This might take a while. Grab a beverage. Make it a soda. They're gonna put a tax on those soon.
Before moving here to Wyoming, my wife and I lived in the Salt Lake City area of Utah. For those who haven't lived there, Utah (especially the Salt Lake and Utah Counties areas) is very unique. It would be a real nice place if it weren't for the people. Specifically the "soccer mom" Mormon types. It's pretty amazing. Believers of the LDS faith who live outside of Utah (we have neighbors now who are Mormon) are much different than those who live in Utah, where they are 49% of the population. We called them the "Mormon Taliban."
They are the reason it's a near-criminal act to buy alcohol, smoke a cigarette, or carry a gun in the city. On top of that, there's the city itself. I hate cities. Salt Lake City was the largest I'd ever lived in. I have no plans to ever go back to that. I consider Cheyenne (which is 1/10 the size) to be "big."
We were definitely stuck in Utah, however. While housing is relatively cheap, the costs of living are huge. Taxes are high and wages are generally low. Worse, there is a huge glut of educated workers in Utah, so even a college degree and a real skill won't guarantee you a good income. Getting out was a priority, but we had a lot going against us.
One night, my wife and I sat down and talked about it. I'd met Boston through my friend Fran and have read every one of his books. I was critical of
Molon Labe (I'm hard to please, I didn't like Suprenowitz'
Black Arrow either), but greatly enjoyed the analysis at the end of the book regardless. It fit in with discussions that I and my compadres had been in many times. Usually through thick cigar smoke and lots of local brew.
She had just started school on the first leg towards becoming a nurse (Assoc. Medical Assisting) and I was working hard labor because my business had failed. I knew that $13/hour wasn't going to go far for long and she wanted to cut back. I'd thought about starting a new (temporary) career and truck driving seemed to be it. We scraped up the cash and I went to trucker school.
Then I went over the road for a local outfit hauling produce. Trucking is a unique business. What got me interested was the extreme independence most drivers enjoy and the fact that you're paid for performance (miles driven/goods delivered) rather than just for showing up. Despite the heavy (new) federal regulation, there is still some money to be made in trucking. It's not an easy job, though. Someone without self-discipline and forethought will not get far truck driving.
I drove for three years and made pretty good money. She finish school after two years and we started looking towards Wyoming. She wanted to leave Utah, I wanted to go to Wyoming. She was happy with Wyoming. As long as it wasn't Utah or California, she was game. We then looked at our circumstances and narrowed our choice of where to live based on those. I originally wanted to move to Crook County near Hulett, but that wasn't realistic for us. She needed access to a sizable town with medical facilities so she could work and I wanted to be where I could get home once in a while in the truck, even though driving was temporary.
We looked at housing in Cheyenne, but one trip to town told us that we could get more for our buck outside of town and I had no interest in trading one city for another--even one as small as Cheyenne. We eventually settled on Pine Bluffs. What sold me was the town's size (officially 1,200 people, but the city limits spread pretty far, there's maybe half that actually in-town) and the crime statistics. Namely the lack of them. For the year 2006 (the last year available before we moved here), there were the following: 3 aggravated assaults, 1 auto theft, and that's it. The assaults were all at the bar and the vehicle theft was a teenager stealing his parents' car.
One visit to the town sealed the deal and it took little time to find our new house. We moved in on Labor Day weekend in 2008.
My wife commutes to work daily (45 miles each way, all freeway) and I work at home now. We've started an animal rescue group with some locals and teamed up with a shelter in Carpenter. I've managed to piss off the mayor (who's been handily voted out of office) and the town cop (Tom) thinks I'm hilarious (telling my dog, LeRoy, to "act natural, it's the fuzz" whenever Tom comes around helps). Tom also thought it was great (he's originally from Jersey, I try not to hold that against him) that I told the city council during a meeting that their plans and the reasoning behind them were "f@#*ing stupid."
Turns out, one member of the council agreed with me. He's now the new mayor.
There are few places with a political and cultural climate quite like Wyoming's. There's some cowboy, some patriot, and some farmer/rancher all rolled in there. Mostly it's a "lemme alone, gubmint SOB" theme. My neighbor is the caretaker at the local elementary school. He was telling me about the lock down drills they have to do (thanks to the fedgov) and how stupid they are. I asked him why they don't just take down the "no guns" signs. He said that the PTA had been asking them to do that and had actually pushed for the school district to allow teachers with CCW to carry in-school. That didn't fly with the federal rep, of course.
Imagine that? Public schools where the parents and teachers actually want to be able to carry guns in the school.
The other thing you'll find here is friendliness. People wave, whether they know you or not, just because they're passing by. People help one another out, hold the door, say "thank you," etc. Town parades involve the entire town: if you're not in it, you're watching it. Nobody sends the cops over if you haven't mowed your lawn or properly trimmed your trees.
Basically, it's country life. It's not the country life you see on TV with monster trucks and people randomly shooting into the air. It's real country life. Friendly like.
Come out to Wyoming and see it for yourself. Hang out for a couple of weeks somewhere (randomly pick a spot, it doesn't matter). Talk to people. See the sights. I bet you'll only leave to go get your stuff to bring it back here.
