How come so many Cali people move to Montana?? (vacation home, buy)

[Timberwolf232]

There is a difference between a "Californian" and a "Montanan" that happens to be from California, (or still in California for that matter..) I've got several dear friends, including my own children's Godmother that came from CA..

I don't blame them from trying to find refuge from the craziness out there, but those that do come here, need to understand that the reason California has so many problems, is because they failed to deal with their own problems until they were too overwhelming. One big gripe we have here is that people come out here to raise their kids in a better environment, but at the same time they bring their little brats here and expect the schools to fix 'em instead of being parents.

[crazynip]

Originally Posted by Threerun

I've talked to a lot of my West Virginia friends, and they'd all sure like to move out here if it wasn't for family.. Not a damned one of them would be scared of a winter here..

Most folks I know live pretty rugged lives, do for themselves, and don't make dumb mistakes (like buying a trailer in a holler along a stream..)

My buddy has a log cabin all by his lonesome (with his wife of course) 7 miles or so back and up a hill.. All dirt and gravel. Over an hour to the closest 'town'. Last winter he had over 10 feet of snow. No biggie- he has a used dozer!

Yes, but nowhere in WV do you have 10+ feet of snow that starts piling up in November and stays until June. Even last winter when you got all that snow it wasnt FEET worth that accumulated, never melted and every time it snowed it just kept piling up. You might have had a total snowfall of 10 feet but it melted.

[Threerun]

No, the high country one county to the east had 280+ inches of snow that stayed put and piled on.

Schools were closed in Preston County for the entire month of February. Counties in the highlands experience that crap all the time. Counties to the south and west experience massive flooding all the time. Roads have been washed out for weeks on end..

Understand there is no place to push the snow. The roads are 2 lane, windy, and there is solid deciduous forest right up on the shoulders of the roads, or solid rock walls. They had one lane open and plowed a turnaround every mile or so. If you met a car head on in the middle, someone was backing up quite a ways.

West Virginia, in the country, is not easy living. That's why hardly anyone lives in those areas, unless you are prepared.

[Dutchman01]

Originally Posted by tracymn

just curious after reading many of these threads what is with people in California moving to Montana.........Do they stay through the winter?? to me California and Montana are way different from each other the fast passed crazy life of Cali to a slow peaceful life in Montana. Also i don't know what the county funding is like for those who need help in montana but do you find out of state people moving there not finding a job and living off the county??

There is a guy my boyfriend works with that came up there for work and he moved in with him in February and said that he didn't understand why they would have to stop working if it snowed and made a comment about even if it snows you can still see the road.....haha really??? lets just say his third day in montana they got a couple feet of snow and terrible winds and he ended up in the ditch......

Have you been to california?

[Dutchman01]

Originally Posted by Threerun

I've talked to a lot of my West Virginia friends, and they'd all sure like to move out here if it wasn't for family.. Not a damned one of them would be scared of a winter here..

Most folks I know live pretty rugged lives, do for themselves, and don't make dumb mistakes (like buying a trailer in a holler along a stream..)

My buddy has a log cabin all by his lonesome (with his wife of course) 7 miles or so back and up a hill.. All dirt and gravel. Over an hour to the closest 'town'. Last winter he had over 10 feet of snow. No biggie- he has a used dozer!

I think it would be funny to have an invasion of West Virginians out here.. "Oh sh*t! Here come the hillbilly's!"

You'd find hillbillys not so different from westerners. You'd find either easier to live with than your average californian.

[Dutchman01]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

Not funny. Don't even think that. hahaha

Hey, I like hillbillys and rednecks. They're the kind of people who'd stop and help you change a tire. They bring food over for people who are sick. You could even expect them to pray for you if you had problems they couldn't fix with bailing wire and good intentions. In short, they're pretty much like most westerners, maybe just a tad nicer.

[Dutchman01]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

As a California who has considered retiring to Montana (and then decided against it), maybe I can answer that question.

Californians are sick of the illegals, sick of the hideously high taxes, sick of the traffic and the congestion. Montana offers none of this. Montana appears to be a panacea, with lots of wide open spaces and a return to the old time values.

However, Californians have no conception of the Montana winters or the fact that housing prices in the most desirable areas are actually as high or higher than CA.

I love Montana and love to vacation there. But I'm smart enough to know I can't fit in there and the winters are just too darn long, bleak and cold. Many Californians wishing to retire there don't bother to spend time in Montana and especially don't go near there in the winter. They retire then, and end up returning to sunny CA after one winter!

We know all this. The problem is all too often you guys bring your problems like drug use, goofy kids, and alien ideas along with you. I'm in arkansas. You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting one of you guys. I mean no disrespect but you guys aren't doing us much good. I'd suggest you guys take a long hard look at yourselves and try to fix your own state, but I'm guessing it's probably too late for that.

[SCGranny]

Hmmm... We looked at Montana, but I didn't want to plow rocks, or have to buy/breed cattle with their legs shorter on one side so they could stand on the mountainsides.

We moved from SC to NE 3 years ago, and haven't regretted it. Had pretty much the same problems back east that CA has - too many people thinking that the south was warm and wonderful, a land of milk and honey that was theirs for the taking, too many illegals, too high taxes, too little benefit from those taxes for working class people, and property costs that were 'way too high. I actually tried to 'fix' these things - I was involved in politics for over 20 years, when the 'housing boom' hit, we didn't do what all the other areas did, but made developers pay for the infrastructure they demanded instead of handing it to them on the backs of taxpayers. Know what happened? The locals - who had demanded that we 'save' them - got MAD because we put professionals in positions instead of them and their family and friends, and revolted. They took it right back to the 'good ol' boy' system... then the bottom fell out. You really can't fix stupid, no matter how hard you try. So -we moved away from it.

Where we live now, there are (mostly) people with common sense, people who leave us alone to do as we please, people who think we are slightly crazy with short cows, a short horse, and lots of chickens and vegies and a greenhouse and 'only' 60 acres. But these people are hardworking (like us), educated, intelligent, blunt, honest, independent, and have a sense of humor. There are no ordinances about how short our grass has to be, how many fruit trees we can have, how many chickens we can have, what we can build, etc, etc. Locals grouse about the taxes all the time; but we pay less per year here on 60 acres and a 100-year-old, 2000-sq-ft farmhouse than we did back east on 1/3 acre with a 1000 sq foot home. We didn't come here with our hands out, looking to be 'saved', we came here to save ourselves.

I see a LOT of people on different State C-D forums who are looking for the same thing; but unfortunately most of them have the entitlement mindset; i.e., wherever they move they expect to impress the locals and be given everything they require; jobs, homes, food, and accolades just for showing up. They think the locals are sooo poor and stoopid that they will just hand over the benefits of their hard work to them. They think 'the snow can't be that bad!' - but are always so stunned when it is. Then once they get to their Mecca, they demand that it change to suit them... and get so mad when it doesn't.

I'm grateful for the long cold winters, the long distances between small towns and boisterous competing amenities, the endless silence, the blustering blizzards and the violent tornadic storms, the lack of social services and 'safety nets'. They frighten most people away. I almost want to put a sign up at the state border - "Don't come here. We're full." Or like the bumper stickers that used to be on the locals' cars on Hilton Head Island - "Welcome to our island. Give us your money - now go home". Too many people think that everything will majickally be better just because they pack up and move; somewhere, anywhere, but where they are. Not without a plan, it won't.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by Dutchman01

Hey, I like hillbillys and rednecks. They're the kind of people who'd stop and help you change a tire. They bring food over for people who are sick. You could even expect them to pray for you if you had problems they couldn't fix with bailing wire and good intentions. In short, they're pretty much like most westerners, maybe just a tad nicer.

Pretty much sums us up. Don't know about the nicer part though.

I can't count how many things I've 'farmer fixed' with bailing wire and JB Weld, lol.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by Dutchman01

We know all this. The problem is all too often you guys bring your problems like drug use, goofy kids, and alien ideas along with you. I'm in arkansas. You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting one of you guys. I mean no disrespect but you guys aren't doing us much good. I'd suggest you guys take a long hard look at yourselves and try to fix your own state, but I'm guessing it's probably too late for that.

If you want to read a really good article about Cali's issues, check out the current edition of the Economist.

I found it rather intersting that the state is the closest thing to a direct democracy by way of all the initiatives, but became dysfunctional by and large due to the effect that these initiatives ( the law of unintended consequences).

One lawmaker said I cannot support any more initiatives, unless there is an initiative to banish all other initiatives.

It's a good article, especially for someone who knows about squat on California.. It's really a dysfunctional state, maybe in large cause of too many individual 'rights'.