I live in San Francisco. Grew up in the South Bay. Last month I took a motorcycle trip up to Seattle along the California and Oregon coastline. I took my time,

I live in San Francisco. Grew up in the South Bay. Last month I took a motorcycle trip up to Seattle along the California and Oregon coastline. I took my time, stopped a lot along the way. I was shocked at how friendly and inquisitive the people from the <5-digit-population towns were. Everyone was polite, seemed genuinely interested in conversation with me (a lot of questions about my motorcycle, but other topics too). Completely the opposite of the urban/suburban areas I was used to. This began immediately outside the greater Bay Area and let up only when going through medium sized towns or larger. Portland and Seattle were much like being back in SF. Anyways, I'm also rambling, but just wanted to add another piece of anecdotal evidence to yours. It's almost enough to make me want to try living in one of these towns for a while, which never really occurred to me before (at 25 it seems like everyone I know wants to be as urban as possible).