Have you lived in or visited New Mexico? Tell us about it!

ALBUQUERQUE, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA (North America) — May 2019 —  I live in the city of Albuquerque, in the state of New Mexico, specifically in the 87114 zip code, which is on the west side of the Rio Grande river. Albuquerque (often referred to as ABQ) it a city of approximately 500,000 people and is the largest city in New Mexico. When my wife and I moved here we thought it was a nice, fairly quiet city, where we could be reasonably close to Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, and make a decent living in an area without inflated taxes and prices. However, in just the past year things have gotten far worse here, and we truly regret out decision to move here. Crime rates have skyrocketed – there has been at least one shooting per day so far this year, an increase of over thirty percent from last year, sales tax has risen to 7.875 percent, and our jobs refuse to give employees raises. Traffic is a true nightmare, with incredibly aggressive drivers running red lights, driving the wrong way, and threatening me when I use my horn or in any way protest. Just the other day I used my horn on a driver in a roundabout who entered it and cut me off, and the driver then brake-checked me twice while shouting curses and threats, causing me to come within inches of running into him. These kinds of things are a nearly daily occurrence now. I cannot stress enough that if you are thinking of coming to Albuquerque, please reconsider. If we could afford to leave right now I would gladly pack the place up in two days and run.

Have you lived in or visited New Jersey? Tell us about it!

ROCKAWAY, Morris County, New Jersey, USA (North America) — May 2019 –The name of the town i live in right now is Rockaway NJ i just bought my house here about an year ago the zip code is 07866 its a suburban it comes under Morris county it has a population of 6438. I personally like it a lot so far my experience living here has been very good because i find it to be very peaceful and beautiful you get to see a lot of deer’s and bears. There are very many restaurants,stores,malls close by so it a fun and the down town close to me is so beautiful both in winter and summer the local ice cream shop is so crowded during summer. Every thing is close to each other meaning it is very convenient to get grocery or go for a good meal or go out to the mall you will have to drive for maximum 15 minutes and you will get to you sport. I also find the people in the stores more friendly than what i have experienced before (more calm). Very less sound pollution its very quite . I really enjoy leaving here so far my experience has been great i do not have any negative thing to say about my town we have a mixed community.

Have you lived in or visited New Hampshire? Tell us about it!

GOFFSTOWN, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA (North America) —I love my city. It is set in the woods with wildlife all around, but is also close enough to surrounding cities and stores for convenience. I have lived here for about 5 years, and it has been the best move. One of the selling points to choosing to live in Goffstown was the neighborhood we are a part of. It’s a new neighborhood with mostly other young families. Now that I have 2 children of my own, I can now watch them grow up and become friends with the kids down the street from us. Also, this town is known for quality schools that are highly rated. Especially the high school is known to be a great school. In addition, there are other convenient amenities, such as the local YMCA which offers fantastic athletic programs, and children’s camps throughout the year. We have already participated in numerous programs at the Y and have been very pleased with the quality of programs and instructors for our kids. There are also farms nearby, so that my family and I can pick our own blueberries and apples. So much to do and see! The only thing that bothers me about living in Goffstown, or any other small town in New Hampshire, is the lack of diversity.

MILFORD, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA (North America) — May 2019 — Milford, NH, is a fairly small town in southern New Hampshire. The population is around 15,000 but feels smaller and bigger at the same time. The center of town, which is basically a traffic circle (affectionately called “the oval”) with small businesses and cafes surrounding the circle, was clearly built during a time when there was less through-traffic. As the nearby cities of Nashua and Manchester have grown, the increasing traffic on the oval has overwhelmed the small streets and it is now difficult to take a leisurely stroll and visit the cafes and stores, but people continue to support the local businesses in spite of the changes. This shows the tight-knit atmosphere of the community, which is part of why I am proud to call Milford home. I also feel connected to the town whenever I hear the town bell ring. The historical bell was cast by Paul Revere and rings every hour on the hour as well as on special occasions, such as the death of nearly every President of the United States. I have lived in Milford for several years but continue to discover more fascinating facts about the town and region. Just recently I learned that the neighboring town of Amherst used to be part of Milford but split off into its own town in the late 1700s. I look forward to learning even more in the future as a resident of Milford, NH.

Have you lived in or visited Louisiana? Tell us about it!

I currently live in the city Metairie. I like that Metairie is a very suburban part of Louisiana. The only thing that I do not like about Metairie is that there are not many close convenience stores and grocery stores around the this area that is within walking distance. It is quiet and not as active and noisy like other parts of the state like in the busy city section New Orleans that is located downtown. Metairie is a somewhat isolated part of Louisiana and has less crime. Many people from New Orleans are moving towards this part of town because the crime is getting bad downtown, and housing is affordable in Metairie. The state of Louisiana is very country-like. There is a lot of open land with swampy areas. This state is known for having a lot of alligators in the swamp and has a lot of pelicans. This state has very strict hurricane evacuation orders when a category 3 and above is close to hitting close this way. Many times residents in this state have to consistently watch the weather around storm season (June through end of October) and evacuate and leave town every year. It can be somewhat frustrating to stop your quality of life to travel temporarily to another state, or reestablishing yourself permanently in a new state with a new job and home because the conditions back home in Louisiana have been sabotaged from the storms. Many residents have to deal with this on a yearly basis and it is very expensive to go through this many times.

Have you lived in or visited Indiana? Tell us about it!

Anderson

Madison County, Indiana, USA (North America) – December 2018 — I live in Anderson. It is a city in Indiana located about 35  North of Indianapolis. I have lived in Anderson off and on since around 1989. The only time I left Anderson was when I was in the Army. I moved around the country for about 4 years, but other than that, I have lived in Anderson. When we first moved there from Indy, it was a thriving city due to the GM factories still being open. Several years ago, all the GM factories shut down and sent the worker overseas. This has seriously affected the city both economically and in appearances. The city has much higher crime, drug, an unemployment rates than ever before now. It is for the most part, dirty, run down and over ridden with drug addicts and there is a relatively high rate of crime compared to how things used to be. I do not like living here, even though we are employed and function in society well. Every time I go out into the city, I am approached by people asking for money and other things. It makes me uncomfortable to go out around town here now because of this. I have seen people attempt to rob others in parking lots and such. If it were up to me, we would have moved out of this area a very long time ago, but my husband is originally from here and does not want to move. There are employment opportunities here, but many of the residents rely heavily on government assistance and in my opinion, lack the drive and the skills to seek out these jobs. I really want to move.

Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana, USA – January 2018 — The town I am writing about would be Elkhart, Indiana. I was born close by, in Michigan, in 1983. I lived in Elkhart from when I was in 3^rd grade until 11^th grade, this would have been throughout the entirety of the 1990s. The area in general is what I would call working class, to poor class. I’m sure there are pockets of “money” just like there are rich folk everywhere, but the city, and whole North-Centr­al Indiana landscape, is dominated by working class folk, and the “culture” of the class of drug is unfavorable, it’s all about methamphetamine’s and crack-rock (cocaine). I started working for a pizza place when I was 16, and stayed there until I was 20, advancing to the level of shift manager as soon as I was of age to do it for the company.

After staying 4 years and maxing out at less than 9 dollars an hour, I moved into the factory/manufacturing setting there for work, which is vibrant in the area. I worked for a couple of different factories, and at both it was the same as far as drug use goes: every break a good third to half of the workers would be smoking meth or snorting something. Every lunch the same thing. It was nearly impossible to take a #2 at work, because the stalls were always “occupied”. Definitely widespread, and not restricted to the places I personally worked for. Theft, property crimes, invasions, assaults, muggings, all prevalent. After dark, (going back to being a child again) it was definitely an area that you did not wander too far from home.

Have you lived in or visited Idaho? Tell us about it!

Sandpoint

Bonner County, Idaho, USA (North America) — May 2019 — I have lived in Sandpoint, Idaho for the past five years. It is located in the Idaho panhandle sandwiched between Washington State and Montana. Living in this location has its advantages and disadvantages. It is located in a remote area of Idaho, but the climate is fairly mild compared to other places. I like the remoteness of the area, but because of the remoteness, it does not offer a lot of amenities like most places with a decent size population. Most employment in the area is near-minimum wage, but there is plenty of it if one needs something to do. Most people that live here usually work two jobs to get by or are in households where two different sources of income are needed to get by. As far as scenery, it is one of the most beautiful places in the country. One can take a scenic drive in the panhandle itself, or cross the border over to Montana to experience that scenery over there as well. The scenery attracts a lot of tourists to visit this area. Sandpoint offers the Schweitzer ski resort for winter skiing and snowboarding as well as lake Pend Oreille for fishing, boating, and swimming during the summer. Silverwood, another attraction, is a theme park located south of Sandpoint going toward Coeur d’Alene. While my family is located here, I am looking to relocate to Boise as I feel it is in proximity to what I want to do with my life. As I mentioned, there are limited opportunities up here. While I could go to Spokane nearby, I would prefer to go to Boise as it is home to a tech manufacturing company I am interested in working for in the near future.

Have you lived in or visited Delaware? Tell us about it!

Hockessin, Delaware, New Castle County, USA – March 2018 — The name of the city in which I currently live is called Hockessin. This particular city is located in the Northeast, United States in the small state of Delaware. The name of Hockessin is rather hard to pronounce and people from my city can almost immediately recognize someone who is not native to the area from their pronunciation of the name. The town is primarily populated with an upper class predominately white collar family. I would also say that the age bracket favors middle age because of the high cost of entry. Most homes are simply out of reach for a young family and even for a more established family. Because of these demographics, the town that I live in is not very diverse and brings with it all of the problems and benefits that come from that simple fact. Hockessin has no “chain” restaurants and eschews businesses that are not “mom and pop” style. The suburban town tries to keep its old town roots even as it has recently allowed a Wawa convenience store to be built in the middle of the town. Most of the people are white collar business folks with both parents working and a family. The town has six or seven places of worship, a fire hall, several shops and a bank at the center of the town. Developments of houses are scattered all around the town. I love that Hockessin is near to the beach, to the airport, to Washington D.C., which makes it an ideal place to live and to travel easily to mountains, beach or any city.

Delaware — March 2017 —I was stationed at Dover AFB in Dover, Delaware in the early 80’s. It was my first posting as a qualified aircrew member and I was excited to fly the C-5A Galaxy (I understand they are up to the “M” model now), the largest plane in the world at that time. We went to exotic places and delivered lots of cargo, over a hundred people sitting in the rear over the cargo area, and lots of big equipment around half the world. Our Wing was responsible for the area of the globe to the east of the Mississippi River. The other C-5 wing, stationed at Travis AFB in California, covered the globe west of the Mississippi. Dover AFB is also the home to the Port Mortuary. These special people receive and prepare the remains of military and civilian casualties from the eastern half of the sphere. Everyone from Jonestown, Guyana and is responsible for receiving the majority of the deceased from the Gulf War. Their mission requires a very special type of person to show the respect and honor every person deserves. My poor words can’t describe the job and I recommend the reader visit their webpage to read more at http://www.mortuary.af.mil/ or http://www.npr.org/2015/05/24/408531645/at-dover-air-force-base-bringing-home-the-fallen-with-grief-and-joy

As a new Navigator, I was privileged to learn my trade with some people who had been around a long time and had vast experience dating back to the Vietnam War era. These people taught me magical things that allowed me to track and plan our way across a really big world. My first trip was my “Dollar Ride”. I just had to observe and absorb the lingo, techniques and routines practiced in the plane and around the areas we typically flew. This was a trip to Rhein Mein AFB in Frankfurt, Germany. I’d never been anywhere outside the US (except one tourist trip to Bermuda).

This turned out to be the first of hundreds of places I would visit and work in during my Air Force career. I was so excited that I didn’t sleep for about 3 days. Everything was so strange and foreign to me. When we landed and went to the “Hotel” on base that served as Visiting Aircrew Quarters or “VOQ”. I was a smoker at the time, so I was given a single room. It was bigger than any Best Western I’d ever seen. Beautiful room and bath. I was thrilled to watch the local Armed Forces TV Services (AFRTS or affectionately known as “AFARTS”) and German TV programs. It was interesting to watch “Logan’s Run dubbed in German. It made the police sound a little more forceful in the cheesy epic. AFRTS, wherever I roamed around the world, would have a “Phrase of the day” segment. To this day I can still remember how to say “Where is the museum?” and “What are you doing after work?” (I’m not kidding. They actually had that phrase one day.)

We went on missions that were as long as 12 hours with 2 mid-air refueling, and as short as 45 minutes and a two day wait in a hotel while ground crews trained on and loaded the aircraft for the next leg of the journey. For a few years, I was directed to many places, some I can drive to and some I’m sure I’ll never see again. Some locations included: -Sondestrom, Norway, -Mildenhall Village, England, -Paris, France, -Frankfurt and Ramstein, Germany, -Venice, Italy, -Catania, Sicily, -Madrid and Rota, Spain, -Cairo, Egypt, -Dhahran and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, -Bahrain, -Berberra, Somalia, and Adana, Turkey. Some trips were promised but never materialized for one reason or another. Berlin and Athens slipped through my fingers. When it came to itineraries, I learned to “believe it when I’m on the runway”…and even then it might not happen. Skepticism was part of the job.

Most of these places have fond memories, lots of photos and mementos somewhere, and more than a few ethnic meals consumed. In the crew airplane, I had many conversations with the people I flew with regularly. I got to know their habits and the way they did business. To a man, they were the most professional and learned people I have ever encountered. Numerous were book smart, but many more learned from the College of Life and Hard Knocks. In my career, I added a few more places in the Caribbean and Central America. Those first years are the ones I remember as a wide-eyed kid from Connecticut who grew up to see the wide world.