Doshin on the Way

My beautiful kitchen at home in Lead

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting on getting some specific events to happen, and that has kind of put my life on hold. But now things are in motion and I figure I can make a big announcement.

I'll be moving ... again, but I hope for the last time until I have to move into a protected community of some kind, IF I ever have to do that.

I don't want to have to write up the tale of all the woes and intrigues involving my condominium in the Black Hills. the story begins when I first bought the place in 2004. It was all about the original owner / developer who turned out to be a person who lies about things and proved to be incompetent about what he needed to do. All the unit owners were often in despair over his actions, but we did comfort ourselves with the thought that he was old enough and in poor health and we knew we would all outlive him.

Which we did.

My cozy bedroom with the tropical theme

But when the dust settled, we ended up living in a building that was owned by a bank and was falling apart due to neglect. A competent buyer / developer was found, but for some reason the process of purchasing the property has taken more than a year

At first I was in a panic because I had just finally moved into this place for good, having given up my second home in another city. I just kind of went to pieces saying "I just can't move again!!!!!!!!" But I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that indeed I could move again, and in fact, moving would be a good thing. I could use more space. This makes more sense than having two homes in two locations like I had had when I lived in Salt Lake and was thinking about again. I could do something new, have new adventures in a different place, reinvent myself.

Suddenly the whole USA was open to me because I'm retired. I didn't have to consider the location of a job in order to select the location of a home. I could move anywhere I wanted. ( I guess I could have also considered other countries too, but I did not.) Where would I go? How would I choose?

As you do, I made a list of what I was looking for in a place to live. Here's what ended up on the list.

reasonable real estate prices and cost of living
four seasons but without a real long, severe winter; also not a lot of dreary rain
not a huge city or a suburb of a huge city
property to buy available now
opportunities for volunteer work that I want to do
no farther away from my brother and his family than I already am
interesting things to do, places in visit, in the town & region
easy access to a major airport
cultural and community opportunities
opportunities for life long learning
good community recreation
good restaurants and reasonable shopping
easy to get around in
someplace I have been and have a feel for and have friends who live there now

Ahh, the coast of California!
Just for visiting, not for living at.

Right away I eliminated one of my favorite places in the US - California. I love California and intend to keep visiting it again and again, but it just did not meet enough criteria, especially the ones about costs, cities, distance from the family and easy to get around in. I also cut out the entire southern US, the whole east coast, Oregon and Washington, and of course Hawaii and Alaska. But that left me the whole intermountain west and midwest, a pretty large chunk of the country.

Next round had me x'ing off Minnesota, even though I know it well, my niece lives there, I have friends there, and I do like the Twin Cities. Biggest reason is the severe winters, and I really did not want to move to the greater Twin Cities. Places that were never in the running included North Dakota, Iowa and Indiana. I flirted with Ohio where I lived once and also have friends, but I decided no there too. Low on the list but still in the next to the finals were Montana and Wyoming.

So here's the final list (not in any order):

Colorado, especially the northern part like Ft. Collins - Boulder
Salt Lake City
Prescott Arizona
Sioux Falls South Dakota
Grand Rapids Michigan or smaller cities in Michigan
various places in Wisconsin especially Madison
Boise Idaho
Rockford Illinois, my hometown

And then it was perfectly clear. My new old home would be Rockford, my home for better or for worse. No place is perfect. Nothing meets all the criteria, but Rockford has some things that give it bonus points to make up for some of the minus ones.

The Guardians of the Rock River will be looking after me again.

Obviously Rockford is close to my brother ... he still lives there. I know it well, or as well as one can what with being only a visitor for 50 years. But still I have been visiting faithfully for 50 years.

Rockford has very easy access to O'Hare airport. Enough said about that. The weather.....well, not the best of all the places I might could live, but the autumn is to die for, and winters are not as hard or as long as in places like Minnesota. And it does not rain like in Seattle. Summers can be very hot and muggy with humidity, but finally I'll have a/c.

Very importantly Rockford has the kind of property I want at good prices. Salt Lake City area, for example, did not have the kind of places I want AND prices there are rising.

I want one level living, 1-2 bedrooms, but with a basement for storage and a studio. (And a garage of course). I want it to be a duplex or townhouse with a homeowners association that will take care of ALL the outside work. I won't have a large garden, but I also will never have to shovel snow or rake leaves or cut grass. Rockford has property like that, and because the economy there is still in the failed rust belt mode, prices are still reasonable.

New and improved conservatory

Rockford has good lifelong learning via the community college. It has excellent public recreation. I'm especially looking forward to being able to take walks along the river with some regularity. The YMCA is fabulous, now has several newly built locations, and has a whole lot of water exercise classes. There are festivals and community events all the time.

I'm dying to sign up as a volunteer at Anderson Japanese Gardens as well as the other public garden, Klem Arboretum. I could see myself as a docent at the Laurent House and as an usher at the historic Coronado Theater. And I can volunteer at all kinds of festivals and events.

The region is just a wealth of opportunities to explore. Let's start with Chicago itself. I really don't know Chicago very well, but I sure as heck intend to learn about it and get comfortable there. Next spring I think I'll head right to St. Louis to see its' world class botanic garden. I want to really get to know Madison well along with other places in Wisconsin. I intend to explore Michigan. My best friend from high school who lives in Grand Rapids and I already have our alternative 50th high school anniversary pencilled in for next summer. I can take a special train trip from Chicago to Glacier National Park and stay in one of the historic hotels there. I can get to another really important friend in Cleveland easily.

Having easy access to O'Hare will open up the whole world also. O'Hare has direct flights at reasonable costs for that kind of thing to just about every where.

And chances are I will not have to be alone on holidays or birthdays and family gatherings ever again. I can also regularly visit the cemetery where Mom & Dad rest and put out flowers and things like that.

But I'm excited and happy and looking forward to this new chapter. I'l keep you informed along the way.