The Best Laid Plans....

You know, time has no trouble reminding me of how little control I have over it so I've spent the last couple of days in focus mode, and I've made a few more edits to my list of hopefuls. Lets see, at last count there were six states left on my list: Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona Oregon and Washington. I mentioned that each of them had something that appealed to me whether it was the climate, the scenery or the economic makeup, and all of them were either on, or near to, a body of water which is a must have. So I started digging deeper into each state and based on what I discovered I eliminated three more from the list.

Funny enough, the three that I eliminated were ones that I've actually been to so I was able to base my decision off of what I experienced, as well as from what I researched. The first to go was New Mexico, while it is very beautiful, steeped in culture and history and has a pretty decent economy, there wasn't anything that stood out to me. While I was there, I felt very relaxed and peaceful, basically I wanted to just lay down and sleep, which is good if I'm on vacation but I know it would age me alot quicker than I'd ever want. Then there was Arizona. Again, very beautiful, I mean you can't beat the Grand Canyon or Lake Havasu, the people are very nice and its another state with a stable economy. But what I didn't like was the distance between cities, which is also one of the many things that I dislike about California. There is no walking distance to anything and you would spend more than half of your day traveling by bus or train trying to get around. Finally, I eliminated Oregon basically for the same reasons that I said no to New Mexico, adding to that list that it rains CONSTANTLY and can get pretty cold in the Winter.

So its down to Georgia, Texas and Washington, and the cities that I will be exploring within these states are Atlanta and Savannah in Georgia, Houston and Dallas in Texas, and Seattle and Spokane in Washington. I will spend the next 3 days going over as much detail as I possibly can via computer, so that I can eliminate one city per state and finally have the list down to the final three. Once I do that, then I will be visiting each place to get a better feel for it. My goal is to make my final decision before the end of the year, so that I can spend the remaining 6 months preparing for the move next July. What a wonderful world this would be if this plan could go on without a hitch and I could just ride off into the sunset bound for my dream life. But this is me we're talking about, the one who tends to do things ass backwards, who trips and falls over her own feet and who ultimately trudges along the road less traveled. But even through all of the madness I still make it to my destinations, a bit stinky, battered and bruised, but I make it. God, help me. T- 349...