Living in the middle of nowhere is a pain in the ass. My driveway cycles between muddy, rutted, and snowbound. My lawn goes feral every spring. Pipes freeze, trees fall, skunks must be chased away (or killed), I spent a fortune on a septic tank, my mailbox rarely evades the snowplow, etc…
Then I remember life in the suburbs. Living in the middle of nowhere, even if I freeze to death in a blizzard, is better than the constrained and emasculating hell of the suburbs. Nobody else says such things so I figure I’m just Curmudgeonly.
But here’s a post that comports with my experiences; Rural – Where Less Can Be More. It includes this: “At the farm, I can see the Milky Way rise and set in all its glory every night that is clear. I can see stars that do not exist in the city.” That sums it up nicely. My homestead is a mess but I’ve got stars. Just about every night I spend a few minutes “checking out” the sky, ostensibly to look for northern lights but mostly because it’s beautiful. (Same article linked at Suburb vs Rural: Let’s Compare and Contrast and hat tip to Maggies Farm.)
Rural is terrific – if you have the strength and stamina. If you don’t you have to pay somebody else who does, and that gets expensive.
If you look a while you can find parts of Suburban where all that constraint gets ignored. No parking of trailers or boats? My neighbors would stage an armed insurrection. If my particular subdivision ever had an HOA it died of neglect, contempt, or some other natural cause.
I remember being snowed in- no way our 3/4 ton 4WD Jimmy could plow that cement-like snow. Next morning I look out to see a county road grader in my looong driveway. Hooray, we’re rescued! Oh, wait. He’s stuck. Y’all got abandoned cars as lawn ornaments. I got a road grader! And stars at night cuzza no yard light.
If you try real hard there are lots of places that are in between.
Good point.
I’m on the other end of things. I’m trapped in Calhoun’s rat experiment A cyberpunk dystopia Atlanta. Living in a giant city like this can do things to your sanity. I’ve been here five years and I still haven’t figured out the appeal of big cities. Many of my friends tell me that this is nothing: I should see *real* crowded conditions, like Buenos Aires or Shenzen. No thanks.
I’ll be glad to depart for somewhere where I can actually aspire to own a house. Maybe even a yard. Definitely a parking spot I don’t have to pay for by the hour, painted just slightly too small for a normal car. No more 400 sq ft apartments for me!
so I live in suburbia but near the fringes. I have a bonafide rifle range within three miles of my house, have land I hunt within 1-2 miles, but still can get delivery pizza from 5+ different places, and the wife has a less than 15 minutes time to Target (the <15min TTT is an important metric for her).
I'd LOVE 50+ acres of solitude, but in this area with the kids in these schools, that is a costly option, and we moved to this area for the schools.
50 acres where pizza is delivered? Amazing!
my family thinks i’m nuts, but i’m looking at retiring to Bettles, AK. 13 people, no road access, lights are by generator or oil lamp, water by hand pump…. my kinda place. North Pole is gettin crowded…..
No road access sounds awesome but I’m addicted to trucks and motorcycles.
I am not NEARLY as rural as you are (and don’t want to be) but I do have ten acres just across the county line in an unincorporated area that’s a mere half hour from all the shopping I need. I can not WAIT to get the daughter off to college so I can move out there for keeps.
You’ll be happy you did… well most of the time at least.
Great article on the urban-rural divide by Victor Davis Hanson: http://www.city-journal.org/html/oldest-divide-14042.html