figure out the next chapter. Or at least start researching the story line.

Here's my neighbor's astrophotography website. He has published in many astro magazines.
http://jeffjastro.com/dso/
We have a dark-sky ordinance here.
Here's the lunar eclipse sequence I took from my driveway.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/saZbyze6eMW3thWh6

Three rocket launches each month, local and within an hour. 12K waiver. Also an hour to Spaceport America and the Spaceport Cup college competition.

Here are some photos I took near my house and on hikes nearby:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SATXGcxW39N3tEfP7

The "big snow storm of 2015".
https://photos.app.goo.gl/q228AzMYiav4iUnz8

Flowering things in my yard. No lawn to mow!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9GhkbDnoT8VtAQjX7

Come visit any time.
https://www.lascrucescvb.org/

 

[bibbster]

West TN will check all those boxes. Acreage has been going up as folks realize that 'outsiders' are moving in...like from CA and NY.

 

[Donnager]

Places I'd like to live
#1 Montana
#2 Arizona
#3 Florida

Montana may be a little colder for a lot more of the year than I can stand. Northern AZ is very nice, 4 seasons, mild summers..... Great if you like low humidity and no bugs.

I currently live in Florida, and, other than the property insurance, I will likely be hard pressed to move. No sales taxes on food and no state income tax. We rely on the tourists to make up the difference.

 

[ZEDL1]

I'm a transplanted Canadian, now living in rural Indiana. Our small city here of 10,000'ish people is an incredibly refreshing change from the 3Million population and bizarre traffic of Toronto Canada. I'm Canadian, my now-wife is American. We talked with each other for months to decide upon whether I moved to America, or she to Canada. Other than marrying her, me moving to small-town Indiana was the smartest decision that I've ever made. I love it here. People are so friendly, the cost of homes and the cost of living in general, gasoline too, are night-to-day less expensive compared to Toronto. I do not mean to offend anyone, although I likely will, I would never move to any Liberal/Communist governed State or city. I say what I think and am very good with being that way.

Back in the early 90s when I began flying HPR from LPR, I'd drive 9 hours from Toronto to Three Oakes, MI to fly. That club is now Michiana Rocketry. I attended a launch there this past Saturday. I achieved my L2 there in 93, if my memory is correct. I'm a member and the people are so great.
I'm also a member of what was Michigan Team 1, now flying from about 3 hours from me in southern MI. Also good people, two that I'd met in the 90s from Three Oaks are remaining members and old friends.
So, there are 2 TRA Prefectures that I know of close to me in Indiana, living midway between Indy and Chicago, which was something put forth by the OP regarding thoughts of relocation.

 

[rfjustin]

Here's my neighbor's astrophotography website. He has published in many astro magazines.
http://jeffjastro.com/dso/
We have a dark-sky ordinance here.
Here's the lunar eclipse sequence I took from my driveway.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/saZbyze6eMW3thWh6

Three rocket launches each month, local and within an hour. 12K waiver. Also an hour to Spaceport America and the Spaceport Cup college competition.

Here are some photos I took near my house and on hikes nearby:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SATXGcxW39N3tEfP7

The "big snow storm of 2015".
https://photos.app.goo.gl/q228AzMYiav4iUnz8

Flowering things in my yard. No lawn to mow!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9GhkbDnoT8VtAQjX7

Come visit any time.
https://www.lascrucescvb.org/

What are typical winter temps please? Just showed my wife some homes in Las Cruces for sale, and she requested that I start looking into a winter break trip to come check it out. Never been to NM, need to check out out, and that eventual retirement home isn't going to find itself!

 

[OzHybrid]

What are typical winter temps please? Just showed my wife some homes in Las Cruces for sale, and she requested that I start looking into a winter break trip to come check it out. Never been to NM, need to check out out, and that eventual retirement home isn't going to find itself!

Would be great if FAR started a retirement home...... Sitting in the bunker..... Weeell....Ah reembr when.....

 

[boatgeek]

II would never move to any Liberal/Communist governed State or city. I say what I think and am very good with being that way.

"We are super-welcoming and friendly folks. Unless you're to the left of me, in which case you're Che Guevara and I can't stand the thought of living near you."

 

[StreuB1]

What are typical winter temps please? Just showed my wife some homes in Las Cruces for sale, and she requested that I start looking into a winter break trip to come check it out. Never been to NM, need to check out out, and that eventual retirement home isn't going to find itself!

Can't carry in NM, unless you're a resident. NM is extremely unfortunate for the 2A folks out there. We are not very welcome there.

 

[Steven]

When I move it's intestinal, then I feel great.

 

[Titan II]

Can't carry in NM, unless you're a resident. NM is extremely unfortunate for the 2A folks out there. We are not very welcome there.

Have you read the laws for NM?