Learn me down south

patgizz wrote: as a northerner, here is my perspective. the south is scary. people have less teeth than i do. they speak in tongues, i can't understand a thing they say. they fear change and hate people from the north, and still blame us because they can't own people to work for them anymore. they also hate catalytic converters, non budweiser beer, they all drive trucks with at least 12 inches of lift that have confederate flags on them, and the entire state of georgia smells like a landfill for some reason. and if someone is offended by that, they do not have a sense of humor.

You sir obviously do not understand us southerners and should return home immediately.

We have more teeth than you, we just keep them in our pocket. We don't talk funny, you do. God talks like we do. We don't hate catalytic converters, we use them like another form of currency. Budweiser is not the beer of the south, Busch and PBR are. Budweiser is too high fluent for us blue collar people, your thinking the snooty southerners beer.
How dare you insult our trucks, 12 inch lift. That is what we give our kids on the 14th birthday for their little trucks. Minimum is 18 inches on the big ones. All in the lift blocks.

Georgia smells like dead bodies and lye from all the hidden Yankees.

It sucks down here, mostly because the damn Yankees keep coming down here and trying to remake the South in their image.

Tell you what: there is no way I'd live in Florida. All there is is humidity, sand, huge bugs and really weird things happening. Oh, and my favorite magazine.

Having spent a lot of time in Fl (a few years in the '70s, the '80s, and now living here after moving back 13 months ago) after 23 years in the tri-state area of Tn./Ar./Ms. here's my $0.02:

DON'T consider Tn. if you are going to live WEST of Nashville. Sure, you might find cheap land, mild weather, BUT...you will go out of you mind. It's as tho the further west you travel on I-40, the stupider folks get. Knoxville? Great. Nashville? Pretty good. Jackson? Almost tolerable. Memphis? BUG PUCKING CRAZY.

My sister and BIL were transferred to southern Ar. for 2 years. It was a culture shock for them. First question folks you meet ask: "What church do you go to?" The church you attend (preferably Southern Baptist) tells folks how liberal or conservative you are. Me? I wouldn't ask someone right off which church they attend, being a Northerner, I am a bit more private in my "inquiries" about folks personal lives. Northern Ar. isn't too bad, but where's the racing scene you are looking for? (It might be there, just asking.)

Alabama? To my perspective (as someone who has travelled through it dozens of times, and who lived there in the early '60s)...yes, some parts fit that "ol boy, Southern mentality...the North and it's citizens are the root of all evil." But that is usually the smaller towns. It (the whole state) strikes me as a hillier, poorer (as in poverty) Texas. I would probably tolerate Huntsville or Mobile...the rest of the state? Land is cheap, but it's a bad reason to live there.

Mississippi? Did some work there while in Tn. and travelled through the state. Almost as bad as Alabama on every list and on every measure of living. Also dirt-poor in many areas, like Walton's Mountain or Roots with an update to the late 20th century. WATER is also a problem...well (no pun intended) LACK of water.

Finally, Florida. Right now, you can find real estate at varying levels of price. As Derrick T. says, the Palatka area is nice and rural, and you are about an hour or hour and a half from Orlando. There's a saying in Florida that you are never more than 90 minutes from the ocean but the flipside is, Florida's highest point is 100+ feet above sealevel...and it's man-made (probably in one of the amusement parks).

If I was you (and by the way, I grew up in Pa.) I'd go with the Carolinas, then Florida (I'm prejudiced as I live there tho) then maybe EAST Tn. or north-northcentral Ga. or Alabama (in that order).

integraguy gave some good advice.

East Tennessee (Chattanooga, Knoxville, Tri-Cities), Western North Carolina (Asheville), Southwest Virginia (Bristol/Abingdon), Northwest Ga (Dalton, Chatsworth) are all very similar culturally in the rural areas. Cities are different and there is some noticeable differences between the attitudes of the rural and urban crowds here.

Middle Tennessee (Nashville), Norhtern Alabama (Huntsville), Southern Kentucky (Bowling Green) are very similar. Nice areas, fun towns. I didn't notice as much a difference in attitudes between rural and urban areas here.

Florida. Florida is actually 4 states with one government. Northwest Florida (Emerald Coast) is called by the locals F%$#ing Lower Alabama. So your are looking at Southern Mississippi, Sothern Alabama, and NW FLA being very similar.

Central Florida is agriculture, Disney and Daytona

Southern Florida is Northern Cuba

The Keys, well they call themselves the Conch Republic for a reason.

South Carolina, after a 5 years sentence, I was paroled from SC. This place still believes the civil war is still going on. You have Greenville/Clemson which is a very nice area and Charleston area. Other than that they are the most aggressive racially prejudice people I have ever met (I am including my experience in China and their feelings toward Japanese in that as well). They have some of the worst schools (37 of 100 worst schools in the nation) and are generally every negative southern stereotype is real here.(Did I just stereotype a stereotype?) I would avoid SC.

I don't know much about Eastern NC, Arkansas, Northern Mississippi. So no comment.

I would avoid South Carolina, Western Tennessee (unless you carry kevlar under your clothing, I am putting Jackson in this as well) South Florida

Other than cheap land do you have any other requirements?

ON a side note the Tax rates vary from state to state wildly here. You might want to throw that into your equation as well. TN has no income tax but high sales tax, where Florida has little sales tax, no income tax, and ridiculously high insurance rates.

Just something else to consider.

FlightService wrote: Middle Tennessee (Nashville), Norhtern Alabama (Huntsville), Southern Kentucky (Bowling Green) are very similar. Nice areas, fun towns. I didn't notice as much a difference in attitudes between rural and urban areas here.

I grew up around Bowling Green. It is berkeleying boring there.

integraguy wrote: There's a saying in Florida that you are never more than 90 minutes from the ocean but the flipside is, Florida's highest point is 100+ feet above sealevel...and it's man-made (probably in one of the amusement parks).

I thought the highest elevation in the state was 298 feet at Bok Tower Garden

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/sfl-travel-boktower,0,3923153.story

I love North Georgia. Of course, I have one trailer trash dun' moved up neighbor, but I'm magnet for those, and it beats the E36 M3 out of living in some glorified ghetto.

Land can be had for less than $10k/acre. We have zero crime, even though the median income is much, much lower than said glorified ghettos. Right now $100k gets you a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath house on a couple acres with a drive-under basement (garage) that you can fit a half dozen cars in.

Plenty of unspoiled lakes, creeks, streams, hiking trails, beautiful backroads, etc. A "pretty," managable amount of snow most winters.

Atlanta (airport, autocrossing,) is 45-50 minutes south. We have one of the best autocross regions in the country. Road ATL is a beautiful 1hour, 20 minute ride, and lucky for me, Atlanta Motorsports Park decided to build a half hour down the road.

I truly love where I live.

Ranger50 wrote: No more damn yankees.

Interesting statement. I was born in TN, raised in VA, then moved up north. Am I a Yankee, or a prodigal son of the south? I really want to get out of NY for someplace warmer.

poopshovel wrote: I love North Georgia. Of course, I have one trailer trash dun' moved up neighbor, but I'm magnet for those, and it beats the E36 M3 out of living in some glorified ghetto. Land can be had for less than $10k/acre. We have zero crime, even though the median income is much, much lower than said glorified ghettos. Right now $100k gets you a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath house on a couple acres with a drive-under basement (garage) that you can fit a half dozen cars in. Plenty of unspoiled lakes, creeks, streams, hiking trails, beautiful backroads, etc. A "pretty," managable amount of snow most winters. Atlanta (airport, autocrossing,) is 45-50 minutes south. We have one of the best autocross regions in the country. Road ATL is a beautiful 1hour, 20 minute ride, and lucky for me, Atlanta Motorsports Park decided to build a half hour down the road. I truly love where I live.

You wanna rent out a basement room to a South Carolina cracker?

Nope! But you can stay upstairs for free! Need a place to crash?

tuna55 wrote: We have been in Greenville, SC five years and love every bit of it. Two hours (easy) and you're in Charlotte. Two hours and you're in Atlanta. A bit over two and you're at CMP. Long enough from the coast that hurricanes are dead, far enough from the plains that tornadoes don't bother us, mountains right nearby, skiing a few hours away, ocean a few hours away. Greenville itself is great, too. Great downtown - cheap too. Taxes are silly low.

Been there, freaking LOVED it!
I went there for work a few years ago. I'm not sure what it was, but that town just grabbed me. If I move south, it's either Greenville SC or Franklin TN.

poopshovel wrote: I love North Georgia. Of course, I have one trailer trash dun' moved up neighbor, but I'm magnet for those, and it beats the E36 M3 out of living in some glorified ghetto. Plenty of unspoiled lakes, creeks, streams, hiking trails, beautiful backroads, etc. A "pretty," manageable amount of snow most winters.

Girlfriend and I have been looking at NW Atlanta, but man is traffic bad down there!

Chattanooga would be another option, as I hear its more like Asheville, NC in its culture.

PHeller wrote:

poopshovel wrote: I love North Georgia. Of course, I have one trailer trash dun' moved up neighbor, but I'm magnet for those, and it beats the E36 M3 out of living in some glorified ghetto. Plenty of unspoiled lakes, creeks, streams, hiking trails, beautiful backroads, etc. A "pretty," manageable amount of snow most winters.

Girlfriend and I have been looking at NW Atlanta, but man is traffic bad down there! Chattanooga would be another option, as I hear its more like Asheville, NC in its culture.

Depends on how far north and how far west you go. Of course there's traffic in Atlanta. I live in North Georgia.

I'll throw in another vote for somewhere in central North Carolina.

Greensboro has the Triad Sports car club, Raleigh has the Tarheel Sports Car Club.

VIR, Rockingham and CMP are all fairly close. The mountains are three hours away.

The beach is three hours away. I often take day trips down there to fish around Ft. Fisher.

If you want rural, just live in Roxboro or something.

FlightService wrote: You sir obviously do not understand us southerners and should return home immediately. We have more teeth than you, we just keep them in our pocket. We don't talk funny, you do. God talks like we do. We don't hate catalytic converters, we use them like another form of currency. Budweiser is not the beer of the south, Busch and PBR are. Budweiser is too high falutin for us blue collar people, your thinking the snooty southerners beer. How dare you insult our trucks, 12 inch lift. That is what we give our kids on the 14th birthday for their little trucks. Minimum is 18 inches on the big ones. All in the lift blocks. Georgia smells like dead bodies and lye from all the hidden Yankees.

Fixed that for ya

FlightService wrote: The Keys, well they call themselves the Conch Republic for a reason.

My great uncle.. a resident of Key West for decades, was one of the founding members of the conch republic

PHeller wrote: Girlfriend and I have been looking at NW Atlanta, but man is traffic bad down there! Chattanooga would be another option, as I hear its more like Asheville, NC in its culture.

It is, but with one big difference. Asheville is becoming a microbrewery mecca.

FWIW, what am I saying, that's worth alot, can we have a GRM meeting in Asheville?

Both of those cities have reinvented themselves in the last 20 years.

I am happy to live 90 minutes from both of them.

z31maniac wrote:

FlightService wrote: You sir obviously do not understand us southerners and should return home immediately. We have more teeth than you, we just keep them in our pocket. We don't talk funny, you do. God talks like we do. We don't hate catalytic converters, we use them like another form of currency. Budweiser is not the beer of the south, Busch and PBR are. Budweiser is too high falutin for us blue collar people, your thinking the snooty southerners beer. How dare you insult our trucks, 12 inch lift. That is what we give our kids on the 14th birthday for their little trucks. Minimum is 18 inches on the big ones. All in the lift blocks. Georgia smells like dead bodies and lye from all the hidden Yankees.

Fixed that for ya

You dictionaryian me boy?

Thanks for all the responses. This made me laugh

First question folks you meet ask: "What church do you go to?" The church you attend (preferably Southern Baptist) tells folks how liberal or conservative you are.

We got that when we moved to the sticks where we are now. We don't go to church. People thought that was odd, but they didn't seem to care.

You don't have a monopoly on toothless hillbillies riding in lifted trucks. We have those here too. We also have both kinds of music. Country AND western, and whether you're in the TSC, or the grocery store, that's what you're hearing.

I don't think culture shock would be a problem.

In reply to Zomby woof:

Birmingham is a big enough city where everybody just lies about church. Half the people claim to go the Baptist church. The other half claim to go to the Methodist church. You just have to find out there church first so you don't say the wrong one.

I'll tell them I go to the church of the universe That should get them off my back.

I actually used to fix their cars

I've spent some time in Tennessee, south and east of Nashville and it was nice and friendly. Central and eastern Kentucky, depending how rural you want. North Carolina is generally nice, I prefer more mountainous sections of any state. The area south of Jefferson City , Missouri was nice ,too. Before you make any commitment to buying property factor in the extra cost for health insurance down here ,too.You'll be impressed, but not favourably. I don't know what county you're currently in, but I used to live around Tillsonburg. The scenery in any of the places I've mentioned sure beats SW Ontario.

Zomby woof wrote: I'll tell them I go to the church of the universe That should get them off my back. I actually used to fix their cars

http://www.thechurchofthegreatoutdoors.com/

I am an ordained deacon.

I'll jus leave this here for your perusal

http://willypritts.tripod.com/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5207562-504083.html

30 min. from me but I never worshiped there