by Patrick Houlmiere • 5/31/04
When my wife Edwina, and I heard Walter Williams introduce the concept of the Free State Project on a radio talk show a couple years ago, we immediately knew we were in. We found the FSP website and put our names down.
Once New Hampshire was chosen last fall, we began researching this great, little, fascinating place through books and websites. The more we learned, the more we got excited. Finally last month I flew to Manchester, rented a car and hit the road. In 6 days I covered over 1100 miles, during which I met a couple dozen Porcupines already living there, and several of them took the time to guide me around their community. Everyone of them was unusually bright, committed to the project, and passionate about its agenda. I found Porcupines to be full of hope, optimism, and had a contagious "we can do it" attitude – they truly believe this is a done deal! I can't wait to have thousands of characters like them living within minutes from my front door! With everyone enthusiastically working on the same issues, things will have to change and improve – We will bring back small, Constitutional government, and the socialists among us will have to flee elsewhere, because parasites can't suck on 'quills' very well... It will be fun watching them crawl south, or west... Anywhere but the Free State.
Here are a few random observations that impressed me as I scouted New Hampshire:
Gas was 50 cents cheaper than in Nevada and 70 cents cheaper than in California!
I didn't see any graffiti anywhere! Did I miss something or does that mean so called "gangs" can't thrive in New Hampshire?
Locals are great! Every single person I came in contact with as I traveled was polite, pleasant, and they went out of their way to help or give directions.
Cell phones are nearly useless in two thirds of the state! That seems like an opportunity for one of us to fix that.
There are attractive little towns everywhere among the many creeks, rivers, lakes, trees, hills, and mountains. The place is beautiful – even during mud season – I can only imagine what Spring, Summer, and Fall will be like. (I won't speculate about how nice Winter might be... yet)
Except for abnormally high housing costs in some central and southeast townships, the rest of the state seemed reasonable, even more affordable than northern Nevada.
Keene gets my vote for the most ideal community to live in – It has everything Edwina and I are looking for (except for the ocean;-) I think we will end up there.
In conclusion – we are not waiting until 2006 – we want to join the growing "we can do it" crowd, NOW... We'll be NH residents by mid summer!