Tell me about PA/NY

I recently accepted a new job that will require relocating from sunny and warm Michigan to sunny and warm Pennsylvania or New York. I will be in charge of a territory roughly defined in this high quality phone art.

I need to live somewhere in that region. Being centrally located and close to an interstate are preferred. It looks like cost of living is cheaper in PA so I am leaning that direction. Plus PA doesnt require a front plate

I know we have several GRMers that are either in these areas or used to live in them before moving some place cold and gray like Florida. Where are the good spots? Places that are car guy friendly. We have horses so I need to find someplace horse friendly as well. What the deal with vehicle inspections (never had to deal with those before). Somebody told me I had to get my trailers inspected too.

What sort of weird local customs do I need to be aware of (like how in MI everybody points at their palm to describe location and the only place anybody visits is "up north"). Can I actually get iced tea without it coming from the soda fountain? Do they generically call diners "Coney Islands"?

I've got several months before I start looking for a new house and I want to spend some time in the area before making the final decision. I just want to identify a few places to start.

I think in PA you have to eat scrapple.

I live smack in the middle of the PA part of that circle and used to live near Allentown. There is a massive variation in living arrangements, costs and weather in that circle.

PA will tax you to death less than NY.

Horses are fine just about anywhere in that area except the urban centers of towns. What do you want to know beside that iced tea is available and diners are called diners? If you can explain what sort of living arrangements you like (chinese food take out at 3am? Lots of woods, no neighbors? hiking? skiing? Crowds and traffic? Home on a cul du sac or farm in the hills? etc) I can direct you to some vicinities to check out.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

We want small town/rural-ish. Someplace big enough to have a Tractor Supply or similar though.

We need at least good DSL internet. My wife works from home and I will work from home part time. In Michigan that has been a problem in rural areas. In Ohio it was not too bad. I am hoping PA has a more Ohio-like infrastructure.

We are currently on 10 acres but are looking to downsize to between 2-5. I like a little space but don't need to be totally isolated.

Horse stuff that leans towards Dressage/Eventing over Western.

Thats the basic list. Things like a nearby dirt track or other non-drag racing venues are bonuses but not a main deciding factor.

Upper Pennsyltucky, around Towanda, Sayre?

Pa inspection includes rust. Iirc, 1" square will fail. Pa fracks, ny doesn't. Nyseg has some of the most expensive electricity in the country, a few ny towns have cheaper municipal electricity, and pa is cheap.

TRoglodyte wrote: Upper Pennsyltucky, around Towanda, Sayre?

This is great if you want a frozen version of the Deep South. I joke, but only a little, as this is where my mom is from. I have family in every trailer park in Bradford county.

In reply to TRoglodyte:

I wouldn't go that far into the wilderness because of his need for a highway.

Rural areas around Scranton and Allentown are the best bet because I81, I80, I84, 276/476 and 95 are all reasonably close and both cities have major airports.

Allentown is a real city and has plenty of rural beauty around it. It would be my first pick (I used to live just South of Bethlehem off RTE 309 on 3 acres. It was really a nice balance of services and restaurants but with excellent, windy roads an hour from PHL.

I live on 5 acres north of Scranton now and all I can say that is good about it is ... the woods are nice. My land is nice. Lots of dive bars. The rest is pretty awful.

I grew up near the intersection of 80 and 81. Beautiful country. Big on community, little league baseball, and incredibly cheap. Now I live in Massachusetts and its none of that. I hate this state.

Pennsylvania barns look different from New England barns.

neon4891 wrote: Pa inspection includes rust. Iirc, 1" square will fail.

I need to check out the inspection rules and see if I need to fix or sell any of the fleet before moving.

Several years ago when I was a dealership tech I was in class with some guys from Washington PA. They were telling us Ohio techs what a gold mine inspections were and how they would throw something like a headlight adjustment on every car. It made me really paranoid about the whole process.

Based off of just looking at a map I have Scranton and Williamsport on the research list.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

My wife just told me Allentown was on her radar so Im going to add it to the list to look at as well.

PA rust is good business for bondo or even aluminum tape.

Sayre isn't that isolated, just hop on 17/86 and your about a hour west of the junction with 81. Or Rt 6a little south in Towanda. And 220 is one HELL of a fun road

I'm not sure of out east(81 corridor) but fracking has driven up land prices in the Northern Tier.

Overall I would recommend some place like Great Bend, PA. It's probably the most centrally located town in the area you will cover. It's on 81 just south of the border. The town is just small enough that big box stores are 15 miles away, but you have a full spread of small grocery stores, fast food, smoke shop, and a large chain new car dealer.

In reply to logdog: Inspections in PA are a racket, as in the criminal type. I have yet to find an honest inspection tech, so I've settled for a dishonest one who's terms I can live with.

Let me tell you a tale of my first experience getting a car inspected in PA. It was my old SAAB c900 sedan, the kind with the P-brake connected to the front wheels, it failed inspection because the inspector couldn't wrap his brain around the idea of a front wheel P-brake. This was after I bought a set of tires and made it clear that they would get no other work, because I am a professional mechanic.

Edit: I should add that for the most part, I really like PA, just not the area of the state that I currently live in. (Inner ring suburbs of Philly).

I grew up south of the S in Pennsylvania on your map. Your area covers a very wide range of land type and community type. Lancaster rural is very different from NC Pa rural. Your best bet would be to come visit and hop around.

I agree somewhere between Allentown and Scranton should work for you. Plenty of small farms up that way and if you find one close enough to either city you should be able to get DSL/Fios/cable-internet service.

Yes, inspections here in PA can be rough. It really pays to develop a relationship with one shop and stay with them. I've been going to the same shop for over 20 years. When they inspect my '03 TDI, most of the time it never even goes into a bay. I tell them what I've done to it and they scrape the old sticker off and put the new one on, charge me a few $ (safety only for older diesels) and I'm on my way. They know I do a lot of work on my own cars.

I think there's a pretty good car-culture around there. A number of cruise nights and local shows. Mostly American, of course. Personally, I'd really like to live out that way.

I loved living in Bethlehem.

Don't care much for Allentown.

Look towards Scranton.

BTW, that's a BIG territory.

SVreX wrote: BTW, that's a BIG territory.

Agreed. Its a new situation for me. Normally when I move for a job I have a specific spot I need to be close to. That automatically narrows down the choices. This is a field position and I can pick any spot in it I want because I am either on the road or working from home.

The plan is to make a list of a few towns that look promising and then visit them. I expect to be on the job for 3-4 months before we start house hunting. I want to make sure its a good fit before passing the point of no return and selling the MI house. That should give me the time I need to scope things out.

Who knows, maybe I will fall in love with New York and not care about the extra taxes or front license plates

I see all the drama about fracking on the news (stinky water, fights between workers and locals, etc). Should those areas be avoided or is it really not a big deal. I know how reliable TV can be.

People are convinced fracking ruins groundwater. Most water in that area is well water. For the most part it is not all that dramatic. I think fracking is pulling back due to low prices

Wyoming Valley. Beautiful country up there.

I second finding a shop in town and getting a good relationship with them. Take all your cars there toss them some easy work here and there. It'll go a long way to helping your car pass inspection. I lived in pa for many years and my parents still do. I never had a problem with inspections.

On the subject of fracking: I'm pretty sure that fracking is prohibited in the Delaware River watershed area, which means that fracking shouldn't be an issue in the Lehigh Valley and the eastern parts of the Poconos.

I'm in Chester County, next county over from Happy Andy. The PA Turnpike isn't far from my shop. Also not far from 202, I95, and some other major highways. Our town has the diner from the original "The Blob" move, so we have that going for is.

We're not too far from Philly (but far enough ), or from NJ Motorsports Park.

Plenty of horses in the county. I drive past a couple horse farms on my ride home.

Yes we have inspection and emission testing but we are a car friendly state. The inspection process isn't that bad. Yea there are crooks, but most of the guys I've encountered were good. The guy I use is a Datsun/Nissan guy with a fabrication business as well. If he knows you work on your own stuff he'll let you know what needs to be fixed to pass, or if it passes what you should keep an eye on before next year.

PA has Carlisle, The Historic Car Club of America's headquarters, several SCCA chapters, multiple drag strips, assorted other forms of race tracks, the PA Hillclimb Association, and lots of nice back roads to just go out for a drive.

I've spent a fair amount of time in the Catskills area of NY. It's a pretty area and being rural has a relatively low cost of living compared to more urban areas closer to NYC, but I still prefer PA.

I just noticed Watkins Glen is in your territory... that would be very tempting if it were financially feasible. The wine industry means a greater number of "transplants" so the culture seems a bit different. And obviously, there's WGI...