(The reason I am putting this down is two-fold; I find that writing things out tends to arrange my thinking and I actually tend to get to implementing something. It is also to reassure my children that I haven’t gone off the deep end.)
With the pandemic and the political turmoil of the past year; coupled with discussions I had with my family, especially my brothers, I have decided to make some changes in my living conditions and my life in general. The biggest change of course was the death of Lindsay which removed several constraints on my life. It’s now been two and a half years since her passing; my personal life has returned somewhat to steady state.
In the near term, I intend to keep my condominium; but I think I have decided to make my home and permanent residence elsewhere. I think that for the short term I like having a pied-a-terre near the girls and my eventual home at Willamette National Cemetery. But I think it is time to consider physically changing my permanent residence.
Right now the leading contender is Wyoming. The primary reasons are location, population density and tax policy. Taxes first; Wyoming is one of the eight states that don’t collect personal income taxes, and the sales tax is currently 4%. A good survey can be found at http://www.tax-rates.org/taxtables/income-tax-by-state . As a good approximation of how intrusive a government is, I’ve found the state that taxes least rules best. As far as location goes, it is still only 2 days from Southern California, roughly how far I am in Portland. I think that population density is a good first approximation of some of our current social pathologies and Wyoming has amazingly low population densities.
One thing that concerns me is that I have been spoiled by the scenery in the Pacific Northwest. Trees and non-flat geography are good, even if you have to put up with non-trivial rainfall. Much of the Wyoming seems to be treeless, although my upcoming tour should give me a much better feel for it. Growing up in Southern California made bare brown hills and rocks at least familiar.
In the short term I’m looking for a cheap rental in the vicinity of Jackson, Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, or Rock Springs. I am not looking, initially, for a cabin deep in the wilderness. Instead I’m looking for something with utilities and good internet; it would then let me explore for something more permanent. Those five communities look like they are what I am interested in and the initial cruise through the state at the end of the month should let me decide my first steps.
Cheyenne (pop 91,738) is an actual city and has access to the local Air Force Base. On the down side it is the flat dry corner of the state. Either Casper (pop 55,316) (2.5hrs) or Laramie (pop 30,816) (1hr) are close enough to reach it for occasional trips. and seem to near more mountainous and sylvan areas. Rock Springs (pop 23,036) seems be be on the dry flat area but is a possibility. Jackson (pop 9,577) is in the most mountainous area but is pretty remote and I suspect the the cost of living is higher due to the skiing crowd.
I’ll have more info after my tour through the state.