Your story is inviting me to leave the hubbub and so called “conveniences” of urban life and take a plunge that would most likely extend the number of truly enjoyable years of my life. I loved your story. Thank you!
Country living is the only way to do it. Much less crime and much more freedom. I don’t live as rural as you do but I wish I did. I can take my kids duck hunting less than a mile from my house though. I don’t understand the appeal of major cities.
Nice story, but please leave CA politics in CA. I've lived rural almost all of my life, and have seen way too many examples of folks who move away from high tax, high get in your business cities to get away from that only to then bring it into the rural community they move to by how they vote, which then ruins the reasons they moved there in the first place.
The exodus of Californians with massive equity really has made living in the rural west a financial nightmare for people of normal financial means. It was once possible to live in the rural west and own a reasonable home on the U.S. median income, but no more. Just ask the locals.
The small community in very rural MT that we have chosen is all transplants, many from Washington as we are. None of us has transported that kind of baggage with us, it is why we left and sought a different- vastly different- lifestyle. Real appreciation for the people who have gone before us and those who are providing for our simple, peaceful lifestyle, combined with a real opportunity to be useful (we have a small alfalfa farm that feeds the critters all around us) keeps us honest.
Thanks for not making the assumption that the author is going to drag CA politics into MT! She made zero mention of anything political. Too bad so many previous cementers had to bring it up w/ finger wags!
Will she vote for the wolves and bears to be released over the objection of her ranching neighbors? Whether it is re-introducing animal populations, water rights, a requirement for electric vehicles, or other topic, city dwellers are voting for laws that are making rural life harder and more expensive. It is happening to agricultural in California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, etc. when city dwellers of LA, Vegas, Philly, etc. fail to appreciate what a farmer or rancher does and why their needs are also important.
Learning how to repair things and keep your life going with as little outside help as possible is something our grandparents knew about, since there wasn’t always money to pay an outsider to help. Many of my friends are now feeling this and beginning to learn the how-tos that were forgotten in my generation. Wonderful essay!
This was a great read and an accurate representation of life in rural Montana. I live in northwestern Montana and can relate to your experiences. The pace of life is much slower than the frantic urban heartbeat of the big metropolises of our west coast neighbors. Your observation of leaning on the help of neighbors was spot on. There is a sense of community in rural settings, not just in Montana, where people share their skills and rally around those that need assistance. You learn who can help with a welding project, or has a backhoe, a sawmill, and the guy that can fix anything. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you for a lovely comment. Your part of Montana is gorgeous. My husband has driven tractors and Gators most of his adult life. He can fix most things, so I am lucky!
Every sentence resonated with this old mountain-dweller. I am so thankful for the peaceful vistas and wildlife but living in the mountains over an hour away from any services can be tough and frustrating. We have learned to be self-sufficient yet good neighbors, how to fix just about anything, plan meals weeks in advance and buy in bulk, and live in harmony with all the critters, not just the cute ones.
Wondering how many of the neighbors live there year round and what more the author could learn from year round living? Also wondering about importing liberal California expectations and ideas to a rural red state. We’re ex Californians who are very conscious of how we merge and fit into a red state and I would like to hear more about that from this ex Californian. Just visiting a rural area now for the holidays and the kids and I have been thinking how electric vehicles don’t work in this type of community and grateful that we have the opportunity to travel and see how one size solutions spouted from the big cities don’t always (usually) fit other parts of the country…would love to hear more on this topic from authors immersed in it.
DO NOT import “liberal California expectations and ideas to a rural red state!” I you like it in your blue state - STAY THERE!
My husband and I were born, raised, lived and worked in California for 60+ years. Then seven years ago we left the lunatic asylum for Western North Carolina. We were looking for change, not looking to change others. My husband no longer has high blood pressure, I have forgotten how to apply make-up, but we have learned how to survive a winter storm and dispose of a fallen tree. We enjoy our (distant) neighbors for who and what they are and how they live. And, like them, we resent newcomers who want to import the problems they pretend to disdain.
I have heard that before. Pisgah Forest is the name both of a national forest in the far western reaches of North Carolina and a small unincorporated area on the southeast edge of the forest. The nearest actual town, Brevard, is two or three miles away. Just a beautiful area.
A pristine and unique piece of writing. I greatly enjoyed this. Transported by each description and nuance. Though nothing out west is pulling teeth, it's more like, adding teeth, which is far more challenging. Everything rural from grocery shopping to a repair or a haircut, requires the diligence not unlike the taking of an SAT exam and the patience in the wait for an acceptance letter. It's a beautiful practice. Invigorating.
Urbanites to the country epiphanies are always good for a chuckle. Here's a question to ponder. How do you think the country people would react to being immersed in San Francisco?
Another urbanite going to rural. Finds out new washing machines are no good. On a cross country motorcycle trip in 2020 (in defiance of covid BS) a local in Ketchum, Idaho saw my Vermont tags and said, "Don't send any people our way." I replied, "You must be an original." She nodded. People watch Yellowstone and move to where the bumper stickers say, "Californians are an invasive species."
In my lifetime NH, VT and Maine all went from red to blue, and they are worse for it. Maine governor is banning internal combustion auto sales in 2030. Meanwhile a storm last week had over 400,000 people without electricity, 40% of the population. Stupid has no boundaries.
I wish we could abandon the red-blue metaphor. It is so unhelpful to paint an entire state with one color. There are plenty of individualists in New Hampshire and Maine, more guns owners per capita in Vermont than in Florida, and so on. Yes, we have trends but I feel like the color metaphor (which originated only in 2000) has actually exacerbated tensions.
Please, please people who move from the west and east coast areas, you’re nice well meaning people, but please don’t vote! You’re horrible at it. I know this from firsthand experience living in the once beautiful California.
Watching friends who have moved from CA, I would respectfully suggest that your advice should not be taken. Like you, the people lived in the incredibly beautiful state, had good schools, great neighbors and community and then witnessed their vote being swallowed up by incredibly large counties, gerrymandering of districts, and the establishment of powerful committees where all members were appointed. They became the voters who never again want their freedoms, good schools, and quality of a middle class life removed. They may also evaluate those nice sounding resolutions for the damage that can be done when voters lose oversight. Many ex-California people are "once bitten, twice shy" and show their wisdom when voting more conservatively than their "native" neighbors.
Tell that to the states that have turned purple or blue, Colorado, Nevada, et al. I like your assessment, just not sure it holds a lot of water. Enlighten me if I’m wrong, I’d really like to be wrong on this one.
Do you vote conservatively and are you influenced by your experience in CA to vote more on the right?
My friends left CA within the last few years, so they experienced much more of the negatives of being in CA. Maybe those who left CA 20 or 15 years ago felt the positive of CA policies and they are the ones who contributed to purple states in the last 10 to 15 years? California was still beautiful at the start of 2000s.
The CA people leaving now have experiences that may make them much more jaded and protective of quality of life. Writing about my observation rather than data, but it would be interesting to know if an ex now has different politics than a CA exile from the 90s and early 2000s ?
I may be in a more unique position than most as we have our residence in a state other than California, but we maintain a home in California and go there often throughout the year.
My experience with leftists is that they keep voting the same way expecting a different outcome. I remain friends with my lovely leftist friends in California but have given up on trying to persuade them of the folly of their voting habits. I keep wondering how far down the toilet they’re willing to take the state before they wake up.
I do hope you’re right on the change you’re seeing in terms of voting on the part of transplants, that would be encouraging.
as a comment to this sidebar re voting in your "new state", I have a few notes, which are my experiences/opinions. take them for what they are worth.
I was born in the Bay area, then left CA for college in 1974, and went to Oregon State. Voted conservative.
Moved to Illinois in 1979, for a few years, voted conservative.
Moved in 1981 back to California, resumed voting conservative.
then in 1992 up to Washington state. Registered and voted republican/conservative.
Watched the slow deterioration of a once great city (Seattle, as well as Portland) thru terrible laws by the legislators of those cities, and the overweight liberal voting policies by the larger populations. Seemed like those folks purport to "do good" but in the end, have caused irreparable harm to the states they have lived in, and were "caretakers" of.
Retired in 2020 and moved to Texas, and yes vote conservative, hard conservative...
Still, even in Texas, the liberal agenda finds its way to the polls, and too often succeeds in gaining ground, or reducing freedoms for the masses as I see it.
I believe much of the trend, slow as it is, has been liberal agendas, that cross borders to conservative states. **I suggest that folks who transplant, be denied voting locally for at least 2 years/cycles. This gives them a sense of the community, and seeing how the place is running currently vs putting their name on a ballot with little understanding of the current state.
As this writer starts her essay, the lack of all the conveniences startled her. She may very well, even at 73, push to bring those conveniences to her little part of Montana, via ballot initiatives or supporting legislative initiatives, that are for the greater good.
As much as folks say they moved to get away from the crazies, I feel many are still crazies, hidden temporarily behind a sane facade.
Thank you for this. It remains a mystery why anyone imagines after so much evidence to the contrary that the government is in any way competent. They create the problems they insist they must then fix, but now at a greater cost. And some people continue to believe them.
I was born and raised in a small Nevada town. Went to university in San Francisco in the 60's,a great time to be there. I came back and watched the last 50 years transform my state to a near California clone. For some reason everyone worships at the altar of "growth". Beware, the Montana you love will be gone sooner than you realize. Everyone says they don't want to change it, but it still changes even though no one admits to voting for it.
I would say that the way they vote (and the lessons they learned) depend on age. Millennials often flee w/ out having learned what they are fleeing from. I think many Boomers are older and wiser (I hope!!)
Your story is inviting me to leave the hubbub and so called “conveniences” of urban life and take a plunge that would most likely extend the number of truly enjoyable years of my life. I loved your story. Thank you!
Thank you, Greg. I appreciate your kind comment.
Country living is the only way to do it. Much less crime and much more freedom. I don’t live as rural as you do but I wish I did. I can take my kids duck hunting less than a mile from my house though. I don’t understand the appeal of major cities.
Nice story, but please leave CA politics in CA. I've lived rural almost all of my life, and have seen way too many examples of folks who move away from high tax, high get in your business cities to get away from that only to then bring it into the rural community they move to by how they vote, which then ruins the reasons they moved there in the first place.
The exodus of Californians with massive equity really has made living in the rural west a financial nightmare for people of normal financial means. It was once possible to live in the rural west and own a reasonable home on the U.S. median income, but no more. Just ask the locals.
So true. Unimproved land has tripled in inflated value. The deals are gone.
The small community in very rural MT that we have chosen is all transplants, many from Washington as we are. None of us has transported that kind of baggage with us, it is why we left and sought a different- vastly different- lifestyle. Real appreciation for the people who have gone before us and those who are providing for our simple, peaceful lifestyle, combined with a real opportunity to be useful (we have a small alfalfa farm that feeds the critters all around us) keeps us honest.
Thanks for not making the assumption that the author is going to drag CA politics into MT! She made zero mention of anything political. Too bad so many previous cementers had to bring it up w/ finger wags!
Nicely put, Erin, and oh so true.
That was what I kept thinking all the way through this essay: is she voting to transform Montana into California?
Will she vote for the wolves and bears to be released over the objection of her ranching neighbors? Whether it is re-introducing animal populations, water rights, a requirement for electric vehicles, or other topic, city dwellers are voting for laws that are making rural life harder and more expensive. It is happening to agricultural in California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, etc. when city dwellers of LA, Vegas, Philly, etc. fail to appreciate what a farmer or rancher does and why their needs are also important.
True
Learning how to repair things and keep your life going with as little outside help as possible is something our grandparents knew about, since there wasn’t always money to pay an outsider to help. Many of my friends are now feeling this and beginning to learn the how-tos that were forgotten in my generation. Wonderful essay!
And aren't those you-Tube videos nice?
Life savers.
I want to know more about the person you are now and how much of the old person still plays a role.
This is a marvelous comment. I am pondering your statement. It may make for a interesting essay. Thank you Mike.
Learning self sufficiency, even if you can’t do it until you’re a senior, is so much more satisfying than having door dash.
Love this story. Simpler does not mean boring. It’s interesting that you discovered you got stronger and felt alive because you had to move to live.
This was a great read and an accurate representation of life in rural Montana. I live in northwestern Montana and can relate to your experiences. The pace of life is much slower than the frantic urban heartbeat of the big metropolises of our west coast neighbors. Your observation of leaning on the help of neighbors was spot on. There is a sense of community in rural settings, not just in Montana, where people share their skills and rally around those that need assistance. You learn who can help with a welding project, or has a backhoe, a sawmill, and the guy that can fix anything. Thank you for sharing your story.
Hi Doug,
Thank you for a lovely comment. Your part of Montana is gorgeous. My husband has driven tractors and Gators most of his adult life. He can fix most things, so I am lucky!
Every sentence resonated with this old mountain-dweller. I am so thankful for the peaceful vistas and wildlife but living in the mountains over an hour away from any services can be tough and frustrating. We have learned to be self-sufficient yet good neighbors, how to fix just about anything, plan meals weeks in advance and buy in bulk, and live in harmony with all the critters, not just the cute ones.
As Ryan Holiday observes, the obstacle IS the way.
The locals were chilled that a Californian had entered their midst. But if they are waving it means you passed muster. Kudos.
Wondering how many of the neighbors live there year round and what more the author could learn from year round living? Also wondering about importing liberal California expectations and ideas to a rural red state. We’re ex Californians who are very conscious of how we merge and fit into a red state and I would like to hear more about that from this ex Californian. Just visiting a rural area now for the holidays and the kids and I have been thinking how electric vehicles don’t work in this type of community and grateful that we have the opportunity to travel and see how one size solutions spouted from the big cities don’t always (usually) fit other parts of the country…would love to hear more on this topic from authors immersed in it.
DO NOT import “liberal California expectations and ideas to a rural red state!” I you like it in your blue state - STAY THERE!
My husband and I were born, raised, lived and worked in California for 60+ years. Then seven years ago we left the lunatic asylum for Western North Carolina. We were looking for change, not looking to change others. My husband no longer has high blood pressure, I have forgotten how to apply make-up, but we have learned how to survive a winter storm and dispose of a fallen tree. We enjoy our (distant) neighbors for who and what they are and how they live. And, like them, we resent newcomers who want to import the problems they pretend to disdain.
We will never look back.
Are you near Asheville? The Pisgah Forest area may be the most beautiful landscape in America.
About 20 miles west from the western start of the Blueridge Parkway. You are right -- absolutely the most beautiful!
The Pisgah Forest? Interesting name for something in America. The word "Pisgah" is the Hebrew word for summit.
I have heard that before. Pisgah Forest is the name both of a national forest in the far western reaches of North Carolina and a small unincorporated area on the southeast edge of the forest. The nearest actual town, Brevard, is two or three miles away. Just a beautiful area.
A pristine and unique piece of writing. I greatly enjoyed this. Transported by each description and nuance. Though nothing out west is pulling teeth, it's more like, adding teeth, which is far more challenging. Everything rural from grocery shopping to a repair or a haircut, requires the diligence not unlike the taking of an SAT exam and the patience in the wait for an acceptance letter. It's a beautiful practice. Invigorating.
What an interesting comment--adding teeth. I love this image.
Simply came to mind as a tougher visual. Thank you. I enjoy your writing
Urbanites to the country epiphanies are always good for a chuckle. Here's a question to ponder. How do you think the country people would react to being immersed in San Francisco?
They’d still be dealing with cleaning up or avoiding poop.
Make sure they are well armed. Could turn into a nice cull hunt.
Another urbanite going to rural. Finds out new washing machines are no good. On a cross country motorcycle trip in 2020 (in defiance of covid BS) a local in Ketchum, Idaho saw my Vermont tags and said, "Don't send any people our way." I replied, "You must be an original." She nodded. People watch Yellowstone and move to where the bumper stickers say, "Californians are an invasive species."
Double for Northeasterners. They infected California.
In my lifetime NH, VT and Maine all went from red to blue, and they are worse for it. Maine governor is banning internal combustion auto sales in 2030. Meanwhile a storm last week had over 400,000 people without electricity, 40% of the population. Stupid has no boundaries.
I wish we could abandon the red-blue metaphor. It is so unhelpful to paint an entire state with one color. There are plenty of individualists in New Hampshire and Maine, more guns owners per capita in Vermont than in Florida, and so on. Yes, we have trends but I feel like the color metaphor (which originated only in 2000) has actually exacerbated tensions.
I love the Northeast but for the rabid leftists
Please, please people who move from the west and east coast areas, you’re nice well meaning people, but please don’t vote! You’re horrible at it. I know this from firsthand experience living in the once beautiful California.
Watching friends who have moved from CA, I would respectfully suggest that your advice should not be taken. Like you, the people lived in the incredibly beautiful state, had good schools, great neighbors and community and then witnessed their vote being swallowed up by incredibly large counties, gerrymandering of districts, and the establishment of powerful committees where all members were appointed. They became the voters who never again want their freedoms, good schools, and quality of a middle class life removed. They may also evaluate those nice sounding resolutions for the damage that can be done when voters lose oversight. Many ex-California people are "once bitten, twice shy" and show their wisdom when voting more conservatively than their "native" neighbors.
Tell that to the states that have turned purple or blue, Colorado, Nevada, et al. I like your assessment, just not sure it holds a lot of water. Enlighten me if I’m wrong, I’d really like to be wrong on this one.
Do you vote conservatively and are you influenced by your experience in CA to vote more on the right?
My friends left CA within the last few years, so they experienced much more of the negatives of being in CA. Maybe those who left CA 20 or 15 years ago felt the positive of CA policies and they are the ones who contributed to purple states in the last 10 to 15 years? California was still beautiful at the start of 2000s.
The CA people leaving now have experiences that may make them much more jaded and protective of quality of life. Writing about my observation rather than data, but it would be interesting to know if an ex now has different politics than a CA exile from the 90s and early 2000s ?
I may be in a more unique position than most as we have our residence in a state other than California, but we maintain a home in California and go there often throughout the year.
My experience with leftists is that they keep voting the same way expecting a different outcome. I remain friends with my lovely leftist friends in California but have given up on trying to persuade them of the folly of their voting habits. I keep wondering how far down the toilet they’re willing to take the state before they wake up.
I do hope you’re right on the change you’re seeing in terms of voting on the part of transplants, that would be encouraging.
All the best.
as a comment to this sidebar re voting in your "new state", I have a few notes, which are my experiences/opinions. take them for what they are worth.
I was born in the Bay area, then left CA for college in 1974, and went to Oregon State. Voted conservative.
Moved to Illinois in 1979, for a few years, voted conservative.
Moved in 1981 back to California, resumed voting conservative.
then in 1992 up to Washington state. Registered and voted republican/conservative.
Watched the slow deterioration of a once great city (Seattle, as well as Portland) thru terrible laws by the legislators of those cities, and the overweight liberal voting policies by the larger populations. Seemed like those folks purport to "do good" but in the end, have caused irreparable harm to the states they have lived in, and were "caretakers" of.
Retired in 2020 and moved to Texas, and yes vote conservative, hard conservative...
Still, even in Texas, the liberal agenda finds its way to the polls, and too often succeeds in gaining ground, or reducing freedoms for the masses as I see it.
I believe much of the trend, slow as it is, has been liberal agendas, that cross borders to conservative states. **I suggest that folks who transplant, be denied voting locally for at least 2 years/cycles. This gives them a sense of the community, and seeing how the place is running currently vs putting their name on a ballot with little understanding of the current state.
As this writer starts her essay, the lack of all the conveniences startled her. She may very well, even at 73, push to bring those conveniences to her little part of Montana, via ballot initiatives or supporting legislative initiatives, that are for the greater good.
As much as folks say they moved to get away from the crazies, I feel many are still crazies, hidden temporarily behind a sane facade.
all the best
rich
Thank you for this. It remains a mystery why anyone imagines after so much evidence to the contrary that the government is in any way competent. They create the problems they insist they must then fix, but now at a greater cost. And some people continue to believe them.
I was born and raised in a small Nevada town. Went to university in San Francisco in the 60's,a great time to be there. I came back and watched the last 50 years transform my state to a near California clone. For some reason everyone worships at the altar of "growth". Beware, the Montana you love will be gone sooner than you realize. Everyone says they don't want to change it, but it still changes even though no one admits to voting for it.
I would say that the way they vote (and the lessons they learned) depend on age. Millennials often flee w/ out having learned what they are fleeing from. I think many Boomers are older and wiser (I hope!!)