Does anyone live in or near St. Mary's GA? I have a job offer and it's very enticing. Not a huge fan of the beach and it doesn't seem to be much mtn biking so those are the big downsides for me. Anyone live near it have any insight.
Cost of living is pretty good. Tracks are about an hour or so either direction as are Jax and Savannah. There is no topography within a few hours drive other than bridges. Hot as fuc$ in the summer, humid and every bug you see flying will try to eat or sting you.
Basically a bland base town. While not ideal there is Ft Clinch, Hanna Park, Graham Swamp & Mala Compra in Palm Coast, & San Felasco in Gainesville are all within a 90 min drive. You could live in North Jax and have a 40 commute to cut drive times.
I lived there for several years. Pretty much everything said above is accurate. Some OK mountain biking around Jax but nothing too exciting. I spent a lot of my time in Fernadina and in Jacksonville so TurboBlew's suggestion makes a lot of sense.
Not nearly as hot and humid as Houston, TX though. Frequent breezes off of the ocean. The coast of GA is the least affected by hurricanes you'll find on the Atlantic. I considered moving somewhere south of Savannah about 28 years ago. My favorite costal area to visit. I still wouldn't mind having a condo on St. Simons Island. Find somewhere to live that's not too close to a paper mill. If you're there by the first week in June, you can ride some of the BRAG, into Brunswick. I'm planning to ride the entire week. https://www.brag.org/brag/#routes
or buy some beer & a gopro... camp out at public boat ramps during morning & afternoon rushes... make meeellions off Youtube from the hilarious footage.
My brother lived in Brunswick decades ago where he used to run the night shift at a chemical plant where they extracted various chemicals from ground-up southern pine tree stumps, and then they burned what was left to power the plant. That plant stunk up the whole town. It was worse than a paper mill.
Condos on SSI are stupid $$ now, as is everything on the island and it’s getting that way in Brunswick.
#thequalifiedcaptain Epic conehead shenanigans. I really do have friends on weekends where they take a poker table and some beverages down to the ramps in Jax for entertainment.
I’m in Brunswick. Been here nearly 15 years. There’s a lot to love here if you love what’s here. There’s a little mountain bike trail in Camden County put together by a good bike shop. There’s been some work on the Blythe Island Park trails to add some structure. We have a few dual sport/adventure bike guys around that like to ride (that includes me) if you like sandy stuff. We don’t have any really fast guys around since @sanee moved away…
Jacksonville isn't that far away for big city stuff. It's a small town with a military base. HOT in the summer and humid. I've been down there quite a few times but usually in conjunction with going to Cumberland Island or the Okefenokee swamp for hiking/camping/paddling. If you enjoy the outdoors, the spring/winter/fall would be great. I know my friend in Jax does a decent amount of MTB stuff but he also heads to north GA or ATL when he really wants a fix but seems to be happy there. Ditto for ADV riding . But he was doing a lot of track days at Jennings as well, that was always close for him. Roebling isn't that far off as well. Cumberland Island is one of my favorite places to visit in GA, but I refuse to go in the summer. Too many people, too many bugs and too hot. The rest of the time it's fantastic.
Big 10-4....you know its one of the first on the list. Mayport and NAS Jax are just a bonus! I helped build Kings Bay back in the late 80's....x-ray'ing huge crane welds. Fun times.
