Ok here's the deal, we are going to be buying a retirement home in the next year or rwo.

Momma wants to be within an hour or less of the ocean, I want nice weather and roads to ride on..I want decent weather for 10-11 months of the year.

Our primary choice has up to now been somewhere in North Carolina on the east side of I-95.

I am rethinking Florida, I was very fond of the Tampa Bay/clearwater area when I was younger. I was raised in Lauderdale and have sisters in Palm Beach Gardens and New Port Richey.

I know Carolina has the roads that my Road King will be right at home on, nice two lane rural roads lots of em.

Here is where I need opinions, will I be happy in Florida on a bike? I was in Lauderdale and Miami this past October and I know I wouldn't be happy there on a bike..

New England is nice but I have had it with snow, 7.5 years to retirement.

 

A lot of my buddies that I grew up with in NYC have relocated to North Carolina and love it. For some reason family and friends that I know who moved to Florida have mostly moved back. Not blasting Florida as I never lived there, but it seems a lot prefer NC. Good luck

 

I know you were specifying more coastal, but the North Carolina area around Asheville and Black Mountain especially are beautiful, yet it is Western Carolina and you do have four seasons to deal with.

 

Have you considered South Carolina?

 

Wait until you've visited Hiawassee or Young Harris, Georgia, then decide.

 

She went to Mertyl Beach and didn't seem too excited upon return.

I am sure that south Carolina could work weatherwise but certainly don't want four full blown seasons on the inland side of North Carolina.

I have a two sons in NC, one in Raleigh/Durham and one in Winston/Salem.

Doesn't mean they'll still be there when I retire.

My wife wants warm weather but really likes the ocean, thus having the ability for her to drive there in an hour..the beauty is she likes bikes enough where my thoughts carry weight...LOL

 

Florida sucks, you would be better off simply killing yourself than retire there. The Carolinas are great, best of all worlds.

 

Any place from SE TN to North-Central FL WEST of 95...

BTW, I have taken many riders on a tour of parts of Florida who remarked "...looks like Ireland/Virginia..." (minus the elevation of course, though Florida is not flat), with little/no traffic... Please don't tell anyone...

 

My buddy was so glad to move back north after spending some years in Fla. As he said, it was like riding on a pool table.

 

No, stay where you are. You will hate it here, too hot and humid. And too many damn retirees everywhere.

I swear, every person on my street is from Jersey, or N.Y., and all they talk about is how they can change this place, to be like where they came from.

Anyway, there are plenty of twisty, curvy, scenic roads here in Fl., you just have to know where they are.