I would happily live in KCMO or its environs. I had a great time working TDY to KCMO and Overland Park...really enjoyed working with the cops, the food is great as long as you like meat...basically everything about the place I really liked except the heat.
@BaiHu, this is probably a really good recommendation. To put it into perspective, there's so much economic growth that MO is rebuilding the international airport serving KC. It's on a similar trajectory to Nashville, except it's not a commercialized honkey-tonk tourist trap festering with leftism. Property is ridiculously fucking cheap compared to northern NJ.
Overland Park was actually rated "best place to have a family" in some article I came across. Nice place if you're okay with cookie-cutter development style life (my wife and I are.....we've both done the "this place has character" phase and vastly prefer nice shit that isn't falling apart and has manageable traffic flow).
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
I work in Boise. It is a terrible place. Extreme poverty, skinheads roam the streets. Earthquakes, tornadoes and hail the size of softballs. Rattlers in your bedroom while mountain lions eat your pets and small children in the backyard. Beware .....
Actually, Boise has become very liberal and has elected a far left Mayor and City Council. Folks seem to move here to escape some progressive hell hole then vote for progressive candidates after they arrive. If you're in a room with 10 people who live in Idaho, 8 of them are from somewhere else. Those who have been here for a couple years are act like natives, have "idahome" bumper stickers and act like they're not part of the problem. I see Boise being like Portland & Seattle in 10 years or less. If you come here, please remember why you came here.
Last edited by 4given; 06-25-2020 at 12:57 PM.
It is kind of hot in the summer and we have about seven good storms in the winter. Outdoor activities are so so; we have no mountains but there are lakes around. It is a place to make juniors and bank.
OP has lots of McMansion suburbia but it also has a revitalized downtown with some older homes in the area. Lenexa has the same dichotomy plus some nicer services (and higher taxes). Brookside, in MO, where I lived for 12 years, has beautiful old homes and a bunch of f**cking leftists. There are several other incorporations which have value (on the Kansas side) and their own character.
Happy to take a day to drive you around on a tour if you want to hop on a plane.
Boise is like Idaho’s Austin, only with rafting and biking instead of music. I think that part of the deal is this: busybodies and nanny-statists run for city council. Self-reliance people don’t want the gig, barring extenuating, fight-back circumstance. I really do think it’s that simple. For just one more example, Spokane’s city council is to the left of Tom Hanks and Amy Schumer (but to the right of Minneapolis, thanks be to baby Anubis) but the outgoing council president still lost the last mayoral race.
Maybe it’s different elsewhere, but it sure seems like every council seat in major NW metro areas sees races between intelligent, well-meaning “progressives” and token right-wing whack jobs that Ted Nugent wouldn’t want to vote in. Even on the off chance that the token rightie isn’t a whack job, they’ll get spun that way by media. So we get councils that skew harder left than the aggregate populace. JMO. Again, might be different in other regions.
"Keep Boise Weird" I should sell T-shirts!
I think your assessment is pretty accurate. There have always been folks coming here for a better life. However, having lived here all my life, I have seen a change in the type of people that move out this way. My wife and I are feeling sorta pushed out. We are seriously considering moving North after retirement. We know a couple of places where winter is even milder than Boise...
Oh yeah, did I mention the sink holes that have been swallowing soccer moms in their SUV's? Oh and the rabid badgers ..... too horrible to describe .....
Are you up by Spokane?
Oklahoma isn't bad at all. I lived in Texas the first 51 years of my life, much of it in Alvin (between Houston and Galveston). Nothing but humidity, traffic, hurricanes, liberals there anymore. I also lived in Irving (between Dallas and FW). Traffic and minority/crime issues are unreal in DFW. I've lived in Oklahoma the last 9 years. I'm not even considering moving back to Texas when I retire. When I've gone back to visit relatives in Houston, Austin, or New Braunfels I couldn't wait to go back home.
Oklahoma has constitutional carry. Solidly conservative- every county voted for Trump in 2016. Possibly the reddest state in America. OKC is large enough to have anything you want. Multiple suburban cities surround it, so your business prospects would have a large enough population to draw from. I particularly like Edmond and Yukon. Traffic isn't anywhere what it is in Houston or DFW. Plus it has the Will Rogers WORLD Airport lol. Only thing that could beat that would be an intergalactic spaceport of some type.
Lots of camping, hiking, boating opportunities in the eastern half of the state. Close to outdoor stuff in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. Just stay away from Tulsa.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation." - Ronald Reagan
Ummm, they are physically relatively not that far from NJ? Other than that... PA, not including Philly, is maybe a half step, for the time being at least, better than Jersey. Oh, and you can still get half way decent Pizza and Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese take-out? That's all I got.
I used to dream about a return to TX, but the political winds there are blowing hard left. My first assignment there was during the Democrat years when concealed carry was a pipedream. You could carry a pistol while "traveling," but that was it. What constituted "traveling" was not codified in state law - so left up to the interpretation of the local jurisdiction. The old think was that Austin was the blue bastion in a red state, but I can tell you from recent experience that nearly ALL the big cities in TX are going hard left politically. I don't see this as a trend that's likely to change, and with a tip of the political scales there are PLENTY of liberal Texans who'd love to see a roll back on 2A rights. On top of that, TX is hot, really fucking hot, like 100 days/summer over 100 degrees hot. When you get that hot, shooting becomes a lot less fun.
I'm in Indiana now, and it's one of the gun-friendliest places I've ever lived. Weather is similar to what you're used to in NJ - you'll get all four seasons if that's your thing. Indianapolis is a growing burg - about the 13th largest in the country, IIRC. Can't speak to job opportunities to get you "settled," but I'd imagine there's work to be had. On the social front, IN is pretty conservative. Response to the COVID 19 epidemic has been very measured, and the bounce back has been pretty rapid.