Moving to cody.. (dare I try it in winter?)

[WyoMama]

Dictionary - you got all that right. I worked 2 full time jobs for 18 years (one was mid-mgmt at a hosp & the other was my own med transcription service of which I made nearly $30 an hour) and was able to make ends meet. No frills in particular. My frills were basically I traded in my truck every other year. We nearly NEVER went out to work until the house was paid off (20 year loan - and bought it before prices went out of this world, and is a dump in all aspects, but is a roof over my head & PAID FOR). As you said - it IS hard to enjoy where you live when you work 95% of your time that your not sleeping. BUT when you have those days off you don't have to go far to have a great day trip. Cody generally comes in 2nd only to Jackson in Wyo for cost of living. And as in Jackson, wages are pretty bad - MOSTLY retail & many do not have any bennies at all. PM me with what sort of work you do & I'll see if I can help hook you up with somewhere. Not all jobs are liste at the job svc - many don't go that route because they fill so quickly isn't necessary. You SAW how much I said a piece of town land is - and that is often w/o hook-ups. The land in the country but close to town can be higher - or not, if you get lucky.

As far as moving to Wyo in the winter, I moved 160 miles from Denver area to Wheatland over T'giving wknd in 1979 & it took 5 - YES 5 - days; we hit the worst blizzard in Cheyenne's history & the whole storm was with us from Littleton clear to Wheatland. 2 days to get north of the Boulder turnpike (about 50 miles the first 2 days combined), then to Ft. Collins - about another 30 miles or so - the 3rd day, then CLEAR to Cheyenne the 4th day (40 miles) & I-80 & I-25 were both closed all directions out of Cheyenne. NO way out. Day 5 they opened I-80 east - we went eats to Kimball Neb & took the 2-lane thru the sandhills to Scottsbluff. HOWEVER - there was only 1 lane cleared for vehicles to share going both ways. We had an 18' Uhaul truck & I was SURE we would head-on into somebody going thru the hills. It was horrible. But the kicker was that Scottsbluff was DRY - NO snow. Took Hwy 26 to I-25 & headed the 12 miles south into Wheatland. That GIANT frickin' storm ended 5 miles north of Wheatland. But it paralyzed the southeast corner of the state & that area of Colo as well. There were 102" drifts in Cheyenne - they TOWERED over top of our Uhaul - was a cab-over truck. And when we got to our house in Wheatland we had to shovel thru 4-1/2 feet of snow about 30' to the backdoor of the house to move our stuff in. It was unbelievable. And yeah - I-90 thru SD can be pure hell in the winter, no doubt. Been there...done that and BURNED the t-shirt. You NEVER know what you are going to run into when moving here in the winter from any direction. So spring is DEFINITELY your best bet.

One thing Ilearned - EVERYTHING in life is a trade-off. I have stuck it out for 30 years because I can't imagine living anywhere else any longer so is worth the extra work & hard times to be here. Good luck......

Originally Posted by dictionary

The winter roads out here are very different than Michigan, WI etc. Sneaky ice and sudden storms. I agree with WyoMama that you should really look into having more of a "plan" before you come out. A "little cabin" where I live now sells for 285K and plus. Very few rent those "little cabins" and many of them aren't winterized. I don't like to be a downer but if you have this fantasy of a "simple life" curled up in your cabin ie. the classic "Legends of the Fall/A River Runs Through It" fantasy.. visit a dude ranch for a week, don't move.

The reality is Wyoming people work very hard to live here, and that's fine, but it's hard to enjoy the quality of life when you are working three jobs and living in a dump for 800$ a month. And when I say dump, I mean, looks like a ghetto. The subdivision homes like you probably live in now? 350-500K easily. Our builder here told us that a 469K home would be be worth maybe, maybe 225 or less somewhere else.

And a lot of things are expensive, eating out, groceries, it's hard to get certain items, flying in or out is expensive and hassle. But that said, it IS a simpler life in some ways.

I just know that we're going to move in a few years because frankly, we can't afford to live in Wyoming.

However that said, if you have a plan and some savings - or if you just want to take the plunge, by all means, go for it.

[wyo10]

Moving to Cody in the dead of winter would be a HUGE mistake. As for housing/jobs here there are opportunities down the highway in Lovell, Cowley Deaver for oil rigs, you can make a pretty good chunk of change there (but it's an hour communte). To rent a house in Cody is a feat in itself. We are paying six and a quarter for a pretty nice three bedroom house up against the river, but it took a year to find (due to the fact that we have pets.) It is almost impossible to find homes that will board animals. If you are buying, there are PLENTY of nice homes here.

[kjzora]

I love you Wyoming people! Tuffer than nails. No cryin over spilled milk (or snow and wind that would blow anyone else to the next state). I can hear it now "oh, it's just a little windy not bad we can make it just fine"

[kjzora]

Wyoming, is that Chris Ledoux song, There's a $5 fine for 'whinin. If you grew up there you know what I am talkin about.

[jehu]

Does the wind blow that hard in all of Wyoming? Does it blow every day in winter? How about Gillette area? Or maybe Sheridan?