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Old 04-28-2013, 01:18 PM
 
185 posts, read 460,021 times
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Close to the mountains, or in, I need some advice.

I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, and moved to Eastern Iowa. I keep upgrading my life to smaller places! Living in Iowa, I've befriended a farm girl and I often visit her parents place, right outside of a very small rural town.

I love hiking, camping, and I would love to have the opportunities to take on more activities like canoeing, kayaking, skiing, fishing and hunting. (my husband has hunted his whole life, and I just got my hunter's ed course done so I can get started!)

I am looking for a place with easy access to those activities, and possibly a college in a nearby city (as I have yet to determine what field I would like to delve into, I haven't started.) I also am looking for the area to be lower in taxes, My top pick so far would be in Wyoming somewhere, perhaps Laramie or Fort Collins (CO).

I value my rights as an American citizen, and a woman. I want to be able to own guns for self defense, and hunting. God forbid I need to ever use a gun against another human being, but I'd rather have one than be told to wet myself to deter an attacker.

So far as weather goes, I live in the Midwest, "If you don't like the weather, stick around." Below zero to 105 degrees, I must say I prefer the colder aspect, as you can always bundle up, but never take off more clothing than you have on. My Ideal temperature is 60 degrees. But how many places exist with that magic temperature for more than 2 days in the Spring and Fall? Deserts are out of the question. I drove to California. The desert was new and interesting for about 30 minutes, the rest was torture. Love the rocks and formations, not the lack of trees.

Jobwise, I'm 21, and have only worked in customer service, my only passion thus far is not a lucrative one (art), and my husband has gotten himself out of lower level customer service into a Supervisor position. He's in the Army but his term ends next October (which I am grudgingly waiting for to relocate).
His passion lies in creative writing, and video games (his dream would be to have his own website to write articles on, commentaries, strategies and whatnot.)

Our current situation has us renting, and paying off a jeep wrangler, because we made a poor decision we got a new shiny car, and are working on getting that paid off. But the utility of this vehicle is useful in treacherous weather. Husband has 2 classes to go in college before obtaining his 2 year degree (took a break having three jobs and a girlfriend on top of that.) And his student loans. I took a layoff last year but am back on my feet and employed. We've never lived too far out of our means, we had a bit in savings but a vacation and that layoff depleted it for now.

How much in savings should we have built up before moving?
What is rent like for a 2 bedroom house/duplex/apt in the city you'd suggest?
Are there entry-level jobs one can shift to easily in that area?
How is the college (if there is one nearby) and it's rates?
I don't quite care for children, so public schools aren't important to me at this time.
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