I have read many post comparing life in the UK to life in the US. It always seem that people compare UK to US metropolitan cities. As an American the pace of life and values are so different in a large cities as apposed to 100 miles outside a US city. I am curious if anyone has lived in a rural area in the US? Did your experience differ from living in a US city? Were the people different in any way?
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It’s very different for us too, but our smaller scale means 5 miles out of a city can be like the Middle Ages.
There’s an episode of Behind the Bastards called something like a Conversation about Rural America that goes into some of how that part of the US is and I foubd it fascinating
Nothing polite I’m afraid
Beautiful but backward
Lovely geography, awful people.
Never been but the impression you get from media is:
Incest, buggery, corrupt cops, racism, denial of science and religion – but stunning scenery.
Rural Kentucky is indeed…something.
I would like to give Appalachia a good go
I have a friend from rural arkansas who says I should go there but we’ll see
Lots of space, amazing scenery, great food, the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. Guns, pick-up trucks and racists everywhere.
I live in a rural area of Oregon. Logging is the dominant industry. People are 50/50 really nice or thick and inbred. But then it was exactly the same when I lived in Northwich, Cheshire – that had a high proportion of….thinking of a reddit friendly term….intellectually disadvantaged.
The peace and quiet is wonderful. Go outside at night and you won’t hear a thing apart from maybe a deer rustling in the bushes or an owl screeching. Neighbours aren’t too close – not like the UK where for the most part your view out the window is of someone else’s house, but close enough to be there if there’s a problem.
People do things for each other – we gave a load of grapes off our vine to a neighbour, he gives us some of his honey and homemade vanilla extract and things, and more helpfully, brings his tractor down if we need snow shoveling or gravel spreading on the drive.
When it snowed last, a tree fell across the road. Someone went home and got a chainsaw and cut a vehicle sized hole in the middle – everybody benefits, whereas in Britain I feel nobody would do anything except complain to the local council.
However, saying all that, there are drawbacks. It’s a case of flip a coin to see who stays on the sodie-pop and drives home if we go to the pub (it’s about 12mi away), and the lack of interesting food is a pain. Drove to Eugene (the nearest big city) about an hour away last week for sushi and getting some locally unavailable groceries.
Just this morning I was in Hillsboro, Oregon (suburb on the very edge of Portland – like Altrincham is to Manchester). It’s where my wife is from and where we lived when we moved from the UK. It’s so busy with traffic and things. All the overpriced houses crammed in together.
I guess it’s horses for courses. I was born in rural Cumbria and that was a million miles away from the Tyneside I spent my formative years in.
*Duelling Banjos enters the chat*
I know I’d rather visit the rural parts of the flyover states than places like new York and LA etc.
Some pretty ignorant stereotypes being thrown out in these comments.
Currently bingeing my way through Yellowstone and I have to say rural Montana looks pretty damn nice. I’m sure in real life though it’s not an easy place to live.
Beautiful but weird and religious.
Mississipi Burning shows why I don’t want to go there
Been to rural Canada. You soon find out why it’s called Great *White* North.