A friend who currently lives near Greeley has looked hard into the I-70 corridor near the ski areas. He loves skiing but says it's a 2-month summer, just not ready to live like that. It's not cheap either.

With low humidity, 90 degrees is perfectly comfortable, if you aren't working in the sun during midday. Personally I find 95 just fine with 10% humidity and in the shade. On the other hand, I was in Chicago area two weeks ago, and was soaking wet at 72 deg. with 50% RH, doing some light concrete work.

 

A little warning, this is a pic heavy update.

I promised I would tell you guys my next thoughts and share some vaca, and then explain my absence...

So last thing first... why I disappeared with no excuse.
Well in my family, when someone needs they don't even ask, it is all unspoken. Everyone chips in full throttle. When I undertook the overhaul of my place in Windsor after the tenants and flood, my family was right there with me. Mom and her boyfriend came and spent every (road passable) weekend from Oct to Feb hanging drywall, painting, etc.

Family needs help now so I pitched in.
This place was abandon and then flooded with ~20 inches of standing water for long time in the basement... Everything is full on Tyvex suit time.







(that's not a light trick, or bad construction, that is swelling in a 1950's era 3/4" tongue & groove hardwood flooring - tilt your head a little, the floor is "mostly" level - the shovel is what is off kilter).

We loaded 2 complete 9yd (the short bobtail length) roll off dumpsters with "unburnable" material





Then we loaded a little tow trailer with "burnable" material before the neighbor said "hell use my dump trailer save you a ton of work"



A total of 4 loads of with the big mule.









Sorry, we were going so fast I didn't get the first two loads "in the trailer", just had to take a after the fact pic. Only the doors, lumber and tree trimmings in the foreground are "mine" the background is all the rest of everyone else in the town.


I did not have enough time to take after pix. We worked 2 hours past scheduled quitting time and got home at 10pm Monday night then got up and went to work Tuesday morning. I have a slew of "before" pix, that will be in the "construction" area of my www site someday, next trip up we will get some "during" pix. It will be a long long time before I have "after" pix.

This is about the only before & during I got that are almost the same angle:

 

And now some vacation pictures - just spammed in, no order:

 

And now my "current plan" / future thoughts, and mostly just ramblings....
I initially decided "no snow" with a huge capital bold exclamation mark, so what better way than to pull up the garden "hardiness zone" maps and start there.



Now my idea of "no fry" and yours probably differs, but basically only the absolutely hottest 'top dark red spots' made the cuttoff list for me.



Those 2, along with three others made up my "blackball" map:




I really don't have my brain all twisted around yet, just recovering from a labor day weekend from hell and grinding through this week of work.

 

oh as far as "total accomplishments, it is 1000 sq ft, with 1000 sq ft basement and we demo'd everything in the basement entirely (it was 100% finished). The basement has 2 load bearing 4x6's and the staircase, that is it - everything else is gone.
Exterior all inside the fence backyard shrubs and all front shrubs are gone. Not bad for 2 old people, the kid (me, at 40), two chainsaws and a bunch of tyvex suits.

 

..........

 

I might have to readjust my temps (since those were my fantasy temps), as my girlfriend doesn't want heavy snow (maybe 2 foot max at the coldest part of winter for a month or less). So I might be ok with a peak high in the 90's (low 90's) with low humidity. I've been watching the temps (current and history) in Williams and as a bonus major city is only about 40 miles away. But before I make a decision about any place I need the low down on crime, theft and other potential problems from someone who lives there (or lived there). Everywhere looks great when I only stay a weekend at a time.

Sorry I hijacked your thread Brain75.

 

Wow Bryan, you are putting A LOT of thought into this move. Good for you. Wish my ancestors had done some research before they ended up in snow belt! Keep updating us about your progress. Even though I like talking truck, the people behind the trucks are important also (one of the reason I like the truckstock/truckfest gatherings).

 

Here's a great site, somewhat geared towards retirement but it works for almost any situation:
Find Your Spot | Find Your Spot

 

I actually had already done several of those sites... if I remember right it told me to move to Monte Carlo (the tiny little nation still ruled by a monarch, not Vegas). Unfortunately my meager bank roll just is not Monte Carlo sized.

 

Have you considered Hawaii - sunny, mild, high and low within 20 degrees - temp just never really vary's.... course it costs 10x as much to live there and you have to worry about lava swallowing your whole neighborhood one day.

No hijack perceived, as long as you are inputting and drawing others input on the general topic, then I am getting the data I want - please feel free to contribute even if it is a little specific to your stream, your boat, and your lack of oars.

 

Hi Bryan, we just completed a relocation from Chicago, IL to (north) Phoenix, AZ. We couldn't bear to live in Illinois anymore (the list is a mile long and gets political, so I will avoid the details).

We knew we wanted out but weren't sure where to go. We decided on 4 conditions to meet: Cost of Living, Government, STABLE Climate and Active Lifestyle. In keeping focus on those requirements, it became easy to narrow-down the states and areas within.

You'll want to visit these places before you commit, find a community you will be comfortable with, read (study) the local news papers for a while before you move there. Research what's going on in local government there. Does it seem stable? Travel there and go to a local car show, meet your future friends. Go and "people watch" at the local Wal-Mart to observe a portion of the community there.

We've met people here who can't wait to leave (AZ). They've been here all their life. On the other hand, we meet so many people here who are from other states (transplants). Some come here for work, some come here to get away from some place else.

My point is, the place that's right for one may not be right for another. Fortunately, my wife and I were both able to agree on Anthem, AZ!!

Oh- and about the heat. Think of it this way. Anywhere else in the summer time you probably go from A/C house to A/C car to A/C shopping, etc. It's not unbearable - you just stay out of the sun and drink more water. I don't mind it.

Best of luck to you!
Bob

 

Hey Bryan,

I can say that California is not a bad place to be!! In the words of my departed friend Bob Naegele, "we only need a better class of people and more water....but then Hell has the same problems".

All kidding aside, you should add the central coast area of California to your list of places to check out.

Dan

 

Glad I finally got to a computer and looked at your updates. Love all the pics but AT&T data rates have a multiplier of 4 it seems like so it would have sucked up all my data looking at it on my phone. Good info. Looks like you did lots of work on the place.

 

Ross. I just sat here and went thru that whole question/answer deal. I was feeling good about it then it asked me to put in basically all my personal data, email, password, physical address.......I'd like to see what answers it gave me but is this site safe?? I'm letting it sit there till I figure it out. Thanks!!