Yeah it is pretty nice country. The whole country has nice places, you just can't see most of them from the road.
I used to be a job Shop Engineer on CAD. so I traveled all over this country except the northeast. Some contracts were short, others long. somer short ones ending up being 15 months duration. Since 1994 I have been in Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Louisana (twice, bookending Ill.) Iowa twice, Kansas, Mo., N.C. (travelled up and down the east coast a s far south as Florida, north to Richmond Virginia doing gunshows buying and selling pre-1898 firearms), and here in the Republic Of Ca. for the last 5 years. (6 in Feb.)
Met wonderful people in all my travels, and some not so wonderful ones too. Saw lots of good scenery, Once in a period of 2 weeks I bought apples in an orchard in Michigan, Sweetcorn from the field in Iowa and shrimp off the boat in Lousiana. Figured that this is a great place to live. I thank the vets every chance I get for helping to make it so.