[mingmecca]

I'm curious as to the social angle on this. Do you get lonely out there, are friends primarily on line, is your partner (if applicable) happy with this situation, etc?

I ask because I've always dreamed of a life of simplicity similar to what you've got setup, but the thing that stops me is the possible isolation.

[delbel]

My friends generally broke down into three groups, those who were to busy to hang out because of their career, their family, or they were into bad situations I didn't want to get involved with (drugs, alcohol, wrong crowd). This wasn't the case in my 20s but now that I'm in my 30s this is just how it went down. Ultimately sitting behind a desk paying a mortgage for 30 years outweighed the social aspect of being lonely right now in my life. But visiting Portland is like going on vacation in my home town and I plan on buying a rental with a garage apartment just for me to have a home base when I'm in town. With all the financial freedom I have I see this in a few years. But yes, my partner wasn't 100% down with the move, regrettably didn't move with me. Also watching friends gather and text message each other in the same room was a funny moment for me.