Hey Matt, I just lived in a rural and isolated (2 hrs of a horrible mountainous drive to the nearest city) town of 3k, for 2 years. We just moved to the outsk

Hey Matt, I just lived in a rural and isolated (2 hrs of a horrible mountainous drive to the nearest city) town of 3k, for 2 years. We just moved to the outskirts of a city of 3.5 million about 2 weeks ago, due to a distant family member becoming ill. I was lucky enough to have found a programmer friend in the town of 3k, and we were able to go out for beers and rant and rant and rant about the industry, technology, etc. I think that was the only thing that saved me from going crazy. Other than that... I'm not sure if your attempts to find like minded locals will be too successful. You may find some friends, but they may not adhere to your moral objectives or, know the rootin' tootinest thing about technology. All in all, we're loving being outside of a major city. We can go hiking, camping, hunting, etc... and it's just a matter of minutes away. We can also drive 10 minutes into the heart of the city, and get any type of foreign food in the world. That was actually the crux for us. Also, if you have kids, that's a completely different factor as well, and was a big one for us. We didn't want to shelter them too much to the "outside world", but didn't want them to get sucked up into it either. It's the small things in life that make life wonderful, no matter where you live. Hope you find what you're looking for!