Pros and Cons - the "T" List

Recently I was explaining to a stranger how Gene and I decided to move to Tri-Cities from Yuma, Arizona.  This place was not our only option and we spent several months (truthfully more like 3 years) deciding where to move. First, we wrote a long list of what was important to us for our new place to "be" and then we broke it down even further by writing on a big dry erase board.  We used the "T" method, placing Pros on one side and Cons on the other.  But first we had to decide which cities we were going to even consider placing up on the dry erase board.  We looked really hard at Oklahoma City (I shudder now just thinking about it). We even took a trip there to check it out and came home to quickly scratch it off our list.

Oklahoma City.  Looks good on paper but one must really go there to experience it. If you are reading this and it's your home and you love it there, we are so happy for you. On the "pro" side, they have that beautiful memorial of the OKC bombing but it's hardly a reason to move there. That's the only nice thing I can say about OKC.

I wish I had taken a photo of our "T" board when we placed Tri-Cities on it. Gene had done a lot of research about this area but quite frankly, life is even better here than I could have imagined. Maybe it's because I went for a lovely, long walk yesterday with Gene and "Missy" down by the river, which is one mile from our house. We don't walk down there often enough. There are miles of trails and yesterday we walked on one we had not been on before. I saw ducks and a big herron, wild mushrooms and leaves falling in a hurry for winter to arrive. We walked past a little art gallery that I've never been inside of but it's on my list of "to do's" for a Saturday when I'm bored. I don't spend any time out here in our little town but it's a goal to do more of that, and soon. We have a very old furniture store that has its original sign up that I'll have to shoot and show you sometime. There are towns and places around here that make you take a step back in time. I might add stuff like that to my "T" list if we decide to move again.

So, a few of the things on our "T" list for consideration were:  weather, economy, weather, distance from grand kids, weather, things to do, weather, job market, weather, population, weather, motorcycling roads, weather.

The weather is changing ... we noticed last night it was super nippy at 9:00 p.m.  I'm cold all the time and I sleep with a turtleneck on. I've never quite warmed up from my life in Alaska.  You could say I am freezerburned.  Even with the winter being a bit colder than I imagined, we made the right choice moving here. There are still a lot of places to see and roads to ride and trails to walk. So many things to do, so little time ... it seems.