Why don't they do this in a warmer state? Having resided in Memphis for the last half-dozen years, I can only shake my head and wistfully ask the same question: Alaska, Vermont, Montana, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and a couple of chilly others. Cold and Northern, and some downright Yankeefied, and where well-prepared grits may even be hard to find...the horror!
I can only figure that clime and climate have likely discouraged others, less hardy, from taking up residence in some of those harsher possibilities and doing their best to ruin those colder spots as they have others to which they've migrated. But it'll be a chance for me to get a little more use out of my skis, which have been out of the storage building around three times since I came to Memphis. When life hands ya a lemon, make lemonade.
-archy-/-
To the question about why not a southern state I believe it is because they are too heavily populated. The cold north is where less people settle down thus maximizing Free Staters presence.
Speaking of the north how are the winters in Wyoming and Montana? Pretty rugged I hear. The only times I've been through them is spring, summer or fall. I remember seeing snow on the ground in late April. I understand Idaho, though northern is not as bad in the winter as the plain states, know anything about that?
I think one advantage New Hampshire has is having a port, the others are land locked. Also it is closer to civilization and therefore more economically viable for a lot of people. Boondocks living and subsistence farming is not for everyone. Personally I like the NH choice but I do also favor Idaho.