UPDATE: Moving to Bend, OR! (Was: Thinking of moving near Spokane (eventually)...read on...)

[ZombieCat]

there is a group... not sure what it is though LOL... but yes we put it in the "north west" section for the rally points, but if you click the link in my signature it'll take you to our calendar thread, and we hyperlink all the rally points off of that.

Awesome, following that thread and bookmarked your post.

Looks like there tend to be a fairly diverse group of vehicles. This is my setup, it's not a rock crawler but as long as the trail isn't too tight it tends to go where I'm comfortable taking it (I'm a recovering Jeep owner and rock crawler that got tired of the stress about breaking things. :D). Hopefully it'll be suitable for a number of the group trips.

View attachment 291693

Hey, did you happen to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park a couple years ago in June? There was a trailer with that same graphic. I remembered the design because it looked so cool!

 

[Hogan]

there is a group... not sure what it is though LOL... but yes we put it in the "north west" section for the rally points, but if you click the link in my signature it'll take you to our calendar thread, and we hyperlink all the rally points off of that.

Awesome, following that thread and bookmarked your post.

Looks like there tend to be a fairly diverse group of vehicles. This is my setup, it's not a rock crawler but as long as the trail isn't too tight it tends to go where I'm comfortable taking it (I'm a recovering Jeep owner and rock crawler that got tired of the stress about breaking things. :D). Hopefully it'll be suitable for a number of the group trips.

View attachment 291693

Hey, did you happen to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park a couple years ago in June? There was a trailer with that same graphic. I remembered the design because it looked so cool!

Not there, no. We mainly roamed around the San Juans. During our return trip one summer we did go up to 70 and went through Denver but haven't been north of 70.

 

[highboy4x4]

My wife and I have been trying to figure out where we want to end up once we're empty-nesters (not too far off). Finding the "Goldilocks" of locations is pretty hard as you can imagine, even harder when my wife and I have different ideas about what climate is acceptable. :D I'd love to be off-grid as long as water is available, my wife isn't ready for that kind of living permanently. I love snow and hate the heat, especially when it's humid. My wife hates the snow but probably hates the cold of the Midwest winters more than snow. We have no interest in living in the desert, high desert, or open plains/prairies again. Trees and some semblance of hills or mountains are necessary, both for visual appeal as well as a windbreak. An abundance of outdoor activities year-round is also a necessity. We would be basically buying bare land to build on over time, minimum of 5-10 acres.

We've been to all of the western states to various extents, we've also traveled around the Midwest, New England, etc.

My wife wants land at a relatively reasonable price that is also relatively close to a major city (within a 30 minute drive) or at least decent grocery stores, restaurants, etc. I had brought up the Spokane area before (maybe 1-2 years back) and it came up again today. I've been through Spokane within the past few years and had also spent a little time there probably 30 years ago, so I have a general idea of what it's like on the surface. The climate seems to be pretty close to what I'm wanting, the annual snowfall I'm sure is more than my wife wants but she'd complain about any snow whatsoever because she's weird.

We've found some potential properties NE (near Peone) and NW (near the Spokane River) of Spokane and are thinking about making that area our next travel destination to check out. Those of you that either live near there or have spent a lot of time around there, what do you think of the area?

Are there any other areas with similar climates, amenities/activities, cost of living, and land potential that anyone would recommend other than Spokane? We will not be moving back to California, so don't even try. :) WA, OR, ID, MT, UT, and CO are currently on the list. I'd include WY but I don't think there is an area that is similar without being stupid expensive (Jackson area).

What say ye?

I almost felt like I was reading my own story. But I’m on the east coast wanting the mountains of Tennessee but my wife likes Florida. My idea of a climate is spot on like yours and these weirdo wives are polar opposites!

 

[Hogan]

I almost felt like I was reading my own story. But I’m on the east coast wanting the mountains of Tennessee but my wife likes Florida. My idea of a climate is spot on like yours and these weirdo wives are polar opposites!

Hopefully you can come to an agreement at some point! I've been to Tennessee, beautiful country. We almost moved to Kentucky (Outside Louisville) before we landed in Illinois.

Both my wife and I fell in love with the area just south of Bend, OR and Bend itself is a great city. She's given in to making herself like snow and is determined to have a positive attitude about it and hope she eventually ends up actually liking it. Being up in the pines and mountains definitely makes snow more magical than out here in flat, dead-looking Iliinois winters (lifeless, bare trees, empty corn fields, etc). Plus we're going to pick up some winter activities to help us enjoy the snow, definitely snowshoeing and probably give snowboarding a shot since we'll be 20 mins from Mt Bachelor.

 

[highboy4x4]

I almost felt like I was reading my own story. But I’m on the east coast wanting the mountains of Tennessee but my wife likes Florida. My idea of a climate is spot on like yours and these weirdo wives are polar opposites!

Hopefully you can come to an agreement at some point! I've been to Tennessee, beautiful country. We almost moved to Kentucky (Outside Louisville) before we landed in Illinois.

Both my wife and I fell in love with the area just south of Bend, OR and Bend itself is a great city. She's given in to making herself like snow and is determined to have a positive attitude about it and hope she eventually ends up actually liking it. Being up in the pines and mountains definitely makes snow more magical than out here in flat, dead-looking Iliinois winters (lifeless, bare trees, empty corn fields, etc). Plus we're going to pick up some winter activities to help us enjoy the snow, definitely snowshoeing and probably give snowboarding a shot since we'll be 20 mins from Mt Bachelor.

I want to get to your area in a year or two. Nephew lives in Boise. Glacier NP, Tetons, and the BadLands are calling me.

My wife gave me only 2 requirements on picking a place to live. Within an hour of a major airport and no blizzards. She doesn’t like the cold and I grew up on Lake Erie. I like snowmobiles, she likes beach volleyball. I can live in the outdoors and rough camping, camping to her is as bad as a cheesy motel 6. Doable but dragging feet! So I will capitulate and just have a longer drive to get to places! Plus it seems all my grown kids are headed to FL minus 1. I’m the odd man out.

 

[Hogan]

I want get to your area in a year or two. Nephew lives in Boise. Glacier NP, Tetons, and the BadLands are calling me.

My wife gave me only 2 requirements on picking a place to live. Within an hour of a major airport and no blizzards. She doesn’t like the cold and I grew up on Lake Erie. I like snowmobiles, she likes beach volleyball. I can live in the outdoors and rough camping, camping to her is as bad as a cheesy motel 6. Doable but dragging feet! So I will capitulate and just have a longer drive to get to places! Plus it seems all my grown kids are headed to FL minus 1. I’m the odd man out.

Ah, hard to win that battle then. I've actually never been to Florida, we always meant to go since it's not crazy far of a drive but we never made it happen.

We did go for a walk this afternoon at one of the local forest preserves. Mid-70s temp but humidity already in the mid-60%, it was gross and it wasn't even hot. I'm glad we took the time to take a spring walk there before leaving, it really is a pretty place but I can't stand feeling sticky/sweaty so there are only like 2-3 months out of the year that I find pleasant to be outside which really sucks when you want to be active. I'm glad I was able to take trips and explore a bit of the eastern half of the US and if I had to choose someplace to live east of the Mississippi I'd have a hard time deciding between Michigan and Maine, but the western mountains have always called my name. We'd escape the gross summer heat here and head high into Colorado whenever we could and I feel like the the Sunriver area is similar without crazy amounts of snow and without being far away from major cities.

My wife and I did like that we could drive a (long) day from here and be someplace entirely different, but on the flip side winter here also meant it was almost impossible to easily escape by driving. Soon we'll be able to drive just a little bit and escape the snow if we want. Such a different experience than the Midwest.

 

[highboy4x4]

I just found your photo site! Im not supposed to be jealous but man.. nice views!!!
In the Montana section I see a really nice hammock. What brand and model # are they! I had a nice one in the Army with a mosquito net but they were 2 separate items. Yours looks like one. Plus that Gazelle gazebo is a nice touch!

 

[Hogan]

I just found your photo site! Im not supposed to be jealous but man.. nice views!!!

Yeah, being able to go and camp comfortably out in the middle of nowhere with amazing views is the best!

In the Montana section I see a really nice hammock. What brand and model # are they! I had a nice one in the Army with a mosquito net but they were 2 separate items. Yours looks like one. Plus that Gazelle gazebo is a nice touch!

Those were just Amazon specials, my wife ordered them a few years ago and the closest I can find now is something like this -

 

[M Rose]

Awesome, so far my wife and I have made a trip out there (separately), wife flew out in December to do the walkthrough and then I flew out in Jan to get security cameras and such set up since the house was going to be vacant for 3 months or so and we didn't want to have it just sit without being able to keep an eye on things. My wife has family about 45 minutes away and we have other family in WA, CA, and AZ with some family talking about moving to the area in a handful of years or so. Our oldest daughter is moving out there with us, that's why there's such a delay in moving as her lease wasn't up until the end of this month and she wanted to save up some money before moving. Sounds like she's already secured a job out there, too, but hasn't officially been offered the job yet (should hear today or tomorrow).

Pretty wild how things lined up and happened so fast, we still have to pinch ourselves since it doesn't feel real. haha When our real estate agent suggested the Sunriver area we were quickly sold on it. My wife was more interested in Sandy, I was more interested in Sisters, we weren't really feeling the Bend/Redmond high desert landscape so when we started looking into Sunriver/Three Rivers we were smitten. Then we were extremely lucky to get the perfect house, too. We almost weren't able to get it but our agent and the seller's agent were able to make it happen.

Super stoked to get out there and start exploring.

and there's a ton to get out and explore around there! if you find yourself in the Spokane/CDA area hit me up, we have a pretty active group here and travel all over, last year we did 14 trips between WA, ID, MT, CA, OR, and Alberta. this year we have 20 or so planned, adding BC, AZ and Utah to the list.

Awesome! I'll keep an eye on the PNW events section as I assume they'll be posted up there. If there's another place that would be good, like a Facebook group, let me know.

Facebook Group is Oregon Overlanders

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[Hogan]

Awesome, so far my wife and I have made a trip out there (separately), wife flew out in December to do the walkthrough and then I flew out in Jan to get security cameras and such set up since the house was going to be vacant for 3 months or so and we didn't want to have it just sit without being able to keep an eye on things. My wife has family about 45 minutes away and we have other family in WA, CA, and AZ with some family talking about moving to the area in a handful of years or so. Our oldest daughter is moving out there with us, that's why there's such a delay in moving as her lease wasn't up until the end of this month and she wanted to save up some money before moving. Sounds like she's already secured a job out there, too, but hasn't officially been offered the job yet (should hear today or tomorrow).

Pretty wild how things lined up and happened so fast, we still have to pinch ourselves since it doesn't feel real. haha When our real estate agent suggested the Sunriver area we were quickly sold on it. My wife was more interested in Sandy, I was more interested in Sisters, we weren't really feeling the Bend/Redmond high desert landscape so when we started looking into Sunriver/Three Rivers we were smitten. Then we were extremely lucky to get the perfect house, too. We almost weren't able to get it but our agent and the seller's agent were able to make it happen.

Super stoked to get out there and start exploring.

and there's a ton to get out and explore around there! if you find yourself in the Spokane/CDA area hit me up, we have a pretty active group here and travel all over, last year we did 14 trips between WA, ID, MT, CA, OR, and Alberta. this year we have 20 or so planned, adding BC, AZ and Utah to the list.

Awesome! I'll keep an eye on the PNW events section as I assume they'll be posted up there. If there's another place that would be good, like a Facebook group, let me know.

Facebook Group is Oregon Overlanders

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Thanks! I did find and join that one a few months ago.