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I think the states have gotten so used to stealing the gas tax for other programs, they are unable to put the money where it rightfully belongs.
I have crossed the USA 6 times in the last 5 years and avoided toll roads completely. And that without going far out of the way. I think overall TX has the best secondary highways. Which goes along with encouraging more commerce. When you look at how far spread out the state is, you realize how well they have done their job of road maintenance.
I noticed somewhere that Texas killed plans to convert some roads to gravel after the public complained.
Plan to head to Madison WI and over to NW Iowa for 3 or 4 days next week and do some camping and car shopping. Probably buy something and hit a deer on the way home - even after our long hard winter, they are thick out there right now. Gonna try driving the van again, so if we wind up driving two cars home, the van will lead the way, so it'll be the "cowcatcher".
@Stever, MI is all about designing/making cars and trucks, so it's kind of hard to charge people directly to drive on the roads.
Took a few nice summer vacations in Mackinac and would like to go back.
If the bridge is north/south, we stayed in some condos on the southeast side.
Yeah, that would be the town of Mackinaw City (note the different spelling from the bridge spelling).
We often grab a meal there going north. Never made it to Mackinac Island - sounds a bit touristy (fudge!) but - "The road encircling the island and closely hugging the shoreline is M-185, the United States' only state highway without motorized vehicles." That'd be fun to do on bikes (it's an 8 mile loop).
Yeah, the city got the spelling wrong.
We'll actually be in the UP a little in July. Going to meet my donor in Wisconsin, will take the ferry over to Ludington and up the coat of Lake Michigan, over the Mackinac and up to the Soo. Come on over and do the locks with us.
We should try to meet up. The Soo is great fun (we'd enjoy the ferry too). Naturally we have stuff planned for July on the second and fourth weeks already. Friends here are talking about doing Engineer's Day at the Soo.
@Stever It's fun to take the high speed boats and bike or walk around the island. Just watch out for the 'Horse Apples'.
I think we'd probably e there the third week. I've gone though the locks at least 3 times which,considering where I live, is pretty good.
Cool, keep me posted.
I hate it when people spell the name wrong, like Edmonds.
It's EdmundS.
I want that chair...
I already asked for it!
I've been watching and lusting for one like it! I thought he was going to stop and sell it to me when he went through Ohio on his way back from the first picture with the chair! I asked if they sell them in the Company Store. I'd buy one!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I wore out my first one I got back in the CarSpace days. My Edmunds car mugs are just about toast. Fun swag.
You can send me a chair like that..... Or I'll pick it up in July.....
Turns out I'm busy that year.
There was a joint in Anchorage called Mr. Whitekeys and he put on live shows in the summer (featuring an ex-Miss Alaska and other local talent, and his band, the Spamtones). The menu included lots of that Alaskan delicacy, Spam (Spam on Pilot Bread was one appetizer). People were always sending him photos of themselves holding a can of spam somewhere - Empire State Building observation deck, the summit of Denali, the Magic Kingdom. Be fun to do that with our chair.
The Edmund city sign is the best play on names since a Bonneville group that had get togethers
suggested meeting at Bonnieville, KY, sort of near the Corvette Museum south of Louisville,
Someone already got Edmund, OK in the picture!
How about a chair in front of the National Museum of the USAF
or the Wright Brother's workshop in the National Park
http://www.nps.gov/daav/planyourvisit/index.htm
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
So close
Taking the wife's Escape on a road trip next week and we are bronging the cargo box. Haven't used it since last summer and I couldn't find a key.
Turns out she has one on her keychain/fob. Once I found the right key, I was able locate the 2nd key also. Whew!
Stopped at Decorah Iowa last week for a couple of nights. Stayed here last year and enjoyed the campground and the town. There's a small college here, a Norwegian folk museum and some good food spots. Everything is easily accessible by a bikepath that follows a trout stream through town. There's even some topography, even though it's Iowa - lots of bluffs (the glaciers missed it)..
Nice chair.
So I missed it - when and where are you moving? You better still be a Yooper through July....
We're going through the photo albums this week and saving some to the computer, taking the rest to the landfill. Then on to the other junk to get rid of. After everything gets sorted out, we'll put the house on the market. Could be out of here in August or September. We may snowbird for a while since it takes forever for houses to sell up here.
Oh, we're bugging out for southern New Mexico, probably Las Cruces but maybe a bit further north.
And where do you stand on a new (to you) vehicle to replace the van?
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
lol, we're currently shopping used vans. May try to keep the Quest long enough for the move and try to find a friend or two to help us drive two vans out to NM. Then trade them both on something new.
What are you guys doing come August anyway?
What, you need help moving? Sorry, I'm in Bora Bora the whole month.
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I could probably dig up a nice van for you to drive Michael. Like our '89 Voyager.
Southern New Mexico. Should have all the cosmopolitan glamour of the UP..
Now closer to Albuquerque would be more like it ........
ABQ is nice, but we're wanting warmer winters, for a while at least. Las Cruces seems "big enough" and it's a college town too.
Get a place big enough for visitors.. I have a vacation in January.
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And only about a 9 hour drive from me.
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Hm, hosts confab in after New Year's. eh? I'll pencil it in.
(y'all are fine with tents, right? I don't think that area is too overrun with rattlers and scorpions.
)
I understand warm winter but Las Cruces didn't spin my chair either time I was there. I'll grant you I didn't do much there other than stay overnight. If God tells me I only have one day to live I'll ask Him to send me with a car to Las Cruces and I'll drive to Kerrville, TX. I did that once and it was the longest day of my life! When driving past El Paso is the highlight you know you have a problem. Kerrville itself was pretty nice.
LOLOL.
Our friends up in Taos don't like it much either but every time they give us grief, I pull up the weather. It gets chilly up there at 7,000 feet. Lots of people would drive through Boise and say similar things, especially if they just get off the Interstate and spent a night there.
What the hey, we're used to moving so if it doesn't work out after a year or two, we'll head somewhere else.
If you are not worried about high taxes NM is fine. LC is still two much elevation for me. I like being under 2000 ft above sea leavel. I would have figured you for a Florida snow bird. Man this would be nice when friends come to visit. Plenty of parking for them.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5574-Redfox-Rd-Las-Cruces-NM-88007/92426359_zpid/
Oh man, I'd rather live in an Airstream than worry about maintaining something like that. We do enjoy company but sheesh. And all that and no pool?
(Too many Yankees in Florida.
Some parts are nice - we like Lakeland - but it's like the UP, a day's drive just to get out of the state, and we're jonsing for some mountains. )
CA and NY would give us pause, but taxes are way down on the list of reasons not to move somewhere. The government will get you one way or the other so you may as well live where you want.
Wait until you start taking those RMDs out of the IRA or 401K, though..
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NM has an okay retirement tax exemption. A bit better than Michigan now that Michigan has changed their tax laws. Sure can't avoid the rust and hernia tax up here though.
What do you guys want me to do - move back to Alaska where they pay you to live? I like snow and all, but it's time for someplace new. Actually we're still open for suggestions. This move needs to be west of the Mississippi, be in a good sized college town (100k to 400k), have some ethnic diversity (translation - food other than burgers), and be walkable with mountains visible.
(Too many Yankees in Florida.
Some parts are nice - we like Lakeland - but it's like the UP, a day's drive just to get out of the state, and we're jonsing for some mountains. )
CA and NY would give us pause, but taxes are way down on the list of reasons not to move somewhere. The government will get you one way or the other so you may as well live where you want.
The Mts are a big thing for my wife. That eliminates FL. Living in a motorhome is a contingency if worse came to worse. Living where we are in San Diego ain't bad. Just the $17,000 we pay in CA income and prop taxes that drives me to leave. And it will get worse as the state is bankrupt and not telling anyone. I have spent some time in NM. My parents lived in ALB and Roswell. The altitude gets to me though. No energy. I think TX offers about the most bang for the buck, COL and variety. There are a lot of places I could enjoy living. Right now I am thinking a place where I can go catch lunch without a big hassle appeals the most. That means owning a lake or living on one.
@gagrice said:
Bingo. Twice.
Big Bend NP is really nice country. People don't associate Texas with mountains either, but there's a couple over 8,000 feet.
Our 10 day trip to the Hill Country of TX we took US 90 just out of El Paso. It is a very nice highway with no traffic. Goes right down by Big Bend and into Del Rio. We saw more antelope on that trip than anywhere up North. As far as mountains, I can take them or leave them. I do like hills and valleys and rivers and lakes. Mountains are pretty when traveling. I can see 11k foot Mt San Jacinto on the clear days from my patio. Not as pleasurable as the Humming birds and Orioles feeding on my deck. Sipping a nice glass of wine and having shrimp cocktail. Home Sweet Home...
Now it hills work (but definitely not mountains) try the Florida panhandle particularly around Tallahassee and a bit to the northwest of it. Beautiful area, nice, interesting relatively small city with lots going on and surrounded by tons of forest. The high point in the whole state is only 445 ft but you wouldn't know that driving the area. No big summit to stand on though. Big piece of the city itself are pretty wooded. Lots of live oaks with Spanish moss hanging. Falllastsabout 10 minutes. Inabadyear yougetasixweek mild winter.
Fezo, were you eating wild mushrooms out there: big hills, forest and Florida? Seriously, some of northern Florida is much more Georgia and Alabama than what most tourists would think.
Gagrice, I'm presuming wherever in the san Diego area you live was not hurt by the fires. Stever, NM is a neat place. Go for it! Florida may have too many Yankees, but the whole south has too many Carpetbaggers
Seriously, it's getting hard to differentiate much of the south from the north. Same stores, same strip malls and traffic...the old southern charm and hospitality is a waning memory sometimes.
The closest fire to us was about 10 miles with the wind at our backs. So no danger yet. This is about as early we have ever had a fire season. Very little rain.
I have never driven through the panhandle of Florida. I did like central FL with the lakes and St John's river. I talked to two people while we were in Simi Valley that are from TX. They both agreed the area and lakes around Tyler TX are some of the nicest. I love to fish but hate to drive long distances to do it. I want to walk out my door and get in my boat and go out for an hour and come back in. That is impossible in So CA. The few manmade lakes are so small you can cast across them. I love catching and eating Crappie. So where ever I buy a lake home it will have to be a good Crappie producer.
Now I know why Steve picked Las Cruces NM. They are going to make a 500,000 acre National Monument for him to hike in.
“The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument will help protect our way of life while allowing for responsible development and expanding opportunities for all Americans to enjoy the beauty and multi-cultural history of this unique landscape,” Billy Garrett, Dona Ana County Commission chairman, said in a statement.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/19/obama-designate-national-monument-new-mexico/
Yeah, that was sweet to read.
Have you met this guy in your NM travels. Pretty well kept secret I would say.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-cave-digger-hewing-art-from-the-very-landscape/
News to me. That guy better be careful though - DOE will be sticking nuke waste from INEL, Savannah River and Oak Ridge in his caves if word gets out.
On the plus side, WIPP may hammer housing prices even more out there. At least Las Cruces is upwind.
Someone posted this on my FB and asked if it was my rig headed to Alaska? I thought it might be you, except did not know if you were ever into MCs.
It sort of parallels the car with the two canoes on top.
Of course those two canoes on top could be useful if the car flipped over when it runs off the road into a lake or river. Would it float upside down?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think Steve has posted pics of his trip to AK with a canoe on top of his Bug. This pic came from a friend of Rocky's that lives in Cleveland. A British MC nut and train buff.