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A bit of background on me.....Hubby and I are thinking about our last move, having lived all over for his 22 years in the Navy. We have done a fair amount of research and travelling the last few years to attempt to find where that might be. We have a passing familiarity with Wyoming from our years of driving a semi across Wyoming after he retired. We mainly travelled I-80, and never really gave a thought about the rest of the state and living here.
Some friends recently moved to Powell, and they just love everything about it and the state overall. They have been telling us for a while what a great place Wyoming is. After hearing their thoughts about living in Wyoming, I have been doing a lot of reading on CD about what it's like to live in Wyoming. I almost feel as if I know some of you, after reading so many of your thoughts and opinions. (After many years of reading CD posts for several different states, I must say, you guys are some of the most helpful, civil and informative CD posters I have ever seen!)
We have loved everything I have been reading on CD about Wyoming, (well, almost everything, not too thrilled about the rattlers, since we have dogs!) We love the conservative political stance, the freedom, gun laws, tax laws, independant attitudes, low crime, lack of saggy below the waist pants, well, I could go on, but you all know very well how great this place is!
We decided to take a little road trip before winter really took hold and headed to Powell. We made it as far as Casper yesterday afternoon when our Ford F250 diesel started acting up and finally died. Long story short, we ended up getting a tow to the dealer and are currently camped out in a motel room til they open again on Monday.
We were of course frustrated over our vehicle trouble, but now see it as a fortunate happening to enable us to see just how kind, helpful, compassionate and friendly the people are here. We have just been completely blown away at how welcoming and genuinely helpful EVERY single person has been! We plan to go on to Powell after our truck is repaired, but we have already decided that we are moving to Wyoming, YAY!
We are in the midst of a pretty extensive remodel on our home, but as soon as it is finished will be putting it on the market and packing up the U-Haul to head to the cowboy state!
If you have read my rather rambling post to this point, I thank you! But, I am just so excited to have discovered such a great place, like my title says, Wyoming people are AWESOME!
A bit of background on me.....Hubby and I are thinking about our last move, having lived all over for his 22 years in the Navy. We have done a fair amount of research and travelling the last few years to attempt to find where that might be. We have a passing familiarity with Wyoming from our years of driving a semi across Wyoming after he retired. We mainly travelled I-80, and never really gave a thought about the rest of the state and living here.
Some friends recently moved to Powell, and they just love everything about it and the state overall. They have been telling us for a while what a great place Wyoming is. After hearing their thoughts about living in Wyoming, I have been doing a lot of reading on CD about what it's like to live in Wyoming. I almost feel as if I know some of you, after reading so many of your thoughts and opinions. (After many years of reading CD posts for several different states, I must say, you guys are some of the most helpful, civil and informative CD posters I have ever seen!)
We have loved everything I have been reading on CD about Wyoming, (well, almost everything, not too thrilled about the rattlers, since we have dogs!) We love the conservative political stance, the freedom, gun laws, tax laws, independant attitudes, low crime, lack of saggy below the waist pants, well, I could go on, but you all know very well how great this place is!
We decided to take a little road trip before winter really took hold and headed to Powell. We made it as far as Casper yesterday afternoon when our Ford F250 diesel started acting up and finally died. Long story short, we ended up getting a tow to the dealer and are currently camped out in a motel room til they open again on Monday.
We were of course frustrated over our vehicle trouble, but now see it as a fortunate happening to enable us to see just how kind, generous, compassionate and friendly the people are here. We have just been completely blown away at how very kind and genuinely helpful EVERY single person has been! We plan to go on to Powell after our truck is repaired, but we have already decided that we are moving to Wyoming, YAY!
We are in the midst of a pretty extensive remodel on our home, but as soon as it is finished will be putting it on the market and packing up the U-Haul to head to the cowboy state!
If you have read my rather rambling post to this point, I thank you! But, I am just so excited to have discovered such a great place, like my title says, Wyoming people are AWESOME!
I think my hubby is a little mystified, instead of my usual worry over what could be wrong with the truck, especially so far from home, I am walking around with a big smile on thinking about how great it is to have finally found our spot!
Heh heh... well now I gotta tell you a funny story about my truck. It's a 1991 F350 that came with a rack, and according to Carfax, I'm its 7th owner. So I was in Three Forks Montana getting gas, and the guy at the next pump says to me, "I bet you got that truck in California." I allowed how that was so, and he said, "I built that rack." And then he explained that it was a custom rack for the movie studios, which is why it's taller than normal. Talk about a small world...
...hey, when rodeo season rolls around again, does your truck need a date?
That IS a funny story! Tis' a small world, indeed! Your truck is famous, sorta!
My hubby has never in his life been to a rodeo, I on the other hand grew up going to the rodeo all the time. That is a goal for when we move to Wyoming, to introduce him to the awesome thing known as the rodeo!
I do have a question, perhaps someone can offer some insight on. First, a little background for context. In the UP of Michigan, most small towns have a small, basic care hospital. But, for anything serious such as cardiac issues, etc., you are life flighted to Wausau, WI, four hours by car away. We are not dead set on any particular town or area in Wyoming, we like the idea and what we have heard and read about Powell, but have not ruled out Casper vicinity or Sheridan. If we were to have a serious illness, where would they send us for more specialized care? My fear is that, God forbid, one of us should get sent to Denver. Does anyone have an experiences or info to share?
Oh, and another question. In most places, when does it begin to warm up and the trees leaf out? I realize it depends a lot on elevation, which varies widely in WY. In the UP the trees do not get leaves til second week of June, usually. By May the days are longer and we are itching to get outside, without all the heavy winter gear! Any experiences as for when "Spring has Sprung" in Wyoming's various regions? Thank ya'll, in advance!
That's a good question... it probably depends on the regional agreements among various hospitals and healthcare outlets, which could be logical or perfectly goofy. I expect in the northeastern quarter at least, you'd likely get whisked off to Billings, which has a big newish hospital complex (big enough to have a dozen separate buildings for various specialties). But I'm close to Billings, so I may be biased.
Spring in the west is largely altitude-dependent. The higher up you go, the later it gets. It can already be pret'near summer lower down and still be deep winter upslope. At least it's not Minnesota, where the motto is "Spring has sprung... a leak."
Trees aren't the best indicator; depends on the tree. I've got a nanking cherry that's already done blooming and has fruit pushing mature before the nearby black walnut so much as shows a bud (it usually plays dead til mid-June, long after everything else is greened up). Some years the other various trees leaf out early, others they don't. And some years everything drops leaves (without even bothering to color up) first time it sorta looks like it might frost a little, and other years they stubbornly hang onto every leaf til the end of November. And then there's crazy years, like this one, where some trees have been stark naked for a month and others, same species and right next door, haven't even started turning, tho we've already had little-winter twice (first time was early September, then we had summer again til this week, couple inches of snow here and probably a lot more up above). I don't know what the durn trees are using to set their schedule, but it's sure not the weather! Maybe it's a competition, and the prize is to not get turned into firewood.
That hubby of yours has led a deprived life. Well, that'll be easy to fix... they have a term for Wyoming towns without a rodeo. It's "ghost town". And even then, I'm not so sure.
local medical care has it's strengths and weaknesses throughout Wyoming.
while some "local" hospitals may offer the specialties that you require, there's a lot more to the medical scene than simply going to the "local" (perhaps closest) hospital. You may discover that the "better" quality of service, more experienced medical team, and similar factors are to be found in the more major cities of the region.
for example, I live only 40 minutes (in good weather and open roads, not something to be found today with a fresh fall snowstorm of 8" and a closed I-80 along with impassable county dirt roads for awhile) from Cheyenne. It is a major, highly rated medical facility with a sizable MD community of various specialties supporting it. But absent an immediate life-threatening emergency medical situation where time was of absolute essence … I wouldn't go there again on a bet.
Why? because I've been through their medical mill with less than satisfactory results. Suffice to say that their medical community is more interested in churning dollars than providing service in the best interests of their patient. I won't bore you with "too much information" at this time … but this happened with two different areas of medical specialties. The final episode with them after numerous minor surgeries was for my internal medicine doc when leaving the practice to advise that I should get a consult with a "buddy" of his who practiced in Denver … and had far more sophisticated tools to deal with a recurring polyp removal problem that was not suitable to be addressed with the tools in Cheyenne. IOW, the Cheyenne doc knew the limitations of his tools weren't going to resolve my problem but was going to repeatedly use them in a futile effort to accomplish an efficacious repair … while knowing that his "buddy" had the tools to resolve the problem. And his "buddy" did so as a matter of routine work with the tools he had at the Denver facility on the first surgery.
I've had numerous friends advise to not use the bone/joint docs in Cheyenne. My aging knees recently developed a torn meniscus and the Cheyenne sports doc I was using advised me to use the doc in Fort Collins that he had do the 'scoping on his knees. The doc I went to does dozens of these procedures per week and has an excellent reputation for good outcomes.
As well, as a GA pilot with a genetic heart condition requiring monitoring (annual stress echo testing) for my medical certificate, I'd used the cardiac docs here in Cheyenne. The practice had a fairly frequent turn-over, and the knowledge or interest in my specific condition varied dramatically among the revolving door of docs here. When you're dealing with the FAA medical folk, the write-up each year from your doc is absolutely critical … and I'd found the "formula" of write-up with one cardiac specialist (in The Villages, FL) years ago. Some of the Cheyenne docs would use the same language/description as it was medically accurate … but others here wouldn't do so. I had a notable episode where one doc here read my echo results and decided on his own that the FAA would require further testing to support my continued special issuance. This was in light of no change of my stress echo performance/heart wall measurements from the prior 10 years of testing. So, to satisfy his ego and enhance the practice cash flow, he scheduled me for additional cardio tests … without telling me, his patient … of his "concerns". Of course, the FAA gets notified of the additional tests the doc has ordered and their attitude is "if the doc is that concerned about your cardiac performance, then we're really alarmed!". I only found out about the additional tests ordered when the hospital scheduler called me up to "remind" me that I had an appointment for one of the tests the next day. The whole damn affair turned into an additional $10,000 worth of unneeded medical tests and legal work, along with a 10 month delay in what should have been a routine FAA medical SI annual renewal. In due course, the FAA acknowledged that the additional tests weren't needed, weren't of medical value for their concerns, and was due to my doctor … supposedly my advocate working to monitor my health … ordering those extra tests. All because the one cardiac doc here in Cheyenne was more interested in enhancing the cash flow of the practice rather than meeting my medical needs. Subsequently, I changed to a cardiologist in Fort Collins who understands the requirements for a pilot SI and aggressively seeks to satisfy the FAA with my consistent good stress echo performance and heart wall measurements within the FAA medical guidelines.
I would go to a Denver area specialist in a heartbeat before I'd let one of the Wyoming specialists/small hospitals touch me again. Where would you rather go to? the doc who sees a patient or two with a given condition every few months or the facility/specialist where they see and successfully routinely treat numerous similar patients every week?
And so it goes … If you settle in SE Wyoming, the medical communities of choice are to be found in Fort Collins or Greeley Colorado. For NE Wyoming, Rapid City would be the likely destination (it's where they used to send Elk Hunter for his internal med/surgery problems which were not addressed in the VA facilities for him in Sheridan). Western Wyoming, I'd be off to SLC in a heartbeat.
Climate and vegetation/trees. In Wyoming, this will vary greatly due to elevation and prevailing local weather patterns, annual moisture, etc. "Winter" type weather can readily start in late September/early October across much of the state and last through to May. In the "high country", June may be the start of thaws and access for the season. Or maybe it won't warm up/leaf out until early July. Some portions of Wyoming won't green up significantly until July … and then be brown by September. Large swaths of Wyoming agriculture are supported by irrigation. For us raising alfalfa in SE Wyoming, May is usually the month that our alfalfa breaks dormancy. If we're lucky, we can keep growth going until mid-late September. Some folk will push it each year … I've neighbors with hundreds of acres of irrigated alfalfa either recently cut or still uncut, now buried under the snow. Yet our yard trees are just barely showing signs of turning for the fall.
You best resource for finding out about local weather/growing patterns will be the local county extension office in the area you choose to live at.
Best wishes for your relocation to Wyoming.
PS: I have numerous neighbors here in SE WY that are retired from all branches of service. With a VA hospital here in Cheyenne, other than for their service connected disability medical follow-ups, they go to the medical community in Fort Collins. When I chose the orthopod for my knee 'scoping … it was also due to their recommendations and satisfied results with the clinic in Ft Collins.
Thanks, Sun, for sharing your insights. We have found ourselves caught up in the doctor mill in the past as well. Very frustrating, particuarly if you live in remote areas as we have since he retired. I definitely feel your pain and aggravation.
Since Wyoming is such a big and diverse state, due to the variety of elevations, we are not sure what part we will finally land in. Right now we are really liking Casper and what it has to offer, services wise. (Hubby's eyes lit up when he saw the Menards sale paper in the Casper daily paper)! We both prefer a much smaller town to live in, something along the size of Glenrock or Powell, but within decent distance to a big town. We love what our friends have told us about living in Powell, but we are not in love with going to a touristy town like Cody for the bigger stuff, so would probably go to Billings a good bit, I suppose. We have always enjoyed passing through Billings.
We plan to finally make it to check out Powell, once the truck is repaired, then head east again to take in Sheridan before pointing the truck for home.
I have read so many of Elk Hunter's post, (may he rest in peace, what a gem of a guy!), I feel like as a way to honor him and all he gave to this forum we gotta go see the Sheridan area. It sounds like a great town, and I like his points that they have less wind than other parts of the state. We lived in windy western Oklahoma for 13 years, and driving a truck we crossed 80 many times and had to shut down due to the wind blowing the snow and icing the road over. We understand how bad the roads in WY can get thanks to the wind. So Sheridan being less windy than some parts does have some appeal. We got 300" in the UP last year, but don't have the challenge of the winds and the sun glazing everything over, since 95% of winter days are cloudy.
Last edited by Star in Hand; 10-14-2018 at 01:09 PM..
Reason: Additions
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I think you make an excellent point! Always has been a good truck, this just proves it!
