I’ve had their BBQ. I hope you like sauce.

This.  Honestly I love this state.  Welcome!

I am in northern Indiana. If you wanna see how boring Indiana can be come on up.

Southeastern Indiana is pretty wrinkled up. The northern part of the state is flat because that's as far as the last ice age got.

All the land that got pushed up ahead of the glaciers is where the hills come from in the southern part of the state.

Pork tenderloin sandwiches.

That’s all I’ve got.   Used to go out to Kokomo every other week or so for years, for work.

This.  It’s what America should be.  We’ve got some killer microbreweries here too.  Honestly you’re probably gonna like it here.

Indiana Beach. But trust me...it gets colder than a well digger's ass in the Klondike in the winter.

I only know this because I spent part of a winter there drilling a well.

Springtime is the best part of the year for this reason.  

I know that song.

I usually tell people that Indiana is a lot like Ohio, without the interesting parts.

You serious Clark?

3.4% state income tax. 1% in most counties, 7% sales tax, property tax is capped at 1% on your primary residence. If you have a newer car the yearly excise tax is a little high. Older cars it is not too bad.

Knightstown is in between Dayton and Indianapolis. Wright Patterson air base is in Dayton and has a huge museum. Indianapolis has the Indy 500 and a great children’s museum.

Weather is colder than Texas all year. Humidity isn’t too bad unless you are near the Ohio river.

There is a decent amount of dirt oval racing in the summer and something like 5 off-road race series for bikes, sxs, and ATVs. Football isn’t as big as in Texas but still pretty popular along with basketball.

To all the Indianians I know bassetball is a religion; especially college level.

As soon as you put macaroni in chili it turns into goulash.

Indiana would be really great if we had good upland bird hunting.  Unfortunately the ruffed grouse are extirpated, bobwhites are not plentiful, and the limited number of ringnecks are in the far north.  Serious bird hunters end up going out of state for wild birds.

Deer and turkey hunting in the south is excellent.  We have state and federal land if you can't secure private land.  

Fishing in the south is pretty much panfish and catfish.  You have to go north to get variety like trout, muskie, etc.

My sister and brother in law lived in Knightsville for quite awhile. She bailed for a small hospital somewhere just outside Terre Haute. I grew up in South Bend, Osceola and Elkhart. I spent a couple years in Bloomington recruiting. My wife is from Spencer and we have relatives in Evansville as well.

I left Indiana in 82. I went back for about 11 mos as a civilian in 1991. Really I cannot tell the difference between rural Indiana, Ohio, IL, MO, KS. Until you get to the southern parts of the states. Northern areas are flat and fields. I liked Indiana south of Indianapolis. I have no desire to go back. Believe I will die in KS. There are worse places to become dust.

Have an ex from Bedford. I'm about 35 miles south of there.

Hey I’m moving to Indiana come summer time... tagging this

We aren’t accepting any Californians at this time or for the foreseeable future, sorry bud. Check with Illinois.

The quail decline has been during my lifetime then, because my grandfather used to hunt them all the time.

I live in Bedford, what would you like to know?

Brain sandwiches are the big thing in south Indiana. Especially in the fall.

You'll need clothes for 4 seasons, and you won't need to put them away. During winter one day it will snow and be cold for 3 days, then it'll warm up and be 50 for a couple of days then rain and the cycle will repeat. During the summer it will be 100 a few days then cool off and be 70 for a couple. And it is never dry, even during a drought the humidity will still be in the mid 80s. That's normal weather. Sometimes when it gets wild we'll have all 4 seasons in one day. Warm in the morning, hot midday, then a tornado will come through  blowing the leaves down then snow that evening. And allergies, if you don't think you have any, well, you'll find out soon enough.
About the people. The northern 2/3s are Canadians, the southern better third is folks who would be right at home in Kentucky or Tennessee. If you get down here, don't be too surprised if you hear banjos. But we're harmless, mostly.
The land up in Canadianland is flat, the highest points in some counties up there is a highway over pass. Also they have lots of good dirt. Down south we have hills, in my county the only flat spots are lakes. And rocks. Lots of rocks. I can't stick a shovel in the ground and not hit a rock.  What isn't a rock is nasty clay that stays wet all winter and gets hard as concrete in the summer.
Good gun laws, taxes aren't bad, not really a lot to not like. Proposed law in the state house right now for constitutional carry. Roads are better than they used to be but could be a lot better. Outside the bigger cities crime rates are very low, except for the methheads. Very business friendly. A tenderloin sammich as big around as a dinner plate is the state food. In this county, we do have ordinances that require at least 1 car up on blocks in your yard, which also must be at least 8" long. Also have to have at least 2 missing teeth.
Learn to love, LOVE high school basketball, it is a religion here. The patron saint of the state is Bobby Knight or Gene Keady, depending on whether you're a IU or Purdue fan. You'll need to declare allegiance to one or the other, but here in the south we have to declare to either UK or Louisville.
The post up thread about the Amish guy at Wendy's drive through in the Hellcat with buggy wheels? Not much of an exaggeration.

My oldest son moved there from PA a few years back and has been very happy. He works for the DNR and was assigned to a park up north, then moved down near Indianapolis. I've visited a couple times, and there's plenty of "rural" areas for hiking and camping, but even the visits to the city weren't bad. Indy is considerably better than most cities in the country.

I suspect the experience will be as good as you want to make it!

Since they had to change from calf brains to hog brains they ain't the same.

That's another thing. Learn to love the smell of hog and turkey shit. Lots of both kinds of farms and the  farmers love to spread the  manure on their fields. Under certain weather conditions it can get...ripe.

You forgot Mobile.

All Indiana visitors, please leave your blue state bullshit behind?

I found this weird looking possum in the middle of the road down in southwest Indiana last fall. Wondering if the OP has ever saw any of these in Texas?

Attached File

I've always liked Indiana.

As is Oklahoma. I lived in Indiana until I went into the Military. SW part good fishing. Southern Girls are great. Love shinny dipping’ in the thousands of strip pits ( old strip mines ) coal mostly.

Don’t forget that you have to buy warm beer from the grocery store.
No cold brews on the shelf.

Liquor tax is super cheap. I stock up when I am there.

It’s not a bad place, but if you like scenery, you are out of luck unless you love corn.

Well OP, welcome!  We are glad you’re coming. Indiana is a great place to live and to raise a family. I was born here and still live on the same farm I was raised.  I couldn’t agree more with all the post that have said that rural small town Indiana is the best of America, and what it should be. I know I’m biased, but I love it here and hope that you will too.

It’s already been hashed out, but since your not moving to Indy, Bloomington or any or our other liberal strongholds you should expect to find mostly conservative, traditional American values. Gun laws are great and there are LOTS of gun toting, deer hunting , gun collecting, competitive shooting and just general lead slinging individuals. State Government is still very conservative in nature. We’ve a Republican Gov., House and Senate and should for a while. Taxes are reasonable and the state and local governments mostly stay out of your way.

Indiana is also nicely located so that travel to many other areas of our beautiful county is easy and within just a few days drive.

The guy with the wagon wheeled Hellcat is only a few miles north of me. Just saw that video today.

Casserole, don't confuse us with Minnesota!


OP, welcome to Indiana!

Hope you like cornfields bro

You mean Prichard, though Mobile is getting pretty sporty.

I didn't know there was a race track in Indiana.  What's it called?  Where is it at?  

I have been to Indiana to visit family a few times.  This is the correct answer.  Abject boredom.

I've played a basketball game in the gym that Hoosiers was filmed in.

Dirt, circle track racing is very popular as well. The best non-wing sprint racing in the country.

Try Illinois we are full

Excellent info thanks.

The Fips are all headed this way and trying to turn us into New Illinois....so there's that

You're gonna love the housing prices.

Oh and most important  

Excellent posts!  Thanks for all the info.  Too many good posts to reply to.

I'm from the south east and met my wife in Indiana.  She too complained about the humidity and I told her it wasn't humid.

She didn't believe me...  That is until we moved to eastern NC.

Now she knows what humidity is.

It’s is humid. I live in Evansville. Most mom and pop restaurants will have pretty good fried chicken. Meth is a problem for small towns and cities alike. Gang bangers in Evansville are poor shots they shoot often but rarely kill each other.  I lived in GA, VA and FL for many years, self segregated areas are a thing. Divided by a highway or train tracks type of thing.
Born and raised here reckon I’ll die here too.

My kids are 6 and 3.  And from what we've seen so far it is indeed a great place to raise a family.  

You are going to get fucked on taxes. Fuck that state.

Tough call for ya WT.  Libtards in Cali or plain ole tards in Indiana.  There are plenty of good people in Indiana........this guy doesn’t appear to be one.

Good luck WT.  Gunna miss you out here.......we can’t afford to lose another conservative.

I have a question.  Here in Texas we have HEB.  HEB is a Texas based grocery store.  HEB is great for buying local products, from meat to whatever you can think of.  What's the Indiana equivalent of HEB?  What's a good store to buy local products (meat, produce, beer, etc)?