Necro thread. Thanks for the bump. I've been gone for years, and missed it.
I've only read the first page so far, but will be back to read when I'm not so braindead after a long day. Color me curious.
Where do I live -- and where have I lived -- and why? Hmm. I've been quasi-nomadic from my 20's on.
I was born near Memphis. Hunted in the woods that are now suburbs. Ack.
From there, to TX (grad school), then to RI (more grad school), then back to Memphis (aging parents needed help, more grad school).
Then to ABQ, NM (final grad school and work, plus beautiful high desert; I'm a desert rat at heart).
After that came WA and OR for ten years. Interesting at first, but couldn't wait to leave. Beautiful country, but the culture (of western OR) was not right for me -- too much CA influence, including newagers.
Then I moved to Maine -- had friends there, and for professional collaboration. Once there, I drifted (my professional requires some traveling) through 8 cities and towns, the last four on the coast. Home is somewhere there on the coast well north of Portland; I won't know where until I get back. I've never lived in such a beautiful place (the Maine coast is beyond comparison for me, more so than the Rockies, Cascades and deserts of the west) with a grounded, no-non-sense, authentic culture as there. It is home.
Right now, I'm in western Oregon (for professional reasons), which is where I was five years ago for ten years. I don't like it here. (Too much of the fluffy CA culture.)
But I'm leaving for north central Florida in November. I'll be there until spring, when I return home.
But this time, when I leave OR, I'll be taking my guns with me -- even if a different kit this time --- rather than leave them in storage. (Yes, that's a very long sad story about plans that didn't work out in an unpleasant way.)