Who's from Montana?

[RRio]

Just curious to see how many we have in town from and/or living in Montana?
The Missus and myself are comtemplating a move to Billings in the next couple of years.

[Micheal Fortune]

That all around Cowboy Action Shooter ridding out of Great Falls, Montana.............. 

[RRio]

So Micheal...

...tell me about the weather in the winter months. I realize you are a little farther to the north, are you higher elevation than Billings?
Do ya have to "plug" your vehicles in? Lot of Cowboy shooting? ( Curious minds want to know....) 

R(whut hopefully ain't long for AZ)Rio

[Micheal Fortune]

Billings is hotter and a bigger city.

We are 60 miles East of the Divide and we always get a lot of wind, always, we get a couple of weeks of -30 or colder in the Winter and not much snow.  It snows but we never get much more than a few inches at a time, there are exceptions.

Usually after some snow and cold a big Chinook wind blows through and melts everything.  But not always.  You can go to bed with it calm and -40 and wake up to the wind blowing 50+ and the temp around 40+ with all the ice melted.

We get about 12 inches a rain a year...........

And we are in the 2,800 foot range, depending on which side of town you are on.   

[Montana Darlin]

The big difference between Billings and Great Falls, is that Great Falls is better protected by the surronding mountians, where Billings is more open, no mountains except in the distance, no wind stop, always colder in Billings and the wind always blows. 

I was born and raised in Hamilton, but have gone to Billings many times in every season, and it is cold in the winter and hot in the summer.   Why Billings?  just curious.

[RRio]

Why Billings?  just curious.

Basically, because of the type of work that I do, and the type my oldest son does. He is a computer programmer/ web site builder, and I am a CNC Machinist. I also do specialized gunsmithing (action jobs on Colt-type SAAs) and guitar repair.
The Missus found the housing prices to our liking also. We could take the equity we have in our home here, and buy a better one outright up there. We do not want to spend the autumn of our lives with the stress of the Phoenix Valley. Looking for some a little more low key.

[Col. Riddles]

Rio, you might want to consider Texas. Here in Midland things are booming. You & your son could move in this weekend and go to work on Monday I'll bet. Population is about 107,000. I don't know how much equity you have in your home but you can get a nice 3br, 2ba, 2C,  brick home for $110k to $130k here. COL is  22.8% less here than in Phoenix. In fact I'll sell you mine for $115k. It's a 3br, 2ba, 2C brick with fireplace and covered patio, 1675 sq ft on 1/4 acre lot with 8 trees & plenty of room for you to build a work shop. But because of the oil boom real estate is booming too. Right now there are 250 homes for sale in Midland County & more than half of those are new construction in the $175k to $225k. There are more buyers than sellers. Bad news...our property taxes are triple those of Phoenix. Good news....we have no state income taxes. Good news....the legislature just passed a bill & the gov. signed it that will lower our school taxes quite a bit.

Check this out http://www.reply.com/real_estate/research/cost_of_living/cost_of_living_compare.asp?fstate=AZ&tstate=TX&fcity=6200&tcity=5800&amt=70,000 It's a little out of date. Our unemployment rate is almost 0%. Companies are begging for help.

Climate is a tad cooler than Phoenix. High yesterday was 100° which is about 7° hotter than normal for this time of year. High today is supposed to be 99° with a low of 71°.  As I type this it is currently 77°. Snow? What's that? Most I ever saw here was 12-10-96. It started snowing about 7:30 and by noon we had 10" on the ground. It was all gone by 2 p.m. the next day.  But that's a freak thing. We might get an inch around Christmas time but it only lasts a few hours and it's all gone. Now Chicago has nothing on us as the windy city. Wind is just something we live with. It's a rare day that we don't have at least a breeze.

It's as flat as a pancake here. There are no mountains or even hills for a few hours drive. The trees, except for mesquite have all been planted by the folks that lived here. In fact there is a town near here named "No Trees". I'm not kidding either. There is a CAS club here & 4 more within 150 miles of us. So you can shoot every weekend. San Antonio, D/FW, Austin, & El Paso are all about 6 hr drive so you can find lots to do in your leisure time. If you have the time & money.

Your Az. concealed carry license is valid here & a Texas CHL is fairly easy to get. Requirements are similar to Az.

[RRio]

Thanks for the offer, Col., but rest of the family is pretty set on going north somewhere. We just have not locked in any particular place yet, although Billings is the number 1 contender.

RRio

[Wymore Wrangler]

Guess this means you've given up on Nebraska....

[RRio]

Guess this means you've given up on Nebraska....

Not yet. It's number 2 contender. We are taking a "roundy-bout" vacation next spring to check out a few places.

[Silver_Rings]

Must be catchy, we are think about moving to the area around Moscow ID from Montrose CO.  We are looking for some place that is cooler.  Been in CO for about 18 years and have liked it a bunch, but in the 4 years we've been in Montrose the summer heat has been getting to us.

Besides I think we caught the roaming bug when we made our first move from NY in 1984.  At that time we moved to Raleigh, NC for 4 yrs, then Boulder, Co for 4 yrs, Nashville, TN (bad choice for us) for 1 yr, then Loveland, Co for 8 yrs (really like the place we built there but then the whole area from Pueblo north to Ft Collins started to merge together with all the people moving in, there went the beiborhood) then to Montrose, Co (Montrose is on the Western side of the state where there are fewer people but it is growing too)

Montrose is a pretty area with mountans and mesas all around it.  Plenty of good hunting and fishing.  It is pretty windy from April through June, as in it blows most days and winds in excess of 30 mphs.  Loveland where we lived had more winds and stronger winds, atleast once a month the wind would exceed 60 mph but this was partly because of where we lived.  Montrose is a fairly cheep area to live in, proprty taxes on a $300k house are about $1500, sales tax is about 8% and there is an income tax.  As the people ay bring your own job.

SR

[RattlesnakeJack]

Well ... must admit I'm neither living in, nor am I "from" Montana, but do live just north of it, and have spent a lot of time there  - including five full summers when growing up  (in Missoula, west of the Divide.) 

Great place!