Born 1950 - Spent the 50's full time in Stockton, CA - Great place to grow up - 1960 - Parents divorced - moved to Austin, Texas - Austin, Great place to also live in the 60's - 1960-1968 - back and forth from Austin to Stockton - 68-72 USN - 72 stayed in Stockton till 73 - Moved to Manteca and then to Turlock - Still here.

Stockton is not a place I would want to buy and call home - Austin is nice but WAY TOO big - Weather can be Hellish hot and humid in the Summer - Rain like you have never seen and the Property Taxes are out of this world - just check Google on most any address in Austin - In fact - Google is a great place to check Taxes.

Calif living - NOTHING south of Bakersfield (TOO Many people and traffic - Nothing West of Tracy to SF - again, PEOPLE and TRAFFIC and homes just too much money.

The coast of CA is nice but very pricey..

As far as politics - most of central CA is pretty (Red) conservative - Stanislaus has some of the easiest gun laws - Anyone that is law abiding can get a CCW -

House prices in Turlock - can still get a nice house in the area of 300K - Taxes on homes - about 1.25% of purchase price - watch out for Melo Rues Taxes (sp)

I am 2 hours from SF (picking traffic times) 2.5 hours to Monterrey - two hours from Yosemite - Great riding all around.

Weather pretty good - does get warm in the summer but Not Humid hot like Austin.

One other thing to look at is cost of Utilities and Water - Water right now anywhere in CA is an issue. When looking at a place to live - call local utilities and get prices per Kilowatt hour / Natural gas prices / garbage / water and sewer - it can all add up and be a real shock once you move in.

I have lots of friends in Austin and they often try to get me to move there - they boost NO State Tax - Ya, but lets compare property taxes.... LOL - I bought my home in 1999 for $170K - would sell today for maybe 350K - my taxes this year are $2100 -

We retired in 2008 - looked at moving out of CA and back to the USA, LOL - still here.. just could not find a place that had better weather and cheaper to live - granted we looked mainly in the states close to us. closest we got was Prescott AZ - Nice place to live

Austin is nice to Visit - Humidity, Taxes and Crowds will keep from moving there - Stockton - No way.

IF you visit CA and do Not want traffic or Crowds - Stay away from the greater Bay area and South of Bakersfield - Sac is also very crowded - lots of areas around Sac to look at.

Good luck - Google is your friend when looking.. Great place to really compare Taxes - but watch those other hidden costs...



Note = Started back riding in 97 - retired in 08 = have now ridden in all 50 states - 4 coast to coast since 08 = Lots of great riding in Lots of places here in the US - Some of the best is just East of here and along the Pacific Coast - our favorite is the coast line North of SF all the way to WA. Just not all that much fun coming back home along I-5 , lol...

 

Rhuff - had some great points and i agree with most of them - no disrepect but if you visit thar area - be well prepared for lots of traffic and home prices that can shock you - your careers might off set the cost some - however , just a little bit west and the prices get better - wages might be lower but it a give/take. There is a large dividing line at about Tracy, CA - bay area / Valley area. When ever i have to drive/ride west and hit that deviding point - i mumble "Wholey Crap" hate this traffic - trying to time it during the week - anymore - its most of the time - however, we can split lanes here IF you have the *****, lol

 

I like Texas. Ride all the time. Its hot in the summer though. It does take a day to get out of Texas when you go on a trip. I'm in education and the market for SPED folks is excellent here. If you do come to Texas have her look into jobs at education service centers.

 

Well, 16 months later and we have a destination. Sixteen months ago, we saw Austin Tx, Charlotte, or CA as our choices.

Sometime during a June trip last year to Las Vegas, my GF said to me "yeah, I could live here." I had brought it up a year prior to that on a trip to LV and she said, "I don't think I could." I never brought it up again. So the last 10 months, our focus has been a probable move to LV.

My GF interviewed for a job in LV this week and was offered a position the next day. We have close friends that have lived there for 15 plus years and right now, it seems to make sense.

I look forward to LV as I've always been drawn to the desert. Will we change our minds after 100 straight days of blazing temps? Maybe...... But, after 100 straight days of mostly subzero temps every winter in MN, I will take that gamble. We will be moving sometime over the summer.

 

Good on you for finding your destination, Good luck !

 

I've also always thought that Southern KY, TN or NC might be the best winter/summer weather compromise with lots of roads for great riding. I lived in the central valley of Cali for 20 years and the summer months are damn hot and smoggy. Plus a whole lot of knuckleheads per linear mile on the roadways... Lots of weekend trip opportunities to coastal and mountain areas in Cali though. I am way too much of a wuss to consider summer riding in a place like PHX.

 

I hear ya....after 62 years in MN my wife and I moved to Florida. We've been here 18 months and it's great to ride year round compared to 4-5 months in MN. The only thing I miss are twisty roads and hills. But it's a great trade-off to ride all 12 months. Ride on!

 

Thanks for reporting back and letting us know what you decided. Enjoy Las Vegas.

 

I live in NC and ride 12 months out of the year as long as it not snowing. Anything is possible with the proper heated gear. I drive 65 miles one way to work and have made several trips this year in below freezing temps. The good thing about NC is its temp swings in the winter. Some times its freezing, and then we have 75 degree days in December, January, and Feb. There is always time to ride if your a brave cold weather rider.


I have a gerbings heated jacket liner under my leather jacket and I have leather bibbed overalls under my jacket also. If you turn the Gerbings all they way up, I can sweat on a 25 degree ride. At those temps im wearing my full face helmet as well. Its they only way I can stand it. What's nice about the gerbings jacket liner is the collar is heated and it is tall enough to tuck up inside my full face helmet. the radiant heat helps keep my face warm inside the helmet.