Who else lives in a rural area?

[GreenPartyVoter]

By that I mean you have to drive a half an hour or more to get to a decent-sized grocery, hardware, or clothing store, pharmacy, hospital, etc?

I live in a town of 700 people, but there are 700 more here as students at the Maritime Academy. :)


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[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Seriously, there have to be other rural folk here?

[cali]

2. Me.

I live in a village with 350 people. I'm 10 minutes from an excellent old fashioned country store that carries everything from hardware to clothes to organic veggies and terrific bread. Nearest hospital is 40 minutes away, same with the nearest supermarket, nearest drug store is about 15 minutes,

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Cool! I knew I couldn't be the only one. *g*

[SmokingJacket]

4. I grew up in a rural area...

and couldn't stand being forced into the car every time I wanted to see a friend, buy a magazine, or have a cup of coffee that someone else made. And shovel half a ton of snow to get into said car in winter.

Now I live in a small city and only drive every few days or so. I miss the smell of cow manure and of sun on a hayfield, but only a little.

I like nature, but I like being around people more.

[NVMojo]

5. Me, too, only I think we are remote rural ...

my town is a three hour drive from Salt Lake City, Utah; a four-hour drive from Reno, Nevada; a three-hour drive from Boise, Idaho and a 2.5-hour drive from Twin Falls, Idaho and I can't believe I still live here because this place is as red town as they come. Elko, Nevada in the heart of gold-mining country and to do any decent shopping we have to go to one of the cities I named above....

[Ernesto]

12. Yes, that Elko is pretty red....

The mining expo was going on there last summer when I visited so I knew that I was surrounded by repubs.
That trophy hunter featured in the museum really gave me the creeps. Blowing away one of almost every animal species on the face of the earth just seems wrong to me.

[NVMojo]

27. yeah, it is creepy. It's called the Wanamaker display ...

I think there was a Wanamaker family why back when that tried to shape America's impressions of the Indian too....I've always wondered if they were related ...

[Blue Diadem]

6. Me too!

:hi:

[seventythree]

7. 1/2 hour means at least 30 miles

I'm not that far way, but I have to drive 15 minutes for a decent grocery store, a basic hospital, but am closer to a hardware and pharmacy. I consider myself rural, but not country. This is my primary home, however.

[William Bloode]

8. Yup!

I live so far back in the hills we have to pipe in the sunshine ;) I live 45 minutes from a large chain store of any kind. The "town" center consists of a family owned grocery store, a family owned sevice station, the Post Office, a family owned restraunt, and a dance hall. Hehehehe no stoplight either hahahaha...just a 4 way stop!

[Cuban_Liberal]

9. Very rural small town.

Village of 2900, one small grocery store in town, no movie theater or 'chain store', 20 minutes to the nearest hospital, volunteer fire department, etc. .

[MadHound]

10. Well I live out in the middle of nowhere

Not exactly, but about as rural as you're going to find in Mid Mo. I have my own mini-farm, where I'm growing a garden and orchard. And I can walk out on my deck and not hear anything except the sounds of nature. It is absolutely wonderful, especially after being a city mouse all of my life.

Hopefully I'm going to stay here for the rest of my life. I think that I'm far enough away from the nearest urban area that I don't get encroached on, we'll see though.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. 40 minute drive for everything except trout

[Squatch]

14. Sounds like heaven

[Squatch]

13. I used to...but now the Borg...errrrr

the city is starting to assimilate us. Urban sprawl in action.

[Cleita]

15. Sort of.

I live in the county behind several beach cities on the coast of California. My shopping is fifteen minutes away, although major medical is half an hour away. Most of the properties that surround me are at least 2 1/2 acres and up. Most of my neighbors keep horses, chickens, goats, Alpacas, pigs and more.

Only a few do it for a living though. There is plenty of wild life passing right in front of my window like deer and many birds, hawks, owls, ravens and sometimes even an eagle. Coyotes howl at night and I have seen cougar tracks on some occasions.

Vineyards are planted behind the hill that separates us from them as this is also a rising wine country, and their are plenty of fields of agricultural products as well as pastures with horses and cattle. However, having spent years living in the wildernesses of Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and Western Montana, this area seems very tame and citified to me.

[catmandu57]

16. We do

though our small town is growing into suburbia, we're about twenty minutes from a small town/city, and when things get rough we have somewhere to fall back on.
My wife's ancestoral farm is still in their family and is a place of refuge when and if everything collapses. There is game there, ponds, and two rivers within minutes, room to grow what ever we need, plenty of wood for heat and building.
The Burlington railroad tracks are not far away and there is an abundance of hemp growing beside them to us for fiber.
Even if things hold together I'd much rather be living here, our doors are left unlocked, the key is always in the ignition of my car (mainly because the lock is messed up and it's easier to leave the key in it), but, I don't have to worry about it.

[4_TN_TITANS]

17. TN Hillbilly....

I live in the country and wouldn't move back to the city for anything. It's great to take a piss off your front porch without having to worry about neighbors!

[doodadem]

19. Country Roads Take Me Home

Am I showing my age by humming that?
Our little town in the eastern Calif. Sierra Nevadas has a post office, a church, and a grade school. That's it. Wide place in the road, without even a stop sign. Someone has been trying to rebuild a restaurant that burned down for about the past year now. We can't wait--the next closest food of any sort is 5 miles away. Any kind of grocery store is 40 miles.
On our little ranch (which backs up to BLM land), we have mule deer, bobcats, rattlesnakes, and unfortunately, coyotes. I mean, I know they're just doing their thing, and I am an environmental activist, but one of them dragged my minature dachshund across the yard fence last year and tore him to pieces. They also eat barn cats. Also occasionally get mountain lions around here, although haven't seen any on our land. They're taken the neighbors' sheep and goats.
Right now, we're up to our armpits in mud.......

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. *lol* I missed this reply earlier!

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Save our country one town, county, and state at a time!
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[carolinayellowdog]

18. 20,000 people in 443 square miles

I'm 6 miles from the nearest town, population 150-- but groceries, hardware, etc. are less than half an hour away in the county seat, population 1000. Doesn't that count as rural?

http://www.warrencountychamberofcommerce.org/

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Sure. we'll count that as rural :^)

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Save our country one town, county, and state at a time!
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[TalkingDog]

21. For NC I'm considered rural

We have 7 acres and live near the river. Its a 20 minute drive into either of the very small cities nearby.

Of course NC has one of the larger populations; in or near the top 10. So no, compared to a town of 700 we aren't rural, but all our friends think we live in the boonies.

[Carson]

22. I live in a rural town. I drive 35 miles to the closest movie theater and

50 miles to the nearest place to buy alcohol. Despite the sometimes inconvenience, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Visit big cities, yes. Live there? No way. Give me the fresh air, low crime and starry skies.

(On edit: the population of my town is 600)

[idiosyncratic]

23. I live out in the country. The nearest store is 10 miles away

For about 15 years I lived in small towns, one in Idaho, one in So. Utah. However, this is the first time I haven't had a store within a few blocks. It took me years to adjust.

Combining trips to town is essential because of the price of gas.

[Sgent]

24. Don't live in one...

But work in a rural area -- about 2,000 population. 2 deli's and a imitation mcdonalds, a pharmacy (still owned by the pharmacist), a local hardware/luber store, a branch office for a small bank -- with a vice president as the branch manager so she can approve loans w/o higher-ups ok. The county seat is about 30 miles away (about the same size), and a larger town (about 25k) is 45 minutes away.

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Welcome to DU. :^)

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Save our country one town, county, and state at a time!
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[sweetheart]

26. rural

stock animals, cattle grids, dirt roads, 30 minutes to super markets
and most "odd" things are best ordered on the internet... thank god
for ebay!

[idiosyncratic]

31. I'll second that. eBay, Overstock.com, ecost.com, etc.

Without the Internet, this rural living would sure be a lot harder for me . . . and my car would have a lot more miles on it if I had to drive around and do the shopping I do online instead.

[Krupskaya]

29. Sub-rural turning exurban.

Unfortunately. We've got an old farmhouse with a barn and shed and about 10 acres. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford more land and so we've got crap scab-built houses popping up all around us. If I wanted neighbors, I'd have moved to the city!

[HeeBGBz]

30. I live in the Ozarks, southern Missouri

Town of about 1700.