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Where to move?

Whaler27

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I’m not sure if this is the appropriate forum, or even if there IS an appropriate forum for this discussion, but I’m soliciting advice on where we ought to move to find a decent outdoor lifestyle at moderate cost. I like to hunt and fish, we’d prefer to have some land around us, and we need to have access to decent medical/dental/services. Also, I don’t think I could live in a place that was completely flat and, though I don’t care terribly about politics, I appreciate traditional American values, so I’d like to live where flying the American flag won’t invite vandalism. Oregon used to meet all of these criteria in most places, but we were a big state with a small population back then. Over the last forty years, and especially the last twenty, we’ve been completely overrun by urban refugees from other states who effectively transplanted all the problems they claim to have fled. Portland is over twice the size it was when I was 18, and the northwest charm and distinction have been mostly erased. Today I understand that less than one in three Oregon residents is from Oregon, and the imbalance is accelerating rapidly. Oregonians are all but irrelevant to Oregon politics and communities, and our state has become a caricature of the worst characteristics of California, on steroids, without the great balancing characteristics of California or the economic vitality to sustain it. Now we’ve got riots, traffic jambs, poor fishing and hunting, and very expensive real estate... So where should we retire?
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MacJack

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You will be welcome to western NC... more mile weather and great trails and outdoors living 9 month out of the year. We have several WA and OR folks here... Hope to have a REP governor soon.. Local government more conservative.

I have my hardtop off from March to November.
 

Goin2drt

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We are similar to you from a value standpoint.
By luck of a job relo we ended up in Lexington KY area and couldn’t be happier. I am afraid to share as now I am here I want it to stay mid size.

Hunting, fishing and outdoor life is great. Small town but big enough to have all the essentials to include great healthcare. No traffic to speak of. A little slower pace and SUPER friendly folks that love to talk.

Tons of history and great things to do on the weekend. Three nearby airports to get anywhere you need to go.
Good luck in your search. Here to help in any way I can
 
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Whaler27

Whaler27

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You guys are great. Thanks for the tips. I’ve never spent time in Kentucky, but one of my kids went to school at UNC and our visits there were great. Beautiful state. Boise is great too, but the property has gotten more expensive. I’ll check out all three states.
 

Dkretden

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North Georgia Mountains?
Or
Western Slope of Colorado?
Or
Idaho?
Or
”Whitefish” -ish Montana?
 

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Whaler27

Whaler27

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I loved the west slope when I was a kid. My uncle was one of the developers of the Keystone ski area, and my brother still lives near Carbondale., but real estate is now very expensive there and its increasingly crowded — as in I counted over twenty boats fishing the small stretch of river Near Glenwood... I don’t meet many Coloradans there either, and Coloradans were among the greatest features of Colorado In the 70s.

I miss the Colorado of the 70s when you could go fish by yourself all day and never see another person.

Of course, wherever we end up, it won’t be like it was in the 70s, or even the 80s, but if I never knew the area back in the good old days I won’t have to struggle with the contrast, so it won’t be as difficult.

I’ll look at North Georgia. I don’t know that area. I’m looking at Idaho, Montana, and Kentucky too. So far, they all look better than our devolving Oregon. Thanks guys.
 

Goin2drt

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If you don’t like Oregon avoid Colorado. It is getting as bad as California. Sure it is some of the most beautiful area but their politics, over crowding, traffic, cost are all goin pg the way of KA.

Good friend lives in Eagle just outside of Boise. He loves it but Idaho has got a lot of attention lately and you are right, prices are climbing and it is getting crowded.

Check out Tennessee as well. No state income tax and it is very nice.
 
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Whaler27

Whaler27

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If you don’t like Oregon avoid Colorado. It is getting as bad as California. Sure it is some of the most beautiful area but their politics, over crowding, traffic, cost are all goin pg the way of KA.

Good friend lives in Eagle just outside of Boise. He loves it but Idaho has got a lot of attention lately and you are right, prices are climbing and it is getting crowded.

Check out Tennessee as well. No state income tax and it is very nice.
I’ll take a look. I’ve never been there either. No state income tax would be nice. Oregon’s income tax is between 9% and 11%. — but at least the property taxes are high.

There seems to be an infinite supply of Californians moving into the northwest. It’s odd that the migration has been able to completely transform Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Colorado while having no discernible effect on California. They must be reproducing even faster than they’re leaving...

The formerly little town of Bend, Oregon is about five times the size it was when I was a kid. I think Californians now outnumber Oregonians there by four or five to one, and now we’re seeing a large influx of east-coasters too. construction is booming, and Bend is about to swallow it’s neighbor, Redmond.

Bend is still accessed by the same two-lane highways that have served the area since I was a kid. Most of the routes from the mountains to the valley haven‘t evolved much either, and I-5, the major north-south artery between California and Washington, looks as it did in 1970, with the exception of a couple short stretches inside towns and the 45 mile stretch between Salem and the Washington border.

All these new people need stuff, and most of that stuff moves by truck, so the roads, which were designed for less than half the current traffic volume, are getting extremely congested.

Oregon’s beautiful road system was built with gas tax, piles of Oregon timber money, and massive federal investment. That was back in the days when the USA was debt free and the largest creditor nation in the world. Today, road construction costs are soaring, per-capita gas tax is declining, environmental litigation has collapsed Oregon’s timber industry by more than 80%, and the federal government has no money for infrastructure replacement, in part because we have become the largest debtor nation.

I see no solution to Oregon’s declining road system, but the people keep coming, more tax money is diverted to welfare and other social services every year, and we’re increasingly tax-and-regulation-hostile to business. We’re killing all the state’s economic engines while inviting more expense and “programs”. Meanwhile, there’s no sign of solution development and the total number of Oregon State Police troopers, who manage the highway chaos and carnage, has been reduced by about 40% over the last 40 years while the motorist population has more than doubled. What could possibly go wrong?

Our geologists are telling us that the northwest is due for an enormous, bridge-and-building collapsing earthquake, with a very high probability it will come within the next fifty years. So we got THAT going for us. In this context almost anywhere with fewer people and some stability and prudent management looks good.
 

av8or

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We too are leaving Oregon because of the things you listed. I don’t understand why people flee a state, but bring the attitude and philosophy’s that turned the place they’re fleeing into shithole. Basically Oregon is run by voters of one city, and that city has been circling the drain for 10 years now. It’s WOT and can’t turn into SF fast enough. We’ve been to Utah 3 times this summer. The outdoor and off-road activity is great there, and still seems to be welcomed by the community and government. I’m sure that will change, but it’s far better than Oregon for sure.
 

GerJL

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Interested also. About 40 years ago Arizona was a great place to live then the inexpensive housing attracted all of the Californians and well Arizona is no longer the great place it used to be.
 

Rocket_Matt

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I would suggest Alaska. I live in Fairbanks for a while and absolutely loved it. Might move back there someday.

You might want to look into the area around Valdez.
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