Moving to Montana and looking for some tips (Red Lodge, Absarokee: shops, friendly)

[Rickers]

The Whitefish mountain resort (formerly The Big Mountain) just had a rash of thefts.
Someone is stealing skis off of roof racks in the parking lot big time. If you don't lock your ski racks, you lose your skis. I hope nobody blames that on "californians" !

[JoeJoeMan]

I certainly had some bad data about Montana being more liberal than San Fran!

Probably not more liberal but a close second...but not liberal in the sense of wanting to take your guns away, mostly they just would like to take your mind away - the epicenter is Missoula and it radiates out from there infecting a large portion of western montana....it's the mulitculture, alternative life style, you gotta love every deviant kinda' behavior attitude, same sex unions are law now in MT now, if that tells you anything.....but you can still wave a gun around. So in a sense they won't be coming after you, they'll just be coming for you kid's mind, yup they're real big on the ridaline - doping your kids up in school.
Alot of people won't admit it, probably because they are liberal at the core and don't know it, but places in montana like western mt and the bozeman area are very liberal thinking (minus the gun thing). Once you get to talking to them you'll find that they are very into the multiculture kind of mindset - they thing that makes them intellects in the eyes of others, actually if the trend changed next week they would to - sheepole are sheepole everywhere, I guess..... You probably won't like the "We're fighting racism" ads on the radio up here, which are basically in so many other words putting down and bashing white people - a very liberal thing to do, they probably couldn't get away with those ads in other more conservative place, but folks here seem to love the ads, makes them 'feel' good about themselves. So don't let anyone fool you there are lots of very liberal attitudes up here, not always obvious until you start talking to people and see what they are really about. They're conservation though when it comes to getting and making a buck, as evident by all the sprawl and growth - but liberal when it comes to spending it on their own self indulgence such as building a Mc Mansion on the lake while fighting to preserving their lakefront view after having cleared 2 acres to put in their place....a very strange creature this montana liberal, lots of yoga cowgirls and latte cowboys....drive up the Flathead for example.

Montana got infected starting back in the late 60s when the hippies started rolling in with that 'back to nature' thing they dreamed (smoked) up. Anyway they kind of turned on all the local kids to pot, and I do mean all, and the new-liberal montana was born, the montana kids back then took to smoking the old dobees like a grizzly to a berry patch. As such now that they are all grown up, let me restate, now that they have all grown older, they think alot more like a san fransicko liberal then a dakota corn farmer, as the 60 hippies never gravitated to the likes of the dakotas, iowa, wyoming, etc.....they were more interested in moving to Oregan, Montana, etc,
Montana is or has become a rich people's playground, even for the not so rich, as you can't really come and afford to live here being a regular person need a job and expect to make enough money here, what with the low wages and expensive housing. You pretty much need money to move here theses days. The social and economic dynamics at work in montana are quite different than the rest of the country, actually though montana is kinda' or really should be two separate states..........push Bozeman and its surrounding area over west of the divide and take a rough line down the divide and make two states.

But hey don't take me to much to heart there are still a couple normal folks left around - poor lost souls though they may be.

[Rickers]

I know more than a few of those grown up hippies and most I know aren't hippies anymore and many have turned quite conservative over the years !

[jimj]

Originally Posted by rickers

I know more than a few of those grown up hippies and most I know aren't hippies anymore and many have turned quite conservative over the years !

I've noticed that as well, maybe the fog has worn off and now that they're getting older they're realizing that the old hippy communal ways can't work long term and will only end up destroying us as a country.

As for the flathead, yeah we have our share of tree hugging hemp smokers that get most of their encouragement and money from out of state orgs but thankfully they are still in the minority (for now). The biggest problem here is the majority stays silent most of the time. Like was said, "all it takes for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing" and that's exactly what's happening in this valley!

[100%Michigan]

Oh Monanta is a nice state. I've been there a few times and just about everywhere I go I seen wonderful views. Its a big state, with little population... but lots of out door things to do. I like it so much there I'll be going back there soon, maybe a month from now just to see the wild life.

[wannago]

I've been scouring several forums recently about the Montana lifestyle.

I've read about the "implants" changing everything when the move in, the un-sociable residents, nothing is open late crap, and taxes are too high. None of that is going to change my mind.
I want to move to Montana from Minnesota...soon.

Here in this flat, humid, super hot/nut-shattering cold swings with millions of non-english speaking, ungrateful, rude foreigners and hurricane transplant filled state, taxes and land costs are extremely high, no place for childless couples who just want an easier lifestyle to be living; or working. We want to live, not just be alive!!

I need to find a chunk of land, far enough away from everything, yet close enough to a town where a CNC machinist can get work without a two-hour commute. We want to raise Alpacas eventually, but it can't happen immediately cuz everything costs money, you know!

Kalispell seems to be a booming town, but seems too much like it's already going through the huge change of new neighborhoods popping up with houses side by side, and blocking all of the scenery that Montana is good for. Missoula, Bozeman, Billings and even Glendive have shown up on job lists, but I want actual input from residents who really live there.

What I'm getting at, is, I need to pick an area to concentrate on for job and land searching.
Where are all of the machine shops located?

[Timberwolf232]

Don't come with a change this place attitude. The world is the world, Montana is Montana... Hope the comment about your read on "implants" meant something... If you are a change it all to suit me kindof person you'd save a lot of effort staying where you are or going somewhere else. It's expensive here too... don't come based on a movie inspired or false ideal.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by wannago

I've been scouring several forums recently about the Montana lifestyle.

I've read about the "implants" changing everything when the move in, the un-sociable residents, nothing is open late crap, and taxes are too high. None of that is going to change my mind.
I want to move to Montana from Minnesota...soon.

Here in this flat, humid, super hot/nut-shattering cold swings with millions of non-english speaking, ungrateful, rude foreigners and hurricane transplant filled state, taxes and land costs are extremely high, no place for childless couples who just want an easier lifestyle to be living; or working. We want to live, not just be alive!!

I need to find a chunk of land, far enough away from everything, yet close enough to a town where a CNC machinist can get work without a two-hour commute. We want to raise Alpacas eventually, but it can't happen immediately cuz everything costs money, you know!

Kalispell seems to be a booming town, but seems too much like it's already going through the huge change of new neighborhoods popping up with houses side by side, and blocking all of the scenery that Montana is good for. Missoula, Bozeman, Billings and even Glendive have shown up on job lists, but I want actual input from residents who really live there.

What I'm getting at, is, I need to pick an area to concentrate on for job and land searching.
Where are all of the machine shops located?

I hope you don't have the wrong idea about the Kalispell area, you have to understand when you talk about growth here it's not like what most people understand it to be. This is an area that had NO growth for a looooong time and now is in a mini boom so it seems like there's building everywhere. There's pockets of building for sure but there's still a ton of open space and they can only build so much before they run into federal and state forest land that stops them. As for machine shops, we have a friend who was a machinist for a local company that builds computer chip making machines. Long story short, after multiple layoffs he opened his own shop (they are not wealthy people btw) and is doing very well at this point so you may want to keep that in mind. There are not a lot of machine shops here nor do I believe that there are many real qualified machinists at this point so in my mind you do have the option of runing your own place. This valley and this state for that matter is still probably one of the only places left where you can aquire the american dream of building success on your own. It's still way under populated and serviced (depending on the sector) so it's wide open for a go getter to make his own way. As for coming here from MN, my neighbor was from Greenbay and said it's colder here most of the time then there.
Good luck whatever you decide...

[countess1166]

Welcome to red Lodge, best place in Montana.

[Marco172]

Hey If you work for the government nooooo problem!