Uproot or stay put?

Lots of great advice already presented....I would then hope to suggest that you also consider access to quality health care for you and the family. I have a very dear friend who lives in a wonderful but very remote location....great fishing and hunting, wonderful hiking......but any major health issue meant a very expensive and very long helicopter flight to the nearest medium sized hospital. Something to think about

Wyowind……I had to look to see if I'd written that! The stories are pretty darn similar! memtb

My wife and I relocated from Sparks Nv. 2yrs ago. All the details and chaos are too numerous to go into here, but we landed in E. TN and love it. I was almost 60 when we left. I would have left sooner, but my dad's health kept us close until his passing in May of 2023. My son is 38yrs old and still lives back near Sparks. Putting 2350mi between us is my only real regret. Well that and losing 10yrs of bonus points towards a Nv. antelope tag!

Wyowind said:

Now that is a serious commute!!

I used to live in Cheyenne and commute to Boulder, CO. One hundred miles one way. Fortunately I was able to structure things such that I only went into my office in Boulder two days a week. Still it amounted to 400 miles a week commuting distance. Working just to buy gas for my truck!

WyoWind

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My last 17 1/2 years of employment was 7 on/ 7 off (nights/days)……88 miles each way, drove it every day that I worked.

To be far removed (100+ miles) to the nearest interstate, and the largest town (less than 12K people) is 65 miles away!

That little drive was worth every mile to be away from cities and people!

Wyoming's population is a bit less than 600K people…..about 300 K to darn many! memtb

All I can say is Thank you to all who have taken the time to respond in such a sincere and meaningful way to my post. From the pitfalls to the joys you all have gone through. This is the first forum that I have participated in because I see the genuine responses given on many of the posts. I wish I could respond to all of the responses regarding certain points brought up but man, there are a lot of great people here telling their stories and opinion.
One thing I would mention personally is that I think it's best to change it up when you are in a good place rather than a bad place in life. I have never been better than where I am now in regards to family and finances. We just did 2 weeks driving from IN to ID for a 3day shooting event at Day Mountain Ranch with Zach from mountain, mullets, merica YT. The family explored SLC while I was up shooting. The feeling we all had was mutual. Nobody wanted to go home!
One person mentioned that going out west would be great for the kids and I could not agree more. Yes, you can explore here in the Midwest and do all the things but comparatively it feels like a dump here. I could go on for hours so to wrap it up, Thank you all again. We will be going back when we can to see how it goes with possibly heading out that way. No drastic decisions shall be made.

sonofcops said:

One thing I would mention personally is that I think it's best to change it up when you are in a good place rather than a bad place in life. I have never been better than where I am now in regards to family and finances.

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sonofcops said:

The feeling we all had was mutual. Nobody wanted to go home!
One person mentioned that going out west would be great for the kids and I could not agree more.

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sonofcops said:

No drastic decisions shall be made.

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Good on you! Good luck.

74honker said:

I'm riding the same teeter totter as you here next door in IL. This state is killing us with taxes and anti 2nd laws. Wife and I have looked into several different states but the logistics are overwhelming. Where to go, find a job then a place close to it, find a place then a job close to it? It's a BIG step and you don't want to make it into a hole you can't get out of. I'm the same age as you and need to make this last one the best one.

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From the MO side of the river, we're looking over and wondering how anyone can justify what Chicago is doing to the good people of rural and small town Illinois. When you've had enough, maybe someone will try an "amicable divorce" that allows the "red" counties to join MO or IN.

Every day your governor shows who the TRUE fascists are in American politics.

sonofcops said:

This is probably a question for my maker but…
If you had the support of your family, ( wife and 9-7 year old kids). Would you move from Indiana to Idaho/utah? I have a thriving small plumbing biz in chicago, ( good money, headaches). I can restart out there and live austere for awhile. I'm 52 and am most afraid of not experiencing what seems to be "where" I should be. I am from chicago but have lived in Alaska for 2 years. Don't want to be there again but feel good in the mountains and the demeanor of the western states.
I like this forum and like the intelligent responses which is why I am asking such a question here. I think we feel stuck where we are geographically because of work/financial reasons. Im not rich but do ok. Money and lifestyle seem to be an evil that stifles adventure and exploring.
I was at my grandfathers hospital bed before he passed when he said "this life was a waste". He was my mentor for shooting and fishing and fun. I don't want to feel that way when I'm in that bed.
Has anyone made a big change or wanted to? What are your thoughts on it.

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Sorry I'm so late to this. I live in north MO. Some of the best Whitetail hunting in the country. Affordable real estate. Great people. You may not need to move that far to get what you want and need.

Better yet... we have a shortage of plumbers. I think you could lower your rates a little, stay as busy as you'd ever want to be, and still provide a better standard of living for your family. And honestly... if you are just reliable... you'd be able to charge a little more and stay busy. Our plumbers, electricians, contractors, et al have so little competition that they've become spoiled.

I need a little dirt work done (I could do it but this needs to be graded professionally). Three different guys have ghosted me after saying they'd do it.

I need a building connected to my electric meter. No one answers their messages.

There's just a lot more of that type of work here than there are people good at doing it. Leads to a lot of "questionable" work... like some we've found in our house.

If you are interested in the specific area PM me.

Background- I grew up in the Smokies of western NC. After college, I lived in upstate SC, Charlotte, Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta before finally moving to rural MO. For us this has been a great place to live and raise our kids.

KonoctisWigwam said:

One thing to consider is taxes and cost of land. I was looking in North Idaho, up in Bonners Ferry, and I found the land to be expensive. I would never consider Utah, so can't help you out there. The one thing that Bonners Ferry has going for it, is the hunting. You pay dearly for it, as one can be snowed in for 6 months of the year. I can find several parcels to hunt on in Northern California for about $1,000/acre, and if you don't develop it, the taxes remain cheap. The State is trying like all heck to get as much out of the property owners as they can. Bonners Ferry may be more attractive at that time. Since I sold my house they added a title transfer of $64k (buyers of my home paid $1k), and now they're trying to add mileage tax. CA wants to tie mileage tax into your mortgage payments...luckily I don't have a mortgage on the house I'm building. Good luck, it's a wild world, as Cat Stevens used to say...

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North Idaho, including Bonners Ferry, has become prohibitively expensive. We have experienced a massive influx of Californians arriving with a big sack of cash from selling their SoCal homes. A decent family sized home 15 years ago could be bought for $200k. Today that same home is 3 or 4x that amount. But local wages have not increased much at all. So if you want to move to north Idaho, be sure to arrive with enough money to buy your new home, because it is unlikely you will be able to earn it here.

sonofcops said:

This is probably a question for my maker but…
If you had the support of your family, ( wife and 9-7 year old kids). Would you move from Indiana to Idaho/utah? I have a thriving small plumbing biz in chicago, ( good money, headaches). I can restart out there and live austere for awhile. I'm 52 and am most afraid of not experiencing what seems to be "where" I should be. I am from chicago but have lived in Alaska for 2 years. Don't want to be there again but feel good in the mountains and the demeanor of the western states.
I like this forum and like the intelligent responses which is why I am asking such a question here. I think we feel stuck where we are geographically because of work/financial reasons. Im not rich but do ok. Money and lifestyle seem to be an evil that stifles adventure and exploring.
I was at my grandfathers hospital bed before he passed when he said "this life was a waste". He was my mentor for shooting and fishing and fun. I don't want to feel that way when I'm in that bed.
Has anyone made a big change or wanted to? What are your thoughts on it.

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Is Idaho/Utah a reciprocal state for your plumbing license, if so to me it would make the decision that much easier as long as the family is in full support. We lived in Winnemucca, NV in the 90's and we visited some friends around Ontario. Back then it was a nice little town. I also did some mining claim work for an engineering company in Idaho City and Ketchum, both were nice but I imagine expensive.

I had a friend who moved his family really close to Utah, and his business went to pot. His words, "I didn't attend the right church."

newmexkid said:

I had a friend who moved his family really close to Utah, and his business went to pot. His words, "I didn't attend the right church."

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Only a problem in very rural areas, in or near the cities it's a non issue, I've lived in or near Ogden, UT for 55 years. Do avoid the Provo and nearby areas though.

Friend, I'll just offer this. While acknowledging that uprooting and relocating comes with challenges, I'm from Illinois, and still have family there. I left there 53 years ago, and wouldn't move back with a gun to my head.

My point is, get the HELL out of that dump, while the getting is good. The politics are atrocious, graft and corruption rule the day, the weather is abysmal. I believe you would benefit with piece of mind and a lack of stress, you don't even recognize, right now. Illinois is a dump! Move down here to Texas, nice folks, friendly, and there's always room for a skilled, honest tradesman. And I'm serious about the stress thing. Sometimes we grow so accustomed to it, we don't even recognize it, UNTIL it's gone. I lived and worked in Phoenix, and only after I transferred to Texas did I realize, my shoulders would grow tight, my jaw would clench, as I drove into work in PHX.

You could possibly sell your client list to another plumber you thought worthy, or sell your business outright. Just my thought. Best wishes, no matter what you decide!

I don't easily offer advice...so this is really an opinion based on personal experience. Move. Take the chance. I live in Arizona... not Phoenix...and life is good. I'm from Indiana and have lived in Massachusetts, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, California, Washington DC,... US Army. The West is a much friendlier place... not the big cities...and there are jobs. Cost of living is lower...not in the big cities. Life is an adventure and everyone resists change but merely existing isn't living. In my rural neighborhood we wave to each other, watch when neighbors go on vacation, help when horses get out, don't put up with city nonsense. Schools are good, 4H is great. Constitutional carry, fishing... I live on the big, beautiful, clear Colorado river... hunting, T-shirts and shorts in January; boats, lakes, and rivers in the summer.
There will be some real adjustments. Arizona is over 3 times the size of Indiana. When I lived across the river in Nevada I could drive 700 miles north...and still be in Nevada. Down the road to the next town can be 2 hrs. Just some examples. Except for the big cities, the west is conservative. We are friendly people, willing to help but don't want neighbors bringing failed politics. Your kids will need to adjust to a more self-relient life style. No whining, no quitting, no excuses.
Overall, from my experience, the western lifestyle... not big cities because big cities are all the same...is good, very good. But not perfect.
Good luck...take a chance.