Reading posts asking for advice on where to live in Wyoming, I often feel the urge to get brutally frank with them. People ask about jobs or shopping or trees. Wyoming has all of those pretty much everywhere, although for me not the world?s best in any of them. An honest, hardworking family can move anywhere in Wyoming and do well. That fact is independent of FSW, and contributes to Wyoming?s attractiveness.
To me the point of FSW is not to find a place where you can enjoy a typical life. It is rather to contribute to a culture of freedom in a place arguably the most free and also the most aligned with that ideal. I see no correlation between the presence of trees and freedom.
Wyoming may not be a big place population-wise, but it covers a lot of ground. To drive from the southwest corner to the northeast corner takes almost nine hours under ideal conditions. Nine months of the year, snow storms along that route are possible. This is not a compact state where everyone lives next door to everyone else. Because of the physical distances, Wyoming consists of distinct communities.
FSW people all over Wyoming tend to a default of friendliness and helpfulness, but someone in Moorcroft can?t come pull your car out of the mud in Powell. People in Sundance usually know more about who is hiring in Sundance than in Smoot. A local in Hulett probably knows more about property for sale in northwest Crook county than in Rawlins. The point is that for a person coming in from another state the support network is not evenly spread around Wyoming.
I moved to Wyoming in the early 1990s, but I first met an FSW participant seven months ago. I have now met FSW families from all over the state at the jamboree and at rifleman shoots. I have talked with them on the phone and through email and this forum. I feel constantly impressed by their willingness to help. And yet, it is just impractical for them to help you in many ways if you live clear across the state. The solution is to not just move to the state of Wyoming, but to an FSW community in Wyoming.
Of course many fine FSW participants live in communities of one. Even our first Crook county pioneer was in that situation at the start. I haven?t seen FSW people any less interested in helping someone who lives in isolation, but it reduces the ability and opportunity.
As things stand today, I am aware of two FSW communities that stand out. One is Casper/Douglas, which is based around Wyoming?s version of a big city and the assistance of a man who has provided initial housing to many FSW members. People in that community can speak for themselves about why it suits them.
The other leading FSW community is in Crook county. I should really say Northeast Wyoming, since the community includes members in Campbell and Weston counties. I moved to Crook county this year from Western Wyoming. The reason I moved clear across the state I already lived in was simply for the community. I was the third FSW participant to move to Crook county, but at last count there are nine FSW families in the county. I believe that right now there are people looking at maps and studying job listings and pondering where to live in Wyoming. I want to make the case for joining our FSW community in Crook county.
I have found the FSW people in Crook county to be kind and generous. We have a small but strong community that is growing over 300% per year. Since I moved to Crook county, I have met the other FSW participants, gone shooting with some of them, and co-founded an annual independence day celebration. I have visited their homes and helped on their projects. I have eaten their cooking and attended their parties. I have found an attitude that all the FSW people are family and therefore deserving of assistance.
If I were stuck in the mud or needed a place to stay or a job, I know exactly who to call based on who has the equipment, spare room or contacts I would need. In fact, I specifically know who to talk to about designing a house or operating a Bobcat or pouring cement or towing a trailer or upgrading my rifle or buying real estate or planting a garden. They all have the willingness, but they have different abilities. I don?t have the same knowledge about most places in Wyoming, and in most places there is no one to care the way our FSW community cares about each other.
There are other smaller FSW communities all over the state. A couple of people in Teton county meet up from time to time, there are a few families around Cody, and the lone Cheyennigan is holding down that corner of the state. I do not disparage the choice anyone has made about where to live. The whole state is our home range, and over time we can have communities everywhere. My point is that many newcomers may enjoy the support network in a larger community to help them get started.
So next time you ponder the ?best? place to live in Wyoming, you might want to consider moving to a community, not just a state. If you choose Crook county, we will be glad to welcome you, help you, and ask for your help. That?s just the FSW way.
