Where should we move?
June 6, 2020 4:56 PM Subscribe
How do you decide where you should move when you want to move but don't need to move? We know what we like, but are also very adaptable. We want to focus on the north but not far north of the central USA. We are not career minded but do need to find work. We would like to buy some land (5-40 acres or so) and / but it doesn't need to be productive for hunting or farming, just for tromping around on. Who do you talk to for help about these questions? How do we google?
Here is some information about us! It is J0 and Mrs J0. We are both ca 40 years old and healthy. There are no children.
We like to stretch our legs. We like to lift weights at a nice gym but can do without. We like to travel but are fine with being far from everywhere. We have excellent credit. We can build a new house. We'll probably sell everything here and have $200-300,000.
We don't need to see very many people all that often but also enjoy hanging out. We do have friends but they are mostly long distance anyway. Being "stuck" during 6 weeks of quarantine in our house on our property with each other, our 6 dogs, our small cattle herd, plenty of books and internet, was basically paradise.
We are used to very hot summers and quite cold winters, both dry-ish. We are used to high wind all the time. We don’t love humidity. We aren’t used to multiple feet of snow on the ground. We like sunshine. We like clouds.
We've been ranching for a dozen plus years. I've experience in transportation/logistics, management, trucking, technical education. I have a fine arts degree. Mrs J0 has experience in emergency management/communications, hospitality/restaurant, physical fitness management/marketing, writing/marketing. She had several liberal arts degrees.
For the past 20 years we've had between 3-6 dogs at all times. Would like to live in rural setting (we are happily a 15 minute drive from a town of 4k and a 50 minute drive from a town of 50k)
Used to having access to quiet roads and personal/family ranchland for enjoyment (walking, biking, dogs). We are liberal but are accustomed to living in and around conservative. We like coffee shops, breweries, Mexican and SE Asian restaurants, vegan food, but are accustomed to not having them easily/readily available.
I think we want to live in an area from eastern Wyoming to Wisconsin (W-E bounds) and from Nebraska to South Dakota (N-S bounds).
The problem is, we know exactly what we want, we have it now, we just want to do it somewhere else, and we don't know how to find it! Can you help us?
Here is some information about us! It is J0 and Mrs J0. We are both ca 40 years old and healthy. There are no children.
We like to stretch our legs. We like to lift weights at a nice gym but can do without. We like to travel but are fine with being far from everywhere. We have excellent credit. We can build a new house. We'll probably sell everything here and have $200-300,000.
We don't need to see very many people all that often but also enjoy hanging out. We do have friends but they are mostly long distance anyway. Being "stuck" during 6 weeks of quarantine in our house on our property with each other, our 6 dogs, our small cattle herd, plenty of books and internet, was basically paradise.
We are used to very hot summers and quite cold winters, both dry-ish. We are used to high wind all the time. We don’t love humidity. We aren’t used to multiple feet of snow on the ground. We like sunshine. We like clouds.
We've been ranching for a dozen plus years. I've experience in transportation/logistics, management, trucking, technical education. I have a fine arts degree. Mrs J0 has experience in emergency management/communications, hospitality/restaurant, physical fitness management/marketing, writing/marketing. She had several liberal arts degrees.
For the past 20 years we've had between 3-6 dogs at all times. Would like to live in rural setting (we are happily a 15 minute drive from a town of 4k and a 50 minute drive from a town of 50k)
Used to having access to quiet roads and personal/family ranchland for enjoyment (walking, biking, dogs). We are liberal but are accustomed to living in and around conservative. We like coffee shops, breweries, Mexican and SE Asian restaurants, vegan food, but are accustomed to not having them easily/readily available.
I think we want to live in an area from eastern Wyoming to Wisconsin (W-E bounds) and from Nebraska to South Dakota (N-S bounds).
The problem is, we know exactly what we want, we have it now, we just want to do it somewhere else, and we don't know how to find it! Can you help us?
Casper and Laramie in Wyoming are both great towns, great land in all directions.
posted by nickggully at 5:32 PM on June 6, 2020
posted by nickggully at 5:32 PM on June 6, 2020
Why do you want to move? What's missing where you are now? Understanding that might make it easier to give advice. If you need to move so you can find jobs, then it would make sense to start with a job hunt and maybe what you need most is advice about how to do that. If you want to move just for something different, then it would make sense to start with a road trip (or some virtual road tripping using Google Earth, image searches, etc.) to see what places attract you.
posted by Redstart at 5:44 PM on June 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Redstart at 5:44 PM on June 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
I lived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin for a couple years, and it might push a lot of your buttons. As far as employment, it's a decently sized (60K) town, and Menards is headquartered there with their logistics/transpo division, as well as a giant distribution center. With a university in town, there's enough diversity to keep things a bit interesting. A few Mexican restaurants are closer to what I'm used to (coming from SoCal) than anyplace in my current location in a much larger city in Michigan can touch. There's a decent size Hmong community that has a number of SE Asian places around town. And there's Culvers, if you don't have that where you are.
I guess it kind of depends on what kind of land draws you, since the area is a bit of the intersection of 3 different types. If you like wide open spaces, you could live a bit east of Eau Claire around Cadott or something, where it's pretty open farmland and prairie. If you like hills and forests, you might do better to the south in the Driftless Region. If you just want forests, the North Woods aren't too far north from there. If you're looking for more Big Sky type places, then you'll probably want to stick with west of the 100th median.
posted by LionIndex at 5:49 PM on June 6, 2020
I guess it kind of depends on what kind of land draws you, since the area is a bit of the intersection of 3 different types. If you like wide open spaces, you could live a bit east of Eau Claire around Cadott or something, where it's pretty open farmland and prairie. If you like hills and forests, you might do better to the south in the Driftless Region. If you just want forests, the North Woods aren't too far north from there. If you're looking for more Big Sky type places, then you'll probably want to stick with west of the 100th median.
posted by LionIndex at 5:49 PM on June 6, 2020
Personally, I love that area of the country, so I think anywhere you choose will end up being wonderful. But I’m going to suggest Rochester, Minnesota. It’s a small city, bigger than a town but not a big city. I was only there for a few days, but it was vibrant - restaurants, things to do, etc. The reason is, unlike other small cities that are struggling in a post-manufacturing economy, Rochester is home to the Mayo Clinic, which pumps a ton of cash into the economy. You can be out in the country in a few minutes’ drive from the city, while still having access to a lot of modern conveniences and a stronger job market than comparable cities.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:00 PM on June 6, 2020
posted by kevinbelt at 6:00 PM on June 6, 2020
That said, if you don’t love humidity and you aren’t used to snow, this may not be the right region for you.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:01 PM on June 6, 2020
posted by kevinbelt at 6:01 PM on June 6, 2020
... it sounds like you'd fit in well in the Columbia Gorge (OR/WA), but it doesn't fit the boundaries you described.
posted by stormyteal at 6:19 PM on June 6, 2020
posted by stormyteal at 6:19 PM on June 6, 2020
It’s also outside your boundaries but I’d look at land East of the central mountain chain in New Mexico - perhaps near Carrizozo (pretty remote) or up north to Mountainair/Estancia/Edgewood. Or maybe something near Las Vegas, NM. Or near Taos?
posted by jeffch at 6:56 PM on June 6, 2020
posted by jeffch at 6:56 PM on June 6, 2020
I made my last move with the sort of flexibility you have. I had been planning to go revisit a few candidates I had collected over the years when Mérida popped up on my radar. I hopped on a plane and within fifteen minutes of landing I knew I was home.
I don’t know exactly how you should find your candidates, but I recommend that your final decision be based on a similar feeling. No place is perfect but it’s a lot easier to make compromises when you feel like you belong somewhere.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:07 PM on June 6, 2020
I don’t know exactly how you should find your candidates, but I recommend that your final decision be based on a similar feeling. No place is perfect but it’s a lot easier to make compromises when you feel like you belong somewhere.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:07 PM on June 6, 2020
Response by poster: Thank you all for your answers so far! Very helpful and encouraging. To clear a few things up - if you stuck a pin in the geographical center of the USA, I could easily ride my bike there in a day. So we have humidity but not like southern Illinois and definitely not like the actual southeast. We definitely have cold but not loads of snow - we're not anti snow, but also not used to significant accumulation for multiple months.
We've visited that area of NM and have definitely considered moving there!
We do love the Col gorge/Will valley but think "bang for buck" staying central may be smarter + wouldn't mind staying within a (long) day's drive of family (thus our regional preference).
Why are we looking to leave? Not really any "good" /articulatable reason (or maybe I'm not willing to share?)... Nothing concrete or quantifiable. Family farming is complicated? :)
The main thing I think we need to focus on is where can we buy a small acreage near a small/mid sized town and then look to see if there are jobs? Such a wide open search area, it's just hard to know how to look.
Sounds like a road trip may be in order!
posted by J0 at 8:19 PM on June 6, 2020
We've visited that area of NM and have definitely considered moving there!
We do love the Col gorge/Will valley but think "bang for buck" staying central may be smarter + wouldn't mind staying within a (long) day's drive of family (thus our regional preference).
Why are we looking to leave? Not really any "good" /articulatable reason (or maybe I'm not willing to share?)... Nothing concrete or quantifiable. Family farming is complicated? :)
The main thing I think we need to focus on is where can we buy a small acreage near a small/mid sized town and then look to see if there are jobs? Such a wide open search area, it's just hard to know how to look.
Sounds like a road trip may be in order!
posted by J0 at 8:19 PM on June 6, 2020
One way to narrow it down would be to pinpoint college towns in the region and then look at a ring that starts 20? 30? miles outside of that. I think being within a reasonable drive of a college town will yield work opportunities but also far enough out that land is relatively reasonable to purchase.
posted by AugustWest at 12:24 AM on June 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by AugustWest at 12:24 AM on June 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yeah, looking at college towns is a good idea. You're more likely to find liberal people and interesting restaurants there.
posted by Redstart at 5:54 AM on June 7, 2020
posted by Redstart at 5:54 AM on June 7, 2020
I spent time in Colorado Springs and loved the climate, the geographic beauty, National Parks, recreation. It's a pretty conservative town, but the East side of the Rockies is large and diverse; Boulder and other towns are not as deeply conservative, Fundamental Christian and military. Even Colo. Springs had like-minded people. Being near family can be convenient. Because of Climate Change, I wouldn't go south of where you already are. Keep in mind that visiting higher elevations is taxing, but you adapt quickly.
posted by theora55 at 9:20 AM on June 7, 2020
posted by theora55 at 9:20 AM on June 7, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by McNulty at 5:23 PM on June 6, 2020