ok, well so you can get more perspective from my post: i am from Texas and went to UT so was in Austni 5 years and my parents live in New Braunfels between Austin and San Antonio (although i grew up in Dalls). i lived in Portland 3 years, Massachusetts 9 months and now in Germany 2 years... i love the outdoors, ride my bike to work, hate sprawl and am pretty liberal (although i have conservative Texas roots)...

Austin: well, i love the old Austin the way it used to be and it is in my opinion the only place i would every consider living in in the the whole South (although i must admit the Southeast i don't know so well). as far as social stuff to do Austin's great with an "alternative" culture nestled in the conservative South. as for cycling: the attitude is pretty good with Lance and there are decent hills to ride... as for mountain biking it just doesn't compare with most other places as there just aren't any big mountains for a few hundred miles. for commuting you can do it in Austin, but you will be an "outsider" as every "real" Texan drives a car or better yet a big truck. "cycling" in Austin means driving home from work in traffic, throwing the bike in the pickup bed and driving to the trail - in Eugen or Portland it means riding to and from work and then hitting from trail from your doorstep. i.e. Austin has a recreational bike community but not a ful "bike community" like somewhere in the Northwest or even northern California. as was said above, the traffic in Austin has gotten REALLY bad and the growth and sprawl is horrible (i was there in the late 80s early 90s and areas of open hills i used to ride are now full of new houses for miles and miles). my mom has been trying to convince me to move back to Austin for years - i just can't b/c i love mountains so much AND even though it's liberal Austin, it's still in consevative Texas.

Eugene: well, first, you seem to be ruling Portland out b/c of the rain and Eugene is basically the same - it's only 90 miles away and in the same valley. i think Eugene is cool although it's a tough choice between Portland. as was said above, the economy is crap in Oregon, but if you can get a job then it should mean that the cost of livign will be going down rather than up. as to the weather: it's really hard to say --- as for cycling the rain is no problem and you can ride all year round - you just take a jacket with you. as opposed to most places where rain means hard downpour where you can't do much and it's miserable, in Portland it almost never rains hard - it's just a light drissle. the total rainfall is less than 40" a year (less than Houston TX for instance and about the same as much of the Northeast). it's mainly that you just don't see the sun for about 8-9 months of the year. i think it is only bearable IF you do lots of outdoor sports like cycling that don't necessarily require sunny skies... Portland/Oregon is on my list of places to move back to when i return to the US (Boulder CO is my top choice). oh, mountain biking is awesome. other outdoor sports great. cost of living is reasonable. both Eugene and Portland are not "social" places so if you want a Chicago or LA or Dallas, it ain't there, but the social scene is cool. also, both Eugen and Portland are soe of the best places in the US for bike commuting and the general cyclin community - cyclists are really positively seen as both commuters and recreational riders

NC- i must say about 6 years ago when i ended up moving to Portland i did a big search of cities -- end list of 4 was Boulder CO, Portland OR, San Francisco CA and Munich Germany where i then moved 4 years later --- and NC was on my original list of 10 or so. i never did a real visit and i've only been there while driving through the Blue Ridge Parkway on vacation and a half-day in Raleigh... but i decided for me i thought the area would be too conservative as i had conservative friends from Texas who went out there and found it conservative. but might be a great choice.

FL - i love mountains so Florida would never be a choice for me.

oh, since San Antonio was mentioned a lot, i'll give my opion: i think San Antonio is OK and great compared to Dallas and Houston (i've lived in both - Houston is one of the worst cities in the US). it is still a huge sprawling city, although the dry desert hill on the west side are nice - lots of sun, descent small hills and rivers --- but for cycling the traffic makes it less than ideal and like Austin, the hills just aren't so big. i think socially SA has less than what it should for it's size - it just think it's way too boring for it's size and you pay for it with TRAFFIC (not that it's any worse than Austin, Dallas or Houston). i would tolerate living in SA is i had to, but i wouldn't choose it.

Boulder/Denver CO is high on my list...

what about northern California? i don't know much about the possibilities and especially work... but i've been a little intriqued by Redding recently. know anything about it?

well, good luck. let me know how it turns out, as i will probably be facing the same type of choice at the end of the summer - assuming Bush stops srweing the country and the US economy improves sometime so i could find a job. my current list: real options: Boulder CO, Portland OR.... plus consideration for Salt Lake City (would like to like it, but it is SO conservative), Flagstaff Arizona (don't know much about it), Redding California (don't know anything about it)... plus unrealisitc places like Bozeman or Missoula Mountana or Sante Fe NM or some other cool mountain town where i probably couldn't get a job.