Well, It's Official I am Moving to the Rock Springs Area (Gillette: fit in, rentals)

[browneyedgirlca]

Originally Posted by ScottStielow

Look for a Subaru Outback. It's a good AWD car for wet roads. Not much for four wheeling, but good for getting around. Also like mentioned get good winter tires.
Best of luck with your move.

I should check those out...I sorta eventually want to be able to tow a 2 person camper...will look into it.. thanks!

[browneyedgirlca]

Originally Posted by GoshWyo

Your foreign driver license is good for a year once you establish Wyoming residency, unless it expires before that year is up. Not a major priority unless you want it to be.

Lol, foreign huh? Thanks for the info, I will drive around with it for a bit unless I learn otherwise. Thanks!

[browneyedgirlca]

Originally Posted by NDak15

Unless you want to go,off road whatever car you have should be just fine. I'd bring your furniture unless you have enough to buy new furniture when you get there. June and July are hot but as good a time as any to move. Cars are registered in Green River, the county seat and its once a year. There is a DMV in town that takes a couple of weeks to get your license after you go get it. No local news station there, the closest station is out of Salt Lake. Apartments can be found on Zillow, Craigslist is a total scam anywhere. Check out Sweetwater Heights apartments or if you have a few grand lying around The Preserve. What else do you want to know?

Will bring what I have that's worth loading up. That's so funny about craigslist..as it's from here where I am everything is on it..it's one of the premier sites to find anything.. fewer scams..but I understand your point.Thanks for the apartment info...will check into both places..I sorta want to live pretty cheaply ...so thousands ..aren't something I am looking to throw away at the moment.

What else?? Hmmm I dunno..what should I know?

[ScottStielow]

Originally Posted by browneyedgirlca

I should check those out...I sorta eventually want to be able to tow a 2 person camper...will look into it.. thanks!

Check the Subaru Forester. It has a towing option.
Good luck.

[sunsprit]

as one who has been a Subaru OBW owner since 1995, have had 8 of these ranging from our first 2.2l powered, then 2.5l OBW's, then 2001 OBW Limiteds, now recently in to 2ea 2007 OBW 2.5i model w/automatic transmissions ...

have put Class 2 Curt industries trailer hitches on all. With them, we tow: 1) several small boat trailers, including my Laser sailboat 2-pack trailer or a 12' aluminum fishing boat with 9 HP outboard and fishing gear, 2) a Harbor Freight lightweight 4' x 8' utility trailer, set up with a box and removable plywood sides for Farmer's Market sales, and 3) a homebuilt heavy duty (1,500 lb capacity) utility trailer that hauls farm/ranch bulky materials or a "doghouse" we secure with turnbuckles that is sized to carry 8 lambs from our annual livestock buying trips to MO or OH.

Mrs Sun routinely sees 22-ish mpg towing the livestock load at 55-60 mph back from the sale barn, running the A/C in the summer temps. The Subie will handle the load without overheating.

The Subie OBW will readily tow trailers in this size/weight range. But be forewarned that with this load, you will definitely notice the very lessened performance of the car for acceleration or being able to maintain highway 55-60 mph speeds
on the grades here at the altitudes of Wyoming.

IF towing a typical small/lightweight "teardrop" type 2-person camper trailer is a priority for you, I'd consider getting one of the Turbo'ed model Subies AND limiting the trailer weight "on the road" with all your gear/food/propane/equipment to less than 1,500 lbs per the latest SAE J2807 trailer specs (which address the concerns of the car brakes/suspension limitations even though Subie may claim a higher weight towing capacity on various year models). Turbo's available in both the legacy OBW and Forester series cars. Consider, too, how much weight you're planning on putting in the car with your gear/clothing/equipment/passengers ... it's not a good idea to load the car down to the gills with a lot of "stuff" and then pull a loaded to the max trailer, too. Again, you need to put the loads here in perspective ... you're at altitude (thinner air for cooling purposes for the engine AND transmission), potentially a "hot" day ambient temps, and there's grades up to climb and descend ... putting max loads on the engine/transmission and brakes on your vehicle.

Do keep in mind that if you're relying upon the Subie for daily transportation purposes, that you'll pay the price in lower fuel consumption mpg's than the non-turbo models. Mrs Sun's 2007 2.5i OBW auto trans routinely turns in (over the last year and 25,000 miles of driving a used 175,000 mile car when we bought it) a composite 28 mpg (50-50 around town and highway driving at 75 mph) lightly loaded, and 30-31 mpg on highway driving. We mostly use the ethanol-free "blue" gasoline available here now as we typically see a drop in fuel economy on the ethanol 85 octane fuel here. The "blue" gas cost is just under the price/gallon of "premium" 91 octane, but runs better and has fewer fuel related problems of the ethanol attacking the rubber components of the FI system.

Curt Industries trailer hitches custom manufactured for the Subie's, easy to install if you have access to a hoist to get under the car ... not quite so easy working with floor jacks/stands on a creeper under the car. About $160 from numerous hitch supply outfits on-line, free shipping. They also supply a "plug and play" lighting adapter $40 kit for the trailer lights which takes but a few minutes to plug into the connector under the rear panels inside the back of the car.

I traded my 2001 OBW Limited 2.5l 5-speed manual w/189,000 miles in on a 2007 2.5i OBW 156,000 miles automatic trans equipped car last Friday. Have ordered the Curt trailer hitch for it, will install next week. Kept the lighting adapter box so will re-use this on my "new" car.

FWIW ... there's a very active marketplace in the Rocky Mountain region for Subie's. You'll find a number of used car dealers that specialize in this marque ... some of them are repair shops that actively trade the cars, some of them are car lots that specialize in them. You'll also find an active market in owner resales on C-List. If I hadn't wanted to trade off my 2001, I'd have bought one from those listings this time around ... but I didn't want to deal with the cosmetic issues (dark green metallic paint on my 2001 had lost the clear coat on most of the upper surfaces due to the UV here at altitude) which were a serious drawback to the marketability of the car. Mechanically it was in excellent condition, but it would have been a dog to sell privately with the paint issue. So if you're not up for the price of the latest year models, there's lots of options for used ... good quality with lots of service life left in them ... Subie's around here.

But keep in mind that unless you're traveling off the paved roads around the RS area, you will be able to do so with most any generic FWD car equipped with good tires. While the Subie AWD system and ground clearance is nice to have, it's not a necessity here for most drivers ... and you do pay a full time penalty in lesser fuel economy compared to many FWD only cars.

The primary reason we've recently upgraded to the 2007 Subie models is the switch from the 50-50 full time split F-R on the manual trans Subies we've driven for so many years to the later generation AWD system which predominantly splits to a FWD car with the automatic transmission until the car senses that it needs to send more power to the rear wheels. It's one of the ways that Subie improved the fuel economy from the 25-ish mpg composite we used to get on the 2001 models. As well, we've found over the last year that a side-by-side comparison of driving the 2001 series models vs the next generation 2007 models was much "easier" in inclement driving conditions on slick roads. Perhaps that's a subjective opinion, but the 2007 seems to be more of a "point and go" car compared to the earlier generation AWD system. Also, the standard model 2.5i 2007 is much quieter and a tighter car than the upline "limited" models we had previously. What you give up with the limited is the upline leather seats, CD changer with weather band radio, and two-part sunroof. So far, haven't missed the sunroof or the leather upholstery ... which I always have covered with sheepskin seat covers because the leather was uncomfortably hot in warm sunny weather.

PS: I'm not a fan of the CVT trans on these cars ... which does get "better" fuel economy than the regular 4-speed automatic trans.

[GoshWyo]

Originally Posted by browneyedgirlca

Lol, foreign huh? Thanks for the info, I will drive around with it for a bit unless I learn otherwise. Thanks!

Haha! Thought I’d razz you a little with that!

Here’s the relevant portion of our driver license law that you would be interested in. If anybody tells you that you can’t legally drive for a year on your California driver license, please refer them to Wyoming statute 31-7-107:

Persons exempted.

(a) The following persons are exempt from the licensing requirement under this act:
(B) A resident possessing any other driver's license shall only be exempt from the licensing requirement under this act for one (1) year.

More questions? Let us know. And good luck.

[GoshWyo]

Oh, and one more thing. If you buy actual “snow tires”, you will want to take them off when the snow has melted off. They are made with a softer rubber and will wear out quickly when you run them on dry pavement. All terrain or all season tires won’t grip as good on the winter roads, but you can run them year around and they are way better than the highway tires you are likely used to.

So what’s the best decision for you? It might depend on how much tread you have left on your highway tires when you get here. Some people I know have 2 sets of tires that they change out with the seasons. Most people just have the all season tires, though.

Bottom line is that I wouldn’t want you to buy snow tires, leave them on year around, and then have to spend a bunch of money all over again because you wore them out in a year because you didn’t know any better.

Now go forth and conquer!

[wyo_pastor]

Congratulations on your move to Wyoming! My family and I are approaching the 10th anniversary of our move to Wyoming from Tennessee. These ten years have been amazing. Wyoming is a special place that we now consider home.

I still remember our first winter, trying to make it through the snow with our 2wd SUV. It was a challenge! That has been the only Wyoming winter without 4wd for us! I would encourage you to purchase either a 4wd or Awd vehicle. I like a vehicle with some ground clearance. This will help in deep snow and snow drifts. This is not such a necessity if you live in town, however. As for tires, I have always purchased all terrain or all season. They have worked well on our vehicles, even in the winter.

You've received a lot of good and helpful advice from others. Welcome to Wyoming!

[OHNot4Me]

My 2006 Subaru Forester, 5-speed manual transmission, AWD has a 2400 lbs. towing capacity.

[NDak15]

Originally Posted by browneyedgirlca

Will bring what I have that's worth loading up. That's so funny about craigslist..as it's from here where I am everything is on it..it's one of the premier sites to find anything.. fewer scams..but I understand your point.Thanks for the apartment info...will check into both places..I sorta want to live pretty cheaply ...so thousands ..aren't something I am looking to throw away at the moment.

What else?? Hmmm I dunno..what should I know?

I've never had good luck with Craigslist so I don't use it. There are other cheaper apartments available but cost of living isn't cheap there. To respond to a question about slow, slow pace of life is taken VERY literally in Wyoming. People walk slowly in stores (I have seen turtles move faster), people often drive under the speed limit, and business moves slow.