We fell in love with the eastern part of West Virginia and so we are moving to a little town called Marlinton. Hope to close next Friday. That puts us really close to the places we like to camp, oh and NO OVERCROWDING! In fact, it has the same population it had in 1920. It is a stunningly beautiful area. I had so many people tell me - "But it gets cold there and snows". Yeah, we know, we love the cold. My wife is from NY and I lived in the mountains of Colorado for 10 years. Even though my family has lived in Florida since 1807, I have never liked the heat and humidity. I always loved Colorado, but it has become just insanely expensive, across the entire state.
There are a number of drawbacks to WV, but the benefits far, far outweigh the downsides. Actually, some of the drawbacks aren't really. Yes, it will take me 2 hours to do a round trip to where major stores are located, 45 miles away. But it presently takes us 1 hour round trip to drive the 8 miles to my wife's doctor here in Florida, on a 6 lane road, dodging crazy people in giant RVs. Not nearly as many doctors there, but they are there. There is no cell phone service. I don't consider this a drawback, because I hate cell phones. It is located in the National Radio Quiet Zone, and no cell phones actually saves us $70 per month not needing one. There are few jobs, but we are retired, so it doesn't matter.
On the budget side, we will end up saving over $200 per month, to start. We are able to pay for the house and the upgrades we want from the sale of this house, plus some. On the big plus side, we don't have to drive 8-14 hours to go camping in a place we want to be, we will already be there.
So, goodbye Florida and Jimmy Buffett. Hello West Virginia and John Denver. By the way, those are two negatives, if I never hear the songs "Margaritaville" or "Take me home, Country Roads" again, it won't be too soon.
dave
