Hello from Upstate New York

[wyomiles]

Your welcome, it has been a while since I looked at the wyotour so some of the links may be outdated. Be sure to ask any questions about specific areas. Also there may be FSW folks along the route whom you could meet with, during your trip, if you wanted to .

[DreamingWest]

Okay, well if you're offering to answer...

I was wondering about Story, Buffalo, Ranchester, Big Horn, and that general area. I really like what I've seen of Story and there are still affordable plots of acreage out there that appear to be completely free of zoning/HOA restrictions, which would be mandatory for us.

What is that area like? We need to be somewhat close to Billings as my husband would be flying in and out a lot, so I'm thinking we should stick to the areas around Sheridan, but I'm always open to new suggestions. Story is so pretty in pictures...living where I do now, I know I need to be where there are plenty of trees, green grass, maybe even water (if it's around). But is it very statist there? I don't want to live around people who would have scream and faint if they saw someone open carrying, for instance, since I might do that myself eventually. No sense in moving to Wyoming Lite.

The Black Hills area looks very pretty too, which is one reason it's so high on my list, but I have to admit I really like the look of those dramatic, snow-capped Rockies and all that goes with them.

[wyomiles]

I believe that there are members of FSW who live in that area and I hope that they will speak up here as my opinion will be based on one or two trips through the area. The Bighorn mountains are indeed beautiful and there seems to be a lot of agricultural land on the Eastern slope of the bighorns. Generally this means that folks in the area will be open to the gun culture. I always try to tell people to plan a trip and spend a few days on the ground , talking to the locals. Sounds like you will be doing this.
Sorry I cannot give you a better opinion,  Southwest Wyoming is the place I am most familiar with.

[biathlon]

Tell hubby lift tickets are on me cause I get 'em free from Ski Patrol. 

[Paul Bonneau]

I've heard some negatives about Sheridan. While it is apparently a pretty town, the "town improvers" seem to be a bit obnoxious there. You'd want to live outside the city limits, and be prepared to pay some county sales taxes for boondoggles.

I don't want to over-exaggerate this. Cody is the same way, yet no one complains if you park your bobcat on a trailer in a street in front of your house. Everything is relative, I suppose.

[jubal]

   Newcastle, Sundance and the area surrounding are in the Black hills and its only about an hour and a half to Rapid City which has a very modern airport.

[DreamingWest]

I believe that there are members of FSW who live in that area and I hope that they will speak up here as my opinion will be based on one or two trips through the area. The Bighorn mountains are indeed beautiful and there seems to be a lot of agricultural land on the Eastern slope of the bighorns. Generally this means that folks in the area will be open to the gun culture. I always try to tell people to plan a trip and spend a few days on the ground , talking to the locals. Sounds like you will be doing this.
Sorry I cannot give you a better opinion,  Southwest Wyoming is the place I am most familiar with.

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond; I've been super busy with offline life.

Thanks for weighing in! I'm ready for all the opinions people are willing to give me. The openness to gun culture is one of my top priorities, even though I'm not (yet) a part of that culture. I hope that doesn't sound weird. I'm just really looking for self-sufficient types who mind their own business and don't go looking for Mommy State to take care of their every want and need. Gun culture and self-sufficiency seem to go hand in hand, especially in this modern world where private gun ownership is so feared and demonized.

[DreamingWest]

Tell hubby lift tickets are on me cause I get 'em free from Ski Patrol. 

biathlon, that is so gracious of you! Thank you so much. If you're serious, maybe we can figure out some kind of barter exchange.

[DreamingWest]

I've heard some negatives about Sheridan. While it is apparently a pretty town, the "town improvers" seem to be a bit obnoxious there. You'd want to live outside the city limits, and be prepared to pay some county sales taxes for boondoggles.

We'd be outside of city limits no matter where we go. I don't want to be "in town" and subject to town ordinances and laws. I learned that lesson the hard way when we chose this house. We're in the sticks but still within town limits, and the consequences have been frustrating, to say the least... We're also hoping to (eventually) build or modify a house/homestead that's self-sufficient and completely off the grid, so being outside of the city limits is far preferable for a number of reasons.

I don't want to over-exaggerate this. Cody is the same way, yet no one complains if you park your bobcat on a trailer in a street in front of your house. Everything is relative, I suppose.

Well, just so you know, I'm not dead-set on Sheridan or any of the surrounding towns. I mean, I've never even been there! I'm just going by what I've read and seen online--not the most reliable way to scout out an area. We'll know a lot more after our trip out there this summer. Thanks for your candor!

[DreamingWest]

   Newcastle, Sundance and the area surrounding are in the Black hills and its only about an hour and a half to Rapid City which has a very modern airport.

This is really good to know, jubal. If the airport in RC is comparable to the one in Billings, then that opens up a lot more of the state to us. Though I have to admit I'm really aiming for mountains more than prairie. I'm originally from a prairie state myself and while it's very beautiful, I'd like to try the mountains for a change.

Thank you so much for your kind responses, everyone! I hope to meet you this summer and thank you in person. With any luck we'll be out there for the gathering in June.

[TexasGirl]

I look forward to meeting you in June!!!

~TG

[MichaelNotMike]

Welcome!

I spent my first 18 years in Chautauqua County New York. New York is the least-free state (basically because New York City has so much political influence, even though I lived 500 miles from NYC). Even moving to California after that was a step UP in amount of freedoms, and that's saying a lot, because California is basically the American genesis of nanny statism.

My wife and I moved from Los Angeles to Casper seven months ago. We love it, and it was the best decision we could have ever made!

MWD

[MamaLiberty]

Though I have to admit I'm really aiming for mountains more than prairie. I'm originally from a prairie state myself and while it's very beautiful, I'd like to try the mountains for a change.

Well, the Black Hills are actually mountains. Not the tallest in the world, but very beautiful. Where I live here south of Newcastle, I have the wide open prairie on the south and west, with the Black Hills to the north and east. I can change the view any time I want by going to a different window! LOL

[DreamingWest]

Thanks, TexasGirl! I hope to see you in a few months. Half my family is Texan and I have a strong affinity for that state.

Hi, MWD. It really is stifling here. You don't realize how bad it is until you leave for a few weeks...and then you can almost feel the statism settle in on your shoulders as you drive back into the tristate area...

Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I really feel like a "subject" here, and not a freewoman. Can't wait to get out! Glad to hear you and your family made it out to WY in one piece. I'd love any advice you could give on the subject of going from the gulag to the open range.

Now, ML, I didn't mean to insult your beautiful Black Hills! They are definitely mountains and just lovely from what I've seen in pictures. I'm really hoping we can find a spot with good views, so it's reassuring to hear that it's possible out there. I hear Wyoming has some pretty scenery...must have read that somewhere.

Getting out there this summer and touring the state by car is going to be such an adventure! I'm so excited to finally see these places I've only read about so far.

In other news, my husband took shooting lessons for the first time last weekend. He loved it so much that he's planning to go back in a week or two for a longer session with the instructor. And he's started asking to borrow my copy of Boston's Gun Bible so often that I'm going to surprise him with his own. (It's really a tremendous book, Boston, as I'm sure you already know--so easy to get into even if you're completely new to guns like we are.) I'm encouraging this new hobby of his with every ounce of energy I have. A man should know about and love his guns, IMHO.

Thanks again for the encouragement and advice, everybody! I really appreciate it.

[Ann the Artist]

Waving Hello from Fort Worth Texas to let you know I really identify with your post, DreamingWest! Although I will always have a special spot in my heart for Texas, hubby Bill and I have known for quite a while it was time for us to move on......for many of the same reasons you state.  We are surrounded by people who still have Obama bumper stickers, and are outnumbered by illegals and crime we just cannot believe.

A couple of years ago when we began to research desirable places to which we could move, Wyoming kept coming to mind and we began researching everything we could find.  Like you, I had never been there, so we began making trips to "check it out."  Bill and I both fell in love with the State and all it offers to freedom-loving folks.  It didn't take us long to determine we would eventually move there; it took several more trips to feel like we had explored many locations so we could make an informed decision.

The Big Horn Basin area felt right for us when we first visited it, and after driving to lots of other places Clark (30 miles North of Cody) still felt the most like "home." Last October we finally bought just under ten acres in Clark and will be moving there in June. The real estate market being what it is, we don't want to take a bath on our Texas home, so we're having an oversized garage with office area built first while we live in our 5th wheel RV trailer. Whenever this place does sell we're adding on the rest of the house.  Not the way we would like to have done it, but better than waiting around here one more long, lot and humid summer!

Just like you said, we know no one in Wyoming (our friends here think we have gone over the edge) but feel so strongly that is where we are supposed to be we cannot wait to get there and begin making new friends.  We have children and grandchildren here, and while most folks our age wouldn't consider moving anywhere unless it was even further South, we know Wyoming is where we want to spend the remainder of our lives.

I applaud your decision to drive around this summer to do just what Bill and I did.  I have no doubt you will feel as drawn to make your home there as we did, and I look forward to meeting you one of these days when we are both official Wyomingites!