Teacher with dogs daydreaming about relocating.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by 4paws

That's a good thought about contacting agencies there. Thank you for giving homes to so many critters. :-) Where are you in North Carolina, if I may ask?

Davie County, west of Winston-Salem. It's a county that I would have given whole-hearted endorsement to 10 years ago as a nice country area. Now ... things kind of see-saw. The eastern side is definitely becoming a bedroom community to W-S, with development creeping our way. There is a bit of a class line between the McMansionville east side of the county and the southern/western side where you will find the more modest dwellings on acreage, with very independent dwellers

Then there's the specter of having a nuclear power plant built, not now, but most likely in the coming decades. Duke Power owns 1800 acres in Davie County; has since the 70s; and is throwing out ever stronger hints that they will, someday, build a station there
Charlotte Observer | 09/30/2007 | More nuclear power for S.C.? (http://www.charlotte.com/280/story/299218.html - broken link)

Plans are also in the works for Duke to set aside two more sites -- in Oconee County and Davie County, N.C. -- for future nuclear plants.

It's not the thought of walking up to the mailbox at the head of the road and seeing cooling towers in the near distance, but the prospect of development to house the builders and future workers that dismays our neighborhood. Sooo, it's nice here at the moment. What the future looks like for the county - who knows

A county even more rural, though located near a 4-lane straight shot to W-S is Yadkin - which is north of Davie. Pull up mapquest, plug in Winston-Salem, and then trace highway 421 west. Commercial and residential development has stretched as far out from W-S as Lewisville, but after that the area opens up. We were out that way last year, looking at some acreage. One moment we were driving up and down narrow country roads, noting that the tobacco farmers seemed to have a good crop going, 30 minutes later we were in W-S, near Hanes Mall (BIG shopping area).

Continue on 421, box the compass at highway 601 (two lanes) and you are deep in Yadkin territory. Rolling landscape; it's becoming a bit of a Napa Valley, NC with the number of wineries going in; but land prices are still reasonable. At the 421/601 x-road you reach a blurb at Yadkinville, where 601 takes you north into the boonies, or continue west to Wilkesboro and then Boone and the mountains.

I'm not sure about Yadkin county as a prospect for temporary living, but if you want country life with access to opportunities in a city once you reach permanent status, I'd check there.

[4paws]

Silverwing, thank you so much for all that information, which I will check. Ideally, I won't have to go temporary, but I'm planning for all possibilities, since my world is so upside down. For the last ten months I've been living like I'm staying here forever and leaving tomorrow - stressful. I keep planting, fixing, planning, but finally I've accepted that I can't keep this place because I can't make a living here (though I'm really good at working for free...lol)

The nuclear plant is something to really think about, that's for sure. Apparently there isn't much community opposition to it?

[zebra-guy]

Iredell County and a couple of counties around us would be excellent places for you to consider.

[zebra-guy]

You should consider Iredell County. We are close enough to Charlotte to make it and easy trip when you want some serious city life, but otherwise more rural in nature without being "country."

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by zebra-guy

You should consider Iredell County. We are close enough to Charlotte to make it and easy trip when you want some serious city life, but otherwise more rural in nature without being "country."

And that's where 4paws will have to decide what kind of city she'd like to be near.

4paws - there is a big difference between Charlotte and Winston-Salem (we also lived near Charlotte for many years so I can compare). You'd certainly have to be check out both to compare, but Charlotte is a faster, more diverse, wider sprawling city than W-S. When people talk about "living in the Charlotte area", they might be talking about Mecklenburg county, or any of the counties around the city. Even over the state line around Fort Mill and Lake Wylie.

You'll find more diverse cultural activities in Charlotte but also have to endure some hellacious traffic and just a general "fasterness" (I know, not a word, more a concept ) than W-S. Both cities have their pet friendliness; as someone mentioned up thread about Charlotte; while W-S has Bark in the Park at historic Bethabara Historic Bethabara Park and pet-related (think sheep herding trials) activities at Tanglewood.

I guess you know the drill about choosing a place to live given your circumstances of having a lot of animals. With NC being a popular area to transplant to, you'll certainly want to judge the growth potential of the area you choose. Given that practically any county within 50 miles of the major cities in this state will see development, you will want to check the county regulations on animal control; talk to people in the area you find yourself most interested to scope their attitude towards having a neighbor with 6 dogs.

Lastly, and aside from the pet thing, the prospect of nuclear power plants seems to unsettle potential transplants more than people who live here. All we have to do is point at Lake Norman; created by damming up the Catawba River; which provides cooling for the McGuire Nuclear Power Plant. Mooresville (in Iredell County), a very popular relocation area for people who have jobs in Charlotte, is something like 10 miles from the nuclear station. People who move there become quite accustomed to the Evacuation Route signs lining the roads and talk more about the fun of taking a party barge out on the lake. There are even several NASCAR drivers who have homes in that area. For us in the rural area of Davie County, it's more a fear that our area could become a Mooresville if the Yadkin gets dammed for another Duke plant. Unlike the protests 30 years ago that helped stop Duke from building a nuclear power plant here (along with the scare created by the 3 Mile Island FUBAR), there's not much one can do now once the machine starts rolling. If that happens, you'll probably find a lot of us who will *shrug*, sell our property for an obscene profit to developers, and move away