I can’t. I’ll not go into details for obvious reasons, but I can say simply that I need to stay here to help my daughter, a single mom, with some things. I was a single dad with her, so I understand what being a single parent is all about, and just can’t leave things as they stand. I mean, I could leave, but I’d have no peace, if you know what I mean. Things will be squared away for her before I leave for France. But right now, no. Besides, it allows me to do more “prep” for the move!
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1:2:1 won’t prepare you for real life - can you watch french films and tv? And popular things that are perhaps not the best articulated French? My current favorite is working through the back catalogue of Papotin, interviews of well known people by young people who are somewhere on the spectrum. Also useful for current affairsBut anything really that is real people talking normally.
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That’s a good point, Jane.
OH likes watching French films with subtitles, ideally French ones so he can see what the words are.
Before we lived here he used to watch TV5 which I think has a new name now, their short news bulletin in French - five or 10 minutes? He would have heard the news already in English, so it was easier to grasp what each item in French was about.
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Why not make it a family holiday?, would be a nice adventure for all of you may benefit from seeing it from another perspective.
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Give yourself a break. 
You’re not being perverse. It’s a logical question. Visiting a place gives you information not available unless you visit: superficial impressions of the place constrained mostly due to the limited time–it’s just a visit, after all–you spend there, a feel for the weather during the limited time of your visit, a sense of how strong your opponents are at the local chess club, how walkable the city center is vs an outlying neighborhood, and whether the blueberries sold at the organic foods store taste as good as the nonorganic offerings elsewhere. That’s the kind of stuff a visit will tell you about. And that’s not nothing, sure. But the more important things–yearly weather trends, yearly cost of living projections, rental trends, public transit reliability not just locally but from Rennes to Paris or Brussels, locations and collections of the art museums you want to visit, the ins-and-outs of the national healthcare system and how much is it going to cost non-EU residents to buy into PUMA, etc., etc. I could go on and on with examples of really important things that a visitor simply isn’t going to learn merely by visiting. Those things you find out only by researching them. Maybe you’re there, maybe you’re here, but for those many, many important things, you’re going to learn about them not simply by being physically present in a place, but by researching the place. At worst, you do your research, you get there, and the research-to-reality is different from what you expected. Chances are, though, given the quality of your research, differences aren’t going to be that different, that is, not so different that your response to them is, I’ve gotta get outta here! So, in the end, yeah, there’s stuff you can only find out by visiting a place, but what you find out is seriously constrained and limited to the length and timing of your visit. Most of what’s important–well, important to me–is stuff that I’m not going to find out during a two-week or month-long visit. I’m going to find out that stuff when I do patient, meticulous, double- and triple-checked research. Again, you’re not being perverse in asking the question. It’s a good, logical question. I hope I’ve given a halfway decent answer. 
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To all of that I’ll say only this : My teacher, my 1-2-1 guy, who is merciless with me (because I told him at the beginning that if he weren’t, I’d find someone else…of course, I didn’t put it in that way , but he know what I was diplomatically driving at), told me that the best person to listen to–watch her interviews, watch her movies, etc., etc.–is Adèle Exarchopoulos. When I asked him why, he just said, “Because if you can understand her French, you can understand anyone!” I ought to add here that I’ve been absolutely blown away by her films, and actually it was because of “Voleuses” that I learned about Mélanie Laurent. I mean, I’d seen her in some films, but where she’s breathtaking and brilliant is when she either directs a film or is both actor and director. Anyway, I suggested at the beginning that I’d be brief, and I’ve blown right through that, so…
American here (actually US/IT dual). You’ve got guts. You really should visit. Have you ever been to Europe at all? Europe is really different from the US- France is pretty typical Europe.
That said- I know the gotta get out of here feeling .
I live in Cholet, just southwest of Angers. I have been to Rennes once or twice. I am in Angers pretty often because I must change trains there to go to Paris. I like Rennes a bit better, but Angers is very nice, too.
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The first thing, the only thing I want to say at the moment, is about what struck me at once on reading your message. You said that France is “very different to the UK, and - from what people here say - even more different to the US.” My friend, let me tell you: I’m not just completely unafraid of its being “different to the US,” I’m counting on it. It’s the entire reason–start to finish, top to bottom, through and through–it’s exactly why I’m moving from the US to France. Having said that, I’ve probably already said or suggested too much, and I absolutely will not be engaging in any political back-and-forth here. All of that is sound advice, and I do appreciate it.
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Oh my word! And you are American? European culture cannot be bottomed out by desk research. We used to live in Paris and would encounter shell shocked Americans from time to time.
I very much hope you are prepared for change. It’s the little things that can be hard - no half and half, much of the packet foods having far less sugar than the American brands, no one giving a hoot that you are a super important CEO, etc - all potentially silly things in themselves but can weigh heavy and make one feel unsettled. So people end up spending much of their time with their own nationality group. Which rather defeats the purpose of moving.
The question I’m very keen to ask is why you think France is where you want to be?
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Other posters have been very restrained!.I think your approach is totally wrong,
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Good, I’m glad you have - this is a group of people with a wealth of knowledge, huge curiosity, and a love of France. The more you tell us (within your boundaries of course) the more we can help, make suggestions, fill in background for you.
Within this group there are those with a sharp tongue - they mean well, but it can be tough where you already have a clear idea why you are doing what you are doing and they keep wanting you to do something different. It seems to me you do know your own mind - perhaps not surprising given your background.
Each person’s journey is different. We did virtually no research other than have a general sense of whereabouts in the hexagon we wanted to be. I came over, found our house within a week. Still here nearly 19 years later. Some on here would have been appalled at our lack of planning. 
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What part of California? I would say that Rennes is roughly comparable to th e Bay Area in climate. If you want LA type weather I think you would want somewhere further south. I escaped from Florida 3 years ago. I’m good with this weather but I would move north of here to get the kind of weather I like.
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You might enjoy the blog by two Americans who moved to Rennes and find a lot to enjoy there. It is Yo France. Can you tell they’re from Philly?
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Have you considered Brest? That was my main go to city for over 30 years and is true Breton in every way with a lot of Celtic nations thrown in for good measure. Both my kids did their university degrees there and lived in the centre of the city and it was about 40mins from home. There is a good regional airport with regular shuttle buses from the station in the centre of the city, TGV to Paris in under 4 hours and very good motorway links. There is also the maritime aspect and even for landlubbers it is an amazing city to explore with lots of festivals, exhibitions and arty stuff. You might find it cheaper than Rennes too and the Prefecture deals with main problems that Quimper throws at them regarding foreigners and paperwork. The countryside all around is stunning and the coast offers different views all the time. Oceanopolis is where they do marine work and have a wonderful aquarium and the Marine Nationale have a big base on the west side of Recouverance bridge and Isle Fremener. You can also catch a ferry out to Ouessant in the Atlantic although going in winter can be iffy due to the sudden storms. Just a thought from a former resident.
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I am grateful for this site too. I feel supported.
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Welcome to the SF community.
I wish to say that my wife and I think you are obviously a courageous and adventurous person, and we wish you well in your endeavour.
There will of course be thousands of things that will be so different, but then that it what you seek, so just ‘go for it’.
Bonne chance. 
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I’d certainly realised you had decided to leave the USA, and assumed your reasons were connected to how things are going there.
Why France? is not evident, however! I imagine - I sincerely hope - you have equally strong reasons to choose France (rather than, say, Spain, Germany, Australia, Belgium, Scotland, …), because the people I’ve known who were motivated by a desire to leave somewhere, rather than by a desire to go somewhere, generally struggled.
I was talking less about that sort of thing than how life in France is different in all sorts of unexpected ways. I would urge you to concentrate some of your efforts on learning about the culture of France. You’ll find lots of info on SF. The obligation to begin every interaction with “Bonjour”; the crackhead-like addiction to paperwork; the way emails are almost always a waste of time … I could go on.
Can I recommend you try to watch a bit of French tv to supplement your other learning? There’s quite a lot on YouTube (and if you use a VPN, you can usually watch direct). Some programmes are better (I found) because they involve a lot of repetition: La meilleure boulangerie de France is a good example.
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I hope you’re not denigrating one of my pet TV shows, Porridge?
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One of the things that some of our UK and US visitors have found strange is that a lot of restaurants close after the lunchtime service, especially if they’re family run.People have assumed that they can eat at any time of day and are put out if they turn up at 2.30 or 3pm and are turned away.
The same can apply to food shops that have time off in the afternoon. We’ve seen foreigners and people from large French cities who can’t believe that everywhere isn’t open all of the time and that they have to plan when to shop or eat.
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I love it too.
And all those Stéphane Plaza programmes, and LMF5. And - when it was on - Bienvenue chez nous etc.