boneshake

Va. Beach is nice and flat.

knucklesandwich

here's a Yankee's take on it- if yer a Sox fan, stay in Boston. we got enough pink 'B' hats running around down here!

I am mostly kidding of course. I'm a NJ guy who went to school in VA and ended up back down here a few yrs after graduation. Virginia is huge and varied- whatever you're looking for you'll find. I personally live in Arlington b/c of an affinity for semi-urban life, but I am always quick to ride out the C&O Canal, drive out to the sticks for long wknd rides, or head back out to Harrisonburg and beyond to enjoy the cheap college town life again and hike/camp.

Good luck w. the move.

cnickgo

JMU grad? Used to live there, dad taught in ISAT.

BostonRoadee

No Red Sox fan here -- I grew up in NYC. You'd see me with an "NY" on my navy blue cap. ;-)

Moonshot

Good luck on your search BostonRoadee. Years ago you'd be warned that you could be viewed as an outsider and not readily accepted (coming from up north and all), but those days are mostly gone especially in the cities and larger towns. I use "not readily accepted" on purpose. Most Southerners will take a liking to you immediately, others will wait until they get to know you a little better. It's all good.

Someone here recommended the area west of Asheville. I remember traveling I-40 west of Asheville as a kid with my parents and more often than not when passing the exit for Enka (near Canton, as I recall) the smell from the paper plant would practically make you gag and gave car sickness a new meaning. I heard the smell would waft through several adjacent counties some days.

That was about 30 years ago, maybe the plant is now closed, maybe there are more plants, I don't know. Maybe someone else can comment. Anyway, just a heads up.

Personally, I'd love to move to the Brevard/Hendersonville area one day.

Scott

BostonRoadee

Thanks for the historical perspective, Scott. When I moved to New England, it took me a while to get used to how chilly people can be (not just the weather) up here. If someone talks to you beyond the minimum required by the social contract, it means they might think you're an OK person. But if you ask them to join you for coffee before knowing them for months, they'll pause and cock their heads a tad and look at you. They might say yes, but they want you to know you've breached etiquette.

Folks are a tiny bit warmer in the Cambridge area (which is why i go to school and spend a lot of time there), but not much. If you say a quick "hello" to someone in a store or on the street that you don't know, they will either stare at you nervously ("Do I know you?"), or just look away quickly.

My experience in Texas and New Mexico (not the South, I know) was that people will talk to you in a friendly manner a lot more quickly. As a Northener, I thought that meant we were friends. In fact, it didn't -- it meant that folks around there are polite and nice. Maybe it takes a while to make a real friend, anywhere!

death m3tal

You've probably moved and settled by now, but I'd like to throw in my two cents about Richmond, VA. I've lived in Richmond now since 2002, moved down here from Northern VA, and before that Lexington, VA for college. I didn't ride in NOVA much, except to commute a little bit from Reston to Fairfax along the Washington and Old Dominion Rail Road MUP. I have recently started bike commuting from Bon Air (which is south side Richmond, south of the James) over the James and into downtown Richmond where I work. Bon Air is technically Chesterfield County, and as such, is not quite as bike friendly as inside the Richmond City Limits. However, I have found that most people give me plenty of room and I've only been honked at once. There seems to be a fairly large bike community here, and there you should take a look at www.raba.org.

Also, besides the biking, Richmond has several colleges (Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Richmond, Viginia Union University, and there are also satellite branches of University of Virginia and Virginia Tech). Additionally, there are many great ethnic restaurants and the Greek Orthodox Church off of Grove Avenue does a fantastic Greek Festival each year. There is a wonderful Italian Festival at Church Hill in the fall, and some fun events at Byrd Park and the Carillon (spelling?). In addition to that, if you are a NASCAR fan (probably not if you are cyclist, but who knows), you've got Richmond Internation Raceway, and you are a short trip from the mountains, the beach, and DC.

Anyway, just throwing that out there for you or anybody else.

tulip

Yep, I've been in Richmond a year now and just bought a house, so I'm here to stay for a while at least. I like it alot.

NealH

I was just in Richmond last weekend visiting my sister and, rode the Heart of Va Bike Festival out of Ashland. Two days of riding and, it was a great event. It deserves mentioning as a nice biking activity to participate in. Ashland, of course is a really nice little community with Randolph Macon sitting right in the middle of town. Lots of good riding around this area.