No, Jan doesn't come here anymore. I heard from her a couple of years ago but nothing since then. Had to laugh - when i was looking at pictures of your old gardens, i wondered if you had gotten seeds from her. She sent me a lot of them once and i recognized some of the plants - the mallows in particular. The ones i grew from those seeds have gone nuts!

That's actually what I liked about it (small town). When we were building, I was really impressed by an experience I had in town at that little Tru-Value store by McD's. I'd gone in to get some painting supplies, talking to the clerk, he knew right off where we were building. I'd gotten everything together and he'd wrung me up, and there was another customer who needed help down in the back of the store. In the middle of writing out the check, I told him to go ahead, that I'd wait. His response was that's okay-- here's the receipt. Just leave the check on the counter! Living around the New Haven area all my life (first in West Haven till I was 10, and then in Orange), that was the first time in my life I'd encountered that kind of trust from ANY business. If you think Terryville's small, you ought to see where I am now, in Maine! Bridgton has a year round residency of about 3500 people, although in the summer, that swells to about 8000. :-)

The weather is hot and humid during the months of July and August. The winter is mlder than the northern tier of states. It does have a winter. Winter snows melt faster than states north of there. Most snows are gone in a week or less. The worst might be an ice storm in January. Spring begins early and lasts for 2 months, a avery enjoyable time of the year. The KY side of the Ohio river is a flood plane. Near Evansville, IN, it extends for several miles southward from the river. South of Henderson, there were tall slender poles along the edge of the road rightaway. These are markers for boats and water fording vehicles during flood times. The land-between-the-lakes is park and recreational land. When I was there 20 yrs ago, a speed limit of 45 mph was posted for the entire area, lower limits may be posted in places. Its a slow trip to travel from the north end to the south end. One should consult building code and historical restrictions before buying a home there. Also, this land is flat with little interest except for trees. Last month, I was in Graves Co., KY, doing genealogical research for my family roots. Graves Co has enough roll to the landscape to add a bit of interest. My pick for a retirement place is eastern TN or SW North Carolina. The NC location was picked based mostly on year around weather: far enough away from the coast to avoid the brunt of hurricanes, high enough altitude for night time cooling. The extreme western tip of NC is economically depressed and I would not consider going there. The western-most point for consideration in NC is Franklin. Important considerations for retirees are: Doctors, dentists, internet access at reasonable speed, A choive of TV stations, an easy listening radio station, and grocery stores and services within walking distance of your house; and availability of fuel for cooking and heating. A number of otherwise lovely locations do not have natural gas. The primary fuel is then butane/propane and oil, and that can get expensive in winter. Also, there is the fuss of maintaining a storage tank on the property. Shortage of fuel can happen in midwinter.

Oh I get it! But I promise you, no room in the cars! Last time I went to an ACS meeting (in Silverton OR in June of this year) we had five of us in one car going up and we hauled my husband's two horse trailer. Even IT was full by the time we were done! Of course, we hauled for everyone who was there from the Bay Area, but it was still pretty impressive!