Hello Jim,
My family and I are fortunate enough to live in a sparsely populated area of the Rocky Mountain West. Seems we are always being “discovered” by someone who wants to move here and get away from it all. Some even sell their homes and set up residences here, but more often than not, they last about 2 years and the “for sale” sign is back up again.
Seems to me that the old adage is true… a Leopard cannot change its spots. You can’t take a fellow from the suburbs… drop them in the middle of a Prickly Pear patch and expect them to thrive. Momma starts missing the malls… the kiddies whine that there’s nothing to do. Dad is tired of driving 150 miles (each way) to the nearest big box store.
Couple years ago, a family from California moved in down the road. First thing they did was to install a “security light”. I did the neighborly thing, I introduced myself and asked them if they’d mind killing that light. They were flabbergasted. “We need that for security!” was their answer. I observed that “If a man is afraid of the dark, then he ought to stay in the city.” Eventually, the light went out and we all can enjoy nature again.
Most folks think they’ll be just fine without all the conveniences they left behind. But give them a year or so of living with no doctors, grocery stores or night life within 50 miles and reality sets in… especially when gas hits five bucks a gallon.
The climate here seems to be getting hotter and drier. This year, the prairie never turned green in the spring… it just went from winter brown to late summer brown. The days are hotter and the moisture comes more and more infrequently. The silver lining to that of course, is that the pilgrims will find even fewer reasons to migrate here. – Dutch in Wyoming