Hey, Baby, I'll Let You Buy Me a House

My distaste for the conservatism of the place I live is reinforced when I read that Texas has three cities in the top five most conservative cities in America. Two of the top three, Arlington and Plano, are very close by; Plano, in fact, is less than a two minute ride by car. Blech!

Not surprisingly, California has four entries in the list of the top 25 most liberal cities: Berkeley, Oakland, Inglewood, and San Francisco.

I found some really interesting information in a separate study that identified the most progressive places in the country, by state. After a quick skim of the information and descriptions of the progressive cities, I've decided that Arcata, California, on Humboldt Bay, is my kind of place. Its city council has twice voted in favor of impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney, which is indicative of something I like in a city council: impotent fury "quixotic pursuit of justice."

As I searched for my new home near Humboldt Bay, I found a mobile home on just under one acre for only $295,000. I continued my search, looking a bit further out (Seiad Valley, CA is in the area of the following places) to see if could find something closer to my price range (e.g., I could pay cash, since I won't have any income when I go). Here are several properties that look especially intriguing. You'll notice that none of them have homes on them and all are "unimproved," which means I'll need to figure out some way to get electricity, water, and septic. Hmmm. This may not work, after all. I forgot I'm getting creaky bones and my knees won't bend like they once did. And I need a high-end bed to sleep in; tents and bedrolls are no longer options.

OK, maybe I better look closer to what's now "home." Fayetteville, Arkansas gets a pretty high ranking for progressivism (as measured by percentage of the population that voted Democrat in 2000). My cybersearch for housing revealed a "one-of-a-kind" funky house on 2.5 acres for only $149,900. Now we're talking!

Well, it's easier said than done, of course. There are all the messy details like closing down my business, selling everything we own, counting pennies to see if we can afford to buy the place AND have enough money to cover our expenses for the next upteen years AND have reserves sufficient to pay medical bills, including any unexpected major medical stuff like we've dealt with in the past.

I'm not expecting to be rich, of course, but I do need to figure out those cash flow requirements. Keb 'Mo ends one of his songs, Whole 'Nother Thang, by saying, "Hey, Baby, let me buy you a house." I'd like to reverse it and ask you to buy me the house. If you do, I promise to always have a place for you when you come to visit.