Why I find it hard to find a home in the Albany-area

I have shelter at home – a drafty decrepit apartment. Until the landlord removed the mail box for construction, I had a place where I even got my mail. But it’s an interim place, even if interim has lasted longer than I ever expected it would be.

But when I spend my weekends in the wilderness – be it Rennselaerville State Forest, the Green Mountains or the Adirondacks – it’s hard to go back to Albany and find anything for any price that looks like a home to me. Vinyl siding and drywall provide shelter but in my mind not a home.

I want that cabin in the woods in a freer state with low taxes, good gun laws and few restrictions on open burning where pot is legal to smoke and grow yourself. A rural place with hills and forests but also agriculture. Small towns, where the pollution and crime and consumeristic culture are far away.