When Paul and Cate Herrick decided to leave their native California in spring 2005, they hit the road with a 33-foot travel trailer to see the country and find a new home.

“We knew we were done with California,” said Paul, 45, who was fed up with the high cost of housing and the congested roads. “When people talk about traffic here, I just roll my eyes.”

Fed up one day, Paul e-mailed Cate to suggest they take a cross-country trip to find a new place to live. To his surprise, she responded in less than five minutes. “Let's do it,” said Cate, 45, a government mortgage underwriter.

“I would have stopped right at the Black Hills of South Dakota,” said Cate. But they weren't impressed by what the job or housing markets had to offer. The couple forged ahead. Along the way they checked out real estate and jobs.

In the summer, they swung through Charlotte to visit a friend. Driving around, they stumbled on Mint Hill and decided to make it their home.

They were impressed by several things, including proximity and home prices.

“It still felt like the country but close enough to the city to be commutable,” said Cate, who works in SouthPark. Paul works for a geotechnical engineering and environmental firm close to uptown.

They bought a lot and selected a house to be built on it and then took a transatlantic cruise. When they returned they lived in their camper across the border in South Carolina until their house was finished that fall.

From the start they were struck by the friendliness and hospitality here.

One memory: On a trip to Bojangles' while visiting they told the cashier they didn't know what to get. They settled on a few basics. Soon after they sat down to eat, a manager brought over tasting samples of everything on the menu.

And back in Sacramento they didn't really know their neighbors.

In Mint Hill, “very often in the evening people stand out talking in the street,” Paul said.