5-day Trip To Wyoming

I haven't been to Wyoming for years. I have worked there on temporary jobs and traveled the state several times. I lived in Montana for over two years. How much "cowboy" is left depends on your viewpoint of what constitutes a cowboy. I inquired on your behalf and here are some of the responses I received from ranchers in Northern Wyoming.

"He will see more cowboy hats than he did in Colorado."

"Sheridan is expensive and caters to the wealthy."

"Not much cowboy atmosphere due to all the yokels that have moved in."

"Don't know about apartments but one can buy a nice condo for a cool million."

"We don't go to rodeo anymore because it is mostly drunks and yokels."

"Don't know about cattle auctions because we have buyers come to the ranch."

"Be prepared to see bison and be careful not to call them buffalo around old-timers."

"There is only one real deal western clothing store and the prices are not for those with thin wallets."

"Don't know about pancake houses, but the Silver Spur Cafe is still good with a bit of a "cowboy" feel and the Cowboy Cafe is OK but more for yokels."

I didn't inquire about the definition of what a yokel is in Northern Wyoming, but all were elated that Liz ran out of fizz and apparently lost even her local yokel support.

Time for some old time cowboy poetry

When Liz went to Congress our country to demolish
She was a republican but in reality a democrat with polish
Then she took a giant puff on the pipe of liberal tokal
And ceased to be a Wyoming-er and became a DC yokel

When the numbers were tallied for the traitor Liz
Her reign was finished, it was over, she ran out of fiz
Voted out by her state, her county, and even the local
Liz was thrown from her horse and now just a yokel

 

I was in hog heaven when I watched her sit there this morning and rant about how sorry Republicans are. Talk a bout stupid she takes the prize. This is exactly why the democrats are going to be buried in a couple months. Joe will have lots of time to sit around and slobber on his ice cream cone, he won't be needed much since he becomes useless along with the rest of those crooks. She was a terrible person to represent a conservative and I just wish I could have watched all the results but no cable now so it takes a little time to dial in FOX news, sometimes it is a good feed but usually someone higher up is interfering with any important political talk underway. The commercials are always spot on and not tampered with so I can only assume this is happening somewhere in a basement at Cox or other affiliates all still deeply involved in the coup party. It could be very easy to disrupt a feed and never be caught. It is a video and sound drop out while someone important is speaking or reporting on the days news regarding Trump and elections. It has happened now for several years with cox coming out of Baton Rouge. All the cable companies here in this state are buying the feed from cox and just a couple others. I can't say about those others but this feed is definitely being tampered with and it is absolutely criminal.

 

Yes, everyone living there has a pair of snow shoes hanging in their shoe closet. Brrrr. My Brother left Cleveland by bus about 25 years ago moving back to San Diego and the bus ran into a blizzard taking that northern route. They came to a very steep hill going into a little town and had to stop at the top of the hill until the highway department could sand and de ice the hill. He told me that it was 40 below and comfortable on the bus sitting there idling but a few people got restless because they could see a dinner down the hill in the little community so they decided to get off the bus and walk down to the dinner. One woman got about a third of the way and collapsed to the ground it was so cold. My brother and a couple other men jumped out and ran down to pick her up and get her back into the bus and warm her up. I think that was pretty cold and I have no doubt with that kind of temperature if you aren't dressed properly you will die very fast. People born and raised in that territory know and respect the winters but tenderfoots have to slowly work their way into it.

 

Yes, John, that is us in City-Data. We learned quite a bit about Sheridan and the area. When inquiring about a move to Cheyenne, many replies said, "head for Cody, Sheridan or surrounding areas, definitely not Cheyenne". Cheyenne and Casper are fine, if a person wants the "big city" feel, but that's what we are trying to avoid. We order a lot of "big box" store items online, so don't worry about "big box" stores where ever we live. It's a couple of hours drive to Billings, Montana where "big box" stores are.

And, as we were told, "Sheridan, Buffalo, Gillette areas aren't "rich" areas, like some folks think." A high number of seniors live in the Sheridan area and that's fine with us.

IOW, John/everyone, Sheridan area was very highly recommended to move to for a "western/rodeo/cowboy/cowgirl" feel than many places we had checked out. We will see.

Some other areas we were told about are either way to hot in the summer, like places in Arizona or even colder/snowier than Sheridan, and surrounding areas, can be. From living here in Colorado before (5 1/2 years) and now (3 years) we know what winter and freezing temps are like. We've seen feet, not just inches, of snow, blizzards/snowstorms and below-zero weather. Last time we lived in Colorado, and I worked in Denver, I got off of work at 3:30PM and the temp outside was minus 15 (-15) degrees. This past April, right here where we live, at 7AM, it was minus 12 (-12) degrees. Two years ago, where we live now, we got some 35 inches of snow. I got photos/video of that one. It's just all part of living here and in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Then again, there are blizzards, tornados, earthquakes, severe t-storms, tropical storms, hurricanes, high heat and on and on all across America. We've even been in a hail storm, in Douglas, Wyoming, that done some $5,000 damage to our Durango. $500 deductible paid and all dents were gone. Completely/100% gone!

 

Cody, compared to where you currently live, Sheridan will check a lot more boxes for you. The rent there for a 2 bedroom in a clean well kept up complex that is not income-based starts at $1800 a month. That would be your best bet if you want to avoid noisy neighbors, thin-walled apartments, satanical stickers on vehicles in the parking lot, offending lilac bushes, disrespectful young people, and managers that could care less about tenants being satisfied. You may possibly see a few tenants wearing cowboy hats and more seniors in a higher-class complex.

The town in general sure checks a lot of your required boxes compared to the area you currently live. The winters will be longer and being a town of 18,000 may require some adjustments. A 5-day trip should help give you a better idea. The thing is if not there, where else is there that would check any of your boxes? Other places I can think of would require a longer move and all have housing shortages due to folks flocking in from the cities.

I think Sheridan's winters are what keep it at a slower growth rate. Since you are used to the winters, then this might be the place for you.

 

Yes and thanks!

 

We've been told, both on City-Data and from a Marketing Director for the Sheridan Chamber of Commerce, "from the information you sent to us, you should fit into Sheridan, and the area, quite nicely". All we know is..........we wouldn't move up there to change anything, unlike some-to-a-lot of folks do. If we did move up there, perhaps, just perhaps, wife and I could help out the Sheridan Rodeo Committee with suggestions or whatever.

IOW, we got a Relocation/Tourist Guide from the Chamber a few weeks ago. In the quoted lines, from the 1980 Star Wars movie (Darth Vader), "Impressive, very impressive", when Luke was showing Vader what he had learned from Obi-One. Yes, we were quite impressed over what the Guide showed.

But, we aren't going to get "to ahead of ourselves here" before we actually see what the area looks like.

We don't want to do what we did when we moved to Huntersville, NC. We were attracted to Lake Norman for boating/fishing. We had left our 1989 16 foot bowrider boat in Colorado when we left and consigned back to the Dealer we bought it from. If we decided we wanted it in NC, the Dealer would have it shipped to us for a low cost. Unfortunately, but fortunately, the day we called to have them ship the boat to us, it had been sold the day before and a check was in the mail to us.
Then, we found out more about Lake Norman that we definitely didn't like: We wondered why the water was so warm, like some 90+ degrees, it was because of a Nuclear Power Plant on the one end. When at a Visitors Center, by the lake, we could see the Plant!

Then came Florida and we were told no hurricanes hit Jacksonville because of where it's located. Well, that was basically untrue! Hurricane Irma came pretty much right over our apartment complex. And, for boating, we had to always check the High/Low Tide thing as well as learn all of the navigational stuff on both the St Johns River and all up and down the Intracoastal Waterways. And, after each time taking our boat out, we had to use "muffs" to rinse the brackish (combined salt/fresh water) out of our engine. Took two USCGA classes for navigation, but still didn't know the navigational stuff on the water.

So, bottom line is..........."don't get too ahead of ourselves, for now anyway".