Before I went into chemical engineering, I paid part of my way through college by working in real estate a few summers in high school and college. If you have ever seen those postcards that say "This house just listed or sold in your neighborhood!", you can blame me for that. My Century 21 broker/boss wanted to move up to the top-selling Century 21 broker in the country from #5 in New Jersey and came up with the idea of real estate farming. Before computers were personal, it was my job to set up a computer database and oversee the sending of postcards to 20,000 homes and condos per month. The automation of mass production from that enterprise moved me into chemical engineering.

Regarding the Florida panhandle, I don't know much beyond the usual tourist destinations (Destin, Pensacola, Ft. Walton Beach). Look into Santa Rosa Beach perhaps? Pace is a great place to be a chemical engineer in that part of Florida.

Thanks Abaco. If you have any particular information to pass along I'd love to know it. From your 'handle' I assume you're a fan of the Bahamas. I lived there in my teen years when my dad was with the U.S. embassy. I loved it there too, but don't think island life full time is for me.

Excellent move, from what I know. That is one of the few areas on my short list of viable American spots to shrug to.

Also weird was yesterday telling you about my niece being married at the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's plantation home, just to see something about the Hermitage on TV four or so hours later. What was weird about the wedding was coming home to see a special about Andrew Jackson on The History Channel the very next day.
Just came back to tell the Gulch that I've seen some glorious sunsets at Compass Lake. Of course, that depends on the weather and there's other lake photos here too~
https://www.google.com/search?q=compa...

Weird, just 10 mins ago my wife asked if the dinosaur ever met mom and dad and I told her about your visit last summer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b5aW...

Last August during a family reunion at Compass Lake, me dino paid a visit to Dobrien's parents, who are really nice folks.
I was surprised when Dobrien's father told me there are bears about.
Bears? Though I lived in Dothan, AL, I practically grew up at Compass Lake summer after summer and was pretty good at water skiing way back when.
Little dino often explored Compass Lake woods that looked like an old Tarzan movie all alone with a short-eared mixed breed Cocker Spaniel.
Bears? Maybe they weren't there during the 50s and 60s, but I swam with alligators around. Even went speargun fishing with a face mask and a snorkel..
Old dino now living beside a very large woods near Birmingham, these days I have this to think about~
http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandc...
There were no coyotes or armadillos that I knew of in Florida and Alabama when I was a kid. Now they are all over the place, having crossed the Mississippi.
During the 80s, I was quite surprised at Compass Lake when a brother's attacking dog caused an armadillo to jump five feet high. That's when I learned armadillo armor is nothing like a turtle's.
A few years ago in the dirt road boonies of Alabama, I once saw a road kill armadillo with its legs up in the and a small beer bottle stuck in its mouth.
I wonder what shape the car driver's was in.

We're looking at the whole panhandle region, not just Pensacola. Although the farms and dairy in AL sound good !

275 miles rt to Trader Joes? 6 hours driving in their traffic,
100 miles rt to Whole Foods?
That's why I was glad to have a couple farms and a dairy about 30 miles away in Alabama;^)
Pensacola is not my cup of joe.

Ok, great. We will check it out ! :)

You are welcome. They have reasonable cabins to rent for a visit to the area. :)

Wow. Cool !! thanks for that info and for that link to Compass Lake !!

I also enjoy the coast with a body of water that allows travel to foreign lands. ;^)

I hope you find exactly the place that satisfies your pursuit of happiness. ;^)

I said "lots of resistance to the basic elements (that the Gulch brings) of the free market and individual self reliance by that federal bureaucracy"

Never heard them complain about mosquitos, of course they are the state bird in Minnesota where they are from. In Minnesota we have 4-5 months of tundra we expect -9 below zero Xmas morning.
We have almost no poisonous creatures except our liberal polititions. I can't say that about Florida.
https://compasslake.org/ Check it out.

Thanks. That is something we can keep in mind. And our desire to flee Maryland might also be a reaction to the UBER SATURATION of Leftists who live in this area who I JUST CAN"T STAND anymore. So it's also a desire to minimize the Leftists who are so tortured by Trump being president.

That is currently true. But NC is gradually moving to lower income taxes while increasing sales taxes. Not sure if it will ever get completely reversed.

I have a feeling it has changed significantly in the last 13 years. There is a Whole Foods in Tallahassee (a bit far) but there is also a Whole Foods in Destin, right in the panhandle. And a bunch of other organic-y kind of food stores, according to google maps, anyway. And there is a Trader Joes in Panama City. As to the other cultural stuff, that isn't anything that effects my daily life so I'm not too worried on that front. Just grocery and restaurants. I guess eating well is a good thing to be concerned about. :)

Yes, I too have cousins who live in TN, but somehow I think I'd feel too landlocked there. :) But who knows - we know we want to get OUT of Maryland (high tax state) as our primary residence, so we'll see where we ultimately land.

I lived in the Bahamas for two and a half years so I'll give it a tough analysis when we get down there. The clarity of the ocean in the Caribbean I agree is breathtaking !

Oh, very helpful tip !! Thanks ! We will definitely look into that. And it isn't too buggy (horse flies, mosquitoes) when you go inland ?

Oh, I'd beg to differ that military and retired military don't exhibit and value self-reliance.
Like any philosophy, unless you are a constituency of 1, there will always be some measure of compromise. It is just a matter of finding a place that operates within ones comfort zone before reaching the tipping (or shrugging) point.

My folks moved to the panhandle 22 years ago at place called Compass Lake in the hills between Dothen ,Alabama and Panama City, Fl. They love it.
No damage from hurricanes in that time.
The gulches own Allosaur spent many years on that same lake in the 50s and 60's and his brother
Still does. The land is cheap. The beech is nearby.
Cost of living very reasonable.

If the people from the Gulch were in Pensacola I'd be there in a heartbeat- and as soon as all of us arrived there would be massive demand for all that Pensacola lacks ;^)
Unfortunately, it has a large component of military and retired military. imo, there would be lots of resistance to the basic elements (that the Gulch brings) of the free market and individual self reliance by that federal bureaucracy and those dependent on it.
Frankly, there is no place in the US where the Gulch would be tolerated since no one in the Gulch would be paying taxes for services not requested or delivered.

Pensacola doesn't have aqua blue water like most of the Caribbean. Its milky grey-blue water. No comparison to the Caribbean, at least not compared to places I have been (Bahamas (Nassau, Abaco), St Martin, St Croix, Jamaica, Honduras Bay Islands, Cozumel, Bonaire, Curacao, Montserrat, Saba.)
It is similar to the gulf at Merida, Mexico.