Living in hinterland

[Sherlock77]

It's a term I use lots, I actually think a friend used in an encouragement note many years ago

Why do I say that? Living in Calgary...

I do enjoy urban life (and my photography), but our urban/downtown area is rather small when I see people who live in ultra-large cities in Canada or worldwide, feel like it effects my quality of urban photography sometimes

I'm a classic car geek, in particular European/British classic cars, Calgary is not the best place for that, it's rather pathetic here actually for classic imports as everyone here loves American muscle... I used to live in Ontario for about three years, where there are so many import car only shows, including a massive 1000 car British only show every September, not here (what feels like hinterland), where there is really one car show like that in the entire summer, and it's lucky to get 300 cars... Even certain markets in the United States (thinking California perhaps), has fabulous access to tons of interesting classic import I will just simply never see

And we are a modern city (we do have the Calgary Stampede), but overall I think less stuff happens here, among other reasons it is likely a function of relatively low population base compared to most places in the world

But then maybe I overuse the word "hinterland", there are things I enjoy about living here, easy access from the big city to heading east onto the prairies to explore... Back in 2003 I could have stayed in Ontario after living there for three years (I am born and raised in Calgary), but I felt that southern Ontario was more closed in than what I wanted, even in the countryside area where small hamlets are everywhere! I love driving the prairies, driving for hours on end with hardly any small towns or anything, and within one hour of downtown Calgary I can easily be in the middle of nowhere and very quiet spots, and only four hours away from the very isolated region of southeastern Alberta...

Yet I sometimes have envy of the folks around the Toronto area, thinking back to time spent at the massive British Car Day every September for those three years... A slight case of the dreaded FOMO, and I sometimes wish I lived in a larger urban centre where there is so much more exciting stuff going on... Yes, there was a post tonight in a British Car Club about British Car Day... I think I'll be okay

 

[Tom]

I was stationed in North Dakota for 7 years. It was rough on us We are definately tree/greenery persons. On top of that we went there after 5 years in Europe where there are a million things to do to a place where there is 1-2 things to do. So after a week you have already done it all. We used to call it a Stateside Remote Assignment.

But, the people were wonderful. Safest place I ever lived, etc.

Fortunately we got our wish eventually to settle in Pennsylvania. We live rural but are close to several larger towns/small cities and within reasonable driving distance from big cities.

So as much as I wish I could have people and situation like Dakota was, I would not move back there.

If you are up to the relocation, it might well be worth moving closer to where the action is.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Well, rural NW Michigan is probably more like rural Ontario Between London and Sarnia than the vast stretches of prairie in Alberta, but I like it. We have our cast of interesting characters. A member of my township's Planning Commission that I serve on is building a robot to compete in BattleBots. I also have access to Thompson Racing Fabrication that is helping me with my 2001 Toyota MR-2. I like the British sportscars, but could never afford any like a Sunbeam Tiger or Lotus Elise so put such machines out of my mind.

 

[Sherlock77]

If you are up to the relocation, it might well be worth moving closer to where the action is.

I'm okay, just mulling over things I mull over sometimes, and the word hinterland...

 

[Sherlock77]

Well, rural NW Michigan is probably more like rural Ontario Between London and Sarnia than the vast stretches of prairie in Alberta, but I like it. We have our cast of interesting characters. A member of my township's Planning Commission that I serve on is building a robot to compete in BattleBots. I also have access to Thompson Racing Fabrication that is helping me with my 2001 Toyota MR-2. I like the British sportscars, but could never afford any like a Sunbeam Tiger or Lotus Elise so put such machines out of my mind.

Whether you own a British car or not, British Car Day every September is epic, an experience just being there

 

[Jeepcarpenter]

Well.. I don’t know much about hinterland..
But as for your note on Living in Ontario..

I have been all over North America, from Mexico to Alaska and the territories, California to Newfoundland, born in NS and.. though I run my shop in Toronto, I can’t stand to live in any city.. currently I reside about an hour and a half north of T.O. but am trying to find a larger parcel of land further north.. but even just 30mins further from my current home is vast expanses of wilderness void of most towns any larger than a single general store or Foodland within it’s depths..

Past Huntsville or Haliburton even more sparse, with forests and plains expanding for kilometres.. albeit not as open and level as the plains out west, very cozy and secluded to the likes of me yet still within a few hours reach of various city epicentres and numerous car shows.

Even where I am, 10mins from Lindsay; am 45mins any direction to various moderate cities for the pursuit of work, have car shows available nearly every day of the week just a matter of which day as to the direction headed.

I imagine it is far more enjoyable where you are.. but I’ve always been able to find more opportunities here where I am, wanting more seclusion as my tolerance for cities dwindles away, the only hinderance I’ve had is the pandemic pushing the housing market higher.. not -entirely- a bad thing..

Except when a middle of nowhere 10acre vacant parcel jumps from 150k to 700k, yet a 1/2acre 2200sq ft 3bdrm home in a rural town area only increases from 400k-550k.. I’d love to leave a deal on the table for a new homeowner or family in need; and build my own.. but gawd.. how can I justify it? It’s cheaper for me to buy a home and just bulldoze it outright, than it is to start anew..

 

[Sherlock77]

@Jeepcarpenter

I moved from Alberta to Barrie, Ontario in late 1999, for roughly three years I lived there, before moving back to Alberta in October 2003

I know Barrie is a fairly small city, when I lived there it was about 115,000 people as I recall... I did use the city as a base for heading out to various car shows around southern Ontario, that was just about all I had on my mind back then

 

[Jeepcarpenter]

You probably would barely recognize Barrie now, it’s grown drastically as T.O. spills north and east with each passing year.. and Barrie was still quite a decent sized city back then.. I even have trouble with Orillia, though they are both beautiful areas. Hope you come back someday but in the same, hope you find comfort wherever you lie your head.

 

[Sherlock77]

I read a blog post awhile back about the characteristics of large cities on the Canadian prairies

The population base is quite high, if you call one million people large, but the biggest difference between most other large cities is that the suburban/feeder communities outside the cities here in western Canada are small, relative to a place like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, or comparable American cities, where there are large population bases surrounding those cities...

As I said earlier, head even one hour east of Calgary and it's very quiet depending on the location