Cougrrcj

That was already decided, with the good hospitals in Huntsville being less than 30 miles away. Always something to consider when you're a 'senior'!

Daspydyr 

St. George, UT. It is close to Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. The biking in this area is available all 4 seasons. You can travel north to Cedar City and Brian Head UT for snow and skiing. Great fishing in the UT Rockies. Winter time activities in NV and AZ include Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, Mohave Desert and all of the Las Vegas Strip. St. George has Dixie State College, Cedar City has Southern UT University and the Shakespeare Festival. I love the area.


Great Medical Care in all these areas as retirees have flocked to this region.

volosong

Was on the short list, Cedar City that is; but decided I was done with summer heat. It's hotter down the hill in St. George, but Cedar City can get warm too.

Robert C

I am in West Valley, which is a suburb of Salt Lake, in part of the winters and it is ugly. Of course, my idea of ideal is Chico, CA.

Leisesturm

I don't know... I may have missed the post that mentioned Portland, OR? I mean... is there a city or region that hasn't been mentioned so far? I think the o.p. was interested in an area good for biking... mountain biking... Kansas? Coastal N.C. or GA?? Trump may not believe in Global Warming but residents of the coastal south sure do, as of last month, even if they won't admit it in public. An active retiree IMO wants a city with a developed metro area that is also liveable. In the lower mid-atlantic and southeast the better areas are suburbs of the big metros and favor a very sedentary car centric lifestyle, and employment options for older workers are dodgy and niche. No, I have to limit my choice to the PNW (Pacific Northwest) Oregon or Washington for the o.p. Still plenty of choice in there, but IMO when you ask this question (location to retire??) on a bicycling oriented forum, there is only one answer: Portland, OR.

B. Carfree

We old folks on this forum are mostly looking at retirement or have already done so. As we pass into another phase of our lives, it's important to consider what lies ahead. IMO, if you retire to a place that requires you to drive to get "normal" things like groceries, medical care and entertainment, then you aren't being very observant and will rue your choice. As we age physically, and it happens quickly, our driving skill and ability to survive car crashes drops tremendously.

I would strongly encourage anyone looking to relocate for retirement to make darn sure that the location is workable for someone who no longer drives. What good is it to have a great Shakespeare festival "nearby" if the only way to get home after a performance is to drive 40 miles at night when your night vision is kaput?

Sure, it's going to cost a bit more to live in a walkable/bikeable locale. You're also likely to have to ride through the city to get to those glorious rural roads for your cycling adventures. Believe me, it's worth it. Also, once you are no longer dependent on a car, it's a lot easier to be objective about your skills behind the wheel and seek out (and accept) critical advice regarding whether or not you should continue to operate those machines.

That also means you may have to consider places with higher local taxes, since public amenities like light rail are often supported by a local tax base. Pay the bill and smile, taxes are the price of admission to civilized society and the E-ticket rides are the best.

drlogik 

Asheville North Carolina.

volosong

Oh my, I really hadn't considered what you wrote. I'll have to re-think my 'plan'.

I'm okay for now, and for the next twenty or twenty-five years. But after that, then what??? Was going to go into a 55+ community, but being on the edge of town, it is certainly out of short walking distance. Maybe the solution is to get one of those tricycles with the big basket between the rear wheels.

Thanks for the 'reality check'.

nycphotography

Huh?

I expect to be too decrepit to ride long before I'm too decrepit to walk long before I'm too decrepit to drive, and I really don't expect to outlive even the first one, let alone the second or third.

If course life does have a way of smashing out expectations, so who knows, maybe I'll live to be a 110.

Guess I can always retire from my retirement.

95RPM

Where do you live?

fietsbob

Almost 70 Could not think of where else I'd Go.. House was Cheap , and I have river views out 3 sides..


I Retire to my Local Bar , regularly ..

B. Carfree

It's right there under my screen name. Eugene, OR. It's a small city (160,000) attached to an even smaller city (60,000). I live very centrally next to the main bike path that goes to both shopping and the university. There is a bike/ped bridge across the river near my house that goes to the mall, if I'm inclined to shop there. I have two grocery stores within a mile that I regularly walk to, two more that are two miles away and four that are three miles away. The intercity train station is 1.5 miles away, as is the entertainment center for the city and the hub of the hub-and-spoke local bus system. The downside is the state of medicine in Oregon is third-world in quality. So, other than quality medical care, everything I will need when I get a bit decrepit is nearby. The only driving I've done over the past decade is to pick up horse manure for the community gardeners, to chauffeur my in-laws around when I visit them and to take a neighbor to the airport when he goes to his chateau in France.

In the meantime, fifteen miles gets me to the edge of the suburbs and into the wonderful O&C lands where I do a lot of joyful riding without any annoying traffic (cars are allowed on most of the roads there, but there just aren't any). It's just my wife and me on a tandem along with some bears, cougar, elk, deer and eagles.

Summers are coolish compared to most places; highs in the high 70s to low 80s F is normal with rare days into the 90s. Winters, while often wet, are pleasant with lows typically in the 40s and one or two snow events per year. It's not a bad place to retire if you don't anticipate needing quality medical assistance. For me, it is worth the risk for now. If I change my outlook later, I'll move.

TCR Rider

While that is certainly something to consider from what I understand driverless cars are just a heartbeat away

Cougrrcj

I experience waaaay too many cars with Zombies behind the wheel already!

B. Carfree

Fusion power is always forty years away and has been for forty years. It seems like autonomous cars are five years out and always will be.

Jim from Boston

Well said; describes Boston to a T. Winter weather might be a drawback to some, but the advantages far outweigh that. The four seasons are all otherwise nice, without extremes, and spring, summer, and fall can be splendid.

One can get into great cycling territory in about 10 to 15 miles from downtown, and even take a train with a fully assembled bike to get outta town.

TCR Rider

You do realize I was being facetious and channeling my inner George Jetson. I will say though on Thanksgiving I got to drive my wife's nephew's Tesla and good God this thing is pretty damn close to self driving.

tmac100

I am from Manitoba ( 2 hours N of Grand Forks, ND) and now work in Doha, Qatar. I will retire in SW Europe - probably Portugal. Warm and NOT cold in winter - in fact many older homes have no heat. Good health care. Relatively inexpensive. Good bicycling - hills in some areas. Opportunity to drink fine wines, eat Mediterranean style. Chance to learn another language.. But not the USA!

johnu

We'll always live in MN, but winter in warm places. Phoenix is our favorite right now. By renting for 2-3 months we can try out a different area every winter if we wish.

tcs

Here in low tax Parts Unknown, most burgs above ~50k offer an on-call door-to-door bus-based Senior transit scheme - might be something to check out in retirement locales, that is, if one isn't too snooty to ride a bus with po' folks.


Yep, and that Uber/Lyft thing? Never catch on.

tcs

Phoenix is the cat's pajamas.


Parties interested in a lower cost warm winter option might consider the Texas Valley (Brownsville/Harlingen/McAllen). Ride-all-winter weather, multi-cultural/international, fresh produce and seafood, beautiful beaches (including a clothing optional option), on- and off-shore sailing and boating, outstanding fishing, world class birding, watch the occasional SpaceX launch.

CrankyOne

Very well said. For our primary home and our winter home being able to ride on protected bikeways for groceries, wine, pharmacy, doc, dinners, and other stuff was critical. Few things make me happier than going a week without ever having to get in the car. Even just a couple of 1 mile each way trips per day will do wonders for improving mental and physical health and slowing down aging.

I hope to choose to get rid of our cars because we don't need them long before kids want to have 'the talk'.

CrankyOne

Tesla expects full autonomy by the end of 2018. In Elon Speak that's actually 2019 so not that far away. I think the least expensive way to get it will be a base Model 3 with Enhanced AP for around $45k so not too affordable for many folks. The question then is how long will it be before it's more widely available and affordable?

The major car companies didn't initially give much credence to Tesla. Now they've found themselves loosing huge chunks of marketshare to them and even loosing marketshare to a Tesla that's not even yet available (Model 3 w/ a half million reservations). They're all now working feverishly to produce electric cars and don't want to see the same thing happen with autonomous capabilities so I'd guess most will have pretty solid autonomy by maybe 2022?

dbg

+1
That's already being discussed in my neighborhood circle -where to "snowbird" as a group. I'll stay in my current house/neighborhood for good (love the area and the neighbors), but willing to snowbird to AZ, FL, Carribean, etc.

Jaxjag

I'm going to retire right where I am in Jacksonville. Warm (or hot) almost the entire year. Few days are too cold to ride. No state income tax, reasonable cost of living and the kids and grandkids are also in Florida.