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Originally posted by maryrose:

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piqué
I am increasingly less tolerant of people who are unsophisticated and uneducated and with whom it is impossible to have a thoughtful conversation. It's not that they aren't very nice folks in most cases--they are. They'd give their right arm for you if you were in need--a great many of them would.

Maybe the wildfires will clear out the riffraff and cool off the housing market. One can hope.

I thought I'd pop in to see how y'all doing. Then I read this and remembered why I left. Entitled or entitled, eh? Shameful.

Sounds like you'll be much happier hanging out somewhere else.

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However, this occurred to me: we drive through West Virginia a lot going back and forth to Ohio. Morgantown, home of WVU, is supposed to be really nice and the scenery is beautiful. And as I recall, WV did surprisingly well on the covid front - their governor was all in pretty early on with restrictions and vaccines and they came through with much better numbers than you'd expect. Also, they don't seem to be steeped in the southern culture you want to avoid. Might be a surprise contender!

Thanks for this suggestion, Lisa! I will check it out.

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Re: Whidbey - great place, beautiful and spendy. It's also not at all easy to get in or out during the tourist season, which runs from around May - October. There's only one way on and off the island (duh), the ferries are fully booked, and the traffic is horrible. I've waited to get past the Mukilteo exit on I-5 for up to 1.5 hours of stop and go traffic, in both directions. So "easy access to Seattle" is definitely not true for at least half the year. I drive up and down I-5 a lot, and it's always touch and go in terms of traffic from Tacoma up through Everett. Some days it's a breeze, other days it's stop and go.
Random option might be someplace like Walla Walla, where Whitman College is. It's become a real center for wineries, etc. The town itself is small and charming imo, and Whitman provides a dose of intellect and activities (concerts, theater, etc.). But you are in the middle of freaking nowhere.

I think the last time I was on Whidbey was probably 15 years ago. I remember the traffic in Seattle was horrendous, and that I-5 corridor has been terrible forever.... I think we took the bridge from Anacortes and didn't take the Mulkiteo ferry. This visit we are planning to take highway 2 across the north Cascades to avoid the I-5 mess. I think since we don't have to commute to Seattle we can pick and choose when we go and avoid the worst of it. I'm not seeing that Whidbey is any more expensive than Montana.... I guess we'll find out.

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Seriously, any place that has the things we want others want too, and all this work remotely stuff has pretty much made those places harder to find houses in.

So true. This is hard for someone who made a lot of life choices--and financial sacrifices-- based on maintaining the freedom to live where I want. I think this has got to be tough for all creative people who depend on there being places that are affordable. You used to achieve that by going off the beaten track. Now everything is the beaten track.

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My experience (based on many moves) is you look forward to getting away from certain problems where you live only to end up with a whole set of new ones where you go.

I'm sure that's true. And with your many moves, I consider you an expert on this topic. I'm listening. But I do think there are places that are a better fit than
others.

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Boarding horses over there is pretty pricy too…

I have been crunching numbers on this. Hay is way cheaper there right now. And even at $400mo for board, I have to factor in the outrageous costs of maintaining a horse property. Our well pump died this week. Probably the bill will be for $3,500. We had to put a new roof on the barn--$5,000. The used corral panels cost me $1,000. We need to replace all our fencing---it is rotting.

I could pay for a lot of boarding with that money!

Have always felt it was a better deal to board than to own a place (time-wise especially). My bet is you will pay at least $600 or more a month on Whidbey for anyplace with an indoor arena (which you will want in the winter) The places with outdoor arena only are probably over $400 a month. My bigger question is how happy will you be riding mostly in arenas there - when you are used to being able to haul to the big wide open - the one thing that bummed me out when we moved from Idaho (miles of unfenced farm fields and dirt roads) to Western Washinton was that everything was fenced and cross fenced and trail riding was much more difficult to do.

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Originally posted by jodi:
Have always felt it was a better deal to board than to own a place (time-wise especially). My bet is you will pay at least $600 or more a month on Whidbey for anyplace with an indoor arena (which you will want in the winter) The places with outdoor arena only are probably over $400 a month. My bigger question is how happy will you be riding mostly in arenas there - when you are used to being able to haul to the big wide open - the one thing that bummed me out when we moved from Idaho (miles of unfenced farm fields and dirt roads) to Western Washinton was that everything was fenced and cross fenced and trail riding was much more difficult to do.

There appear to be huge tracts public forest with trails on Whidbey, but if they don't allow horseback riding, that would definitely be an issue. We are more limited with riding trails where we are now than you may imagine. Missoula had much better options. We basically ride in the Scratchgravels 90 percent of the time. There are a few other areas, but they require a lot of trailering.

I've joined a couple of Whidbey horse community FB groups to get a sense of their vibe. I will definitely be looking at this aspect closely and asking a lot of other questions too. Thanks for pointing these issues out.

I enjoyed this video about another trail system developing in PA/Ohio/NY/WVA region: Connecting the Industrial Heartland.

One reason that prices are low in western Virginia is probably the collapse of the industry, coal mining, that supported many of these communities. Like much of the industrial regions, most of those left are there because they are retired and living on social security and pensions or they just can't leave the land they grew up in, no matter the cost. I worked for a short time in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. I loved the countryside, but subsequent times have not been kind to many of the towns in the region.

Good luck with your search for a new place to live.