You must live up in Oregon or Washington or something where so many people from California have fled to escape the rape of this place. My sweetie and I also are wanting to move to a more rural area - right now we are north of San Francisco but even though it is very lovely where we live and there is still a lot of open, forested land it is getting more congested and they want to develop it more. Also there is the problem that when an area is very beautiful the very rich decide they want it for themselves - so they come here - shove everyone out who is not useful to them and then they put up big mansions and resorts and eventually destroy the place. That's what happened in Southern Cal. I can't even stand going down there any more and I lived there by the beach for 25 years. It is all just one big mall now and all these insane people who love to drive around in their gigantic vehicles polluting the atmosphere even more. It's a wasteland.
We are thinking of moving further north - One spot that is attractive is the Mendocino coast because it is so very beautiful and not that easy to get to. It's a long drive on windy roads and not so very populated.
Good luck to you guys - I hope you find what you are looking for.
Right now we live in a pretty nice apartment in a wonderful area and we have enough space in our little garden to grow some of our own veggies and herbs which is really nice. But I say onward and upward....