Scraping the muck off your soul

[Novak]

Today I visited Kevin Baker's website http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/ and linked to another blogger's piece that he had quoted.  The piece, titled "New Jersey Voters, Redux" was written by TheGeekWithA.45 back in 2003, but it really struck a chord with me.  It can be found at http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/2003_11_09_geekwitha45_archive.html#106853042517862539.

The entire piece is great, and it deals with some of the primary factors driving people to places like Wyoming.  To me, the gist of the piece can be gleaned from the following excerpt:

"NJ voters are perfectly willing to take it up the a**, set their feet firmly upon the dark road, and trudge forward resolutely into darkness.  I’m not willing to have anything to do with this, and the only remaining question is, what exactly I intend to do about it.  ...I’m going home. I was born in Red America, and I’m going back. I’ve spent too long steeped in this muck, and it’s already going to take a good long while to scrape it all off my soul, lose my prisoner’s reflexes, and regain my perspective." (emphasis added)

As a transplant to New York (from a red state), I've been trying to answer the question "What do I intend to do about it?" since I got here.  Six years (almost to the day) and I keep coming back to the same conclusion TheGeekWithA.45 did.  However, I'm only one half of the decision-making unit, and you can't force someone to leave the only place they've ever called "home."  Still, every day the "muck" seeps in a little more, and you wonder if you'll ever be able to scrape it all off.

While I'm not in a position to make a FSW Statement of Intent, I am doing what I can to turn that possibility into a reality.  The day after the sixth anniversary of my move to New York, I'll be on the road headed toward Wyoming.  While I'll only be there for a short visit, I'm hoping to learn that it will scrape off after all.

[gabby]

One of my best friends just retired from the AF (not far behind him!) and he moved back to upstate NY.  He really didn't want to move back really bad, but you know how family is most important.  I don't hear much from him since he moved about 3 weeks ago, they don't get cell signal for shit!  Plus, he is busy getting settled in etc.  Cant wait for a SITREP of upstate NY.

[sunny225]

A very apt description of what it feels like.
I plan to do some muck-scraping very soon! 

[MamaLiberty]

Novak, hope to meet you when you come. If you can get your wife to talk to some of the ladies here, we might be able to help. Fear of the unknown is probably the hardest thing to overcome. If she will come to Wyoming and visit with us, you never know what might happen.

[WIG19]

However, I'm only one half of the decision-making unit, and you can't force someone to leave the only place they've ever called "home.

Thanks for your candor. I'll bet that's a more common circumstance than many would like to admit. Am in similar situation being somewhat world-travelled compared to, as you call it, the other half of the decision-making unit. Short-term outlook is to work for as Wyoming-like a substance as can be had locally & politically. Nonetheless, some things are going to be pared back for a road-trip to see someone I've corresponded with in WY who I believe I could call a friend. I don't need much and have not abandoned exploring a duality of households...

Scraping the muck off your soul indeed. Apt title.
 

[tenacio]

I am infinitely blessed to have a spouse who is 110% on board with moving to Wyoming.  Whenever we encounter some of the Minnesota brand of the Muck (of which there is plenty) we say to each other, “We can’t get out of here fast enough!”

[Novak]

Well, I'm back from my trip and wishing I had never returned.

The best way I can describe how I feel is by repeating what I told my father after I started back through Iowa: "I'm familysick.  I'm not homesick."

I fell in love with the Newcastle and Sundance areas and I really enjoyed the Bighorns.  I carried the entire time I was in Wyoming, something I'm licensed to do only to and from the range here in New York.  I talked on the phone while I was driving.  I didn't see a lot of patrol cars.  The air was dry.  The nights were cool.  I forgot how much I loved wide open spaces...  It just felt "right" in northeast Wyoming.  After my visit, I'm more determined than ever to move my family there. 

Now the hard part begins: convincing my wife to go.

MamaLiberty: If I can get my wife out there next summer (or to start using this forum), I may take you up on your offer!

[MamaLiberty]

Now the hard part begins: convincing my wife to go.

MamaLiberty: If I can get my wife out there next summer (or to start using this forum), I may take you up on your offer!

Don't wait for next summer! See if you can get her to read some of the things at the "Women's Circle" here at the forum. Encourage her to talk to us now, in this non-threatening environment. We'll do everything we can.

[Tripwire]

I just read this short thread and then thought about it and it came to me that I couldn't understand what Novak was saying or where he was coming from.. until I realized the reason was that I've never allowed that muck to cover my soul.. I lived in The Peoples Republik of Kalipornia for 12 years , but I always lived "out" .. out in the less populated areas..from way up in the north part of the state to the Mojave Desert, which was beautiful and free in the 60's.. I've always lived in areas where you don't make much money but you were free and could move around, shoot a lot.. hunt and fish..

Moved to AK in 73 and was greatly disappointed , mostly because I discovered that to really use the back country required the ability to get there , with no roads that meant flying.. this I couldn't afford and I knew I didn't have the ability to earn the money to do so.. then on to MT ! Ahhhh.. Wonderful.. freedom to move around , hunt, fish, and for almost 40 years it was so or seemed so.. but it was changing, just like my hair line, waist line... free now?...not so...

Point of this is that I feel sorry for those who have these mucked up souls , I avoided all that by not living where the money was , by not wanting crowds around me.. by living where I wanted, not where my family wanted me too.

All my family , meaning my peers, cousins whom I could be compared to stayed home, went into the Air Force Reserves to avoid Nam and learned a trade, made money , built big houses, did it all right..

One Thanksgiving when I had come back to OK for the holiday my way of life came up and not in such good light.. finely I pointed out that at 17 I was a US Marine... by my 18th birthday I had been to a good portion of Asia , by the time I was 21 I'd been in places way south of the border.. way way south..been to Cuba, Haiti , and saw thing none of them would ever see... I'd been from coast to coast , Border to Border  , walked on a Blue glacier  ,  as the old Mtn Men said, I'd been over the Mountain and down the creek and seen the elephant..

I summed it all up by looking my torturer in the eye and said, "And when I die, nobody can put on "MY" tombstone  that I was BORING!"
The only person who laughed out loud was MY MOM god bless her..!!

So I feel for those of you who have muck on your souls... but it will wash off, trust me , I know... and you will start living and never look back.. because to do so will just be another minute lost..

I hope you make it Novak! I really do.. it's not easy , I got divorced because I refused to move "back East" to keep her happy.. after her last spaz of throwing a fit  she said ..WELL don't you have anything to say? I said ....BYE??? 

Well , that was more then any of you wanted or probably needed to know.. but I feel like maybe there is a nugget in there someplace..

No Muck here !!!

TW

[MamaLiberty]

Thanks for sharing that. I expect we've got some stories to swap. I spent a good part of my life living in the middle of the Mojave desert.

[Tripwire]

Thanks for sharing that. I expect we've got some stories to swap. I spent a good part of my life living in the middle of the Mojave desert.

Hi ML
I lived near a place called Newberry Springs out a ways from Barstow, loved the desert country and the wild freedom of it.. that would be the only thing I'd say I ever missed about KA.
 
I plan to head out to the Nevada desert around Lake mead in April just to hang out, then over to the Lake Powell country in May..I do love those red rock canyons! it's real high desert some of it..

Just gonna camp out, been thinking if I really like it I might look into getting a Pontoon boat and spend a couple of months exploring the 1800 miles of shore line on Powell, all those beautiful flooded canyons.. that to me seems like a fitting addition to the final chapters of my life...
I have a story in my head I'd like to write..about the area after a SHTF event.. for being an uneducated person I discovered I love writing , so far only PAW stories after the SHTF.. I surprised myself with this thing, but I've always loved books and so admired those who could write one!.. I combined my first two and have been told it was worth trying to get published but I doubt it or that I'd try.. lack of confidence ..

A good friend got me hooked on the books by Craig Johnson , about a Sheriff in Wyo.. real good reading.. you might enjoy them!

TW

[MamaLiberty]

I lived in Barstow and Yermo for a number of years in my childhood, also Morongo Valley out by Palm Desert. I spent more than 30 years living in Lucerne Valley, about 40 miles south of Barstow, and 32 miles east of Victorville - tucked under the lee of Big Bear Mountain. I had friends and saw patients in Newberry springs and all that area for many years.

[Novak]

How ironic that this thread has popped up again.  I'm typing this from my hotel room in Rapid City after a day and a half of exploring Newcastle, Sundance, and Hulett with my wife and kids...

After a couple of days in the Black Hills, I was hoping for something along the lines of: "It's not the Northeast but I like it enough to live here."  Instead I got: "I love vacationing here."  To be honest, I had expected this reaction.  Still, I was holding to the hope that she'd fall in love with it here, just like I have.  Now I have two options: lose my family or lose my dream of moving to Wyoming.  I don't even have to think a second on that one.  My family comes first, period.

I have tried to explain to my wife that moving to Wyoming is in the best interest of our family.  I've tried to explain to her that, if we truly love our kids, we should raise them in the place most conducive to transmitting the values of freedom and self-reliance.  Unfortunately, such arguments have not resonated with her.  She is more concerned with raising our children in a lush area near their extended family than raising them in the place most likely to safeguard their freedoms and impart desireable values.  There's really nothing I can do to change this.  It's simply a matter of priorities, and she places lush countryside and extended family ahead of freedom and culture.

Some may think that I should divorce my wife and move out by myself in order to aid the cause of liberty and impart upon my children the vital importance I place on freedom.  I understand that argument and I don't discredit it, but it's not the right choice for me.  I love my wife and kids and would not leave them for any reason.  For me, freedom is one of the most important things in life.  Family is the most important thing in life.

I guess the point of this is that I will not be making a statement of intent, which I really hoped to be able to do after a visit with my wife.  Instead I'll make a statement of support for the project and hope against hope that somehow, something will change for my wife and that we'll join you in Wyoming some day.  For now, it looks like I'll be looking for a place to live in Pennsylvania, which is better than New York but worse than Wyoming.

Thanks so much to all of you who have responded to my questions, provided support, and proffered intelligent thoughts on interesting topics.  I will continue to visit the forum, perhaps contributing and perhaps lurking.  I do wish all of you and the project the best of luck, and I will gladly provide whatever support I can from the other end of the country.  Thanks again.

[MamaLiberty]

I'm just so sad that you didn't let us know you were here so we could meet up and talk with you both. Sometimes meeting the people here can make a big difference. Freedom in Wyoming is mostly about the people, not the scenery.

Anyway, bless you and keep in touch.

[Novak]

Prior to coming, I spoke with my wife about meeting up with some of you.  I think she was intimidated by the idea, and didn't want to feel "pressured" about coming to Wyoming.  I tried to explain to her that's not what would happen, but she was adamant that she wanted to see if she liked it here before talking with folks about living here.  After exploring the area, she decided she was not willing to live here, so she wasn't interested in meeting anyone.  I was doing well to get her out here in the first place, and I didn't want to ruin my chances by forcing the issue.  As it turns out, it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other.