I did what you did 9 years ago. Got fed up with me marriage & after my mom died & I sold her home I was finally free to leave Calif where I was born & had lived all 53 years of my life. I could go anywhere....I was free even without a divorce.

Only family I had was our daughter but I wanted to make my choice on where I wanted to live. Growing up in So Calif & having lived 20 years in the desert, I didn't want any more desert so that eliminated a huge section of the US. I had vacationed to our winter condo in Wyo & though I love snow & cold realized that having a horse where much of the year is snow & the -40 F winters at times wasn't what I wanted....so that eliminated all the northern states. I spent summers growing up in Kansas with grandparents & good but not the weather I wanted either. I had a business trip during my computer engineering career to an AFB in Georgia & forget the humidity....NO WAY. So the only state that was also horse friendly was Kentucky....so that is where I headed on a 2 week search trip for a farm that I could afford.

I wish I had rented to start with because I felt like if I hadn't bought a farm I would never get another chance to escape. Initially it wasn't about escaping & I thought that it was a change of environment that would help the marriage until I spent time alone fixing up my new farm & knew I could never go back to living with him EVER again.

I think what I would do is like you are doing now. Pick an area you are interested in & go there & rent again to see if you really do like it & look around the area for real estate while renting. If you find the perfect home & you like the area...great.

I didn't know anyone when I moved here. Now I'm an active part of the little 8000 people town & have NEVER been happier than I am now. Second half of life (even alone) is the best.

I walked away from everything. One truck load of not well planned things I ended up bringing with me....left cloths & lots of things as I've never had the money to make the 2100 mile trip(one way) to get back. & there never was communication because he was incapable of communicating. But the freedom away from that marriage has been awesome.