Adjusting my AR

Ok, I've been living in Arkansas for over two months now, so time for a report and a review.

1. Driving here if you want to visit from San Diego is a non starter. You'd have to do two 12 hour days. That's brutal. Flights are less than $300 if you look around, just do that. I do have a nice guest room though should you want to....

2. They don't understand my voice often and I get theirs, but for the idioms. I think I have a higher toned voice and a west coast cadence so people here often ask me to repeat myself unless I am talking slowly and there is no background noise. It's ok, I understand. I get their accent OK most the time. Except the one time I couldn't find the restaurant called "Hal n Mal" as I was looking for "Howling Mal".

3. I live out in the sticks. Really. Dear, turtles, turkeys, bobcats, snakes, birds ect. Three acres of land at the edge of wooded land. FedEx can't find my without issue. My address is on no GPS. Everyone requires written or verbal directions just to get to the gate, let alone find my house once past the gate.

4. Religion. A large percentage of the people here are religious. It's like the total opposite of California. In CA if you talked about God, guns, America, Christianity and being straight you were the whack-job minority. Especially if you were white and male. Pretty much the exact opposite here. Not judging, just pointing out the differences.

3. Houses are cheap here. You can buy an amazing house for $350,000 here. That buys you crap in San Diego.

4. Going out to eat here is expensive. Especially for the quality of the food you're eating most times. Now there are good places here, but they are just not as ubiquitous as other places I've lived.

5. Bugs. Holy smokes bugs could take over and destroy this state if they wanted. Good thing they are not sentient to the level people are. I've gotten 5 ticks off of me and 42 bug bites on my legs here in this time frame.

6. People just generally aren't as healthy or attractive. A 7 in San Diego is a for sure 9 here.

7. It is definitely the Natural State. They love their outdoors of all variety. You can be into biking, boating, hunting, rock climbing, kayaking, fishing or just about anything but snow skiing and be good here.

8. Living in Little Rock area like I do you can be anywhere in the state in a 3 hours drive. Anywhere.

9. The weather has more drastic changes, more often, than any other place I've lived in my life.

10. I've met most my neighbors. DEA agent. ATF agent. Retired state patrolman. Yeah, it's that kind of neighborhood.

11. Customer service from blue collar or service industry jobs here is atrocious. Absolutely horrible. Adjust your expectations to toilet water level and you'll be happy. Seriously. Morons!

12. The roads are in good condition, but the state highway system is kind of circuitous. Hard to drive anywhere in a efficient, straight line. Fun for riding a motorcycle, not fun for trying to make time.

13. The house is closer to getting done. Waiting on a new batch of furniture for the dining room, living room and kitchen. Also all the window treatments for the front of the house. Only two rooms in the house need any real attention now.

14. There is room for the garden in the yard. It will happen. It will just take time. And time just lazes on by here.

15. Daylight! I don't know the science behind it, but it is light out till like 9pm already. Summer time here will easily have 14 hours a day of bright light. That's pretty cool.

16. Back to people just looking different here. Zero Asians it seems. Lots of blandness. Or the other extreme of being all tatted, dyed and pierced. Sense of style is not the same here at all. No dudes in flip flops, but tons of Tevas. You can tell instantly it is the South and not southern California.

17. No one speaks Spanish here. I've let my Spanish degrade to first year high school level and I still speak more than 95% of the non Hispanic population here.