Coming up on two years in Tennessee

[Bopper]

March 2 of 2023 marks two years from our relocation to Tennessee. I have no regrets about this move, but I have to admit I have some homesickness toward California. I was born and raised in SoCal and have only lived in LA, Riverside, and SD counties.

Don't get me wrong Tennessee is great. The culture of personal freedom, the costs associated with living here, the natural beauty, and the ease of dealing with the state/local government (taxes, dmv, etc) have been the main draw for me. However, there is just something about the west.

I'm sure I'll get used to it here but I wonder if it will ever feel like home. I live in a great community with a much slower pace. Our community feels like a resort but is surrounded by small farms. The people are great and almost everyone in our community is an ex-pat from somewhere. I was also fortunate to bring my job with me to TN and have a great relative income with greatly reduced expenses and taxation.

I'm going back home for a week on business in early Feb, and back again in July-August for an extended vacation. I can't wait to visit friends and family and get out on the blue water. I wonder if any of the other ex-pats have had similar feelings about leaving California.

[ABR]

[Bopper]

Just curious. How old are you and how much of your life was spent in CA?

[unclerandy]

Just moved to Bella Vista AR this past August. I know the feeling you mention but for me I think its convenience/familiarity and of course family and friends. Having said that I don't miss the traffic, crime, graffiti, trash, population density, and 114 degree summers. Yes its more humid than CA but its not Florida! Winter yes but very mild and a minor inconvenience on occasion. The nature, beauty and peace I feel living here is amazing. I don't really have any desire to even visit CA except to see family.

[oddball]

I have no regrets about this move, but I have to admit I have some homesickness toward California....

...I wonder if any of the other ex-pats have had similar feelings about leaving California.

Moved to Texas a little over 5 years ago. I have lived in CA all my life, I'll be 62 in a couple of months. My wife has spent 45 years in CA, having grown up in HI as a child.

When we made our final Uhaul drive to TX, we whooped and hollered and high-fived when we crossed the border into AZ

We both were miserable in CA for the last 10 years of living there. We do not miss CA one bit, my wife will never go back, even though we left some friends and family there. I just retired a few months ago, and one of the reasons is that I loathed visiting CA on business trips, now that has stopped, thank God.

We have both discussed the possibility of going back, and the only way is for funerals. A number of our long time CA friends "unfriended" us anyways because of our support for Trump.

We are both Texans now, and we have a love affair with the state that still endures more than 5 years later. Texans here absolutely love their state, they have TX wallhangings, memorabilia, and trinkets in their homes, so do we. People hang the TX flag, we wear TX themed T-shirts. And I have never seen this behavior in CA.

[Bopper]

I'll be 65 next month and still plan on working for a few more years. My work takes me to some real crapholes occasionally. I'm going to CA next week and Houston a couple weeks after that. It's undeniable how much Texans love their state. It was on my short list too. Tennessee people are kind of the same, orange everywhere, TN flags everywhere, a few confederate flags too here and there.

I hate what CA has become and that forced me to move. I'd likely return if the state ever came back to its senses.

[jrw1911]

Four years now in Tennessee. My only complaint is the cold in Jan and FEB. I try to get away a couple of weeks during those months. This truly is Music City. There are so many music venues I can't even keep tract of them all. Seems like EVERY band has a stop in Nashville.My whole family moved here so I have no reason to go back to CA unless its for business.

[Tikka3x]

Those of you living in Tennessee, are you mostly central, western or Eastern? I'm looking to relocate and wondered how west Tennessee is compared to the rest of the state.

[SoCalDep]

[Bopper]

I live in Middle TN between Smithville and Sparta. The photo in my avatar is from my street taken last October. It's a beautiful place with tons of water.

I'm no expert but I think western TN - Memphis area is a lot more humid and has a lot more crime. I've heard that Germantown has some nice areas.

Sparta is the last city before you get into Eastern Time Zone. We get some humidity in July and August but it's doable.

Tornadoes are no joke. The year before we moved here a serious one come through the area. An ex-california CG'r that is here got hit pretty hard by it.

My daughter lives in Maryville, which is near Knoxville. The climate is definitely better there. We'll likely move there once I retire. For now, I have to be in the Central Time Zone for my job. As a full-time remote, I have to live in one of the timezones I cover.

Nashville is a pretty decent-sized city. You get all that comes with that both good and bad... Franklin and Brentwood are pretty upscale and remind me of Irvine.

[coronaman]

Been six years for me and I do not miss Socal at all. Born and raised there with the last 35 years in Corona.

I am 30 miles east of Nashville but I mainly go there when friends or family come to visit. 15 acres of land with a creek in it that flows into the Cumberland river.
I'm 64 and have one year left until I retire. Being here allows me to travel to a lot of places that are only an hour to hour and a half flying time.

[ABR]

Just curious. How old are you and how much of your life was spent in CA?

[Bopper]

Been six years for me and I do not miss Socal at all. Born and raised there with the last 35 years in Corona.

I am 30 miles east of Nashville but I mainly go there when friends or family come to visit. 15 acres of land with a creek in it that flows into the Cumberland river.
I'm 64 and have one year left until I retire. Being here allows me to travel to a lot of places that are only an hour to hour and a half flying time.

I just picked up a smoker from a guy in the Spring Creek - Dry Branch area not far from you. Really beautiful country there.

[bigbossman]

March 2 of 2023 marks two years from our relocation to Tennessee. I have no regrets about this move, but I have to admit I have some homesickness toward California. I was born and raised in SoCal and have only lived in LA, Riverside, and SD counties.

I am 66 years old. I was born in Encino, grew up in The Valley, and lived as an adult in the S.F. Bay Area. I moved out of CA about 4 years ago, to Idaho. The CA I knew, grew up in, and loved is long gone and is never coming back. I moved, was CHASED OUT by high taxes, traffic, overcrowding, crime, homelessness, and an oppressive government.... just off the top of my head.

I miss the CA of old, and I miss the familiar and fascinating geology - Death Valley, the Sierra crest, favorite fishing lakes and streams, and hard won hunting spots. But you know what? They were all being overrun anyway, and I'm finding new stuff here.

I don't really like going back to CA, it makes me sad to see what's been done to it.

[Dougbert66]

I'm 56. Born and raised in South Carolina. After seeing the beauty of the west I got the urge and moved to Chico for my first job out of grad school in 1992. Loved it. After a couple of years I got sucked into Silicon Valley (I'm an engineer). Hated the traffic and the suburban sprawl. Bought 37 acres and a crappy house in the Santa Cruz mountains in 1999. Happy again. Remodeled and added on with the intent to retire there eventually.

But things in CA continued to "progress." My area, once mostly inhabited by people who were self-sufficient and independent-minded (and knew how to run a chainsaw), was slowly overrun by morons. After the 2016 election the atmosphere at work and in our neighborhood became unbearably toxic with woke/neo-racist zombies. We started thinking about exit plans around 2018 with east TN at the top of the list. The Covid debacle and riots left me feeling like we'd waited too long.

My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's mid 2020 which kicked our butts into gear and set our destination to South Carolina. We made the move in 2021. I'd spent 29+ years in CA and seen it go from a mostly beautiful place with huge potential to a festering sh**hole run by authoritarian goons enabled by brainwashed zealots.

I had to return after a month to retrieve the last of our possessions and make final preparations to sell our place. I dreaded it. Crossing back into CA felt like being smothered. Masks everywhere, jerky drivers, etc. Getting back out was a huge relief. I have no desire to return despite missing my private redwood forest, Yosemite, Sequoia, Lassen, and the PCH. It's sad, but having re-experienced actual LIBERTY, I will never give it up again.