Forum, Solar, and Property

I have found a new Forum (new to me) for Homesteading and it's been a major help for all the things I want to try and need learn to help get me Off The Grid. Homesteadingtoday.com is a forum with pretty much any kind of information you could need or want, from growing your own food to using alternative energy. It's clearly laid out so you can focus your time in one area. Some topics get broken down into even more direct topics, like "Raising Animals" gets broken down into Goats, Poultry, etc, so you don't have to read a 1oo post about Chickens if you are only interested in raising Goats.

Right now I have been spending my time looking for some ideas on where the best, over-all place would be for me to get started. With all the great information I have found on Homesteading Today I have learned that I need to learn a lot more and that a person's first place is more then likely not their last, but we all need to start some where.

In the last couple of weeks I have narrowed my search for my first place. I have learned a lot about what's important to me in my journey to get off the grid. Some things have changed a little, but I haven't lost total sight of my main goal. Since this is going to require taking smaller steps, I feel I will have to give a little on some of the luxuries for now and focus on the things I can not change or do without.

My shortened list of areas has been reduced to the Southern Region of Colorado or it's High Rockies region. The Southern region has to be one of the better zoned regions for solar use, and it has some cheaper location for land prices. Like I say, I can have two out of three, and in this case it's the lack of water / precipitation.

Southern Colorado is a "Zone 2" according to the Solar Insolation Map which means, unless I want to live in the Death Valley area, "Zone 1" it doesn't get much better. Florida is a Zone 4, so I would have to use / buy more PV panels, to make up for the less production according to U.S. Solar Radiation Resource Maps if I stayed living here.

The High Rockies loses a little solar gain, so it's a Zone 3, but has better employment options. Although better employment means higher cost of living. So it all comes back down to the best "two out of three" of my needs. Since I will need to rent some place to sleep while looking for work, etc, I think the High Rockies will win out for now and it will give me time to look around the general area for land.