A letter from the Southeast United States

You don't wanna come to Carolina. If the skeeters, fire ants, or armadillos, don't get ya then the gators will ... :biggrin:
 
ateamer said:
Is it a New York thing to honk your horn the monent the light turns green, or does it come from somewhere else? I’m definitely not a Florida native, not at all, but six years ago when I moved here, I don’t recall that happening. Now it’s just about every time I go into town (which is rapidly growing, far faster than infrastructure and businesses can handle), someone is impatiently tapping their horn. Not like the person in front of them is texting or zoned out on opioids and antidepressants (and those are plentiful, just walk down any aisle in Walmart), but the nanosecond the light changes, before the red has even faded completely.
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I'm not being a jerk, but when someone beeps their horn in the south, it's usually to get your attention. If someone beeps at me the second the light turns green, the things that run through my mind are:

- what's going on - is there someone coming that I missed? a pedestrian?
- did I leave something on the roof of the car?
- does the guy behind me need help?

That usually takes about 5 seconds for me to process and being a safe driver, I don't move until I'm convinced the uncertainty is just some impatient person behind me.
 
kyleb said:
And in the left lane with a turn signal flashing endlessly.
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Or in the left lane (or any lane, really) driving 20mph under the speed limit with their flashers on when it starts raining.

EdFred said:
Erroneous! Erroneous on all counts!

We bought property in Tennessee back in June. Getting out of this craphole as soon as kids are done with school.
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I have a guy on my team that moved from your area to TN in 2020 to escape the madness in MI. What's the MI-TN connection with everyone!?
 
ateamer said:
Is it a New York thing to honk your horn the monent the light turns green, or does it come from somewhere else? ...
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When learning to drive decades and decades ago (in the Boston area), I was told about the difference between driving in, say, northern NJ and in the Boston area. In the NY/NJ area, drivers would agressively jump the green. This tendency would get them kill in the Boston area where drivers run the yellow and also the red.

In my area they "fixed" this by making a 1 or 2 second delay between one street getting the red and the other street getting the green. That worked for a very very short time before drivers learned that they could run the red (red, not just pink) and not worry about the other guys having a green light yet.
 
bflynn said:
I'm not being a jerk, but when someone beeps their horn in the south, it's usually to get your attention. If someone beeps at me the second the light turns green, the things that run through my mind are:

- what's going on - is there someone coming that I missed? a pedestrian?
- did I leave something on the roof of the car?
- does the guy behind me need help?

That usually takes about 5 seconds for me to process and being a safe driver, I don't move until I'm convinced the uncertainty is just some impatient person behind me.
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You forgot
- Is there a mechanical problem with my car?

Next time, get out of your car and pop the hood for a moment. After a few seconds looking at your engine, close the hood, give a thumbs-up to the beeper, and holler "It's fine, but thanks for telling me!" Then hop back in and wait for the light to cycle around again.
 
A couple of questions:
For those of you with summer/winter abodes, how do you manage your long absences from the property?

Anyone retire to or live in Flagstaff, AZ? Can I get a seasonal pirep? I'm toying with the idea of buying a small place as a fall or winter or spring retreat.
 
CJones said:
Or in the left lane (or any lane, really) driving 20mph under the speed limit with their flashers on when it starts raining.



I have a guy on my team that moved from your area to TN in 2020 to escape the madness in MI. What's the MI-TN connection with everyone!?
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Lansing. Or more specifically the idiots in Lansing. They think that CA is what we should strive to be.

TN is less of a nanny state. Plus, I like the scenery and lower taxes. And no more shoveling snow.
 
A Letter From the Southwest United States....

Go away.

Thank you

That is all...

:lol:
 
Domenick said:
A couple of questions:
For those of you with summer/winter abodes, how do you manage your long absences from the property?

Anyone retire to or live in Flagstaff, AZ? Can I get a seasonal pirep? I'm toying with the idea of buying a small place as a fall or winter or spring retreat.
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Well, we don't have "summer/winter" abodes, but we have had lake houses for most of my life. We generally have a good neighbor who lives next door look over things/contact us if something is awry. There are a number of companies who do make-ready services who will go around the inside/outside and knock down cobwebs and insect nests, do light cleaning. We typically shut the water off for places that might see extreme cold while we're away, but we still make a trip to the lake house a few times over a winter just to check on things. I'd imagine it's harder to do quick visits when you're talking about being several states away, versus a few hours of driving. Residences in rural areas or without vigilant neighbors could be a pain to keep up.
 
Bob Noel said:
This tendency would get them kill in the Boston area where drivers run the yellow and also the red
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We also have the “Boston left” as I call it here where often 1-2 cars that want to turn left in the opposite lane will turn left immediately as the light turns green even though they don’t have right of way. Coming from northern NJ I was quite confused by this until I got used to it.
 
Same thing in Idaho, just replace "New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont" with "California, Oregon, Washington"
 
Half Fast said:
Not uncommon. Do you understand why southerners consider "damnyankee" to be one word?
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I already have southern relatives (my own and by marriage). I already know that southern time is a thing, and we're not coming down to change anything. We're coming down because we like it how it is now.
 
EdFred said:
Lansing. Or more specifically the idiots in Lansing. They think that CA is what we should strive to be.

TN is less of a nanny state. Plus, I like the scenery and lower taxes. And no more shoveling snow.
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Exact sentiment that my other connection had when he moved south. I think the "You can't drive your boat on the lake" was the nail in the coffin for him (even though he didn't have a boat) - but there were plenty of other nails ahead of that one. He's outside the Knoxville area now.
 
CJones said:
Exact sentiment that my other connection had when he moved south. I think the "You can't drive your boat on the lake" was the nail in the coffin for him (even though he didn't have a boat) - but there were plenty of other nails ahead of that one. He's outside the Knoxville area now.
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Oh, we also couldnt ride motorcycles, go to a second residence, buy clothes, buy food (in the way of seeds) or anything that required upkeep of our houses. So no essentials like food clothing and shelter. But while that ban was in place, guess who was sending her husband up to their second home and trying to get the boat out on the water.
 
My wife and I considered relocation from CA when we retire

For now, that is on hold... after crunching all the numbers, the grass doesn't really look that green elsewhere
 
Ventucky Red said:
My wife and I considered relocation from CA when we retire

For now, that is on hold... after crunching all the numbers, the grass doesn't really look that green elsewhere
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No, but there actually IS grass elsewhere. :D
 
Half Fast said:
You forgot
- Is there a mechanical problem with my car?

Next time, get out of your car and pop the hood for a moment. After a few seconds looking at your engine, close the hood, give a thumbs-up to the beeper, and holler "It's fine, but thanks for telling me!" Then hop back in and wait for the light to cycle around again.
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I saw a post the other day from someone that read, "to the lady that flipped me off when I blew my horn at her ... nevermind, your phone isn't on top of your car anymore!" :rofl:
 
Personally I do not understand how someone could spend their entire adult life somewhere and then sell up and move thousands of miles away when they retire. My sister did that, 30+ years in S California then they moved to TN, 2000 miles from their kids and grandchildren. I plan on staying where we settled after I left the service. Kids are here, grandkids, and I like our home on a mountain and hope it stays in the family long after we are gone.
 
Iflydogs said:
Personally I do not understand how someone could spend their entire adult life somewhere and then sell up and move thousands of miles away when they retire.
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Because I don't like the changes that have happened where I live.

So we're going somewhere that aligns with our views and if we are moving, might as well move somewhere nice.

We have no nieces and nephews and my brother already lives in Florida. One of the kids wants to move to Florida when he's done with school, and the other will just be graduating college when I retire, and thinks she might want to live on the east coast.

So why stay?
 
Iflydogs said:
Personally I do not understand how someone could spend their entire adult life somewhere and then sell up and move thousands of miles away when they retire. My sister did that, 30+ years in S California then they moved to TN, 2000 miles from their kids and grandchildren. I plan on staying where we settled after I left the service. Kids are here, grandkids, and I like our home on a mountain and hope it stays in the family long after we are gone.
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Ha. I can't wait to be out of Illinois. The landscape is boring, the weather sucks, the taxes are outrageous, and the politics... don't get me started. I'd be gone tomorrow except that farmland is kind of hard to move. I'm looking forward to retirement and getting the hell out of here. I hope my kids have the good sense to do so as well. It'll give me another good reason to fly.
 
Jim K said:
Ha. I can't wait to be out of Illinois. The landscape is boring, the weather sucks, the taxes are outrageous, and the politics... don't get me started. I'd be gone tomorrow except that farmland is kind of hard to move. I'm looking forward to retirement and getting the hell out of here. I hope my kids have the good sense to do so as well. It'll give me another good reason to fly.
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Alabama is nice. So is Florida. North Carolina sucks. too many people.
 
Iflydogs said:
Personally I do not understand how someone could spend their entire adult life somewhere and then sell up and move thousands of miles away when they retire. My sister did that, 30+ years in S California then they moved to TN, 2000 miles from their kids and grandchildren. I plan on staying where we settled after I left the service. Kids are here, grandkids, and I like our home on a mountain and hope it stays in the family long after we are gone.
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I wish more people felt like you do.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Alabama is nice. So is Florida. North Carolina sucks. too many people.
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Pretty much anywhere south of Kentucky and east of New Mexico would work for me. We'll see what the political and tax situations look like when the time comes. Less people is better. TN was my original plan but I'm worried it'll be full by the time I get there. Seems like the boomer EOL might clear out some space in Florida over the next decade, but Teresa says it's too hot.
 
Good idea. But our hurricanes in North Carolina are pretty hard. Sometimes several in a year. As I said, Alabama might have some room left.
 
Iflydogs said:
Personally I do not understand how someone could spend their entire adult life somewhere and then sell up and move thousands of miles away when they retire. My sister did that, 30+ years in S California then they moved to TN, 2000 miles from their kids and grandchildren. I plan on staying where we settled after I left the service. Kids are here, grandkids, and I like our home on a mountain and hope it stays in the family long after we are gone.
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For 38 years, I lived on the California coast. There are some great things about living there, but it’s cramped (not much flat ground so everything is close together and roads are tight), traffic is horrendous - the six mile drive home at 5:00 took 40 minutes, it’s very expensive, and cold (living next to a 57 degree ocean). From May to November, everything is brown. Winters have rain 24/7 for days and are cool, damp and dreary. I had to drive half an hour to the airport, and if I got my own plane was going to wait 10 years for an overpriced, drafty, leaky t-hangar.

We moved to Florida. It’s almost always warm in the winter, lots of wide open spaces, the cost of living is less, it’s always green, and our hangar is 40 feet from our door. I can be airborne 10 minutes after saying “hey - let’s go fly”. It is just a bit humid, but it’s good for my skin. We do miss all the great Mexican food in California - haven’t found any here that is on the same level.

So long story short, I pulled up stakes and moved completely across the country to a neighborhood where I knew not a single person, and am in paradise. My life is better in uncountable ways for making the move.
 
ateamer said:
For 38 years, I lived on the California coast. There are some great things about living there, but it’s cramped (not much flat ground so everything is close together and roads are tight), traffic is horrendous - the six mile drive home at 5:00 took 40 minutes, it’s very expensive, and cold (living next to a 57 degree ocean). From May to November, everything is brown. Winters have rain 24/7 for days and are cool, damp and dreary. I had to drive half an hour to the airport, and if I got my own plane was going to wait 10 years for an overpriced, drafty, leaky t-hangar.

We moved to Florida. It’s almost always warm in the winter, lots of wide open spaces, the cost of living is less, it’s always green, and our hangar is 40 feet from our door. I can be airborne 10 minutes after saying “hey - let’s go fly”. It is just a bit humid, but it’s good for my skin. We do miss all the great Mexican food in California - haven’t found any here that is on the same level.

So long story short, I pulled up stakes and moved completely across the country to a neighborhood where I knew not a single person, and am in paradise. My life is better in uncountable ways for making the move.
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Your life is better perhaps. But did you make Florida a better place by moving there? Nobody seems to ever ask that question of themselves. They seem to be blind to the fact that the more everybody moves to this wonderful place, the harder it is on the locals that were born and raised in this place. The locals can’t compete with the newbie, who has $1 million from selling their three bedroom, rancher from somewhere California. They can’t afford to live there anymore. Talking to some of the new arrivals here, they have the arrogance to think that their money helps the community. It actually harms it quite a lot.
Just to be clear that if you’re moving to this quaint little place that you found, I can pretty much assure you that the locals will smile to your face, but they don’t like you and wish that you would go back to where you came from. And no, they don’t care how you did it where you came from.
 
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Zeldman said:
Does anyone know the difference between a yankee and a damnyankee.??
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Me! 27 years since I moved away from the cold tax heavy northeast. This is now (and has been) home.

Morgan3820 said:
Alabama is nice. So is Florida. North Carolina sucks. too many people.
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NC is exploding. When I first moved, western mountainous NC was sparsely populated, but it is now being overrun by halfbacks and summer home owners.

Halfback: Just what it sounds like, someone from the northeast moves to Florida and finds it too hot, humid, flat, and boring, and moves half way back, usually to the TN/NC/SC mountains. Downside is they bring their newly acquired FL driving skills along with them and pokey pokey around the corners ruining all of the great mountain motorcycle roads.

Summer home: Or, they decide to keep the Florida home for the winter, and buy a summer home up here in the mountains with same bad results. I see a Florida tag up here and I know I’m going to be going 15mph through endless corners. Even the 18 wheeler semis can make better time than a Floridian in a BMW through mountain roads.
 
Bill said:
Depends on how he votes.

Oh ****, power off, yoke forward, ailerons neutral, rudder opposite rotation…
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Even if he votes right, it still screws up the fabric of the community. It makes everything harder for the locals. One or two is not a problem. But when you have sustained explosive growth. The community can’t adapt to it fast enough. My property taxes have tripled because some Yahoo from the Northeast or California who has more money then the locals do is willing to pay obscene amounts of money for a vinyl box in a bean field. And they wonder why they’re not liked. Only the developers and the realtors like them.
And then you have the ones who feel the need to get involved and change the new place to the way it was from where they came from. Because they are retired they have all the Time in the world to grind whatever little whiny axe they have. Meanwhile, the locals have to go and make a living to pay the higher real estate taxes, and can’t attend the town council meetings at 1 PM. Have no voice.
Really looking forward to the boomer demographic to start dying off.
 
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Morgan3820 said:
Your life is better perhaps. But did you make Florida a better place by moving there? Nobody seems to ever ask that question of themselves. They seem to be blind to the fact that the more everybody moves to this wonderful place, the harder it is on the locals that were born and raised in this place. The locals can’t compete with the newbie, who has $1 million from selling their three bedroom, rancher from somewhere California. They can’t afford to live there anymore. Talking to some of the new arrivals here, they have the arrogance to think that their money helps the community. It actually harms it quite a lot.
Just to be clear that if you’re moving to this quaint little place that you found, I can pretty much assure you that the locals will smile to your face, but they don’t like you and wish that you would go back to where you came from. And no, they don’t care how you did it where you came from.
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Well, we’re in a unique situation, living in an airpark. Out of about 60 homes, three are natives, and one of them recently moved back after 30+ years in another state. In town the only locals I have contact with are at stores and such. I don’t give a$&*% what they think of me. I’m not on this earth to be some benevolent monk out to improve the lives of all whose path I cross. I’m here to live my own life, fly, and ride.
 
ateamer said:
Well, we’re in a unique situation, living in an airpark. Out of about 60 homes, three are natives, and one of them recently moved back after 30+ years in another state. In town the only locals I have contact with are at stores and such. I don’t give a$&*% what they think of me. I’m not on this earth to be some benevolent monk out to improve the lives of all whose path I cross. I’m here to live my own life, fly, and ride.
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You nailed the boomer mentality. Me. It is always about me and mine.
 
Family is the most important thing for us. If that means living somewhere more expensive, so be it. I've always been able to find folks to get along with, no matter where in the country I am.
 
ateamer said:
Solidly Gen X. WTF do you want people to do? Stay in the same town they were born in, never move, live dead-end lives like some fictional 50s TV family? It’s a free country.
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I want people to have some thought to the impact that they have to the community that they have moved to. Understand the impact that you’re having to those around you that were there first.
 
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