Young(ish) couple relo to Jacksonville/Medford (Portland, Ashland: co-ops, home)

[WriterMoon]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are considering relocating from Oakland, CA to the Rogue River Valley. I visited twice last year and was throughly charmed.

We're both artists, so we have our choice of where to live BUT we need to be within 30 minutes of an airport, which makes the search harder! Plus, I want some acreage, which makes spots like Portland out of the question.

Jacksonville seems to hit a lot of great notes for us: plenty of culture and activities, Trader Joes (!!!) beautiful area, and fixer-uppers in our price range.

But I'm getting cold feet. This would be our first home purchase, and Medford's airport seems mighty small. Road tripping in the winter months seems dicey with the mountain passes. And, well, we're artists from NorCal. So while we're both originally from smaller, conservative places, I worry that we won't be able to make friends or find community.

Many of the posts here are about retirees, but we're relatively young, no interest in having kids, and just wanting a nice mix of rural living and cultural opportunities.

The only other place I've been considering is Yosemite because of the proximity to the Fresno airport, but that's a whole other topic for a different forum....

Thank you!

[dtuba]

I suppose the question would be where do you need to travel to? Medford's airport is well connected to Portland, Seattle, and most places in California. I believe Alleigant has a flight to Las Vegas and Delta used to have a connection flight to SLC, not sure if they still do. As for driving over the passes in winter, the one that gets closed the most is the southern pass over the Siskyiou's . The northern passes are all around 2000 feet and, although prone to snowfall, do not get closed as often.

Otherwise, I see no problems with the Rogue valley. Born and raised there. Lovely part of the world.

[WriterMoon]

Most often is travel to LA, which I see Medford has one early direct flight to a day. Not great, but doable.

Other travel is up and down the west coast and quarterly trips to the east coast (where I don't mind a layover).

Thanks for your reply!

[PNW-type-gal]

Acreage and 30 minutes to the airport is tough. Acreage and an hour is easier. The arts community is very strong in Ashland, so if you want a somewhat close-by arts community, you want to stay in the southern end of the valley. However Ashland and Jacksonville are pretty much the most expensive cities to find property in.

Most years, getting around the valley is not a big deal - maybe 3-5 days of icy/snowy weather. Depending on elevation, of course. In a normal year the Siskiyou Pass is not closed more than once, maybe twice a year, although it may be slow going behind a snow plow and then slow down to Redding. We just watch the weather report and TripCheck, Oregon's road conditions website (far better than California's).

The only Trader Joe's for a couple hundred miles in any direction is in Medford - on the west end, so I suppose you could call it "Jacksonville adjacent." There is no Whole Foods, but the large Ashland and smaller Medford co-ops are good, plus Shop'N'Kart is a great option, as in Natural Grocers if you are already out by Trader Joe's. Other grocery options are Fred Meyer (a Kroger company), Albertson's, WinCo, Sherm's, Costco, etc. The farmer's markets start up next month (beginning of March-end of November) and there are several year-round food stands.

Medford has one direct flight to LA a day, but connects out of PDX or SFO or PHX for a lot more options. Several people I know drive down to the Bay Area and fly out of SFO directly, but between the 6+ hour drive and the cost of parking and gas, I have never seen that as a viable option. I'd rather pay the couple hundred bucks (per round trip) and fly in and out of MFR.

[Metlakatla]

Ashland has a Market of Choice as well.

[Larry Caldwell]

Check the history of the Medford airport. Airlines come and go, so flights change over time.

[WriterMoon]

Thanks, Larry! Was that meant to be a warning? I read the Wikipedia page and it showed some consolidation of airlines, US having left, Alaskan having come on, etc. I just want to be sure I understand your meaning.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by WriterMoon

Thanks, Larry! Was that meant to be a warning? I read the Wikipedia page and it showed some consolidation of airlines, US having left, Alaskan having come on, etc. I just want to be sure I understand your meaning.

I wouldn't worry about it. The passenger traffic at Rogue Valley International has increased about 25% in the last four years. I'd say the airport is in pretty good shape for the foreseeable future.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

I wouldn't worry about it. The passenger traffic at Rogue Valley International has increased about 25% in the last four years. I'd say the airport is in pretty good shape for the foreseeable future.

The airport really took a hit in the 2007/08 downturn, but it has come back since then. Plus, unlike other small airports, most of the airlines have modernized their aircraft coming in and out, so they are larger newer jets. Places that rely on the older prop jets tend to lose flights as airlines take them out of service, and there is a sort of critical passenger mass required for the newer, bigger jets.

But the thing that it points out is that Oregon - and especially the smaller cities are rural areas - tend to take economic hits for longer periods of time (the economy falls quickly and recovers slower than a lot of places). Like the population, the economy isn't diverse and the few industries that are major employers (health care, construction, retail), depend on new residents and growth. When growth stops, the economy is in trouble.

[V8 Vega]

If Alaska is there you don't even need to look at other airlines.