Homestead mailing list

["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

Hey, Gene!

Illinois is a very big state, from south to north. There are good
places to homestead in various places around the state. I've seen
excellent places in the southern, western, and central parts of the
state. Though I'm about 3 hours north of St. Louis, I'm by no means in
the northern part of the state. Clearly, once you get close to
Chicago, in the north, the land prices and taxes make it impractical.
I'm about 3-1/2 hours driving time to Chicago under ideal conditions
(roughly 200 miles). Of course, once you hit the far suburban
outskirts, traffic can become a serious issue. Driving time in the
urban areas is pretty hard to judge. I've been essentially parked on
the Interstate when I was about "an hour" from downtown Chicago - one
never knows!

But, wait! We don't want it Californicated here, so ... nevermind.
THERE ARE NO GOOD PLACES TO LIVE IN ILLINOIS! It is all boring, ugly,
flat cornfields. There are no forests, no wildlife, no hills, no
streams, creeks or rivers. There is no fishing, no hunting, no
possibility of homesteading. No one in their right mind would want to
move here! <grin>

Gloria

On 2/15/07, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the education. I thought everything in northern Illinois
> was deep, rich corn soil and therefore unsuitable for homesteading.
>
> Driving time from a big city impacts rural population, nature, and
> prices. Southwest Wisconsin is beautiful but gets weekend influx from
> Rockford, Chicago and Minneapolis. How far are you from Chicago in
> driving-time?