Home, Sweet Home
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12/7/2010
I have lived in Elizabethtown, KY since returning from a 29 year tour of Europe. I am employed by Defense Department at Fort Knox. I'm not rich but I live well. To speak of Kentucky, you have to address the people. The locals are friendly, generous and honest. They sometimes give the impression of being "simple" but that is just plain down-home hospitality. They're not backwards or "country" or any other derogatory term. They love the life they live. Housing is affordable, services adequate (but not fancy) and simply put, you've got everything you need. If you want more, Louisville is only 40 minutes to the north. Cincinnati is about 150 miles northeast and Nashville the same but southwest. Louisville Intl. Airport (SDF) is a Delta, Southwest, Continental, US Air stop with many direct flights to ATL, ORD, STL and DCI. We have four seasons and when its green, its very green. Summer is hot! Not too much snow falls but we do get ice storms and remember, this is not up north so most of us are not familiar with winter defensive driving. My partner and I come from Michigan and Wisconsin so we know but that's the reason we're here; walking four miles to school, barefooted, uphill both ways is not what we want. This region is especially good for retired military. Fort Knox is 15 miles north with PX/Commissary/Medical facilities. VA is in Louisville but the DVA runs a shuttle service daily. No tax on military pension and relative low taxes. In El Paso, TX I paid $3200 in property taxes for my house on a city lot. Here, I have a bigger house and 1 1/2 acres; I pay about $1200 annually. Vehicle registration/tax is costly as you pay a VAT type tax annually but that's about it. We have no children in school so we cannot speak about education. In all, living here is easy, Location wise, you can be almost anywhere east of the Mississippi. I-65 runs through town, as does the Bluegrass Parkway which may be the new I-69.
All in all, it's pretty much everything we want.
Jim | Elizabethtown, KY