RunForTheHills

The weather is great in most of California, but everything is more expensive here: housing, taxes, insurance, gasoline...

MJH

Edwardsville, IL. Reasonably small, 26000 people, with great biking trails. You'll still have winter & at least I don't cycle year round, but there are those who do. Cost of living is reasonable & you are 25 miles from St. Louis. Definitely still have 4 seasons, but not Wisconsin winters. University town with some good restaurants both here & St. Louis.

Artfahie

Maine is beautiful... but seasonal. You can bike from the ocean to the mountains, or sometimes the mountainous terrain along the seacoast. If you like riding in less-than-perfect weather you'll squeeze most of the year into riding... although a secondary fat bike would be a good addition !

kydeadhead

If she likes to paddle board and you like to ride,and you want to avoid heat and humidity,you would seem to need a place not to far south with a decent network of back roads and some lakes around.....sounds a lot like Wisconsin. Have you considered RV/condo rentals and just bugging out for mud season?

bruised

Thanks - We've certainly thought of this. We do like the area here May through October. It's probably something we may end doing via a different route....head south first for a year, then maybe hop between the two if the heat bugs us too much.

bruised

Funny but others have suggested Southern IL outside of this forum. I'd just assumed the winters would be similar to what we have here, perhaps not as severe but of a similar duration. I think it's the duration that's killing us, not so much the severity.
I'll check it out more, thanks.

bruised

Thanks - I really want to move to CA and wing it a bit on the finances, maybe start with something really small for a year....but the GF thinks it's too far in case she needs to get back here to take care of aging parents.
I haven't given up hope yet

rossiny

I moved from Chicago area to south east Wisconsin. To me it seems like Wisconsin has an extended Indian summer , which I love. I am close to lake Michigan , don't know if that is why or my imagination? I will say some times I don't like the winters . Maybe because of my Mediterranean ancestry? But retiring there might be pricey also and I have heard they are having economic problems as well as refugee problems over populating and adding to an already terrible youth unemployment rate. The side effect is that some small towns have had young people move out lowering housing cost, so maybe u can getba great deal in south Italy....The good Ole USA has many beautiful places and I love it also.

Skullo 

Northern Utah. I move from Illinois five years ago. Illinois is broke and taxes are high.
More riding and recreation than I can go into. Hot dry summers . Greatest Snow On Earth.
Cost of living reasonable.
Economy is doing much better than most of country. Low taxes for now.
Will never move back to Illinois.

linberl

If you're thinking of California, you better do it before you need to have a passport ;-)

Frank72

Kona HI would be an awesome place to live. Great road biking especially north of the airport on the Kohala coast. You can ride for miles and miles. Beaches and ocean sports galore. Hiking and I assume there is some mountain biking as well. Amazing sunsets.

Weather is great year round. August and Sept can be hot.

The Kona coffee is not bad either.

Wulf

Sn Diego / Orange County. everything you asked for and crazy spendy too!

ironknee

@bruised Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Staunton, Lexington, Roanoke or Blacksburg are all great towns- Big mountains right there and big sweeping valley country. College towns, good new food scenes, microbreweries, winerys, great bike shops. Low cost of living. I live 45 minutes west of Staunton in the big Allegheny mountains. Staunton may be the prettiest town in VA. We use all those towns for our social, shopping, culture needs etc....Awesome place to live. If you need a lake- Smith Mountain Lake near Roanoke. Lake Moomaw, Claytor Lake. Lots of big rivers too. Jackson, James, Shenandoah, South, Maury, and New Rivers.

Wileyone 

As a Canadian that wouldn't leave this Country for anything. Unless I absolutely had to Ashville NC would be close to the top of my list. Beautiful Country Friendly People nice Climate best back Roads in the USA. What more could you ask for?
Unless of course it's Spring Summer and Fall in Nova Scotia..

ironknee

I too love the NC Mountains too, but Asheville and Boone, Blowing Rock etc have become insanely expensive. Thats where the VA mountains shine- all the up and coming towns, food scenes, etc - they actually call Roanoke- 'little Asheville" now.

Half the price for homes and probably 70% less expensive for land, and all the roads, gravel, national forest, wilderness areas you would ever need.

1242Vintage

By luck I landed in the foothills of Northern Ca (east of Sacramento) a couple decades ago. Am sitting at 1,000 ft elevation which puts me above the valley fog of winter and below the snow line. Commute to work on my bike whenever I want, have miles of mountain bike and hiking trails within minutes of the house, and race mountain and cyclocross on the weekends in the seasons. Have a few neighbors that paddle board and kayak on the nearby lakes and rivers. Winter activities, world-class downhill and X country skiing, and fat bike snow racing, are less than and hour from the house.

There are many hiking, biking, and other outdoor clubs and teams in the area too.

Downside are the political, cost of housing, and taxes in California. Summers can get hot, but low humidity and usually the heat waves are short and followed by some cooler temps.

Good luck with your choice and the next phase of your life.

bruised

Thanks again for ongoing suggestions!

We're on the first leg of a reconnaissance trip as we speak. Typing this from a Holiday Inn in Bradenten FL, we drove here from WI in a bit of a hurry for personal reasons and took in some of Tennessee and GA, though more of a glimpse than anything. We've looked around Tampa, Sarasota, Ana Maria Island and tomorrow we set off for a run up through Daytona Beach heading north en route to NC via GA and SC.
It's all got to happen in rather a hurry but we're going to have some fun. So far I prefer the ocean/palm trees etc of FL over the rolling hills and mountains of TN. Temps have been in the 90's here but low humidity (45%). Oh and it's Spring Break so the traffic has been pretty bad.
I'll check in again in a couple days!

Thanks

kevrider

Reno, Carson City, Lake Tahoe.