relocating need help

[Malto]

1) couple minutes from AT.
2) little to no winters.
3) Establish lawn care business.

Sounds almost mutually exclusive. AT is mostly high and gets snow. Those places that don't aren't exactly the areas I would expect to be able to walk in and establish a lawn care business. Not sure what the attraction of the AT vs other hiking areas. Take a place like Palm Springs. Warm, affluent and within minutes of plenty of hiking.

[dmax]

We don't get hardly any snow in Erwin. And when we do it melts right away. That's the way I like it!

[slbirdnerd]

.........because you might get it.

The NC sections of the AT below Fontana are at elevations much higher than Ohio, and to be "within a couple of minutes of the AT" means your residence would be, too. Unless you're up on Lake Erie getting pounded by lake effect snow, I doubt you'll find much improvement in the winter climate in the part of NC below Fontana Dam. You may very well find overall colder winters, albeit possibly with less snow.

NC-TN around Hot Springs is lower (1,332') due to Hot Springs' presence on the French Broad River, but you're right back up to 3,500' to 5,000' on the north and south sides of the town of Hot Springs.

By crappy Ohio winters, he may not mean cold/snow. What we have here is gray, wet, gray, slushy, gray, mud and more gray; and then we have more mud, gray, you get the idea--it goes on and on. It's abysmal. I spent a winter in NH once, and even with 4' of snow on the ground, the sun still shined and it was better than Ohio.

[Namtrag]

Still think for the best all-around spot in his situation, he should look at Roanoke area. The area has about 300,000 people, so plenty of work for his lawn care business, near the AT, and fairly mild as it is only about 1200'

[Venchka]

...or Morganton-Lenoir-Hickory, North Carolina. Heck, even Asheville, NC may still be tolerable.
Just make sure that you have access to one of The Cook-Out burger places. The best drive-thru burger, fries & real milk shake on Earth.

[trapper]

A booming lawn care business doesn't leave alot of time to hike.

i make it work now i always find time

[trapper]

By crappy Ohio winters, he may not mean cold/snow. What we have here is gray, wet, gray, slushy, gray, mud and more gray; and then we have more mud, gray, you get the idea--it goes on and on. It's abysmal. I spent a winter in NH once, and even with 4' of snow on the ground, the sun still shined and it was better than Ohio.

bingo.....i thrive on sunshine!

[Venchka]

According to my daughter, as of July 5, 2013, it had rained every day since June 1, or maybe earlier, in Boone. It definitely rained every day were were travelling to/from Texas & Boone in early June. Weather is variable anywhere you go.

Wayne

[Farr Away]

I moved south to get away from the ice, snow & cold of upstate NY winters. (Very upstate and close to Canada).

Knoxville is 1-2 hours from the AT, and probably a good place for a lawn care business. We rarely have ice or snow, and when we do, it usually melts off within a day. If it doesn't, the city tends to shut down until it does. We do have a fair bit of rain (good for growing lots of grass, lol), but weather here is very changeable. The saying is "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute".

To manage taxes (we have both city and county property taxes), you might want to look at living out of the city and commuting in - a very large number of people do. If so, pay attention to any bridges you might need to cross on your commute. At some point, that bridge will be closed for roadwork. We have the Holston River meeting the French Broad River to become the Tennessee River, but we don't have a lot of bridges.

You might also want to take a look at some places around Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg - very touristy area and a lot of seasonal work. Also closer to the AT. Property values tend to be high around there though.

[trapper]

thanks for all the info guys