As you probably know , I moved to the Phoenix area again just two years ago this month, from Oregon where I lived in the same house for 21 years.

I simply do NOT LIKE big cities or six months of 100+ degree days each year...both of which describe Phoenix.

Like every one else, my ideal area would have:

-low crime rate,
-a city of no larger than 100,00 folks, but preferably about 25-35,000 though smaller might be okay too,
- access to VA health care within 35 miles or so,
-a rifle range available to members,
- mild winters & summers,
-reasonable gun laws & ccw requirements,
-available natural gas to residences,
-low income, property, and sales taxes (if any),
good housing.

It does not matter if there are jobs in the area or not, as I have already been retired for 23 years and have what seems to be a stable, small, monthly income about twice the size of most folks' social security.

I don't have a pile of cash (or won't anyway if I have to split the value of this place), but could either pay cash or at least 50% down for a pretty nice small place of my own.

If a truly small town, I'd like to live close to downtown, not in the "burbs", so long as the "near downtown" is a stable, viable, neighborhood community of home-owner residents and is not a "gonna-be" slummy, transient-prone area.

So now that I have described my nirvana, is there any such place left?

Can (and will) you tell me where it is?

Well my town is 7 out of 9 on your list,the winters aren't as bad as they used to be .Its 200 miles to the VA and they do provide shuttle service.The range is public $15 a year 6 miles from town {9400}.I've been here 36 years not what I was expecting when I moved from Boise in 1976 just needed a job that I'm still doing.I find it interesting that the residents on the west side of the state come to the eastern side to hunt and fish and look for work but still maintain how great their side is.So thats my town and be aware that unless you were born here your still an "outsider" which isn't such a bad postion to be in when you feel the urge to bad mouth somebody it won't bite one of your relatives later on.

Frist off start the search for VA hospitals. Then look at them those in the west but east of CA and south of SD. and north of about 200 miles north from the southern coast.

Leaves you a very narrow band of land to work with. If you want less then perfect some areas of MT WY SD NB CO NM OK AR and most likely a few more.

Check around the San Antonio area...lots of vets in that area.

AC, I would give Dartmouth, NewHampshire a look. It meets almost all your requirements. I'm not sure how (mild) you are talking for winter and summer, but they are certainly bearable.

quote:

Originally posted by RVL III:
Check around the San Antonio area...lots of vets in that area.

Its hard to tell from a map...how far from San Antone do you have to be to get away from the urbanites & yuppies? A close friend who used to live there tells me there are more liberal Democrats there than even in Washington, D.C. That isn't really true, is it?

Sheridan WY I belive has vet hospital

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
AC, I would give Dartmouth, NewHampshire a look. It meets almost all your requirements. I'm not sure how (mild) you are talking for winter and summer, but they are certainly bearable.

That's interesting...I had considered Vermont, but the winters in Vermont are more than I want to put up with. In my late 70s, I don't enjoy driving (or walking for that matter) on ice any more.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Sheridan WY I belive has vet hospital

I'll check that out, Pdog. I like what small town parts of Wyoming I've been in.

I also liked the Oklahoma panhandle, and west Kansas, and the sandhill country of Nebraska, and pretty much all of southern and far, far, north-western Utah.

Hated Denver, but don't have much experience with the rest of Colorado...which is likely too pricey for me anyway.....have heard a lot of good things about the smaller towns on the west side of the rockies in CO, though.

And liked a lot of the small towns in Montana anywhere east of Great Falls...especially one the name of which slips my mind, but it was Ft. something or other (Ft. Benton?), on a large major bend of the Missouri River, about 90 miles NE of Great Falls.

Really liked the climate around Norman, Oklahoma, except for the damned twisters every Spring/early summer....but didn't like the town itself, and it's way too close to Okla City for me. But If you know the climate there, you know about how much summer heat or winter cold I like.

Can anyone tell me anything about the Dodge City area of Kansas?

This is going to be an interesting search. Weather and population are starting to look more and more like the prime determinants.

quote:

In my late 70s, I don't enjoy driving (or walking for that matter) on ice any more.

Not alot of ice, but snow. Winter is much milder there then northern part of NH/VT They do a good job of plowing and sanding though. VA right across the river in Whiteriver jct VT, maybe 5-10 min away. No sales tax,easy to get CC permit, dont need one in VT. Shooting is as close as the nearest farm or woodlot. Reasonable house prices and taxes.

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:

quote:

In my late 70s, I don't enjoy driving (or walking for that matter) on ice any more.

Not alot of ice, but snow. Winter is much milder there then northern part of NH/VT They do a good job of plowing and sanding though. VA right across the river in Whiteriver jct VT, maybe 5-10 min away. No sales tax,easy to get CC permit, dont need one in VT. Shooting is as close as the nearest farm or woodlot. Reasonable house prices and taxes.

Starting to sound interesting to me. The other thing I really like about the "macro" area is there are lots of very good (top drawer, actually) smaller universities and colleges where a person can audit classes just for the no pressure joy of learning.

Have a look at central Virginia. We have a few hot humid days, very seldom gets very cold, the VA is close by.
Richmond has a 2 oe 3 private ranges in the surrounding counties. My range has 2 rifle ranges, one is 100 yards, the other 500 yards, theres 1 100 yard rim fire range, 1 50 yard Bullseye range, IPSC/PPC 50 range, 3 plinking ranges, fishing lake, sporting clays.
We have two indoor ranges the newest has four 25 yard ranges all air conditioned and heated, snack bar and if you have the super duper membership there's a lounge upstaires.
There's bunches of small towns in every direction, althought east and south east the prices get higher.

Jim

If you're thinking about S.W. Kansas, you should really take a look at either Pratt or Kingman. East of Dodge City, not as big, on 54 highway, west of Wichita far enough (VA in Wichita I think). They both get more rain and are just a pinch more humid than Dodge, but not nearly as bad as Norman. Pratt has a great Regional Hospital, small airport, and enough of the amenities without the big pop. to get a guy by. And best of all, you'll be close enough to come out and hunt all the whitetails on me that you want or are allowed! Good luck in your search.

Most of the liberal are north of San Antonio in Austin.
You might want to try the counties that ajoin Bexar County.
San Angelo might be another option, though it's not close to much of anything.

You're describing where I live.Liberty Hill,Tx.Still small town America where you know most everybody (+ they're friendly). 45 minutes north of Austin,20 minutes to the VA,15 minutes to a major supermarket although we have 2 grocery stores in town. 15 minutes to 2 different shooting ranges.About 2 months ago right down the road from me the property sold for $5600.00 per acre.If you're interested I have a realtor friend that deals primarily in ranch property.(he's a shooter as well).I also am friends with the mayor who just put her house on the market downtown.I could get you in touch with her as well.Summers are hot;it is Texas after all but winters are nonexistent.P.M. me if you want some names+ phone#'s.

My personal idea of where to live is one has to beable to take a piss out the front door and shoot his 06 out the back door with out the cops being called.

That's where I live. I am in the country however,my ranch is 10 minutes outside of town.I have my own range here as well.A few years ago a friend of mines wife was accosted in her home in town by 2 pit bulls;killed her cat in front of her in her house,she ran outside holding the baby with the dogs in pursuit.She jumped up on a large wire spool + screamed to high heaven while the dogs were snapping at them.Directly a little old lady down the street comes out,sees what's going on,comes back out with her rifle,dusts both dogs + goes back in the house.I love this town.

San Angelo is one of. My favorite TX towns. I would consider it.
I live in Winchester,VA. We have a couple of weeks in July and aug of high 90 with high humidity. Winter mild with an occasional ice storm that glazes the roads for a couple of hours. VA hops up the road in martins burg, sv about 25 minutes. Several pay to use gun ranges and a new public range being built. Taxes seem about normal. Cost of housing not the best or worst. I reckon it would take 250000 to get anything worth living in.
Weapons are smiled upon here. Very easy to get CCW and carry.
Town is about 40000 and the surrounding county about 60000. 90 mminutes to Dulles airport. Mostly conservatives here. The Winchester star is more conservative than liberal.

You guys are GOOD sources of information!

BTW, I have to apoligize to the folks of San Antonio...it was NOT San Antone my friend lived in and described as rife with liberals. It was Austin! He lived in the "yuppie" hills just outside of Austin, amongst the other corporate executives-come-gentlemen ranchers.

quote:

Originally posted by jfromswk:
If you're thinking about S.W. Kansas, you should really take a look at either Pratt or Kingman. East of Dodge City, not as big, on 54 highway, west of Wichita far enough (VA in Wichita I think). They both get more rain and are just a pinch more humid than Dodge, but not nearly as bad as Norman. Pratt has a great Regional Hospital, small airport, and enough of the amenities without the big pop. to get a guy by. And best of all, you'll be close enough to come out and hunt all the whitetails on me that you want or are allowed! Good luck in your search.

That sounds good to me! I've always liked Kansas...all of it except the part over right against MO...and I only don't like that part because of the KC influence and population pressures.

I really like western KS because I like drier climes, open prairies interrupted ever so often by small hills, lots of upland game, and older small towns built and lived in by people who worked the land for a living. Places which revered their library, town square and so on, and where it wasn't at all uncommon for most of the in-town business to be transacted at the local coffee shop or grain elevator.

Even better if they were big enough to have a weekly newspaper sometime in the past but not big enough to have ever had a daily.

You know the old DeVore ranch over NNE of Wichita? That was family....by blood, not marriage.

quote:

Originally posted by Norman Conquest:
You're describing where I live.Liberty Hill,Tx.Still small town America where you know most everybody (+ they're friendly). 45 minutes north of Austin,20 minutes to the VA,15 minutes to a major supermarket although we have 2 grocery stores in town. 15 minutes to 2 different shooting ranges.About 2 months ago right down the road from me the property sold for $5600.00 per acre.If you're interested I have a realtor friend that deals primarily in ranch property.(he's a shooter as well).I also am friends with the mayor who just put her house on the market downtown.I could get you in touch with her as well.Summers are hot;it is Texas after all but winters are nonexistent.P.M. me if you want some names+ phone#'s.

That sounds a lot like the old Texas I used to know, NC. Do they still have a for-real hardware store there? How about a rancher's co-op? I know the local high school doesn't play tackle football, now does it?

(Had to throw that last jab in there just to "fun" ya. I won college scholarships to both UT and OU, but went to OU. We'll ignore that most of our best football players came from "Tejas".)

AC if you want more info from this end, send me a PM. A phone call would be easy enough if interested.

Yes,yes,+yes. Winckley's hardware store right on thehighway in town.Closest farm bureau= Bertram,/12 miles...Best,Walburg=20 miles,county seat ag dep. 12 miles. Liberty Hill is going for State...4A. That is the caveat here is that as the realtors are pushing with the new high school,thus goes property sales.It will not get cheaper.The new toll road was finished this spring.The property here will skyrocket.I am not in the real estate business but I see it coming + I would much prefer to see like minded individuals in our community.Too many yuppies from Austin eyeing the same property.Other than that,that is my interest in the matter,.

Oh,we also have churches in all the Christian religions( NO muslim);also 2 liquor stores that are closed on Sunday.

South East Missouri has all of what you asked for

VA hospital in Poplar Bluff and numerous public and one private shooting range within minuets

Relatively small population 40k for the entire county "Butler"

As far as cost of living.....cheap!!! When we travel we always say its cheaper back home

Hunting ground by the thousands and thousands of acres Mark Twain National Forest

All hunting licenses are over the counter and less expensive than most any state I hunt in

Senior citizens hunt and fish free 65 and older

Tons of fishing in 3 rivers and 3 lakes all less than an hours drive

Yes, Sheridan WY has a VA hospital.

If you are considering Colorado, check out Grand Junction. It's right in the middle of some of the worlds greatest Elk hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:
Yes, Sheridan WY has a VA hospital.

If you are considering Colorado, check out Grand Junction. It's right in the middle of some of the worlds greatest Elk hunting.

Thanks for the info on Sheridan. I'll check it out some more.

I had never considered Grand Junction because of the University there. That's where my BIL went to school and I have no respect at all for him. Plus I suspect with the U there, it will be bigger than I am looking for, but I guess I should give it a peek.

The Mid-South has every one of your requirements and more.

One person doesn't make a University. Mesa State is not the most liberal we have in the state, that distinction is held by Boulder.

Duragno and Craig both have VA hospital.
Durango's 15-20k
Craig is closer to 10k.
In both places you would have excellent elk hunting right out your back door.

Hasn't it been 95+ deg in central tx for the last 5 months , just asking.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
Hasn't it been 95+ deg in central tx for the last 5 months , just asking.

95 degrees IS cool compared to Phoenix. So far this month the average daily high temp according to this morning's paper, has been 111 degrees. And for two weeks straight a little earlier, the average temp 24 hours a day, day and night, was 102. Yep, a daily high of 95 would be a pleasant change....almost like a day up in the mountains at the lake .

Return at once to the great Pacific Northwest....... Wenatchee, Wa. is just 160 miles over the hill from Seattle, Columbia river flows right through it, cheapest electricity in U.S. Douglas Co.PUD advertises My 2 month bill running A/C was $49. I believe nearly everyone heats with electricity......300 days sun, right now it's hot but it's mid summer. Don't have to travel for mountain scenery, you are in it. Apple HQ for the world, good housing, rent schedules, I pay $250 less here for same dwelling in Seattle. Two local public rifle and pistol clubs, golf courses, beefed up police force so low crime rate, all the banks and stores I'll ever need, shopping centers. Great highway system designed for the future, 160 mi. east to Spokane. You can Google up Chamber of Commerce to see and learn more, also realty. No personal income tax, but 9% of most everything except food.......a lot of retirees have found this place, they are thick in the shopping centers mid-afternoons. There is a absence of bums, homeless and such unless you go out looking for them (I mentioned PD, 55 officers in a smaller community)..anything else you might need, just ask? One more thing: Amtrak runs right through, local airport with Alaska Air goes most anywhere plus bus service,

If the only problem with Phoenix is size and heat but otherwise Arizone is OK, why not Prescott? It's got VA, small town atmosphere, cooler than Phoenix and Gunsite is just outside of town.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
If the only problem with Phoenix is size and heat but otherwise Arizone is OK, why not Prescott? It's got VA, small town atmosphere, cooler than Phoenix and Gunsite is just outside of town.

No thanks. Prescott, Prescott Valley and that whole area has become "summer home" paradise for Phoenix over the last 20 years. I used to hang out in Prescott a lot 20-30 years ago. No more. Now, maybe Seligman, but probably not. If I was going to relocate in AZ I'd almost have to go live in the "Strip" to find the "small town" atmosphere I want..

Kanab, Utah might fill my ticket fairly well though.

I passed through St. George, Ut a few years ago. Nice town.

I'm a big fan of Utah and Idaho, I think they'd both be great places to retire. Don't move to Wisconsin, Minnesota or Michigan, the winters are awful.

Have you checked out Willams, or Flagstaff AZ.
Yuman

Take a look at East Texas.
Call Tyler TX about the center of it.
North to Paris TX, south to say, Livingston TX,
west to Terrell TX, and east to the State line with LA.

We are pleased with choosing the Texas Hill Country for our pending retirement (4 years off). We are in Boerne (~10k people) but within 40 minutes or so of the San Antonio airport. Good people with good values here. Reasonable home prices too. Most of our neighbors are vets or active.

http://livability.com/top-10/t...towns-2012/boerne/tx

Ive lived in San Angelo Tx for 30 years, but I'd relocate to Utah if I could replace my home here with one there and not take on a house payment. We get several 100+ days here and not much rain. All the lakes drying up and drastic watering restrictions coming.