Californians who live outside of SF/LA/OC/SD in more rural areas, what is life like where you live? How are the people like and what is the mentality like compared to the big cities? Is it easy to make new friends?

I lived on the central coast for the first 18 years of my life, and I go back and visit every couple of years. There's a divide between the homegrown residents and the wine people, but besides that, there are all types of people coexisting. Hippies, ranchers, surfers, tweakers, alcoholics, fancy schmancy country clubbers. Everyone has always seemed very friendly to me.