Hello group!!!

I am a 40 yo white male who currently lives in Memphis, TN. I was born in Memphis and raised in the surrounding area (Mid-South). Imo ed out of my parents the night before I turned 18 & moved in with my gf who I would eventually marry at the age of 21 (I think lol). We actually had a pretty accomplished marriage. We both had careers which we steadily advanced in & a few months after we married, we bought what would be our first home. Not long after, we both had 2 brand new vehicles in the driveway. This was a huge achievement for us, as we both essentially are high school dropouts & just a year or 2 prior, we were unemployed & living in the living room of my mom's run down trailer. Poor as poor could be. At age 23, we adopted her 3 months old niece after taking custody of her due to her parents basically not being good parents, long story short. Life was great except for the marriage itself. We did not get along well & there was constant disputes over $, sex, & contol. We began abusing drugs which eventually led to a very ugly separation when I was 30. Thru many incidents of manipulation & myself trying to save theareiage, she eventually ended up taking everything we had acquired over the marriage,except my truck, & left me for another guy 1 evening while I was at work. She also tried t.twk3 the kid, which I fought tooth & nail against and after a year of being separated, she has a daughter kf her own, with a guy outside of her current relationship, & then basically gave my daughter over to me. She would still be present in the child's life but present is all she would be. She has never helped provide for the child, never helped with parenting the child, nor with any of the many obstacles you encounter when raising the child. I have basically raised her myself for the past 9 years, myself. She is now 16. Which leads me to reason for posting....

She will be entering into Job Corp this year in order to obtain her hs diploma & some tech training which will leave me, for the first time in my adult life, alone with freedom to now pursue my own goals and life. For reasons Im not going to get into, I have not been able 2 not been successful at finding myself since me and he mom split. I've always felt trapped by the need to remain close to my daughter's mother, for my daughter's sake, and unable to live a life focused around .y own ambitions & desires. Now, I have that opportunity. 

My goal is simple I want to leave the Memphis area & start over somewhere fresh & new. Somewhere away from everything I know, which is everything that holds me back (drugs, family, trauma, etc) & to somewhere that will help promote a new, healthy, positive lifestyle for me. I really enjoy making music & producing music, which has been an after thought for 20 years now, and.would really like to fuel that love again. I have never been very sociable or had many friends and would really like to develop some new relationships & friendships with like minded people which hopefully will be positive for me. I'm going to have about $5 grand & I have a very reliable 4 door car. The plan is to just hit the highway & arrive in a coty of my choosing, ready to take on the challenge of turning the $ & vehicle into a happy new life. 

So my question is, where & how? I am very interested in Austin, Tx or the surrounding area or maybe Nashville? Ik those are 2 big hotspots in the country right now & both ideal locations for music lovers & music makers. I imagine I'll be living out of my car in the beginning until I can find somewhere to stay. Or they may be a possibility of me finding a room to rent 4 I move and using the $ I'll have to secure it upon arrival. I have no real career set. In my 20s, I was a dispatcher & supervisor for a logistics company but aftery nitemare separation, I left the industry and have basically jumped from job to job, never really being able to hold a job for very long B4 leaving to try something new. I did discover that I really enjoy working with my hands & really enjoy the metal fabrication (machine shop) industry as well as the manufacturing industry. Specifically, automotive which I had a 2 year stint working in the lower echilions of industrial maintenance. A great career choice for any1 as it pays amazingly well. Automotive manufacturing jobs, specifically in maintenance if possible, would definitely be in my job search criteria.

If any1 took the time to read this nitemare I wrote and would possibly have any advice, encouragement, suggestions, anything, please feel free to comment or write me as this is a huge undertaking & life change for me yet a huge change that I am very excited 4 and could use any & any the help I could get.

Thanks, A proud mid-southerner

(Attached: My daughter & her proud Dad)