It all depends on what you want. I like to be near really great library systems, so much of New England has got me. Western MA where I've spent a lot of time when not traveling offers an easy life. Connecticut River (with plenty of nice camp spots along it - even islands), five different colleges in which you can find the pleasure of reading rare books, scoring free food, and finding great, smart friends and lovers. In Northampton there are camp spots right downtown with no cops or homebums, and there's a super ritz foodbank. Getting EBT around there is a breeze and you can keep it for 6 months. The Public library is lit as well.
The only downsides to the area are the super out-of-touch liberals, who tend to be rich and think they're better than you (especially if you're a freethinker), and the absence of work. And winter, if you don't like cold.
But presently what I want as my pie-in-the-sky is a fucking hilltop castle in rural VT/NH/ME, situated on at least 20 acres, with a well / independent water source, semi-underground greenhouse, and a shitload of guns. Add a stone wall around everything and it's my own private citadel. Hopefully on a major river, not terribly far from a small town. Like the Totnes Castle:
