Been living in a very remote Colorado ski town for a couple years and I need to get the f*ck out of here.
mid 40s male. single no kids. 2 big dogs. I do design, drafting, engineering, and fabrication for high end custom home builders. things like handrails, stairs, pocket doors, fireplaces, gates, cabinetry, furniture, etc. My main hobby is mountain biking. 5 days a week or more. Like, I live to bike and hang out with my dogs, and I ride thousands of miles a year. I also ski, but I care about it less and less and I just want to be warm and not shovel snow and ride my bike. I went to art school and make some art on the side and have traveled the world and lived in NYC, Chicago, Oakland, etc etc, and appreciate arts and culture and live music and diversity and good international food.
for the last 8 years or so I've been living in the rockies in a series of mountain towns. I currently live in a remote, rural, high altitude, high COL ski town of 2000 people in the mountains in Colorado. I've been here two years. I loved it the first 6 months and since then it's just gone downhill. I wake up everyday, and as soon as I'm conscious enough to have a thought, that thought is: "I don't want to fucking live here anymore."
I have a great job and a sweet place to live and I can mountain bike out of my driveway, but...I've been here two years and haven't made a single friend, haven't had a date in a year and a half, and there's literally no one else to meet. FWIW this is not a problem ive had in other places. I've already joined all the things and volunteered and everything else.
Summers are amazing but the winters are way too long and way too cold (often the coldest in the contiguous US). The food is awful, there's no good coffee shop, the bike shops here are awful, there's no healthcare. Basic things like the dentist or a mechanic or healthcare or seeing live bands other than Grateful Dead cover bands requires driving about 3 hours each way.
I hate to give up the mountain biking access and the peace and quiet and lack of crime and traffic, etc, but it's no longer worth it to me. I want out of here.
Want to move somewhere with:
- real mountain biking (rocky, expert level, preferably on mountains or in the desert, not across a prairie or on family bike paths)
- dog friendly
- strong, welcoming, friendly, accepting community
- arts and culture and live music
- good food
- good coffee shop(s)
- people to date
- bonus points if winters are mild and I can bike year round.
- jobs in my field. can also do related work, doesn't specifically have to be high end residential.
FWIW, my family is in upstate SC, so Asheville/Brevard is an obvious choice.