wyoming

[cthulhufan]

I spent several years of my childhood in Rock Springs Wyoming before we moved to Colorado (Dacono, Firestone, Frederick (Longmont area)). I have fond memories of Wyoming. We lived way out past the city limits though. Small community where my dad broke horses when he wasn't laying floor covering or covering for a sick school bus driver (mom too!). We had a general store and everything :)

Yes, the wind never seemed to die. The country is beautiful, though, and most folks were squarely planted in reality.

My family currently has plans to move to the Pine Haven area, quite a bit north of where we were previously, but with the economy in shambles, I'm not sure we can swing that anytime soon.

Good luck to you, OP, I hope you make it up there. I'm saying this because I also spent several years of my life in Colorado and I know how it sucks in comparison. :)

Wyoming is a wonderful state.

Edit: Oh, and someone was saying something about the volcano. IMO, you just can't get away from that stuff, if your ticket is punched, your ticket is punched. Tsunamis if you live on the coast, fault lines and tornados if you live in the midwest, bears and wolves if you live in the great north... Live your life and enjoy it for what it is, you can't escape nature.

[shadowwalker]

Subman, TN is a good place to live. I just couldn't take the area I squatted down in. And to dam hot! Check out east N.E.
TN or S.E. KY. There are just the spots your probably wanting. I'd guess, not as hot, land is fairly cheap if you look for it. Good growing season. I'd look on every site on the internet about it. Land in Ky is cheap especially around the Daniel Boone forest area. And around northeast TN it depends on where you are. But land can be found there. A very good rule of thumb I found. Look at the land for flatness and check out what kind of trees are growing. If you see trees growing that like lots of water go for it, if you see trees that are more like arid area trees, you probably don't have water there or its deep. Next problem you might have is the locals. If they hunted and their "daddy and daddies daddy hunted" on your new bought land. Your going to have to show them it's not available anymore. I had this problem for four years, sometimes I had to ask the same people to please leave over and over. And above all, don't count on the law in the rural areas 100%. They will side with friends and family faster than when baby chicks run to a hen when a hawk screams.
But that is what makes that part of the country unique.
Totally great place to grow almost anything, and if you do it right a second season for alot of it. Always some place to sell your stuff. I built a produce shed at one of my roads and sold alot of things. My fruit and nut trees were really doing good when we sold the place, and I had a grape harbor 60 feet long with 11 different kinds of grapes giving me over 3 five gallon buckets full the last year. And they were mostly three year plants!
The whitetail deer meat is second only to elk for me out there. Hunting is good. If you not depended on public lands, but in the eastern parts of the states there is more public lands too. Oh, and both have elk there now.
Taxes arent to bad out there and you can qualify for alot of rural grants and low cost loans now. I am finding out they are available all over the U.S. now.
If I ever wanted to live there again I'd look at these spots first.

[subman]

hey shadowalker i am thinking about TN for an early retirement out in the rural areas what do you think? I would like to find about 50 acres and set up a little self sufficient farm

[brightstar]

Hi,

With the way the public schools have been infiltrated with all of this liberal BS, I would suggest homeschooling for sure. That way you know where your kids are and not being messed with in their minds by all of this liberal crap.

I have seen the difference with 3 granddaughters in public schools that have been messed up badly from all the influences there versus 2 grandsons who my daughter-in-law homeschools. Major major differences indeed.

The public schools are getting worse all the time, the dumbing down of America has been working for far too long now and if one wants their children to have a decent education, then you better home school them for sure.



brightstar

[brightstar]

oops my fingers missed some keys, the forum owner!!!


brightstar

[brightstar]

If I may suggest, Wyoming is beautiful I have been there, but think about Yellowstone ok. With what is coming being within 200 miles of Yellowstone is not a real good idea and I have talked with this forum own and asked whether he thought I should post about something I feel I have learned about and he said to go ahead so I will start posting on that before long, but please consider this volcano existing in Yellowstone as it is a major major one ok.


brightstar

[Niki09]

thank you shadow I appreciate all your advice and knowledge!

[barkingowl]

Sorry to hear that no one seems to be able to just do what needs to be done without some BS assessment by folks who don't understand living there.

[shadowwalker]

Oh, yes they are many big companies are getting into it. And all the legal spitting,snorting,dirt clod throwing, whining, crying that goes with it!
Right now just outside of town is a guy suing because his view of the mountain will be disrupted with them up and he dosn't want to have to hear the "hum" they'll make when on. Some of the bunny huggers are now bat huggers. They say the bats fly into them and want something done about it. Theres a ad that will show up in the newspaper every few days. It says they will do a assesment of windyness on your land and give you a offer of leasing it for putting up their turbines, ha,ha. I wish I still had some land for that!!

[barkingowl]

I would strongly suggest to anyone moving here to get a good idea of where you want to live and rent for a year. Out here we don't get real good service from the Wyoming department of transportation and the county,city road services when it comes to cleaning off the secondary and rural roads. After a snow storm they get right on the primary and main highways. But some of the outer rural roads and non essential roads won't see one for days or weeks if then.

In that respect you're a lot like Charlotte. Has anyone thought about starting up a wind farm out there?

[shadowwalker]

I would strongly suggest to anyone moving here to get a good idea of where you want to live and rent for a year. Out here we don't get real good service from the wyoming department of transportation and the county,city road services when it comes to cleaning off the secondary and rural roads. After a snow storm they get right on the primary and main highways. But some of the outer rural roads and non essential roads won't see one for days or weeks if then. The wind blows here and a road can be blown back shut,impassible in twenty minutes. One that took the snow plow maybe two hours or more to clear. Or on the interstate a highway can blow shut behind the snow plow. I have lived here over 35 years and drove over 1,000,000 miles in oilfield pickups here and all over the western united states.
Most of the eastern and middle areas of wyoming have a fine clay for ground formation here. It can rain as little as 1/2 inch. And your road to your house is impassible. It's like driving on grease. And being clay will set with water until the sun evaporates it. Even with the gnarlyest tires with chains on you can't get anywhere's. I have been back in someplace huntin,fishin,prospecting etc. And not watched the weather and got caught.
So that is another thing that will affect you. Second is water. Here in spots it is not drinkable no matter how far you drill. So you will be hauling it. I did this as a kid growing up and until you have to do this. You can only imagine the lifestyle change this will have on a family. Next is some spots have wells there that to get to water some wells are over 600 feet. Now the drilling costs are incredible. And if you need to work on the pump or change it. You can't pull that much plasitc pipe so you have that future cost. I changed out the pump by myself in Tennessee. I had a well 198 feet deep, I physically pulled the thing out. It really worked a ole fatboy.
I have did alittle checking and I guess the schools here are on the upper end of education and lower end on crime and physical harm to students. The state spends above average per capita on a childs education. You can prepay you child for the university a laramie. Like pay this years tuition and when they go say, in 15 years. And the price of education is alot higher. It's already paid for. That sounds like a good deal to me.
My wife and I are looking for a place now. We see alot of good deals, some are alittle too good. The last one was a ideal picture of a home. What I didn't like was the only road was winding through two bottoms to get out. There wasn't anyplace to make a new one with out buying or renting equipment to do it or paying for it done. After you asked the neighbor for a parital easement down his property line..
Believe it or not,wyoming still has working one room school houses here. Most have like less than 20 kids there K through Jr High. Way out in the sticks. Alot of home schooling goes on here too.

[Niki09]

well I will have to check into the schools.. anything else shadow?


i like that wy has a dense population... thats half the appeal. Plus owning land

[Morguns1Cam]

Ive never been there (WY) but its on my list of places I want to visit. WY has the lowest population density of any state I believe. Not sure I could handle the winters . but other than that it would be a great place to be I believe.

[shadowwalker]

I don't keep much up with the schools. I let my brothers and sister do that with their kids. My daughter and step daughter are both almost 30 and no grandkids...

[Niki09]

sure I will explain. Well the first thing I hears about from implants/transplants.
There isn't anything to do. Well partly true. Wyoming towns are far and few between. If you get the urge for a big gulp and candy bar. You might have to drive 30 minutes minimum to get them. The shopping people are used to having within 10 or 20 minutes of "home" are a couple hours drive or maybe in another state. To me anyway in Casper(the biggest city in the state 61,000 people) there are no good restuarants, most every place is a hit or miss on the food. Now this may be petty, but when I go out for a good dinner and spend over $50.00. I want to be able to eat a good steak. Not here. Hey you can spend over $100.00 for two people and still get less than good. And yes I do know good, I have ate at some of the best restuarants in the nation. Most to me are just "pretty on a plate". I told that to a waiter in L.A. once and he almost passed out. Now that was funny.
Better get used to solitude. There is alot here. Most cities stuff ends say at city limit signs. Water,sewer,cable tv.etc. Thats usually about 2 or 3 miles out of town. You can be 5 miles out of town and have a snow storm or good rain say maybe less than 1 inch of it. And be homestead bound for 2 to 5 days or more. We do have good electric service and this is one of the few states I have lived that the service is very good, dosn't go out much at all. The state is getting more metro-ized with soccer moms and the stuff that goes with a family existing today. The wind does blow most of the time, that's just how it happens. Winter is a time of slowdown here with alot of activities ending and others starting. Thats a fair low down on how stuff happens. Being in Colorado it's hard to see some of what I posted, but think like someone coming from say back east or the west coast. With almost every whim within a few minutes of your home. The shock is bad to some of them. The wind and winter drives some of them out the first year, and lack of "reasonable" jobs. I never have got a good explaination of what one of those it yet!
Now for hunting. And I hate to say it but at least people here are like minded with me, so here goes. If you really try, and have the time and money. You can hunt "something" in this state just under nine months a year!!! That sucks, I never had enough of the last two to enjoy that,ever......The fishing is also great with liberal limits compared to other states. Many different species of them. We have some of them in only one lake or stream in the state. That's cool to me.
I'll give you the places to check online here for about how the state is.
Casper star tribune, is the statewide paper,wyoming at work ,is the state job serivce, City-Data.com, go to wyoming for another good forum on us, hope it sheds alittle light on wyoming in general.

well I know I'm from Denver (and Cali before that) so people think city girl. That I am not. I hate the city. I am a homebody and have one whole closet FULL of craft, scrapbooking, and rubber stamping crap, which besides chasing around my son, keeps me pretty occupied. The 2 things my son and I like to do the most is swim (we will have a pool when we buy) and go to the zoo. Any zoo's in WY? Other than that we stay home and find stuff to do.

As for shopping, well I hate shopping, it's boring, and we live on about 2400$/month so I know we don't have it to spend anyway. Since I recently lost 60lbs, my mother told me I HAD to buy jeans because when I walk people could see my butt, after about 10 mins in the store I was over it and bought some workout pants. (I still own no jeans LOL).

As for going out to eat, we just don't. I have to be frugal on our budget. I make everything at home, from scratch. You can't find food like mine anywhere. I am without a doubt the best self taught cook I know. Not to toot my own horn but I am :) HAHA. SO thats ok with me too.

Solitude is ok with me, I sort of like to keep to myself. Most people do not get my deeply imbedded marine sense of humor, love of cars (apparently it's weird when girls KNOW and love cars) and guns. Plus I REALLY enjoy taking care of hubby and kiddo and find that occupies 95% of my time.

As for the cold.... I hate cold... HATE it. I LOVE the snow, just not the cold, but Denver is cold as a$$, and I have learned to adjust (man I miss cali) I want a fireplace & I can bundle up.

Can't wait to hunt and fish.. can't wait for hubby to get hired on a fire dept so we can afford more hunting. And fishing.

yeah send me links I'd love to learn more.... also how are schools there? my son's education is really important, and my husband will leave me if I can't find our son an ice hockey team to play on. So yeah, thanks for your feedback and info... keep it coming, if you want to talk I will listen!