Originally Posted By: KeithS
I spent about 4 years in Ohio. I think after you spend a little more time traveling that you will come to realize that Ohio is actually the Haggis of the States. ;-)


And "Haggis of the States" is paying it too big of a compliment.

As I have lived here my whole life, I rarely went anywhere else. Until I went to the south, just for those few days, I didn't realize how angry and racist it is where I live. Blacks hate whites, white hate blacks, and everybody hates Mexicans. There are fights here every day for no other reason than somebody starts some mess with somebody else for no apparent reason.

In North Carolina, I met a decent sized handful of people. Likely 80% of them happened to be black. One guy, my age, saw my plates and said something like "How you doing? Getting out of that awful weather for a while?" And I ended up talking to him for about 10 minutes. And everywhere i went people were friendly. South Carolina as well. Florida i wasn't in long enough and I was visiting family so I didn't do much but hang with them.

What FINALLY dawned on me was that the black people I met were SOUTHERN first, then they happened to be black. Everybody overall was a lot nicer than the people up here. (Possibly why I myself have the "edge" I do. I am ALWAYS ready to throw the gloves down. And at almost 68, it is not the time to be throwing the gloves down!)

My biggest concern about moving from here is the unknown as far as neighborhoods and safety. I live in a ghetto now. I don't want to sell my house, buy another, move down there and find I moved to a ghetto there. This little week long journey made me aware of some things. As I entered South Carolina I had this sense of "This could be home" immediately come over me. Of course I was on 77 South and not in the neighborhoods, but I just had a sense. Some place like Rock Hill-ish would be great. Stay inside when it's crazy hot, and no 2 feet of snow that lasts a week. The snow I left here last Friday just finished melting away today.

So, perspective.

Last edited by eddie1261; 02/08/19 03:30 AM.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.