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What
It's Really Like to Live Out in the Boonies in Hawaii
Ahhh,
peace and quiet, no neighbors right on top of you, no airplanes
making a noisy racket flying over your head, no traffic,
no sirens, no street lights to dull the stars, just the
sun, the sea, the nightime stars, the fresh air and you
and your beloved family. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? Well,
for the most part it is......it really is. However, it's
certainly not for everyone.
Here's
the other side of living out in the boonies:
No
neighbors - it can get lonely out here with no
one around. If you run out of sugar and need to borrow from
your neighbor, guess what? You're hopping in your car or
doing without. And what if something happened to you while
you are all alone out here? No one would hear your calls
for help. 911 DOES work in the boonies, but the ambulance
will take longer to arrive.
No
airplanes, no traffic, no sirens
- I can't think of a down side to that. The peace and quiet
is awesome.
No
street lights -
Ditto. Can't really think of a down side except that it
can get extremely dark at night time. If you lose power,
you'll want to have a lot of candles and flashlights around.
Oh
yeah, and here are some other things I forgot to mention.
No
county water!! - What??
No county water? How do people get water
to their homes? What do they drink? Hawaii's answer to that
question is rainwater catchment systems. Basically, this
means that you have a large cistern on your property to
catch the rainwater which comes off of your roof. The water
is then pumped into your house and can be filtered using
a variety of methods. For more information please see the
Guidelines
on Rainwater Catchment Systems provided
by the State of Hawaii.
Not
many stores near by.
I live in a very small town, but we are lucky enough to
have a small grocery store, gas stations, a vet, a hair
salon, a video store and several little restaurants. Not
everyone is as lucky as we are. To get to a "real"
grocery store or Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Home Depot or CostCo
or the doctor for that matter, I'm driving for at least
an hour both directions. Oh yeah, also no fast food!
If I get a Big Mac Attack, it's about a 45 minute drive
to the nearest Mc Donald's. This is probably a good thing.
I definitely cook a lot more here than I did on the mainland.
Longer
commutes to work- Unless
you are fortunate enough to have work that you can do from
home, or are retired, chances are that you will be commuting
a lot further to your job than you are used to. Some people
hate this (like me), and some people really don't mind it
at all. Those that fall into the latter category claim that
the drive is a relaxing way to unwind after their day at
work. At least commuting here is pretty! You're driving
through the gorgeous scenery with the ocean to look at instead
of on the jam packed freeways of the mainland. Gas prices
are higher in Hawaii than on the mainland,
so that can be an issue.
Well,
to summarize, only you will know if rural living is right
for you or not. For this ex city girl, it's been a wonderful
change of pace. To me it seems like the way it should
be. In my former life, I lived in the city or the suberbs,
and would every so often have a burning need to get out
and see some rocks and trees. Now, the scenario is reversed.
I now live amongst the rocks and the trees,
and every so often I have to be bothered to go into the
city to take care of necessary business. Works for me!
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