Montana: “No country for old men” (and women) – Or not? (live, farm)

[DontLookPhoto]

Originally Posted by alooknac

Polson is on Flathead Lake, so it qualifies as part of "the Flathead" meaning the Flathead Valley. It's also part of the Mission Valley. It's the southernmost point of the Flathead and the northernmost point of the Mission.

You are only partially right because the Glacier or glaciers that formed Flathead lake pushed up a "Terminal Moraine". When driving south out of Polson one has to drive up and over this terminal moraine. South of this moraine begins the Mission Valley.
Furthermore the Lower Flathead River that cut a path through the terminal moraine at Polson used to exit the lake near Elmo and flowed through "The Big Draw" and ran through the "Little Bitterroot Valley" all the way to near the Sloan Bridge over the present course of The Lower Flathead River. There it joins the present river course.
The Mission Valley's northern end is the south side of the Polson Terminal Moraine.
Conclusion: Polson is NOT in the Mission Valley.

[DontLookPhoto]

Originally Posted by Heart

One of many reasons we avoided downtown in Missoula was the homeless problems. On our anniversary we were verbally attacked by a group of homeless by Caras Park. We ignored them and moved on into the Wilma for supper. Came back out and they had defecated and urinated by our truck doors. Then there was the time some random girl on Higgins lifted up her shirt right in front of my little girl as we were walking into a diner... then someone stole our sticker off our plate on our truck, and a multitude of other things I didn't care for.
This was in 2010 and that is the last time we went into Missoula for anything fun. Every trip was strictly for grocery or doctor.
Before that we were hit by a drunk driver there, so... I'll just keep out of Missoula.

There are drunk drivers everywhere but I agree that the homeless issue is a problem but then again you can find aggressive homeless folks almost anywhere too except for a few places like McCall Idaho ~♥~
Missoula is a fun place for the students I suppose but we also only go there for shopping.
They have cracked down on the bad panhandlers recently and they don't seem to be as bad as they used to be. (Don't get me started on the nasty beggars in Seattle or Portland), no comparison.

Now in an effort to bring the thread back on topic I have to say that retiring here in Western Montana was an easy choice for us. We don't like "hot all the time" climates, we enjoy four seasons and as one gets older, even though the winters can be rough the peace of mind and lack of crowd induced stress I think that Montana is a very good place to grow old. We plan on moving to another town within a year I hope and we plan on going back to cooking on a wood cook-stove again. Chopping wood is as fun and relaxing for me as float fishing. I have always enjoyed working hard and doing as good a job as I can.
Keeping active keeps one healthy and logging for fuel and taking walks with snowshoes are great ways to lengthen your life. Knocking off the drinking and smoking helps a lot.
Yes Montana is a great place for old codgers like me for sure and when I graduate from codger to fossil status I hope to still be fishing, slipping and sliding on scree slopes to "Get that photograph", pulling weeds from my garden and shoveling my own snow.
Of coarse being old in a northern state may not be good for everyone. Those folks can go to Miami or San Diego and deal with crack addicted predators.

[Hawknest]

I liked NW Montana in particular because no one cared where you were from, what you did, or how much money you had. It was the live and let live mentality. Compared to other western states where we lived, Montana was the "easy rider" of them all........Mission Valley towns like Ronan and St. Ignatius were our favs.

[DontLookPhoto]

Originally Posted by Hawknest

Compared to other western states where we lived, Montana was the "easy rider" of them all........Mission Valley towns like Ronan and St. Ignatius were our favs.

Yes The Mission Valley is fairly easy for older folks as is the next Valley to the west on the other side of the hills known as The Salish Range (our valley). Both are in that so called banana belt as are the Moese Valley and Camas Prairie and when we get a storm it seems like a joke! I joke about our storms to my wife sometimes. We still barely have any snow on the ground right now even though we had a few large wet flakes coming down yesterday, the subsequent rain melted most of it away.
The entire Flathead Reservation has a very mild climate and seems to be good country for old men as well as old women.
Contrary to popular belief it seems, we do have a local bus system that folks can take to the larger towns in the area for shopping and doctor appointments etc.

I just took this photo just a little while ago before 10:00 AM this morning after our "Storm" we were supposed to have yesterday !
I was barefoot while outside taking this picture, in a tee shirt and did not feel cold at all. ~~
Hey I think I see a bit of snow next to that little pad of concrete !
So we did get a storm after all. ~♥~

[oldtrader]

I moved to Montana when I was 75 and my wife of now 60 years was 77. We are now both past 80. As to medical services, Montana has better than so many parts of the country including big city states. Billings is the medical center for Montana, Northern half Wyoming, The Dakotas, and Southern Canada in this area. Huge medical facilities, and expanding every month. The medical system owns 2 helicopters, and for over 150 miles, they have 3 turbo prop planes to fly people into the hospital when needed which is unusual anywhere in the country where they mostly have to be chartered. They are all maned 24/7 complete with crew including a couple of top quality flight nurses ready to go in a few minutes notice. In fact I was into Billings to the Cardiology Building for my 6 month checkup this afternoon. Instead of cutting back medical services as they are some places due to budget problems, they keep building more buildings and adding doctors on a constant basis.

Montana can be a great place for seniors.

[alooknac]

Montana attracts top quality medical practitioners because of its desirability as a place to live. You only have to leave the state for the most extreme situations and they keep closing the gap on that.

I'd say its main attractions for professionals are ease of access to outdoor activities and its perception as a good place to raise kids.

[Seeker5in1]

May I ask, in relation to this question, which city/area in Montana is considered the most conservative?

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Seeker5in1

May I ask, in relation to this question, which city/area in Montana is considered the most conservative?

That would have to be Decker or Kirby. Hands down. Both towns are 100% conservative.

[Hawknest]

I'd say Roundup

[MTSilvertip]

If you look at election maps, just about anyplace outside the city limits of the larger towns or the borders of the reservations is pretty conservative.

Kalispell is probably the most conservative of the larger towns, most of the small towns would qualify as conservative.