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#92
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If the winds started to blow then the sand thing started to blow as well and you better clean your chain when you got home. This is true by the way of all those Mojave desert areas as well. Even with the sand I still got long life on my chains but I was cleaning them a lot. I always carried a bandana with me too because otherwise you would be inhaling sand which isn't good for you; I chose the bandana over a hospital type of mask because the mask restricted air more, and a bandana took care of the sand. |
#93
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It is a decent place, and the University of Arkansas is there--which means it is on the map for shows and such (the Waltons kicked in money for a performing space), and the Uni is a good one. Bit of a dearth of high-end grocery shopping (no Whole Foods etc at least when we were there; one nice independent up my Bentonville) and a pretty limited selection of good restaurants. You are only an hour and half from Tulsa and two-ish to Kansas City if you need more shopping choices. There are lots of lakes and golf courses--the area around Bentonville/west of Bentonville is basically the lake region/summer vacation spot for those farther west, and some of those lakes are pretty amazing. NWA is a decent regional airport (more Walmart money there) with good connections to Chicago, DFW and direct flights to La Guardia (and I believe Newark as well) It is on the edge of tornado alley though--so you do get some spectacular summer storms, and it does get Gulf weather with humidity in the summer. Spring and fall are pretty nice, though and winters are not that cold. Last edited by paredown; 06-17-2019 at 04:09 PM. |
#94
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#95
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I was recently surprised to find that my cousin and an old HS pal have moved to a new development in Nipomo which is just north of Santa Maria on route 101. It looks like a real bargain with Golf, Tennis, cycling. |
#96
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Shhhhhhh.....don't tell people about the Central coast. It's full.
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#97
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I figured I’d bump this to throw out something I’ve been thinking about lately related to the “best places to retire” issue. (I’m not too far from retirement, say 3-4 years max, so this is becoming more and more interesting.) Feel free to comment as you see fit. St Louis is affordable, and the riding out where I live is quite good, but the bottom line is that the weather stinks in a number of ways. Cold in the winter, hot and humid in the summer, and lots of storms and other nasty stuff in the spring. So I’ve always thought that I wanted to move to someplace with much better year-round weather for riding. However lately, for a variety of reasons, I’ve been doing a lot more rowing (C2 erg) than cycling, which has lead me to conclude that maybe I don’t really need someplace where the weather is perfect 12 months a year. Since I prefer things a bit cooler rather than a bit warmer, I’m now thinking that having a few months a year that are a bit too cool for prefect cycling might not be that bad, since I can always supplement the cycling with indoor rowing. That way I don’t have to find the combination of great weather and affordable living. As much as I like the weather in, say, Santa Barbara CA, I’d rather not have to pay $750k for a run-down shack on 0.1 acres. Bottom line, I’m now thinking that if I’m flexible and don’t really need to ride the bike 4-5 days a week, every week, in Jan and Feb, that will give me a lot more options. |
#98
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There' a word for people who do what you're thinking: snowbird.
There's a reason for why so many people do it, and you touched on a lot of it. Quote:
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#99
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A [rational] voice cries out in the wilderness!
3 months indoors/doing wintery stuff seems reasonable. For several years when I was first living up here, it seemed like I was able to get out deep into December and we'd hit some 70 degree days in March. More recently, it seems like the last decent riding weather is in mid-November and first good riding weather is in mid-April. To me, that is too long. That could just be usual fluctuations in weather, for sure. Or the fact that maybe the warm days were ones when I had to be working and couldn't take advantage, but it definitely feels like it stays cooler longer. Quote:
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And we have just one world, But we live in different ones |
#100
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Last year Leslie and I had reserved a nice "dog-friendly" hotel in Paso Robles for a few days. We planned to have some wine, food and conversation with our pal Cindy Steinbeck at her family winery and tour some others. It was 105F in Paso so we cancelled those plans and drove over the hill to Cambria where it was 68F. We stayed in a fun dog-enthusiastic(beyond friendly) motel on Moonstone Beach Drive. The real "board" walk above the beaches is right across the street and the town has several really good restaurants. There is a nice friendly vibe exhibited by the locals we met on the street, in coffee shops and restaurants. The only obvious drawback for me is the main local "supermarket" is just so-so. OTOH residents can easily pop over the hill to Paso Robles where there are plenty of good shopping options.
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#101
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I'm fortunate to be able to work from home, and expect to be working for another 8-10 years. Still near family. Still near good food. Still near world class medical care. I expect at some point we might move back towards Boston, if only for access to the world class medical care. No known issues, but I've seen the back water medical care offered to relatives in south Florida... Maybe our house will become a part time house...for now it's full time. I recently put together a spreadsheet to evaluate buying a rental locally. Seems that unless a property is bought cheap and lots of sweat equity is applied, the numbers just don't work. Better, as others have said, to put money into investments that take less hands on management/maintenance. You won't know what your interests will be in 10 years. If you asked me 10 years ago if I would be running half marathons, I would have laughed in your face. Today, I'm spending more time running on local trails than riding on or off road. Who knows in another 10 years! (Oh, and the N+1 for running shoes is a lot easier to manage!)
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Colnagi Seven Sampson Hot Tubes LiteSpeed SpeshFatboy Last edited by C40_guy; 06-25-2019 at 10:36 AM. |
#102
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Once you go more than 20 miles inland you are looking at 90's and 100's from June through September. For purchase purposes I'd have to add $1 million to the cost of my comparable house in Upstate NY, anywhere along the Socal Coast and probably $2 million in the Laguna/La Jolla type areas. That's nuts from an economic point of view. |
#103
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#104
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Check out Winter Garden....Just W of Orlando. Very active cycling scene. West Orange Trail runs down main street and gets serious cyclists out of town to some great hilly cycling areas. Winter Garden Wheel Works on main street....rents nice bikes, has maps various routes, etc. Or...take trail over to Clermont area,,,,ride around lakes, etc. Very nice area for an over night visit. Race teams train here in cooler months. I live about 15 miles NE of Orlando. Lake Mary area. Extremely active cycling scene around here...year around...all ages. I live very near the Seminole Wekiva Trail. Gets me out of hi traffic areas. Inverness is a very nice small town near Florida Gulf coast. Wife and I love to visit there. Great overhead view of Withlacoochee Trail just outside of down town on the Visit Fl Inverness trailer. Has a very small town lazy feel to me. Much slower pace than where I live now. The 46 mile Withlacoochee State Trail can get you out in country fast.....or just ride the trail....not much traffic for miles and miles. Lots of trikes and recumbents used on that trail. Trike shop on trail at Floral City...a few miles up the trail from Inverness, and there is a nice bike shop on the trail in down town Inverness (David's World). It's probably safe to say lots of older users. There is a decent motel right on the trail near the nice down town.....Central Motel. OK to stay there for a visit. They accommodate cyclists. Believe real estate lots cheaper than where I live. Great place for retirement living. Not far from Gulf Coast....boating and fishing....at Crystal River. Did I say "very inexpensive living there". Check out trail map. Miles and miles of mostly no side roads, or heavy use. No mountains to climb, or desert humidity.....but otherwise hard to beat these places, especially for 365 day outdoor activity. https://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/c...inverness.html https://www.floridastateparks.org/pa...ee-state-trail Last edited by Ralph; 06-23-2019 at 08:45 AM. |
#105
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I'll echo what Ralph says about Inverness, it's a lovely small town and fairly close to the gulf via Crystal River and Homassasa Springs. Be aware though, it's not a "beachy" coast, if that's your thing.
We are about 45 minutes south in Spring Hill, Hernando County. It's closer to the gulf and closer to the Tampa metro area (TPA is 45 minutes from my driveway). The riding here is also good. For me, it's mostly on the Suncoast Trail, 46 miles that runs from Citrus County down to Hillsborough Co (Tampa). There is a new connector, the Good Neighbor Trail, that runs from Brooksville (next town over from us) to the Withlacoochee. Eventually, the Good Neighbor will extend west to connect with the Suncoast.
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inner Fred |
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