I have a unique opporitunity. I am preparing to retire from the military after 20 years of active service in two years. I didn't do too well - I'm retiring after having made the minimum rank one must make in order to serve 20 years. Guess I just never fit in with the military culture too well. Anyway, I'll be young (just 37), single, no family ties to bind me and with a guarenteed income that will give me an income comparable to a $10/hr job w/health care for the rest of my life. And the GI Bill.
I am sorely tempted to stay and look for a job in the DC area, either as a contractor or get a nice safe federal job. Without going into specifics, I am almost done with my Bachelor's and I have a lot of skills and certifications that are valuable in the federal government. People with less qualifications than I make in the six digits.
Part of me wants to say fuck it and just run away. Far, far away. I hate the DC area. The traffic. The outrageous real estate prices (in fact, after doing some internet research I was shocked to find out that $1200/month for rent was NOT a reasonable amount to pay. Where I am, that is a deal!) After four o'clock I feel like a prisoner in my own home because of the traffic.
When I say far, far away, I dont mean overseas. I was stationed in a lot of places overseas and have seen more of Europe than my own country. When I say far, far away, I mean in a metaphorical sense - far, far away from the sprawl, the pristine SUVs driven by housewives that would cry if they broke a nail, far away from the Jaguar driven by inattentive lawyers chatting on multiple mobiles.
I've come up with some criteria -
1) I want to find a one bedroom/studio apartment for $600/month or less. I figure that is about the maximum I can pay in rent if I am jobless.
2) I want to live within walking distance (1-2 miles) of a real town - shops, supermarkets, coffee houses, bars.
3) I want to live in a town with an easy bicycle commute to a college (five miles or less). I may want to use my GI Bill benefits and/or tutor beginning foreign language students. If I could go months without using my car, I would.
4) I want to be near the water. Not necessarily the ocean, but a sizeable body of water.
5) No place hot. Sorry southwest. You are going to run out of water anyway.
After reading James Kunstler's The Long Emergency, I've done some research and come up with a few ideas -
1) A co-worker of mine who grew up upstate almost sold me on Schenectady, NY. I've figured out that almost any Mohawk Valley town or Finger Lakes town would fit the bill (Utica, Syracuse, Rome, Ithaca - basically, if it is a New York town with a Greek name, it may be a candidate).
2) Burlington, VT. Came highly recommended by an Army Colonel I work with and respect. Looks really cool.
3) Portland, OR. A friend of mine got out of the Army and moved there and loves it.
4) Somewhere on the central/northern coast of California, I.E between Santa Barbara and Half Moon Bay, skipping the Bay area and then from Ft Ross to the Oregon border.
Any place Im missing? Suggestions? Oh yeah - originally Im from Long Island. And the glaciers came down carrying a load of shit and dropped it where they stopped and Behold! Long Island. I am not going back there period.