Dining options are by far the worst part of rural living (I’ve done both)…. In a decent city you can have Thai for lunch and Ethiopian for dinner, then the next day Mexican and Japanese, then Russian and Peruvian… then Vietnamese and Brazilian ….. then Italian and Hawaiian ….. and that’s just one work week, you can do a whole different set of options the following week. In a small rural town there’s like 3-4 sit down restaurants total, and you just have to rotate those three constantly or drive an hour to the next town over for a slightly different group of 3-4 sit down spots.

For example, today on my lunch break I have eight different sit down restaurants to choose from that I can walk to from my office (Japanese sushi, thai, middle eastern, deli sandwiches, Japanese Ramen, Chinese, Mexican, Italian)…. And that’s close enough to walk there, eat, and come back all within an hour break….. if I’m willing to drive that number becomes like 30+ options. That’s just impossible anywhere rural.