Reply #21: I don't have a particular place in mind [View All]

[Coyote_Bandit]

I am somewhat flexible in that regard. But I am definitely looking at getting away from population centers that have lots of traffic and pollution. I have aging parents and being in close proximity to help with their care is something of a concern since I have only one sibling. With that in mind I have mostly focused on Missouri and Arkansas. Kansas and Oklahoma are also options though not preferable for a variety of reasons. Once you get away from the population centers in these states you are mostly looking at small towns and rural areas. Even Jefferson CIty, the capital of Missouri has a population of less than 40,000.

I grew up in a rural area. It was 17 miles to the nearest small town and school. So I am already familiar with the long commute. That town had a population of less than 10,000 at the time. But at that time there were lots of tradesmen and small businesses. Not so now. Everyone works for mega mart or some other big box store. Most all the agriculture is gone. Even if you opened your own little store you would be hard pressed to compete with mega mart and internet sales. Local diners are forced to compete with national chain resturants. Offering a service is probably preferable to trying to sell goods.

I lived in Dallas very briefly several years ago and had nearly constant health problems related to the pollution. I was recruited to a position in Tulsa and have had far fewer problems related to the pollution. But pollution and ozone in particular are getting worse here and my allergy problems are increasing. As I mentioned in an earlier post we have had 13 ozone exceedences here this summer and several other days that had high ozone levels. The refineries don't help.

Location of a particular area relative to other large metropolitan areas is important. Environmental and chemical pollutants that are blow in are just as bad as hose generated at home. So wind currents and upper level patterns are just as relevant as population levels. About four or five years ago I spent a week in Sedona Arizona and several days at the Grand Canyon. I had ot problems ther at all until the final day at the Canyon when the wind patterns shifted and it was covered by a visible layer of smog that had blown in from Los Angeles.