Southern highlands checking in. I've made my peace with the bad, mostly. Definitely accept it's the price to be paid for the good, of which there's a whole heck of a lot. If only it weren't for the meth...
I'm greeted by name at the bank, post office, grocery store, library, Dollar General, hardware, parts store. Look at nothing but woods and ridges out my windows. Don't know where the rifle hole in my barn came from, but they didn't hurt anything, and now folks have figured out somebody built a house here and no more mystery holes in a couple of years.
I know my neighbors, most of the valley. Kin to a fair percentage of them if you trace the lines carefully.
Cost of living is low, low, low. Food costs less. Services cost less (not that we need them anymore, but you wouldn't believe what we paid the septic installer). Used cars are much less than the city (trucks are more; buy those in the city and drive them home). Property taxes do technically exist, but aren't something that really needs to be planned for. Land and home prices are low enough I'm not sure many people believe me.
Weather's good. You have to like heat. We do get snow and ice here in the mountains, but it's still little enough that we mostly stay the fuck home when it's on the roads. My husband sometimes gets called out in our Jeep to rescue kinfolks (in the valley). I have a long enough commute that it's good I have a professional job where I can call in. I've not actually had to yet (five years) on a day the college didn't close anyway, but it's good I can. I don't worry about what I'll do in snow or ice; I'll stay home until I'm confident it's safe over the mountain passes.
Mosquitoes, god yes. (Are there places without mosquitoes?) Most winters are cold enough to kill them off so they have to start over in spring - I only remember one year the mosquitoes didn't die, and it was Bad.
Generally, it's good. I've never lived outside the Deep South, but I haven't always lived rural - as a young adult, I wanted the city. Southern cities are more like other parts of the country, but there are still differences. I think the differences in culture are harder to see in the city, more subtle, but they may be as profound, and it may be easier for outsiders to misstep because they aren't as obvious. Fortunately, I think most minor missteps are forgiven; "he's a Yankee, so he can't help that he doesn't know how to behave." This often gives people who aren't actually assholes time to adjust.