Clinton is a lovely little town. My MIL lives there. It is more in the north-central part of the state. They have a Wal-Mart Super Center, a nice Harvest Foods, a nice, new hospital and several of your well-known fast food places, etc. as well as an older downtown area where there are the local businesses that have been there for years, such as a furniture/appliance store, a fairly large hardware/lumber store, etc. There is some lovely scenery from Clinton on northward all the way up into Missouri. You are right about lots of woods.
Here is a link to one of my albums on my picasa webpage. These photos were taken in Missouri and Arkansas along Highway 65 in the Ozark Mountains.
http://picasaweb.google.com/marsue777/BransonSpringfieldAndHome?authkey=Gv1sRgCJmT__vCjbjYpQE#5438989605443200482
I think i wanna move to Arkansas
very pretty... reminds me of central to southern KY.
This message was edited Apr 10, 2010 2:58 AM
Clinton is beautiful ..... and not too far from LR. My niece and her husband recently built a new home in Clinton and she commutes to Children's in LR as a nurse. I wouldn't want to drive it everyday - but she doesn't seem to mind.....
When we lived between Conway and Greenbrier, it was 35 miles from our house to my MIL's and she lives approx. 1 mile off Hwy 65 on Hwy 16 in Clinton. It would be another 30 miles at least down to Children's Hospital in Little Rock from Conway so your niece's drive to work is approximately 60 miles one way, Genna. I used to drive 45 miles one way to work and that was far enough, believe me! I don't envy your niece!
As I"m looking at properties on line... i keep seeing something about "Mineral Rights"
what does that mean?
I think i saw one that said something about 49%
You want 'em!
We have serious oil/gas exploration going on in this area. Mineral rights mean you will have financial compensation should they drill in a surrounding area.
Surface rights (which the landowner has) do not pay as much but give you control over the surface of your land, i.e. seismograph testing, drilling, etc.
In some states, former land owners can retain a portion, none or all of the mineral rights. A thorough search ~ ours was done by the title insurance company will prove the mineral rights before the transaction is completed.
thanks Pod.
Yes, and the gas companies are drilling all over the north-central part of Arkansas right now. Just ask Kathy Ann about that!
Which causes a lot of folks to not want to sell the mineral rights along with the property! In that case you get the rights to the surface land and they retain the rights to the minerals below.
ok... i understand now. thanks.
Update.....
Dh and I are wrapping up a 6 week vacation where we have already driven over 4200 miles...
one his 'bucket list' was to do the Diamond Mine in SW AR. we spent 1 day in Murfreesboro, then drove to Heber Springs the next day....
while AR, especially north of Heber Springs heading NW to MO, was stunningly gorgeous... we drove back country roads into Branson.
DH can not accept the "Dry" county thing .... so we have scratched AR off of our list of possible retirement states.
LOL, Therese! Of course, not all counties in AR are "dry" and if one does live in a dry county, there is usually a liquor store just over the county line in the next county. :D
It sounds as if you and your DH have had a lovely vacation--good luck in your quest to find just the right place to retire!
Terese,
Oh my....wish I had known you were going to the diamond mine! That is about an hour and a half from where I live! Would have LOVED to meet you in person! Believe me there are PLENTY of wet counties in Arkansas....i would say the wet outnumber the dry for sure!!
Hope you enjoyed your trip.....and good luck on finding the perfect spot!
Genna
Genna... it's funny, we were driving thru Camden, and i was like.... heck, i know someone who lives here.... but between the two sites, i know a lot of folks, and just couldn't figure it out.
plus... this really wasn't planned.
we were in Fla and on our way home, DH was like... well, we would swing thru AR, on our way to KC, which also was not planned. it extended our vacation by about 5 days.
>>there are PLENTY of wet counties in Arkansas...i would say the wet outnumber the dry for sure!!
there is a map of AR with the counties... there are about 6 or 7 wet counties,
about half of all AR counties [i dont know how many total there are] half are DRY, and the other half are "moist" -- Wet with dry areas.
DH really has an issue with "the powers that be" telling him what he can and can't do. When we were in Heber Springs, we asked where the nearest liquor store was..... the answer... about an hour in any direction.
In the bit of research he was doing, he found that in some Mississippi counties you can actually be fined for transporting liquor in your vehicle... now that is crazy. ~~ we had purchased some booze, to take home, when we were on our cruise...
back to AR....we did not get to explore most of the state, but a bit of it.... maybe if we look at it closer - DH may find some "moist" areas that are do-able. But this was certainly a learning experience.
Wow ..... I would NEVER have thought that there were anywhere near that many counties that were dry!! Our county is so wet that every convenience store sells beer! Bradley County - 2 counties over, is dry, but I think every other county surrounding us is wet. Nevada county might be dry....would have to check that. I know Clark County (Arkadelphia) was dry - has two colleges in it - but they voted last year to make it wet. Prior to that, students would drive to Hot Springs (Garland Co) to buy liquor. Now they have several large liquor stores in Arkadelphia and several restaurants serve it. I would say you might be looking at an old map...... considering I can probably name at least that many counties in So Arkansas that are wet................ or maybe north arkansas is a LOT more dry than I think! Oh well..... can't believe you actually came thru Camden! You should have hollered ! We could have grabbed a burger or something!
South Arkansas would fit his criteria for being wet (well in most places) but the humidity might kill you here! :) Plus, it is a really long hard drive to Wisconsin from here. Don't know if you have thought of this, but if you are going to be gone all summer, and you want to maintain your flower beds etc. You will need someone to mow the yard, water flowers etc or they will never make it here unless they are extremely durable plants! It gets into the high 90s and triple digits here on a regular basis...... and the humidity reaches 100%! But, we can go for months without rain! We are STILL dry around here.... not a good way to head into Spring and summer!
Sure hate that I missed having the opportunity to meet you in person!
Genna
I think you'll find that in most places across the south. I know east TX has many dry counties. Our county has 'dry' precincts. Three out of four cannot sell alcohol. One can sell but not serve it. You must have a club and memberships. No bars or restaurants that serve alcohol here.
Things will change though. When we moved here in the mid 1970s, Texas had blue laws. Certain groceries and other goods could not be purchased on Sunday. There would be aisles of those items in stores that would be closed off on Sunday. We had moved here from a large southern town in AZ where the stores didn't even have doors on them... open 24/7. It was culture shock but you had to want to be here to accept it.
Good luck in your choices Terese!
http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/media-detail.aspx?mediaID=7974
We never really thought about it until we asked for Margaritas at the mexican restaurant we were at..... shrugged that off --
then the next day, all the way across the state... same thing....
went to a restaurant that 'served' -- but it's more of a "membership" thing.... $10 a yr for the privilege to drink at their establishment....
we told the gal we were in town for 1 night... she said, "Ok, sign here." when we got the bill, we realized that alcohol is taxed 20% !! Thankfully we only had 1 drink each.
POD -- after this experience, we hopped on the internet and did a bit of research and found most southern states are dry in some, if not most areas.
and it's not that we drink A LOT... it's the whole someone telling you that you can't do something. That is what DH has an issue with.
The area of KY that I want to look at has a lot of dry counties too... will have to look at it more closely now. and I wont even look at MS.
Gen -- i hear ya on the plants.... these are all things i need to think about.... we do have one kid where we may have the "Failure to Launch" thing.... he's 21 and has about 2.5 yrs of college left..... but he watches my plants during the seasons i'm not home.
That map is a little misleading .... at least in our area. I live in Ouachita County and I don't have a clue where the "dry"areas are! It is SUPER wet here! There is even a mexican restaurant that is located within 200 yds of a church.... i was told ( by the manager) they would never be able to serve beer because they were too close to the church (and that might be what they mean by "dry" areas), but now they are serving beer ! I was really shocked to see they got their beer license.
After writing that .... I realize that our county has restrictions about being so many yards from schools or churches to sell liquor..... but we aren't talking miles..... Of course, legal age is 21 but that doesn't stop anyone either in this area.
Although a lot of establishments here in Camden have a "beer and wine" license, but most places do not have a full bar in a restaurant like would be found in the Little Rock area. There are private clubs, and a few places.....
Therese, have you checked out Hot Springs, or Hot Springs Village? Beautiful, 'WET" and near Little Rock and lots of lakes.
I was going to suggest the same thing. Hot Springs and Hot Springs Village are big retirement areas. Also lots of people in AR have summer homes in Hot Springs. Most restaurants in Hot Springs and Little Rock have full bars. One small quirk - they can't sell mixed drinks, wine or beer before noon on Sun. The area around Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville is wet and also have full bars in restaurants.
Seems like you went through some of the more rural areas on your trip through the state.
we have not been to that part of the state... maybe one day we can give it a try again.
Dh said something about trying TN next... but i honestly am NOT thinking about any trips after being on the road for 45 days.
LOL.... I don't think I would be considering traveling either after that many days on the road! Hope you got to see some pretty scenery along the way!
I live in a dry county, but every county adjacent to this one is wet. So I can drive across the county line, in any direction, and get a beer.
Jonesboro is growing though and it has changed in the name of progress. In the last couple of years, several new restaurant chains have come into town, on the condition that they could sell alcohol. So now you can go to Chili's or Red Lobster and have wine or beer with your dinner.
I grew up here, in this dry county. I remember the first time I went to another county and stopped at a convenience store and right there next to the sodas, they had beer for sale. My cousin laughed at me and said my eyes got as big as saucers. LOL
yeah I remember when they started selling beer in the grocery stores! I was shocked. Now it is in every convenience store, grocery store, etc and we probably have at least 8 liquor stores in town! Probably have more items of liquor and beer for sale on any given day than we have people in town! :)
we were in Cleburne county -- that just seemed to far from anything... everyone said an hour in any direction.
Maybe I can do more digging in the northern counties.... and even though all the country side we drove thru -- while it was very pretty, it seemed a bit too 'rural' for me.... In over an hour, I think i was 1 real grocery store, but 2 Super WallyWorlds .... i'd have to look at a map, but i'm thinking it was Harrison. we drove 65 up into Branson.
You need to check out the Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville area. It's all one metropolitan area. A huge first class art museum just open in Bentonville a few months ago - Crystal Bridges. Founded by Alice Walton. Fayetteville is home to the University of Arkansas. Lots of restaurants,shopping and cultural l events. You were in a very rural area of the state. The whole state is not like that. Sounds like you would prefer the conveniences of a city. Then you can always take day trips into the more rural areas.
Yeah, lots of the state are very rural..... and actually compared to Chicago we don't have any non-rural areas including NW Arkansas and LR! My husband works for AT&T and there was a big article that circulated on line yesterday about AT&T looking for a company to buy their rural areas. So he and his boss and his group all had a discussion about what constituted a rural area................. for instance their is a central office located in a small dot called Bodcaw. Many, many years ago there used to be a town at Bodcaw - but now it is just a spot in the road a very slimly populated community. Hope, about 30 minutes away, is a "City" compared to Bodcaw, and technically it does qualify as a city I believe....but if you compare it to Hot Springs or Little Rock it would still be considered rural. Then they were saying that if you compared even Hot Springs or LR or Fayetteville area to Dallas/Ft Worth .....there is no comparison. I guess my point is, it is ALL relative, and depends on what you are used to.
I guess it would be really hard to go from Chicago to rural Arkansas - huge culture shock I would think! But, if you want some peace and quiet you could sure find it here! But forget the selection that you are used to in the grocery stores, clothing stores, etc....... you will need to catch that on your trips to Wisconsin! :)
Glad you got to see part of the state anyway.
Genna
Genna what does DH do for AT&T in Bodcaw?? Just curious. My son does work for AT&T (used to be an employee but now with AMDOCS).
And I cross posted with Charlotte, but she is right, you might really love the NW part of the state. With the UofA there, they have access to a lot of cultural events that the rest of the state (other than possibly LR) doesn't have. But, for the most part, they have extremely rocky soil........... so not sure that meets your criteria for nice farm land. Most of us who live in the rural areas of the state are used to driving to Little Rock or some of the larger cities for things sometimes....... but that probably seems pretty foreign to someone who is used to having everything handy in a large city.
Good luck in your search! I am sure with time and research, you will find the perfect spot !
Leigh doesn't go to Bodcaw now.... well at least not except for rare occasions, but that was one of his COs (central offices) when he worked out of Hope. Now he goes to big metropolises like Village, Macedonia, and McNeil. With McNeil being HUGE compared to the other two! :) They have central offices in those "towns" that handle all the phone lines in that surrrounding area.... and he goes there on a daily basis to handle whatever needs to be done concerning those lines. He used to go to Bodcaw once a week or so when he worked out of the Hope CO. What is AMDOCS Charlotte?
We are really concerned...........not sure how much longer any of the CO techs will have a job as they keep cutting and cutting. There are two that work out of Magnolia - Leigh and one other guy who has about 2 mos senority on him! In hindsight, he should have stayed at the Hope CO and not transferred because he would have had seniority there. Now, if they cut one out of Magnolia, it will be him. If he had stayed in Hope he would have almost been assured of keeping his job for at least a few more years - but when he transferred 8 yrs ago we didn't know all that! They sent around an email about a month ago asking for voluntary layoffs....early retirements, etc. They got some that way from across the state - but not as many as they wanted. Haven't heard if they have cut the remaining number that they wanted done or not.
>>seems pretty foreign to someone who is used to having everything handy in a large city.
the town we have lived most our lives in, is about 8,000 residence ... it has grown a lot since the 60's when we moved here, but mostly in industry.
we are about 30-35miles from the 'BIG city' and 5 miles as a crow flies, from O'Hare.
so we are suburbia, not really the BIG city -- we really dont like the big city atmosphere, but I do enjoy the conveniences of nearby shopping and dining.
While the highway is in my back yard, and the train station is now about 8 blocks away [ we moved 4 blocks farther away ] BUT, noise-wise that's too close.
I think i could deal with a 30 min ride to 'conveniences' and be content.
I googled that Fayetteville area ... and that puts me at a 12 hr drive [700+ miles] from Lake Delton ... that's too far for me. I"m thinking 600 miles max. Though we have considered Florida .... that is a whole 'nother story though.
Genna AMDOCS is a very large Israel company. They design and service systems for tele-communication companies throughout the world. About 5 or 6 years ago AT&T transferred their engineering division to AMDOCS. Don't know exactly how many - thousand or so. By doing that it took them off the AT&T payroll and I'm sure reduced their cost benefit wise, etc. AT&T now contracts with AMDOCS. When they transferred them they, went over to AMDOCS with the same years of service as they had with AT&T. As far as what Jeff was doing everything stayed the same - just gets paid from a different company. He is still in the same building, same office as he was before. He designs and services systems throughout the US. He has people in various locations around the US that work under him. At one time he supervised a group in India. Don't know if he still has any in India or not now. That's why he can stay here with his dad and still work. As long as he has his company laptop he can log in and work anywhere.
Here is a link that explains the company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdocs
This message was edited Mar 8, 2012 4:20 PM