Hot Rods Where old hot rodders retire

Riding a motorcycle in those extreme high temps is the same feeling as opening the oven door to check on the cookies - except you can't get away like you can with the oven.

If I have my choice id take dry heat over below zero. I'd make a horrible Eskimo.

 

Where ever you move avoid gated communities with HOA's and all their silly rules.
However, Wisconsin is a beautiful state so maybe you could figure a way to just rent a warmer
place to stay during the winter months, like FL. The west coast of FL is more relaxed and lots of folks from the mid west vacation there. East coat is a lot more hectic with lot s of folks from NY and NJ.
Moving away from friends and family is not easy. How about renting a motor home?

 

Southern Oregon [Medford area]..lotsa hotrods, beautiful weather year-round but bring your own money.

 

Tulsa, Oklahoma (unemployment rate as of December, 2014 was 4.2%)
Home of Darryl Starbird Show every February, a short drive to his Rod & Custom Hall of Fame Museum.
40 minutes from the Stray Kat 500 in Dewey, OK.
Hot Rod Garage in Sand Springs.
Joe Kerker and his amazing collection of way cool stuff.
3wLarry.
Easy access to I-40 via Muskogee Turnpike to the east and Turner Turnpike to the west, and you'd be 1,100 miles from Raleigh, NC and 1,400 miles to Los Angeles. (Not to mention you could take Route 66 from Tulsa to L.A.)
Only 450 miles to Austin and the Lone Star Round-Up (7 hrs)
Enough winter to say you had some, but not enough to kill you.
Lots of lakes, rivers, state parks within easy driving distance. Trout fishing on lower Illinois River, an hour from Tulsa.
Year 'round hotrodding
Plus they have Coney I-Lander http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_I-Lander

But I grew up there, so I am a little biased!

 

Yes we do

 

Yes, check out So. Oregon, my wife is from the Madison area, and says Portland already has enough of us, besides we already can't keep brandy on the likker store shelves now.
Just kidd'n, you would love even Oregons' snowiest areas, we have a pretty diverse
(truly 4 seasons) climate.
P.S. Bring brandy, brats and kurds.

 

Yeah, Texas sucks. Just come down for the Lonestar Roundup, you'll see.....................

 

i don't do heat well. if it's cold. i can throw on a jacket. i can only remove so much clothing. none of you guys want to see me naked.

 

Texas is a great place to live. No state income tax and the cost of living is low. Yes it can get hot but you can always sit down in the shade and cool off. When it's cold it is cold all the way through. There are very few days that you can't play with your cars and there are activities year round.

 

As 'Special Ed' already said, Prescott Arizona is a popular place to retire and it seems that a large percentage of the retirees heading here are car-people. At the 5,000 foot altitude you won't have to worry about baking hot temps but the winters can be a bit chilly. Around New Years Day, we had a few inches of snow and it lasted for a couple days which is unusual. Most times, according to those who've been here a while, it's gone in a matter of hours. Spring time can be a bit breezy but overall, we're glad we made the move here. Prescott is worth checking out. Good Luck,
Mike T - Prescott AZ

 

Too many factors to make a quick decision. Your best solution might be to fix the cold problem in the garage. Insulate it well, heat it, and maybe enlarge it. It is likely easier and cheaper than moving. Moving to where you do not know the people, the weather in all seasons, and dont know all the other factors that make life pleasant, is a risky move. I know of several folks leaving the area they had lived in for many years, going to Florida or Arizona , only to return after a few years with regrets.

 

I have been looking on and off for many years to find that "perfect" combo of climate, taxes, economy and things to do and see..........haven't found it yet!
Terrible winter this year here but I have lots to do in my heated garage. So not so bad.
I don't do high temps or humidity or elevation (like Denver)....
To me, not much higher than 75 and cool evenings is my comfort zone.

 

Texas is huge, and has its own weather patterns within itself. I was up in Wichita Falls and it was plenty hot (kill you dead hot) but comfortable in the shade. Down around Houston it was soo damn uncomfortable- I couldn't have been any wetter if I was in the shower.

 

I'm a native Minnesotan, and a few years ago, the winters stated really getting to me. Ended up with a condo in the Florida Keys (if you're going south to Florida, go all the way; it was 36 in Orlando last week). When I retired, I sold the "big house" in the twin cities and now have a 1000 sq ft condo on the lake north of Brainerd, along with a 1200 sq ft shop there (a man has to have the proper proportions in his life). No yard work or maintenance on either place to waste my time and energy. At my age (72). I'm ready to go without working on cars a few months; when I get back, I find my batteries are fully-recharged and I am eager to attack my projects. This year, I brought along a couple of carbs and kits so I can get an occasional "car fix".

As I got older, I discovered I had less resources (time, money, and ambition) to spread around, so I adopted a "minimalist" life style that suits me just fine. Every once in a while, the ole lady gets on my case about "selling her house from under her", but all in all, she likes it too.

 

I am not anywhere close to retirement, but see no reason to leave Oklahoma considering the climate, cost of living, available land, and population of hot rods. I have visited all over the world and still like Oklahoma as well as anywhere. My dad has a place in Naples, FL and I like visiting, but wouldn't want to live there...

 

South Fla in the winter Long Island in the summer

 

Sell out and move to Amarillo, Texas it's the best of all worlds

 

There have been a bunch of great suggestions and it sounds like you have been doing your research.

Wherever you are going to be, I highly recommend a heated slab for the floor in your shop. It will change your perspective about going to the shop (and enjoying it). It does not take much energy to keep a slab at 65+degrees and that changes everything. The whole shop and everything in it is warm. Another benefit is tubing and metal do not rust.

 

Its not just the temperature you have to consider. Consider losing everything you own including your life if you settle down in one of the tornado alley states. Its not if, but when they hit. Its all luck, you can't avoid them.

 

Also being from Wisconsin, I know the feeling, but my wife wants to stay here. My working garage/shop is concrete block with a wood barrel stove for heat. I'm giving serious thought to jacking up the roof, knocking out one wall at a time, rebuilding with post frame, steel inside and out and insulating the hell out of it. I don't plan to quit this hobby until I absolutely can't crawl out to the garage, then get me my pistol and one cartridge.

 

Be a snowbird... Central Florida has swapmeets a couple times a month, cruise nights every night of the week, lots of car guys, lots of bike people, flea markets everywhere, race tracks all over, air boats, swamp buggies, hunting, fishing, big cities, rural communities, ranches, orchards, whatever you like.

More lakes than Minesota, more horses than Wyoming, more cattle than Texas, (more old folks than a nursing home) more beaches and coast lines than California. Seldom freezes in the winter, hotter than hades in the summer. Best of both worlds!

Does this sound like an ad for the Bureau of Tourism? lol... NOT!

 

My dads garage gets no heat and usually colder than outside. He picked up this kerosene heater that heats up a nice area. The only bad thing is the walk back to the house. I'm with the others on insulation, you can get a spray foam job done for a decent price. More expensive than bat insulation but it is fireproof, critter proof and 4" of spray foam is the same as R28 but it only takes up half the space and eliminates the need for a vapor barrier.

 

Oh, don't do that, there's more to life than hot rods... they're cool, but don't do that.

 

Don't come to Washington unless you like RAIN. Although the rain is warmer in the summer.

 

I'm a native North Carolinian and beleive it to be God's country. why else would there be so many half-backs here (folks like yourself who moved to Florida from up north, then came halfway back and settled here.

That said, if I were gonna move I'd look at North Georgia or SW Virginia, but I'm a mountain kinda guy. and two snows a year that last 2 days each are tolerable--this year has been the execption to the rule.

 

keep going south until you run out of road signs that say "BRIDGES FREEZE BEFORE ROADS" then you'll be all right

 

Or when you stop for fuel ask how much for a snow shovel,when the guy says what's that or what for, You found your new home..

 

Here in Stude-A-Monga we have the Mississippi River with its bluffs to view pretty any time of year,then ride north to the dairy country and enjoy the changing of the leaves,moo cows,black cats and then winter slumber,time to rebuild so we can redline allll summer....

 

Do they still have that 3-strand barbed wire fence up to block the cold wind from Canada? Last time I was there (long ago winter) I swear one of the strands was broken.