Not reading the whole thread at this pint. I'm in eastern Tennessee, see my thread in off topic called Tennessee Chronicles for more.
We were in Chelmsford MA. I moved there having gone NJ (born/raised) to Indiana (1 year) to Arizona (Phoenix Valley for 8) to MA (12 years, divorced and remarried) to home in Jefferson County TN. For 1 1 1/2 years now. I'm 57, still working. Wife was born and raised and lived her entire life in MA until we moved.
Short (lol) list of reasons for TN and against pretty much everything else. NE is cold, so is the northern third of the country. West coast is brain dead. SW is hot, dusty, dry, and no longer speaks English. Texas IS flat, and not nearly as gun-friendly as people say. Read. Southeast gets hurricanes (so does Texas actually) and floods. And skeeters. East coast gets hurricanes, all the way up to NJ and NY. Midwest is flat and square. Think about why the states are squares. The bigger the cities, the liberal-er the state. And don't forget that pesky 200-mile zone where ALL the constitution isn't valid.
We looked for deep red, small-to-medium cities, good economy, low taxes, fairly moderate climate,low crime, rideable (m/c) roads, 2a friendly areas. We ended up with southern Kentucky, Western Carolinas, NW Georgia, northern Louisiana area. All had advantages and disadvantages, we'd never been to any.
Did more research,settked on Tennessee between Knoxville and Nashville. Came house hunting, looked at 8 houses in 2 days east of Knoxville. Bought a house in Jefferson County that trip, actually signing E-docs literally will boarding the plane. Almost got hollered at by the stewardess.
21 acres, 1200sq ft, 840sq ft detached shop, 150sq ft detached "she-shed". Full basement. $169k. Yup. $850/year taxes. Yup. Range is 15 feet from my walkout basement. Nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away. Deer and turkeys constantly in my yard. 140 acre cow pasture across the street.
Moving here was the best decision I ever made. After marrying Lady Radtekk that is.
Oh, Jefferson County is a "2a sanctuary County" and there's talk of TN becoming a sanctuary state.
Nobody likes Biden much down here. My "Trump 2020, because liberalism is a mental disorder" t-shirt gets positive comments EVERY time I wear it.
ETA: In response to somebody, I think
@76Too ?, but maybe not... My 19 y/o has driven from Manchester to me solo in about 14-15 hours a couple of times, 21 y/o makes it from Windermere FL (near Disney) in 11 or so, also solo. Lady Radtekk and I drove down from Chelmsford once, two easy days, leisurely driving, hour for lunch, etc.