How many of you have lived in the middle of nowhere?

[Xist]

I have been a bilingual Speech-Language Pathology Assistant for two years, working in clients' homes, and I have never had enough work. Almost all of my clients are school kids, but I have almost always had openings after school, and I have almost never worked Saturday. For the first time I will have three morning clients this week and I am supposed to have a fourth soon, but I have been working fewer hours than last year, and there are always cancellations.

Both of my Hondas broke down and I have only had one good paycheck since March. I was dealing with too many problems when my landlord said he was raising my rent. I have not responded yet. Instead I applied to every full-time school opening in the state of Arizona.

Well, not to the ones that paid substantially less than I earn now. I had never seen pay that low, and when I looked for places to live, they charged far more than I can get here. That is a horrible combination!

Only Page responded. It is about four and a half hours from here, only seventeen square miles, eight thousand people, one Walmart and Safeway. No Lowes or Home Depot, just one True Value and one Ace. There is a one-screen movie theater that hopefully has color and sound. The nearest Honda dealership is in Flagstaff, 125 miles away.

However, it is fifteen miles from Lake Powell, 104 miles from Zion National Park, 110 miles from the Grand Canyon, 127.5 miles from Monument Valley, and 151 miles from Bryce Canyon, plus it should pay 30% more than I earned last year, I will not need to pay self-employment tax, will have benefits, and summers off. Also, Mom keeps saying Page has one of the best autism day programs in the state.

My brother is autistic.

My sister is a nurse practitioner and she has been telling me how living at 6,345 feet has been bad for Mom. Page is 4,118. It sounded like Page had more moderate temperature, but it looks like their respective winters are similar, while Page's summer is a little warmer, but it snows in Show Low, but not in Page. I told Mom about the interview, she excitedly told me about the day program, and I said I only found a two-bedroom apartment for rent for more than I felt was reasonable, but a three-bedroom 1,400 square-foot house on a 9,000 square-foot property would have a mortgage payment of about the same.

She excitedly said that they could both come.

This sounds like it would be great for both of them, while I would appreciate the raise, stable hours, and benefits. Also, once I pass the GRE I will finally be able to apply for grad school. I could have from my current job, but the program I want requires applicants to work twenty hours a week doing speech therapy, and parents would have a problem with me leaving every summer, even though I would return a better speech therapist.

If somehow this does not work out, having worked in a school, I should have a far better chance of working in another somewhere more desirable, but hopefully I will finally get into a Master's program, which will make an even bigger difference.

I cannot help but think my landlord will complain that I did not give him more notice, that he would have had an easier time replacing me earlier, but I would have had an easier time finding a job had he told me he was raising my rent before July 14th.

I cannot imagine there are many dating opportunities there.

[Daox]

I have 4 words for you: multiple streams of income

You do not have to work just one job for money. There are SO many opportunities to make money here in the US it is ridiculous. Lots of them can be done with a little bit of time here and there, and next to no capital investment. Google and youtube are your friend. Just find something you think you might enjoy and try it out.

That all being said, I have lived in the middle of nowhere and I loved it. Granted, its not for everyone, but I did enjoy it.

[Fingie]

i live in the countryside, 4 miles from the center of our village/town.

and 12 miles from a city.

i love it here. But your distances sound a bit more than mine

[freebeard]

Me, for one. Here's my brother's house, built in 1867 in an undisclosed location in the mid-Willamette Valley. And the car I traded a set of wheels for. I was there last weekend.



The town was never incorporated (like Paradise, NV) and the population peaked at ~150 early in the last century. It's maybe 3 dozen now.

There were two grocery stores until I was in grade school, when one burnt. The other store, the feed & seed company and the farm implement shop all burned in the last 10-15 years.

My brother is autistic.

My sister is a nurse practitioner and she has been telling me how living at 6,345 feet has been bad for Mom. Page is 4,118.
....
She excitedly said that they could both come.

Who's going to spring for the 25% down on the mortgage?

[TheEnemy]

I live in a town that is very similar in size, one thing to keep in mind is any special needs may not be met which will require that long drive to the city, for me that is 80 miles one way.

But when you match that with the fact that on a daily basis its only 15 minutes to cross town to get to work even when traffic is slow and riding a bike to work is perfectly doable that can offset the aint nothing here issues.

[JockoT]

I was born, bred and brought up in a small town of 6,000 people. Dating was never a problem Met and married my wife there. Okay, we were not as remote from other centres of population as Page. Nearest city was about 25 miles away. Local dealership was Ford and there were more Fords in our streets than was the norm. It is just the way it works. I loved it. I could drive between any two points in 5 minutes, irrespective of traffic. Now I live in a town of 50,000 inhabitants. Traffic is busy from 8 am to 6 pm. Okay we have more shops, but the quality of life is nowhere as good.
My suggestion. Suck it and see.

[jamesqf]

I just have to stay that you seem to have no effing clue what the middle of nowhere is. I mean, eight thousand people? A Safeway, a WalMart, hardware stores. Heck, I bet it even has traffic lights :-)

Now if you want some places on the edge of nowhere, try Ravendale, California, population 36. Or Jarbidge, Nevada, 20 miles from a paved road.

[seifrob]

8000 people sounds large enough to me. I lived in small town (2500 souls) and I wish I never left.

Do they have a dentist? Local hospital? Car repair shop? School? Churche? Boy scout club? Kindergarden?

Hey, who needs WalMart, when you have Abdul's hardware store, Mrs. Mervinsky Buttons&fabric, Soltys Brothers Butchery and delicatessen, local grocery, and two (!) coffe and ice cream shops (I already forgot owners names) on town square less than five minutes apart by walk.

What makes quality of life? possibility to buy the same goods in more shops?
Go for it and give it a try. Dating will come.
And FedEx and Netflix operates nation-wide.

P.S: see this movies: Doc Hollywood, The Family man

[darcane]

The only question I saw was the title... was there something specific you were wanting to know about small towns?

I grew up about 30 miles outside of a small town like you describe, and later moved to about 8 miles from that small town. My sister and I were once in the newspaper due to our long bus ride when I was in 1st grade, 2 hours each way. Rural living is typically slower paced and more relaxed than the big city and I still remember it fondly.

[redpoint5]

Zion is the best.

The dating pool is no longer a problem because of the internet. I've gone on dates in Atlanta, Phoenix, Colorado Springs, and Portland with people I've met on OKC.

I met my wife on OKC.

Go where you stand the best chance of career success and happiness, and find a woman online and take her on a date to Zion. If she doesn't like it, dump her.