2 weeks in Billings, Montana

[masqueradebride]

Originally Posted by oldtrader

Don't tell them how good it is here, let them keep laughing at you for leaving what they think is heaven. Lets keep out any big influx of people that could ruin it for all of us.

You don't have to worry about who I tell, you have to worry about who the oil companies in North Dakota hire. They pretty much have no standards as to who they hire or what their background is and unfortunately, a lot of them are looking for housing in Montana..

[masqueradebride]

Originally Posted by Redraven

It has been my experience that Montana does not want your CA license or plates.
However, CA just might send you a nastygram when your plates are due for renewal. They did that to me when I registered a truck that I bought from a dealer in CA. Several months after the title transfer and the installation of Montana plates, I got a letter from CA MVD saying I had better renew the plates or put the truck in non-op status or I would be fined. They had nothing more to say when I advised them that the truck was now registered and titled in Montana!
If you can make it through your first winter, ya got it made!

I don't want my California plates or license either! Lol

Thanks for the heads up. I'll watch our for that later this year.

[sky1949]

Originally Posted by pnwmdk

Well, once you've been there a few years, you'll understand why Californians are often hated. They are much to blame for the high cost of real estate, a lot of legal feuding, and a lot of environmental naziism that hurt the MT natives.

OMG
Please stop this parochial sniping of out of state people, most of all those dreaded people who, as the bumper stickers allege, "Californicate" the state. I've lived here for 57 years (except for the 1 year I lived in California as an 8 yr old and the 4 years in college in Indiana after graduating from Helena HS). I have met as many, or more, a--holes from Montana as anywhere else. If I wanted to, I could name as many Southerners, New Yorkers, big-city people, foreigners, even homespun Montanans (!), as any others who could be as easily so broadly characterized. I can guess (only), but not allege, as to what other types of folks you perceive as "hated" in the state, but I won't because I have no data or evidence to support such an assertion, which I am pretty sure you also lack. Of course, perhaps you do have such information. I'm sure you will provide it when available. As I always ask my wife when she makes such a generalization, "Please give me five examples."

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by sky1949

OMG
Please stop this parochial sniping of out of state people, most of all those dreaded people who, as the bumper stickers allege, "Californicate" the state. I've lived here for 57 years (except for the 1 year I lived in California as an 8 yr old and the 4 years in college in Indiana after graduating from Helena HS). I have met as many, or more, a--holes from Montana as anywhere else. If I wanted to, I could name as many Southerners, New Yorkers, big-city people, foreigners, even homespun Montanans (!), as any others who could be as easily so broadly characterized. I can guess (only), but not allege, as to what other types of folks you perceive as "hated" in the state, but I won't because I have no data or evidence to support such an assertion, which I am pretty sure you also lack. Of course, perhaps you do have such information. I'm sure you will provide it when available. As I always ask my wife when she makes such a generalization, "Please give me five examples."

I could give you a lot of examples after being raised in Bozeman when the migration started. I would be happy to list some for you if you like starting with Huey Lewis and Ted Turner shutting down fishing in the Madison area for instance, or at least trying to block it. Huey lost his court battle.

However, I prefer to take people on a case by case basis, so I don't make judgement until I meet them and find out who they are.

I think most Montanan's are like that, but there is ample reason to be leary and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

I have also lived here all my life with the exception of my military service, and I have lived all over the state. It is a real phenominon, and it causes problems for new folks moving in as well as the folks that live here.

I don't like it, but there are real reasons for it.

[Redraven]

I can give one example. A friend lived in Evergreen, just outside of Kalispell. He stated that one day a car stopped in his driveway, a guy got out, looked the place over, came and knocked on the door, and said he wanted to buy the place, and named an outrageous price he would be willing to pay. My friend said the place was not for sale. The guy said he believed any place was for sale, and raised the offer. My friend said he would not mess up the property values by selling for that much, and the guy should get off the place or he would call the sheriff and charge him with trespass. The guy left.
The car had California plates.
I used to own four lots in Hungry Horse. I had several offers from Californians to buy them. I finally sold them to a person who I think was a local, but I'm not sure.
On a side note, it certainly was NOT local people who destroyed the timber industry in the Flathead valley, and caused nearly all the lumber mills to close!
But, I notice that all the enviros live in wood frame houses!

[asiandudeyo]

I am glad that you enjoy it there! That is what important: to get your peace of mind!

[masqueradebride]

Thank you Sky 1949 and Asiandudeyo.

To those who have the "all Californians are bad" syndrome, just because I'm from California, doesn't mean I'm like the ones who want to come and change everything. I'm tired of the few who have actually made comments like that. You don't know me or what I'm about. I came here to start a family so my children can be raised the way I was, in a community with morals. I don't care who has been here before me, or what they have done. I'm not them so don't judge me based on where I came from. I'm here to start fresh and get away from the morons in California. It's too crowded there, people are rude, horrible drivers, too many drugs/gangs and everything is too expensive.

I'm not trying to drive up housing prices or change the way Montana runs. I want to live my life with my family on enough land to grow some crops and have livestock. If that's a crime, then there are a lot of people breaking the law. My husband and I work hard for what we have and I won't let anyone tell me I can't have the peaceful life I want just because I'm from California.

By the way, my husband is a Maine Veteran. I'm sure he's earned the right to buy land to take care of his family the way he wants.

Thank you

[kroseglobe]

i love it when a woman defends herself and her family so beautifully. nice reply!

and well done for knowing what you want and making it happen. k

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by masqueradebride

Thank you! I'd love to but I have to wait until my first paycheck. The move was very expensive lol. I am getting my new license next week though. I can't wait to give them my California plates and license. They can have it!

My friends are betting I'll be back in Cali within a year but they have no idea what life is like out here. It's so much calmer and more relaxed. They don't know what they're missing. California can kiss my a$$! I'll never move back there.

Congrats! When I moved to Idaho and visited the DMV to exchange plates, I had my rifle in the truck. On the way home I swung by the local rifle range and put ~100 rounds into my NY plates. I can't explain how satisfying that was!

[sky1949]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

Congrats! When I moved to Idaho and visited the DMV to exchange plates, I had my rifle in the truck. On the way home I swung by the local rifle range and put ~100 rounds into my NY plates. I can't explain how satisfying that was!

Good for you and masqueradebride. Letting your feelings out, but not indiscriminately trashing an entire opulation of people.