I Wanna Retire!!

jack
Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:39:37 +0000

Haven’t read this whole thread, but I agree with northeastmom. “NC is no longer that cheap . . .” I think it depends on where you are living in NC. Certainly, the Triangle area (which includes Cary that northeastmom mentioned, and Chapel Hill, Raleigh-Durham area) is not inexpensive. And it’s getting more and more crowded here. Driving on I-40 is a nightmare-- any time of day. I just read that 163,000 people moved to NC last year; many more are expected. Our roads and schools are so overcrowded, and our farms have been transformed into subdivisions and shopping centers. Sadly, this is probably the case throughout much of the country, though.

I also suspect that the sadness dke felt about Asheville, which is very beautiful and thriving, has to do with the fact that more and more very wealthy people from [mostly the NE] are moving there, somewhat displacing the relatively poorer natives. I find notable, whenever I visit, that there are some very fine homes and horse farms and new mansions all around, but you don’t have to drive out of your way to find the trailer parks. The wealthy people who have moved there see the trailer parks as “eyesores” and want them to disappear. So I think a lot of people are being displaced–or feel that they are. And there’s also a section of Asheville that’s very liberal–very blue-- set against the rest of the area up there that’s very, very conservative (politically and otherwise) and relatively poor–certainly in comparison to all the Northerners and transplanted Floridians who have moved there. Whenever I’m there, I find this divide really apparent. I would feel very sad living there among those two separate worlds. Again, I think this may be true in a lot of places, but–to my mind–this divide is very apparent in Asheville. So I suspect this is also part of the sadness dke sensed.