Thread: Thinking about trying thr rural west?

I'm going to tell you about Oregon, but most of the west is similar.


The Oregon coast has got it for scenic beauty, but it's not easy. Prices are high, traffic is awful, and there's always more people want to live there than there are jobs. Kind of like an island or a ski town. Just realize what your up against, and want it bad.

Then you got a narrow band of coastal mountains with some nice small towns. Half the people there drive an hour to get a good job.

Next is the Willamette valley, and the I-5 corridor. Where the jobs are, and where all the job seekers want to live. Now California would laugh at what Oregon calls a rat race, but it's still the same thing more or less. After the valley comes more foothills that aren't much different then the coast range towns. They drive an hour to work too.

East of the Cascades the climate is drier, the towns smaller and further apart. The scenery gets better and better. Real estate is cheap, and most of the time you will have quality neighbors. Most of the time, being the key phrase here. But the real reason that house is for sale cheap is cause eastern Oregon had more people living there seventy years ago than they do today. Loss of traditional jobs and all that. Unless you have a trade of some sort, you cant buy a job. But if you can live without a local gig it's heaven on earth. Or can be anyway. Friends got a really nice house for a fraction what an equal westside place would go for.


I could go on, but there's a rough outline. The wilds of Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and some of California are about the same. Great place, no workee most of the time.

Have been lookin' that direction myself. The coast is out, looney tunes galore. Lots of hunting to be done, I'd like that. Hear they need welders, I've done that since '78, might just work out.

Originally Posted by Knarley Bob

Have been lookin' that direction myself. The coast is out, looney tunes galore. Lots of hunting to be done, I'd like that. Hear they need welders, I've done that since '78, might just work out.

Eastern Oregon's where you should look first, they got the hunting, and many like minded people. I think a welder would have a fighting chance in their job market too. Probably colder than where you live, but its a good climate. Four distinct seasons, and its never muggy like the westside summers sometimes get.

Colder than Minnesota? Welding in the winter ain't so bad. I don't know, but it sure is tempting. Have a couple Black Powder Cartridge guns I'd like to hunt with.....a big hunk of elk on an open fire?
OOOH baby!!!

Originally Posted by Knarley Bob

Colder than Minnesota? Welding in the winter ain't so bad. I don't know, but it sure is tempting. Have a couple Black Powder Cartridge guns I'd like to hunt with.....a big hunk of elk on an open fire?
OOOH baby!!!

Opp's, I thought you lived lots further south. You got nothing to worry about. in fact the northwest has more Minnesota and Wisconsin transplants than a lot a people realize. They fit in quietly, and no one notices. Unlike Californians, who don't always blend in. I been told Oregon reminds former Midwestern types of home, only with better winters.

The eastside has the best hunting. Some because of less people, but more important, the ground is more open and you can see better. Way better. The east is a mixture of forests, mountains, and deserts. The westside has game, but its all on steep brushy hills where you cant see nothing. A lot more lands are closed to hunting on the westside too.

Funny that all the really cool places to live are always sky high in price to live at.Manhattan, Southern California,San Francisco.Places like Mississippi,North Dakota ,Arkansas,Parts of the South East are cheap. Not really fair.

Originally Posted by Taxicollector

Funny that all the really cool places to live are always sky high in price to live at.Manhattan, Southern California,San Francisco.Places like Mississippi,North Dakota ,Arkansas,Parts of the South East are cheap. Not really fair.

Maybe because every fool wants to live there and pays top dollar to do so .

Also these places are best places to be homeless for the very same reason

Choose life , choose Acapulco

Originally Posted by Taxicollector

Funny that all the really cool places to live are always sky high in price to live at.Manhattan, Southern California,San Francisco.Places like Mississippi,North Dakota ,Arkansas,Parts of the South East are cheap. Not really fair.

Manhattan????? You wouldn't get me near them places at gun point. FUCK CITIES!!! IMHO of course

Originally Posted by Taxicollector

Funny that all the really cool places to live are always sky high in price to live at.Manhattan, Southern California,San Francisco.Places like Mississippi,North Dakota ,Arkansas,Parts of the South East are cheap. Not really fair.

I'm going to steal a line from General Sherman. If I owned hell and southern Cal, I'd live in hell and rent California out.

Manhattan? Most of us couldn't afford a shithole in NY, let alone Manhattan. My first day in Queens I asked, whys that house got three doorbells? Cause there's three family's living there, basement, ground floor and upstairs. OK. Like Lou Reed said "somewhere a landlords laughing till he wets his pants."

Well I guess it has to do with your point if view.If you want to be in the heart of everything what better place than Manhattan. The climate is also very nice in S.Cali and it is very scenic .

Originally Posted by Taxicollector

Well I guess it has to do with your point if view.If you want to be in the heart of everything what better place than Manhattan. The climate is also very nice in S.Cali and it is very scenic .

What? 30 below up to your butt in snow, & a coyote in the cross hairs....Man, that's livin'!