Assuming you could earn a good living, where in the western USA would you want to live (excluding Alaska and Hawaii)? Name the town, valley or mountain peak and give a reason or two for your choice.


Thanks,


Jordan

Lakeview, Oregon.

Friends and ThunderRanch are there. Along with ranchers and farmers, and neighborly folk, decent hunting, low crime, low property values, and NO LIBERALS.

BMT

Dayum BMT! I'm just over the border from Lakeview (bedhind the iron curtain though). Never thought it was that great. Maybe I need to not be so prejudiced against my own back yard.

Here in Oregon, that would be Hood River...

If not in Oregon, Wyoming...in the spring summer and fall...

Key West FL in the winter...

Hayden Valley Wyoming about 200 years ago. Best place on earth minus the rv's.

About 50 miles upstream from Lewiston along the Clearwater River. Fishing, hunting, climate, and not growing like here.

I could spend another summer or three in Astoria Oregon pretty easily too.

south texas baby

Reno, NV: because a very special woman lives there

When we bought our homes we could have bought anywhere as work was clearly going to be abroad. After looking a bit we landed on the Texas Hill Country, primarily due to our great experience living in Midland and meeting some of the most friendly and welcoming folks ever. The second was a life long dream of mine to have a place in the woods where public land abounds, hence, we chose north Idaho. It too, is exactly what we were hoping for with many fine folks as well. We actually stated looking in MW Montana but preferred where we landed. We would do it no different if we were to do it again.

When you find paradise, keep quiet about it, or it won't be paradise anymore...

West Virginia. ,:)

I have an old Army buddy from Lakeview. He talked so much about it, it sounds like great place to be.
kwg

North-western Wyoming.... Cody/Wapiti/Clark.

Exactly.......

Thats about as west as this ole boy'd want to go. I mean its just flat for days and days, hardly a tree in sight, then all of a sudden it just shoots straight up! And when you get to the other side theres nothing but liberals. My trail ends at the appalachian mountains

Western PA is as far west as i want to live.

Oregon for sure.

Soutwest Montucky ought to do it�.

Loose lips sink ships.




Travis

I dunno... my work allows me to live anywhere in the WORLD that I want to.

In my ample time off, I travel all over the US and much of Africa.

I will have done 4 African Hunting Safaris totaling 40+ days by the end of October, but I sometimes question just why I am still living in Mississippi.

The answer is family, friends, home and just plain good old fashioned ROOTS I suppose.

I still consider the Hill Country of Texas sometimes though...

Mississippi or Texas would be a tough call...




Travis

laughing!

Stay out Wyoming at all costs, you will not be happy here. Winters are long and cold, they start about the 20th of August and last until around the 1st of June. Summer is usually the 7th of July and maybe the morning of the 8th. The wind blows incessantly, 24-7, a calm day is when you can keep your hat on your head without a chin strap. There are no cultural events like cello recitals, gay poetry readings or book signings by liberal activist movie stars. This is due to the fact the natives HAVE no culture, they are all a bunch of beer swilling, tobacco spitting, gun toting ignorant rednecks to whom getting dressed to go out to dinner means a clean pair of jeans and a shirt that's been ironed , and never mind the cow manure on the boots. We have been "discovered" by Californians, refugees from Seattle and Portland, along with a whole herd of citified folks from Back East. This has driven real estate prices out of sight, I just last week saw a 1/4 acre lot with an outhouse and a wall tent go for $350,000. Fishing and hunting truely suck, you cant wet a line or walk in the woods without getting run over by a 4-wheeler with a Colorado license plate. Plus, there�s a real good chance you will perish in the volcanic explosion of the Yellowstone caldera.
No, better you should go to Montana, I hear it's real nice up there.

Alaska I'm going back after I'm done with this Army gig!

Roscoe, Montana. I love the Grizzly Bar. Plus, I'd be close enough to lots of chit to hunt.

I don't want to move any further west than I am right now.

+1
and im thinking of going back down since im single now.best hunting and fishin in my opinion, but lets keep it to ourselves.

Horse Hocky ^^^^^

Terrible place to live. No jobs, high property taxes (mine are almost 600.00 annually), fishing sucks, Wolves ate all the big game, and there's a liberal behind every bush.
I wouldn't even recommend driving down hwy 12 let alone living here.

OR, MT, WY,,,,, all good but stay out of ID.

We have been looking around for the last 4 years. So far Cody, Wy. and Salmon Id. lead the list. This spring we will drive up and explore the area around Libby, Mt. I would prefer an area w/ wolves and G bears just for the atmosphere and I do like wolf hunting which so far hasn't resulted in 1 tough packout.

mike r

After reading FG's post I better avoid that area when I go to Stanley just 3 weeks from today. Thanks for the warning FG.

mike r

Moving from Arkansas to Nevada, all I can say is Nevada is not a place I'd recommend. The cops here will pull you over for the slightest little thing, and the state bureaucracy is only "good" if you're from California. If you're from a real "free state" it sucks. I'm here for family, but I DON'T like northern Nevada.

You're welcome.

Great Post.
You are to be commended for looking out for the members here.

Montana sux though. You wouldn't want to move here. Its bitter cold ALL the time, theres a sheep molesting one toothed cowboy behind every sage, and the wolves and grizzlies will eat you, cause they have nothing left, they've already eaten all the game.
Oh, and we ARE ranked 13th in the nation for taxation�.And thats not on the good side of the scale.

Yea...I hate Idaho...so no comment.

True that ^ but believe me when I say it wasn't always that way.

I'm a proud native of northern NV but the steady exodus from CA to NV slowly eroded the politics and lifestyle in my beloved high desert until I finally decided to move to ID when I retired ten yrs ago.
"Sadly", I'm watching the same thing happen to Lewiston right now.
"Fortunately", it hasn't spread upriver to Clearwater County so far. In today's society, limited cell phone coverage can be a real blessing.

no where....

Well in Wyoming, that is only about 4 weeks a year

It would not be on Colorado's front range. I'm retired so I could live anywhere I want. But our children and grand-children live in Colorado Springs, so my wife won't leave.

I love elk hunting, so I would like to remain in Colorado, but somewhere (anywhere) on the western slope would be better than the crowded suburbanized front range.

KC

I'll take western North Carolina or western Pennsylvania.

Havre Montana has a hot gay scene.

Dealing with the bureaucracy here has just been a nightmare. Example; my Arkansas CHL has reciprocity here in Nevada. But I can't use it as evidence of sufficient training to get a Nevada CCW. Nevada wouldn't recognize my Arkansas drivers license as a valid ID.

I'm not telling. Secret worth keeping.

Right where I am, Montana. Moved here in 81 and am still here.

Hey , quit knockin Havre , Montana ! On our yearly Pdog Hunts out West , we often stayed in Malta . We were always excited to hear the Wheat , Hog , and Corn Futures results on Radio Havre . I miss Kate Smiths and Tex Ritters singing too . Nice Ranchers out that way though . We always got permission to Hunt their Lands . The problem was : it took at least two hours to break away from the Ranchers because they had not seen or talked to ... any humans for over four Months and did not want to let us go shoot . Considering everything though , Wyoming and South Dakota were also about the same . Talk about wild times : Zortman , Montana was a hoot ! The job situation was not good in any of the areas we visited unless you were a Sheep Herder .

The western most part of the West Florida Republic and the Bonney Blue flag does still fly.

Other than here, Cody Wyo. general area is super.

I'll be passing through Stanley this Friday. Be aware, the art culture has found it. Nothing but street fairs with hippie merchandise from one end of town to the other, old Volkswagen buses mingled with BMW's and Mercedes with 1A license plates everywhere (Ada county for those in the know). I hear they're moving "Burning Man" to Stanley next year......

Wyoming sucks. I took this picture July 4th..

Well, I knew there was an explanation for ingwe living in MT, and now we have it in his own words. I wonder if he still wears his sheep suit when he goes out into the sagebrush?

And the southern Black Hills is very close to that. Just sayin.

There are lots of neat places to live all over the west, but all the places I want to live tend to have a lack of decent paying jobs and few people.

The last time one of the threads came up I said north central Colorado.

Today, I'll say sw Montana or the Cody Wy area.

It's all pretty friggen nice.

Bondurant, WY. Story, WY is pretty awesome, too.

Already there...somewhere in rural Utah........

The Mormans aren't that bad....being retired I need no job..

You can always make a beer run to GJ CO...or Mesquite NV...

Funny how that works, people have a tendency to ruin places.

Per the o/p's criteria I won't add my two cents. If I could find another spot that was better than my current location I'd move, but don't see that happening any time soon.

VERY hot.



Travis

Well hell, I already drive a Subaru anyway...

If you can see mountains from where you want to live, you better have a schit pile of money stashed away in order to have a nice home and some ground. Buy the same home and more land for less than half the money in the eastern part of the state and you don't have to live amongst the hippies. My vote is for anywhere in MT with no mountains and no oil. Too much of WY is inaccessible to me and none of the other western states are terribly interesting, so MT is the only choice worth my consideration. AK definitely has some appeal, might just do that one day. Not sure why anyone lives east of the Mississippi, nothing but wall to wall people and nothing too exciting to shoot at.

Jim In Idaho, thanks for the tip, it will be a relief to be able to avoid those gnarly mountains and soak up some serious culture. The locals are way too friendly and prefer beer and whiskey to a refined white wine so it will be great to meet a more sophisticated and judgemental group.
you are kidding, right?

mike r

We too have some unusual critters here.........

I like Boise, Idaho. It is a medium size city with many amenities my wife and I enjoy, plus an airport with major carriers, good hospitals, etc. It is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and I can drive and be in the high country in about 45 minutes.

Good hunting, fishing, outdoor activities, and very few restrictions on the Second Amendment.

I think we'll stick around.

L.W.

It's pretty much the same from the Rockys west.

Oh, hi.

If not here on the Olympic Peninsula then it would be either NE Washington or the Idaho Panhandle.

UBER hot bro!

I sure hope so. Guess we'll both find out...

********************************************************************

I'd wanna be a little closer to "civilization" than that far upstream from Lewiston (Idaho), but somewhere a bit closer to Lewiston, but not so close so as the city-slickers would come for a "visit"... maybe a few miles out of a smallish town off of the main highway on or along the river so the fishing and hunting would be good and not crowded... an area without lotsa fences and "No Hunting" or "No Trespassing" signs posted on every other tree.

I wonder if such a place even EXISTS anymore??? Anyway, that would be where I'd like to live if I was a lot younger , healthier... and still in my prime.

Jus' my 2�.......


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

There is a house around the corner that I like a lot...

I don't really have any place I'd rather be than right here in Twin Falls, Idaho. 300 days of sunshine each year, all 4 seasons, plenty of game within 100 miles.

I've only passed through Twin Falls on my way north. It seems like a really nice place but may be a little too big for me but it sure is well located to access beautiful areas.

mike r

Been here a lot I see

Twin Falls is nice. I think everyone should move there.

Two choices...

Somewhere close to Shell, WY or Miles City, MT.

Wherever has the least Kalifornians, New Yorkers, Illinauseans, damnyankees, and Texicans.

If I ever moved out west it would be for one purpose & one purpose only .... to chase my 4 legged furry friend Mr. Wiley coyote! I have always envied the folks who share pics of those monstrous, pale colored winter coat coyotes. I get excited just thinking about it! Yep, Montana would be at top of my list. Oklahoma would be a runner-up just for their numbers of my 4 legged friends, but most land in Oklahoma is probably private. Course, what do I know?

Thomson Falls Montana. Beautiful country and friendly people.

Thompson Falls sucks, best stick with Twin Falls!

Socorro, New Mexico would be at the top of my list

Clyde Park Montana or Dubois Wyoming

I have moved so many times that it almost wears me out to even think about doing it again. Besides, I'm not sure how much farther West I can move from here. LOL

Deer Lake, Boulder Mtn?

Sycamore

300 days of sunshine and a thirty mph or better wind blowing on every one of them. That explains why the rock chucks are so thick in that area, darned wind blows so hard, it is impossible to hit a chuck over 100 yds away.

This part of the state is pretty nice. Its only an hour to Cabelas one way and a bit over an hour to my favorite elk hunting the other way. But Boise is encroaching on our elbow room.

Anyone know what the wind situation is around Grangeville? Visiting Grangeville is like stepping into a time machine and going back to what Ada/Canyon county looked like fifty years ago. If it was not so far from the grandkids, I could live in Grangeville pretty easily.

I don't recall the trees growing sideways in Grangeville like they do in Twin

Came close to buying there then decided a bit further west to Idaho.

I am making a list of places to visit on our spring road trip. The top of the list is occupied by those spots that were said to be horrible. Deflave was right "loose lips sink ships". I would be a splendid neighbor.

mike r

That's the crux of it right there.

I graduated Utah State in 1978 with a degree in Forestry and couldn't find decent work for love nor money. Had to move back to S. Florida to find decent paying work and even then I had to re-train myself to be a computer programmer. I could have wandered around the Nevada desert counting jojobe plants for minimum wage but passed on that.

Took me 12 years to find a job in a small town back out West and when I did I took a 40% pay cut. Three jobs went out from under me in 12 years in Smalltown, ID - the companies either left for larger areas or were so tenuous in these small areas that a slight shift in the economy drove them under. I finally found work with a company in Boise that will be around for awhile. So even here I had to move to a city to find work, although as Leanwolf has noted Boise is a long way from the worst city I've ever lived in.

Population centers are where the wages are to support businesses - groceries, car dealers, stores, etc. etc. Not that there aren't jobs in sparsely populated places, but try to break into that job market where everyone knows everyone - why should they hire someone from 1000 or 2000 miles away when someone local can fill the position? It can be done, I did it but it took years.

Combine that with the fact that while Westerners are generally very friendly, they like folks who come and visit and then leave. They don't like seeing their West subdivided and overpopulated any more than anyone else. And the more folks come here the more folks already here don't want to see any more - especially if they want to turn "here" into what their home was "back there" - again, same as anywhere. I've lived here 24 years but in 1990 I was just another new guy from the East so I know I was just as much part of that problem as anybody nowadays.

Good luck to anyone who wants to move "out West". I'm serious, I truly wish you the best and hope you can live that dream. Just be aware that the population is growing everywhere and therefore "the West" is shrinking about as rapidly as everywhere else, and any place that isn't growing is remaining stagnant for a reason.

With all due respect, that's one helluva an ignorant statement.

Good folks all over, piss poor arrogant mutherfuckers all over too.

Some of my fellow California buds have moved into Wyoming and Montana recently.

You probably wouldn't want to live next to grand slam slaying, wolf killing, hunting & fishing machines like them though.

Yes, their schitttt stinks.

Just curious what makes you so godddamnnn superior to them?

Kalifornicators have a verified reputation of turning any place they move to en masse into a schit hole approaching that of Kalifornistan. Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; Boulder, CO; now even Bozeman, MT and Boise, ID.

When Kalifornicators invade, the good life, freedom, liberty, and the American way are in jeopardy.

Ditto that for New Yawkers, Joisey, and Illinauseans.

The truth and the facts are evident.

Your friends left the PRK, but did the PRK leave them? Will others bring it with them to f'k up yet another good place to be?

Your continued support of PRK agendas through your continued presence there (and this funding it through your tax dollars) says a good bit, too.

No more earning to it, just existing! Maybe up around Eureka but far enough away from the city, or maybe one of the old mining camps along the western slopes of the Sierra's... someplace with very few damn people and where one neighbor don't give a [bleep] what the other is doing!

Phil

OK.

Howabout you and me show the rest of the 'Fire our lives in pictures and let them decide who lives the better life, and who they'd rather have as a neighbor.
You up for that?

Moab

Thanks, you saved me a ton of work by not responding....

Well I know you would be welcome in the Cody Area.

I heard the same thing about Bozeman.
PM Brad,he knows all about it.

Big Sur

What do you do Derb? For a living. I mean.

Nice, but high rent.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^ LW is a good guy to have breakfast with. Has some great life experiences. It was hard to leave Alaska (was just there last week) but I believe I'll mostly be staying here. Plenty of places around here to live if you don't want to live in a city.

I'd like a cabin at Beartooth Pass...Then close the road

Mike

Alpine or Marfa.

Kinda liking UT

Wouldn't mind living in this area again...

Google Maps

TriCities, WA.

Close to everything and no heavy industry. Columbia, snake and Yakima rivers converge here, deer, elk, ducks, geese, plains game, birds, wineries, brewerys, local gun club with a 100 yard rifle, 22, cowboy, skeet, clays and 1,000 yard high power range.

Divorcees, if you're into that kinda thing, abound with good jobs who just want to use your body and send you in your way (or so I've been told).

what's not to like?

Hanford

No one lives on Hanford.

Hanford site is 20 or 30 miles NW from the Tri-Cities. Prevailing winds flow primarly east, and SE a lot.
If you want to live that close downwind from a nucular waste site go for it.
I have spent a lot of time in the Tri-Cities and although Ok in many respects I would wanna live there 24/7.

The Boat races usta be a blast to go to.

Yawn. Ain't judging your life, nor giving a damn about you judging mine or anyone else's. Seeing what Kalifornicators can, have, and will do to decent places to be doesn't take a genius, though. The evidence abounds, has been cited, and can't be refuted. The truth, obviously, hurts.

Sal, my beef isn't with you. I've seen the evidence that you hunt and fish. The problem is with those Kalifornicators that leave the PRK and bring their PRK ideals with them. They move in and turn what was a good place to be into a mini-PRK. Bozeman, Boulder, Boise, years ago it was Portland and Seattle.

Hell, you even agree: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth..._287_000_plus_Californians_v#Post8920724

See the same sentiments in the thread about the PRK banning lead ammunition for hunting; your words, not mine.

It's similar with New Yawkers, Joisey, and Illinauseans (damnyankees in general). They move out of those chitholes and to damned good placed to be, and then turn them into little copies of the chitholes they left.

I like the whole Columbia Basin the wife was born in Yakima and raised in Quincy and Othello. The only problem I have with the area is it's loaded with Wetbacks and the 100 degree + days in the Summer. When we go to the Eastside and the Heart of the Columbia Basin my Columbia Basin Bred wife can't wait to get back to the Westside of the State.

I've spent quite a bit of time up near Ronan in the spring hauling Seed Potatos out of that area and remember a quote from one of the locals, it goes something like this about the weather:

"If you don't life the weather here wait ten minutes and it will change!"

With that said, it pretty much says it for the weather in that area. Although I do remember one New Years Weekend I spent in Missoula at the 4B's Truck Stop it was -45 degrees all weekend. I was driving a Herford Hilton along with five other Bull Haulers to get six loads of cattle out of Ronan on New Years Eve before the cattle froze to death. We all arrived at the sales yard in Ronan to find no cattle in residence. We finally found the cattle on Tuesday morning after the holiday weekend and transported them to a warmer climate, Moses Lake were it was only -25.

That trip brings to mind the story of the Californian who purchased property in Montana and spent his first winter there only to return to California in the spring.

That's it in a nutshell. I still think south central AK is the best compromise location with both nearby wilderness and high paying and we have the two semi saving graces of massive park land and harsh winters to slow the urban sprawl. That said, Anchorage is becoming as diverse as any other major city and things are only going to get worse in terms of the voting population swinging to the blue side and the majority of the population influx is from third world refuges which will just increase the drain on government services.

But I'm closer to the woods than the hood.

That's Utah's fault........

Kotzebue,

las has a lot of cool chit I could borrow while he's working and if I get stuck or break down he'll come rescue me.

Update: I went through Stanley on Friday, 9/5 about lunchtime and am pleased to report that I did not see any hippie wagons or art fairs anywhere along the way. There was, however, a plethora of establishments willing to guide one on river rafting or fishing trips.

And to think in the middle of Anchorage one could find a little pond all to themselves (and a few ducks) to spend their lunch hour and enjoy the view with not a human in sight.

Sssshhhhh.