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There should be a law if you moved out of state you cannot vote for 5 years on local elections. I think 5 years might be a little long but it gives people enough time to adapt and look at things from the locals perspective.
10+ years ago I cycled from WA to PA. As I went through MT I was able to cycle down the middle of I-90 w/o a car insight. Took a selfie to share with others. Love MT and hope to be one of the lucky people to move there when I retire and blend in.
I lived in Idaho for 11yrs..2 miles outta town no cell service..ive walked down the main road and no vehicles for 1 1/2 hrs...but 90% of the time they stop and ask if I need a ride..my eyes are tearing up as I write this...i miss it and will be back
It's the Moving to Montana Hashtag #MovingtoMontana that directed the traffic to this post. Me being a Montana resident finds that scary. This was a spot on video of how we live in Montana.
As a fellow Montanan I think the best way to show how winter life here is to show them. Sometimes visual is better than words. Some people don’t understand we actually prep before winter starts i.e. checking maintenance on snowplows, generators , making sure wood ready if wood fireplace or stove. Plenty flashlights/candles , and of course food and water supply. This is not the place where winter rolls in and you think everything will be the same as fall. Don’t bet on it. We live 4 miles from town and every winter our driveway has about 3 inches of ice. 2 years ago no one could come in and no one could get out. So sand is highly recommended. Yes winters can be rough but I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I’m a baby boomer and this is home.
I love these ranch ads and big lake houses and they ALL show the places in the summer. How about seven months of winter along with three months of tough sledding???!
I live in a rural area. and though we did need a few things like better medical I personally resent people coming here and ruining it "where they came from" and our BOS are so stupid they fawn over the shiny city money. they LEFT "where they came from" so WHY reproduce it?? Changes come with a price and some prices aren't worth it.
City folks tried to do that out here in NE PA. They wanted curbs and street lights in miles of rural farm country because its too dark. Our twp told them they should go back to the city where they have those things. Gotta love it.
Lmao Pam I’ve been looking to go out in that neck of the woods. Specifically to get away from curbs street lights and the annoying hustle and bustle of suburbia and urban areas. Don’t worry if and when I come I won’t be looking for street lights or curbs. I just want a homestead and self sufficiency.
I live there too. Tried to do? Kiddo, have you been to the Poconos lately? They've done it. We had a police force of three people, one police car. They closed at nights and weekends Now they have a force to rivel a big city and the laws to boot. They came in from N.Y. and N.J. to get away from the crime and taxes. Well, guess what? They brought it with them. They took over the local political systems, Then squeezed out the locals. Then proceeded to make it just like where they came from. That's the problem, It's like a cancer. They kill where they're at then move on to a healthy environment and take over and ruin that. Over and over.
Here in rural Virginia people come from the city to live in the country and the first thing that they do is add more exterior lights to their house and keep them on all night. Then they try to get street lights installed and the road repaved and widened with drain pipes installed in the ditches. If they wanted a suburban neighborhood then that's where they should have moved.
Australian here, an hour is a very close neighbour in our rural areas, I’ve lived places where it was over an hour drive to the front gate of the property and over 2 hours to the nearest neighbour with a 4 hour drive to the closest shop/store, most people own at least one aircraft and many have multiple aircraft in the family, both rotary and fixed wing.
And just like here, the people you're describing are one micro fraction of a percentage of the populace. Hence why it's easy to romanticize - most people don't know anyone who lives like that personally unless you're also from the country/bush.
Australia is like the desert version of Alaska to me. Almost nobody lives there except natives and most of the territory is so vast that it’s near incomprehensible in both places. Both are super cool places on earth.
I live in California and I'm all for places like Montana staying the way they are. For as they say" Come, visit, have a good time. But please go home and leave us the way you found us. Happy"
And for full disclosure there were some great places in CA. Even L.A. but as a kid in the 1960s. To Sac area mid 80s for EMT/ER training; mtns around Georgetown/Cool were very nice but the city fundamentally scared me off forever.
Hello Donald , I've lived near to the Lake District, the most beautiful part of England, about 900 Square miles which is visited by more than 15 million (!) most every year and quite obviously far smaller than parts of Montana. The most of those '15 mil.' centre themselves in three small main towns of Ambleside, Keswick and Windermere ... the souls of those places have long since been erased in lieu of monetary gain and the 'property game' ... As one of your country's native elders stated some time ago ... " Only the mountains and the wind remain the same " Be well .
Problem is liberals want to impose their ideology where ever they go. It's like a cancer. Oregon, Washington, Colorado. Large towns in Idaho. They feel they are 'entitled'.
Me too, I'm in LA and I would never try to change another place. I don't quite understand how they're changing it. Are they opening yoga studios and coffee bars?
He’s right. About everything. We’re 45 minutes from the nearest store and 15 miles from the nearest gas station. We learned. You will too. Just don’t bring the madness you’re leaving with you and you’ll be just fine.
As a Native of Montana I’ve seen many people come and go- first thing they do fence and post NO TRESPASSING! Growing up here you could pretty much pull off the Hwy, walk across a field to the river and fish anywhere. The landowners would wave to you, ask how the fishing was, chat then go on their way. Those days are gone..but feel incredibly blessed to have been raised here.
I'm from so cal just checking out Montana. If I ever decide to move there I'm gonna do my homework. Like the guy said winter is bad for city folks there's no Walmart home depot close by. You've got to be ready mentally and physically. Not sure but very old people from California won't make it there. It seems you have to be in shape mentally and physically.
larry trejo I would recommend living somewhere like Laurel, where I was raised, so Billings is only about 20 mins away. Yellowstone river is great, not too much wildlife, but the wilderness is easily accessible. Red lodge ski mountain is only and hour or two away, Clooney dam lake about 45 min, and the Interstate near for further travel.
I lived in Montana years ago, and returned many times to visit family and friends. The people are great. And the scenery is wonderful. He's right: don't expect urban conveniences in rural areas (in any part of the world). With some self reliance, life is good in Montana.
Like Montana we're having an influx of Californiastanians in Northern Wyoming, and yep 6 months in and they're already trying to change things. What they've yet to realize though is that not only are they wasting their time, they're wasting their time in a place they are not wanted. Winter is coming though and with that things should begin working themselves out all natural like.
I hope it doesn't happen to ya'll like it has in Texas. They started with the big cities. Then they hit the small towns and rural areas. No maatter where they go they want to change things. Now they are dividing up the big ranch lands and selling them into small tracts. Getting harder to farm, ranch hunt and fish here. Especially hunting.
i hope and pray for yall. i've lived in L.A., D.C. phoenix, AZ. houstan, TX. they can have the big cities!! those people are so screwed up mentally, it's terrible, arrogant, self centered, greedy, i could go on, but yall livin in the great northern states, yall know what lifes about. i miss the west. please protect the wide open i call it cowboy way of life.
Fortunately my Town is quite small and these People are facing resistance like they never expected. Those of us who were born and raised here are banking on Winter to get rid of some of them (these clowns have no idea), others will leave because we have no Shopping Malls or fancy Restaurants and the remainder will learn that their bullshit is not welcome here and they need to fit in with us, not the other way around.
Spot on. A lot of folks want to "Get away to the country" but they will bring with them the same pathologies that turned the cities into shit to begin with.
Right you are! This is far more important than many people realize. It should be the first thing to consider, especially for anyone who is retired and already older whether or not you already have health issues.
@laurie Walker, Montana actually has some of the most available high quality healthcare in the country. The budget subsidized by the government for Montana per person is extremely high and thus there are many large hospitals with extremely low quantities of patients to serve. It is one of the easiest and most affordable places to get the highest quality care in the country
Wait, let me get this straight. Are you saying that people move to Montana from California to try to escape all the madness there and then they try to change Montana into the hellish California they just escaped like refugees? Wow. Some people just never learn do they?
commanderdavey - Here in Kern County, Home of the Okie based Country Sound, we call these folks do-gooders. Such folks have heaved themselves into our state in such great numbers few cannot communicate with one-another. Small children of ethnicity must translate for the older family members. Its common as the wind blows here. Illiteracy is so bad, the elementary schools cannot even began to cope with such overwhelming numbers of what I call needy. Over one third to half of every one single classroom has diabetes, inhalers, medical limitations mandating a full time county aid worker with them. Country of origin; Equator. The unspoken issue/s are each tribe coming too California’s cities hate one another, do not speak the language, as well as have differing cultures. Its amazing to see and hear third an fourth graders go at each-other as hate spews from they’re tongues. California has allowed this horrendous cross cultural mass divide to such a pandemic degree even medical personnel and other first responders cannot communicate with so many non-English speaking people. Jobs disappearing, coming here to work they claim. Doing what? Filling job Vacancies at NASA at Edwards Air Force Base? Robotics Technicians? Blue collar jobs requiring certification? Licensing? The ability to read write English? NOPE. Hardly. I’m tired of the lies. Political correctness is destroying our entire country. I could fill every comment section of this page with horrid California state destruction all from within. Meaning, by political progressive elites living behind great security walls in Palo Alto, huge estates by the coastal regions. ALL speaking down to us peons of the working class dictating how we must be prepared to give more, while learning to live with less. HORSESHIT! Who fights for us the common man? I feel beat-down as a Native born resident. I broke bread with many a hard worker from the farm industry to the Oil industry. Picked up Merle Haggard many a time to help get his drunkin’ ass to his hotel room. Todays drug addictions rule over all available first responders capabilities. I know full damn well the Fonda’s bought up a huge patch of ranch land, moved in, then immediately set in trying to change or lure big $$$ into the community. I series Yellowstone I believe points this out. Its a modern version of old way melding into new progressive corporate greed ways. The Indian tribe thrown in just to make the full guilt complete. Sorry- I am on a free writing binge. I love my state, even my states flag. I love the geography it offers up. Its vast deserts too High Sierras... I happen to feel the Native who’s being pushed away. I mean nothing. As nothing here has meaning, other than, wheres the unlimited bread basket United States Movies have shown the world for decades? Yes! They come because Hollywood is the teacher 👨🏫
Winters in the Adirondack mountains with 10 20-30 below, one day 50 below when I was leaving work at four. Is even more brutal than where my family was at in Wyoming.
@@janetpattison8474 Yes, I went out X-C skiing at - 43 F back in the 70s in the Adirondacks. You could ski right on over the roofs of the lake camps on 15 feet of snow. I’m back in upstate NY now and the winters are too warm !! I miss the old predictable snow and ice skating. The cold also keeps out the riff raff who want a lazy life. The one thing about WY and MT winters is the wind. That would get to me. I spent 3 winters in Chicago and that was bad enough. It would be worth it though for that gorgeous Montana country, and people who are self-reliant.
Cityfolks moving out to the country and trying to change the country towns is an issue all over the U.S. If you want to move to a more rural location you need to be willing to embrace what is there or you are better off saving your money and only going there for vacations.
Oh I agree be for we know it there will no trees because people want to be out in the country but the more people the less country humans destroy so much for animals.
I lived in Montana for 5 years. The last two years I lived in a town with a population of 85 people. We did have a very small grocery store but they didn’t have most of what people normally buy. One hour and 45 min away from any big town, near a ski resort and I miss it so much! Had to put antifreeze in the toilet, when pipes freeze I’ve had to wait for them to thaw or the only local with a welding machine. I experienced 2 days of near 60 below, and was snowed in for 5 days. Only way I finally got out was one of the neighbors had a tractor but I was close to last in the list. Also, another thing people aren’t familiar with is a block heater. You literally have to plug your vehicle in even when you go shopping because it gets so cold it probably won’t start when you come back out. There’s white outs so if you don’t know the road you’ll wind up in the ditch or off the side of a cliff. And I’ve had to hitchhike many times when my truck broke down. Just a few more things to think about! But, if my wife would move, I’d go back in a second!
Living in Montana : Sometime around 2006 or 2007, Neil (or is it Neal) Boortz had a conservative radio talk show. He spoke to this woman who came from either Honduras or El Salvador; I can't remember which country. She spoke pretty clearly. She said she could not understand why so many people come to this country from horrible third world countries, or from war torn countries, and try to make this country like the one they left behind. She said something like this, "If you hated it so much there, why try to change this country to be like the one you left behind?" She couldn't understand that. My molther told me many times about her grandmother, my great grandmother.. She had come to the United States in the late 1880s or early 1890s. She came from Kiev, Ukraine. She spoke not a word of English. When she came here, she wanted to become an American. She wanted to learn to speak and write and read English. She wanted to be an American, and not a Ukrainian. And she became an American. She did not try to make this country like the one she left behind.
Funny, I lived and worked in San Diego for about yrs. I worked in a restaurant. The LEGAL Mexican immigrants that had gone through the proper channels to get their citizenship, seriously spoke worse about the ILLEGAL immigrants than anyone I’ve ever heard! I swear😳 I was shocked- but that’s exactly why they moved here was to be an American - they were VERY proud of their accomplishments and I’m telling the truth they did not like the ones sneaking in! It pissed them off!
Excellent points I was born in 1948 my grandparents immigrated from Poland my parents would not even teach me the Polish language because they wanted me to be an American how times have changed
She's like my grandparents and great grandparents from either side! Grandma from the Basque Country may have spoken Basque with some of her family who came over too. But she was adamant that her kids would learn English, and didn't use Basque much around them! She and her family who came here from the South of France, wanted to assimilate, they even 'Anglicised their names! So did my those on my Dad's side, they changed their last name slightly to seem more English! They came from the German-speaking countries like Prussia!
I’m from Mexico, I’ve living here for 15 years. I see a massive problem with people migrating to this country. from all over the world. These people don’t have a small clue about why this country is SO GREAT! Then, these migrants have kids and these citizens vote for the same socialist/communist ideas once their parents fled from!!! USA will eventually become a mix of Europe/SouthAmerica/Asia :( We need to learn history! Is SO IMPORTANT!! For the sake of the world LEARN!!! Susan wise “The Story of the World” series books are great :)
I come from a wilderness region in Sweden and when we move somewhere else, the rule is that you go and stay for a short visit and "listen to the wilderness". It means find out what nature is telling you; water, wildlife, roads, etc., because it will determine much of your future. Also, make the smallest "foot print" you can and let nature give you what it has so when you leave, nobody knows you were there...and if you move, the first thing you do is bring a gift to your neighbors, saying: "thanks for letting me come and stay" as sign of respect for them...
I drove from Bozeman where we flew in, and went to east glacier. We then spent time over in west glacier. Stayed in Columbia Falls and Whitefish. It was beautiful, but driving up and back was amazing the open land! 80mph speed limits and hardly a car on the road. Loved it, but I doubt I would make a winter. Lol.
@@Michael-qy1jz Winter is honestly scary. Even on major interstates near descent sized towns there are almost no plows or deicer. And everyone still drives the speed limit.
I went to Montana for an elk hunt and easy 2 hours without seeing a gas station. Not used to that being from upstate NY and almost ran out of gas. Other hunters told me Wyoming was even more desolate though. So probably Alaska then Wyoming then Montana
The Montana cold is no joke. I used to work the ICBM Missile field in Central Montana. The last alarm I responded to was in the middle of the winter. It was -30F with 45 mph sustained winds which made the wind-chill factor -80+. Your tears will freeze if you don't blink rapidly and you'll develop frostbite in seconds (not minutes) if you're not properly covered up. Always carry a 50lb bag of cat litter and a shovel along with an extra set of winter blankets in your truck (please buy a truck if you plan on moving to Montana...most cars just won't cut it.) Montana is an Outdoorsman's paradise, but it will chew you up and spit you out if you're not prepared for it.
It’s my dream to move to montana. Born and raised in north texas, my family is all super into the city. We live 30 minutes outside of dallas and my mother still complains about being in “hillbilly town” My grandfather (best friend) was the only one that grew up in paris tx, on a ranch. I want to move my family out to montana, I want to get away from the city. I want to live in a small town, people there are kind and there’s a sense of community. I’ve been doing research about how to adapt to montana living for YEARS in preparation. But I’m afraid I’m going to get in over my head….I wish my granddad were here to give me advice. I don’t know SQUAT about living in a rural area. I’ve had a taste here and there, and it keeps calling me back to the point that I’m in tears just thinking about being stuck in the city.
My mom's family settled in flathead. I remember visiting my grandma in Kalispell. They were always blue dog dems, now she can't stomaches what they have become and has to reckon with the changes between rural democrats being completely eclipsed by crazy urban mindsets.
Yeah, this is awesome candor. I loved 6:30. Entertaining thoughts about moving out west. That’s exactly the attitude I want to see-and to see someone who is not too shy to express it.
Snow was something I struggled with for some years. Hiring someone is not the answer: 1) do they show up and 2) do they do it right, and 3) they often can do damage. Depending on the property an ATV is minimal. Most people around me have a tractor and help out when things get real real bad, but you have to be able to deal with it yourself 99% of the time.
@@jacobari6371 Cars and trucks have to go to town on the road. Plowing snow is something we do as needed. If one has money enough to buy the place, spend money on a skidsteer with a plow and be done.
Montana has a massive collection of backroads and forest service roads and trails that go in and around mountains and wilderness. That combined with the fact that we have a tiny population means really sparse roads everywhere
@,Cassidy I KNOW YOU DON'T REALIZE HOW NICE THAT REALLY IS ! I LIVE IN NEW MEXICO I HAVE A SMALL FARM AND NO TRAFFIC NONE IM TUCKED IN A SPOT WITH SOME BLUFFS AND HILLS BUT IT'S VERY NICE ,I DO OR AM OPEN TO A SWEET FARM GIRL IM A SINGLE FATHER SO IF YOU ARE OR YOU KNOW ANY THAT MAY BE LOOKING ID LIKE TO AT LEAST GET TO KNOW THEM 😁😘🇺🇸🙏
I love how honest and well intended Montana realtors are with videos like this. Was in a 9 year relationship with a man who’s family owned a 500 acre dairy farm. I can’t wait to get back to living this way. That being said many a friend who visited over the years were shocked by the rural life.
@@SaintSaint I was on a plane dropping into Kalispell on my way back to Canada. Two kids sitting with me are fifth generation ranchers. We're talking about John Deere tractors costing 500 grand US dollars. Helps to have a homestead that has NEVER had a bank mortgage. That's really the issue: Montana is NOT inexpensive, and there's either ranch families with no debt or you're just scraping by. Helps to have a certified Trade, preferably Red Seal. Or a govt. job with benefits.
First move here in a Jan w/o much cash or firewood but able to posthole up into woods to hack up an old deadfall over a week or two ... quite inconvenient/labor intensive than turning a thermostat! Got that right.
The only thing that sounded difficult was the snow. Having a road blocked due to snow can be tricky for groceries. Other than that....24 miles away from a grocery store isn't bad. I live in Texas where you have to drive an eternity for everything.
Well said! I'm a conservative, born and raised in rural San Diego. My wife is from Great Falls. California, as you know, is falling apart. We're not sure how much longer we can stand it here. Our worst nightmare would be to move to Montana, and have all these CA City-dwellers that complain about this state, come and trample Montana, and vote-in the same kind of lunacy.
My parents, family and friends that are born and raised San Diegans are all leaving California. We have had enough of the liberal lunacy in this state. We were going to try and hold out longer, but when Covid hit, it really opened our eyes to how far gone this state is. We truly believe its a lost cause. Good luck in figuring out what you are going to do my fellow San Diegan. We will truly miss this beautiful city.
They've been doing it since the early 90s. They ruined main street of the town of my earliest memories, Ennis, in the Madison Valley. I know a lot of the locals were totes fed up with the changes they'd brought in with their city planning and zoning ordinances (Ennis has a population of 800, tops, in a county of 6000). I just hope they all grew some cojones and voted the b***ds out next elections and returned to sanity. Alas, the aunt and uncle I communicated with there a lot back then are both gone, so I no longer hear anything from them.
I was born and raised in San Diego. My husband is from Philipsburg, MT. We spend a lot of time up here and the Californians have already driven the prices sky high and instituted all kinds of rules and regulations. We had talked about retiring up here someday but my husband says they've ruined it, which is sad.
@@SoCalianSD1 If I can get out, I won't miss San Diego one teeny tiny, bit. In my eyes, there is no such thing as a 'beautiful city'. Then again, I was raised rural and only hit the city when I was young and wild. As a kid I was rural enough that there was nothing to do outside of immediate family and to top it off, I was an only child. Friends were in school only. No one lived close enough to visit or hang out with. I was bored stiff. My best friends were my dogs and cats. I spent my free time alone exploring the wilderness with them. When I moved to the city, it was exciting. There was so much to do it was mind boggling. But back then, I was a wild young adult. The only thing I can say about city life is that it gave me the opportunity to become what I always wanted to be. A singer in a band. At 64 years old and doing that since I was 20, I'm tired of that too and was pushed into forced retirement, thanks to CoViD-19. Plus, I am no longer that wild crazy girl. All I want is to get as rural feeling as I can get, with no neighbors only feet away from me, no screaming traffic or planes, or emergency sirens, and no legal way to protect myself from 'bad guys'. I WANT OUT!!! I'll never look back if I can GTF out of here! You can miss San Diego and city life all you want. I won't. Not one iota.
@@TipsyMarlinTravels I agree with you, but to only a point. It isn't always Californians changing places. It's also the insane population growth and changing attitudes, even among locals. Yes, people moving from one place to another does skyrocket prices but that can happen within a state. Just look at what happened in "Silicon Valley" in California. The huge jump in real estate all over the country lately has been driven by the interest rate dropping to the lowest it's ever been, along with what the Covid pandemic has done to change how so many people work. (Gee, I don't have to go to the office. I now work from home so I can live anywhere) Laws change. Heck, when I was up in Montana it was shortly after the national speed limit on ANY road, which was 55 MPH, was given back to the individual states to decide. During the day, on any highway in Montana, there was no upper speed limit. (I thought I was in Germany on an autobahn!) At night there was a very low speed limit that was strictly enforced. Why? Because too many people were getting killed on curvy roads and hitting large wildlife, causing the rural emergency services to be overloaded. Zero daytime speed limit didn't last long though I think it was about two years.
One thing worth mentioning is the isolation in terms of lack of social stimulation and connection. In the country one can’t just pop into a night club or choose between multiple restaurants at the drop of a hat. You have to be ok with loads of alone time.
@@mindyharwood5992 Not like a city. Thank you. N u DO spend lots of time alone especially if u live up fairly high back in the mountains. Thank you again for your opinion.
I visited Montana a few years ago and was spending a month there. It was the greatest holiday I ever made! I loved the culture of the small cities, the ranches, the forests... Then we went to Bozeman and nearly immediately turned around and canceled our hotel... As a german, I can't understand why people who can live a life like you could in rural Montana want to change it in a life like we have to live in Germany - make every weak person feel comfortable and worry about everybody's feelings, get your everyday life dictated by a minority who is unable to get mentally adults.
As a 6th generation Montanan, I appreciate you bringing up the fact that out of staters are changing stuff and thats not what we want. I want my great-grandchildren to be able to do the things that I am doing with my son.
Every place has that. I grew up in a small oil producing, farming town along the beach in Southern California. It became known as surf city. Then all these out of staters, including those from Montana, moved in, and started crowding out and raising the land and housing prices. They made it so bad that they pushed working man out.
@@normpaddle Jersey Greg and Maryland Matt the weasel. Gianforte has a thing for killing animals that have been treed. Also wanted to keep people from using the river in front of his mansion in Bozeman. Montana used to be a purple leaning state - or at least had a more balanced political scene. Last couple years it has gone tin foil right.
WOW! This is the most honest real estate agent ever. All the things this guy says are very true especially the trailer trash and junk cars. If you don't like that don't move here please.
I was told by a Missouri river boat guide that out of over a million people living in Montana, only about 300,000 are "real Montanans". He took us up the Missouri river from Upper Holter Lake to Mann Gulch in his skiff so we could hike the trail where the Mann Gulch Fire claimed the lives of 13 out of 15 smoke jumpers in 1949. This is the country that Lewis and Clark named "Gates of the Mountains" because it''s where the Missouri goes into the mountains from the flat lands. Mann Gulch was really amazing with a wonderful trail, and the crosses and the plaques on and near the trail on the hillside the firefighters were running up to try to escape the fire. Also there were burned trees still evident, which was amazing after 60 years. It was kind of spooky because it was so isolated and you knew it was a place where you didn't want to get stuck at night with the temperatures plummeting. We paid him 100 dollars each way which was well worth it, seeing how the only other way into the gulch was beating through a very bushy trail from north of the gulch, navigating cross country, a pretty sketchy option. I trusted the guide but of course paid him the second hundred when he picked us up and took us back to the harbor. We've RVed in Montana a lot and know that the winters are nothing to fool with. Even in the summer you can get adverse weather, rain, snow and hail. One year in June Yellowstone Lake was still frozen, west and south Yellowstone were clear, but north and east Yellowstone still had 5 feet of snow on the road shoulders. And 4 wheeling, some of the worst most cement like mud I've ever encountered is in Montana, almost impossible to get off your truck. And of course you have to be aware of the wildlife. We've seen a lot of elk, deer and wolves, beavers, badgers, snakes and others in and out of the park, and bear and bison in the park. Gotta say, you have to have a satellite phone up there.
As a trainee naval officer, I recall hitch-hiking through Montana and Wyoming around 1952. I can close my eyes and see the wind blowing the tumbleweeds across the grassland that stretched as far as the eye could see. I had to lean against the wind that did not come in puffs. The wind was as steady as it was at sea. And truly, I stood in a sea of grass. This is not country for a person who needs a lot of company and the sound of voices. I met a cowhand in the dining room of my hotel. We talked. But not to fill the air with sound. And I felt more than heard from this fellow how people of the West differ from those from the East. The Old West we see in the movies has gone, if it ever was. But the West makes a person or breaks a person. Those who survived passed on their ways from generation to generation. If you could live at sea in a frigate for weeks and month at a time, you might be able to live in a small Western town. You have to be able to take people as they are and not as you wish them to be. You have to cultivate a generosity of spirit if you ever want to survive. For in the West, you cannot hide who you are.
“The other thing we have out here is animals” I grew up in rural Texas. Down the road a ranch had sold to a developer. They turned it into a bunch of 5 acre yuppie lots. We had community meetings at the local fire hall. Well at one of these meetings a lady stands up, explained that she lived in the above mentioned development, and that the deer were getting into her garden, she wanted to know what WEEEEE were going to do about it. My Dad being the smartass he pipes up “Oh I know! We’ll just put those invisible fence collars on them!” The ladys eyes get big and she exclaimed “Thats a great idea!!” The whole place erupted in laugher. She never came to another meeting.
Absolutely agree!! I lived for several years while I was growing up on a ranch in the central Rockies in Colorado. We had to ride horses to the school bus pick up point where we tethered the horses in a three-sided shelter for the day. The day started at 4:30 a.m. and ended at 9:00 p.m. We all had our own chores and there were no excuses for not finishing because everyone relied on each other to get their work done. Sometimes that included wading through thigh-deep snow to get to an animal enclosure. It was no picnic, but it was beautiful, gratifying, and healthy. Truly miss it, but am too old now to try to rekindle it.
I live in Montana and I have for over 45 years. I am 15 minutes from the nearest store and if I want a Walmart or some fast food I have to make a 140 mile round trip. I lose cell service for about 20 miles on my drive into the larger town. I love Montana this way and don't want any big city ways here. Montana is perfect the way it is, if you can't live this way stay where ever it is you are now.
This sounds like paradise to me... I was born and raised in texas. Californians are destroying texas and we can't get rid of them. I was looking at Montana, Alaska even russia or poland.
When in Rome do as the Romans do- or stay the hell out! And this is from a city dweller who understands and agrees with all the comments here. If you move to somewhere nicer leave your bad habits behind.
As I stated in another comment, as far as I'm concerned as a native Montanan, you don't have to change overnight if you move to an area whose culture and political climate differs from where you came from, but make a sincere effort, and don't cop the attitude that you not only don't need to adapt but the natives need to change for you.
That’s the whole point is to move to live somewhere different. Not to make it like the place you came from which literally you were trying to escape from that kind of life.
People moving here to NC have ruined the peace and quiet, and want to change it to exactly where they came from. We have moved to get away from them...but they continue pushing further out. Keep those out people out.
My fam moved to Montana (Missoula & Superior) from SoCal in 1970, when I was 6. Moved back to Cali in 1978. As a kid I absolutely LOVED growing up in Montana. You're right about the snow, bears, wolves, et al. And more right about fitting in and not being from somewhere else. True story in 1970: On the Montana border, Interstate 15 heading north, a big beautiful billboard was posted that said: "Californians, Welcome to Montana. Now Go Home". We eventually fit in :)
I met this guy in Montana once, who was moving out of the state with his wife and children. He told me he and his new bride move there and one night it started snowing. And it kept snowing. And yet more snow. Finally the snow storm let up, so he packed up his wife and three children and fled the state.
I’m from what used to be a rural area. It’s been so overrun with people from the city that I left. I’ve been to Montana and loved it. I just hope you folks can keep from being run out of your own state.
I moved to eastern Montana for a job. I was told that the weather is just like Nebraska. A member of the community asked me if I have a battery blanket. I replied No, I have an electric blanket. She insisted I get a battery blanket! I found out the battery blanket was for the batteries in our auto. I should have noticed the plug ins all over town. I bought a whole new wardrobe as I could not keep my dresses from off my head and face. When the temp was at zero or above, people did not wear coats. It was a heat wave. I looked like an Eskimo and took lots of ribbing. And lastly, in Montana it is a status rule. You were judged on the pickup you drove, the gun in the rack and how big a dog you had. I drove a car and had a cat. I guess my stature was not too high.
Yeah! You will be a lot cooler with a dog. Not so much on car status. My son was driving a bmw first 6 years working for Montana railroad. No problem, he presently drive a 4Runner now. FYI he was only 22 years old when he moved there for a Railroad engineer job. Now when he complains it’s to hot here California.
That was a refreshing dose of reality. Montana can be a beautiful place to live and raise a family, but it is not easy once you are away from the cities, i.e. Billings, Bozeman, Missoula. Almost everywhere else you will find that you must be everything. If you want or need something you will have to figure it out. If you are not an independent self starter with abillities in various fields from mechanics, plumbing, agriculture, carpentry, medicine, electricity, hunting, self defense, irrigation, vetenary, first aid, canning and freezing, butchering, etc., etc., YOU WON'T MAKE IT. Nobody has a 8hr job. It is 24hrs every day and you are not always in control of your schedule. You may be snowed in or burned out at any time. And guess who the fireman is? That's right, YOU. You are also the truck driver, Snow plow operator, Ambulance driver, animal control, exterminator and garbage man. You are the first responder, police, search and rescue, school board, councilman, and wildlife officer. You are the volunteer, librarian, accountant, entertainment and welcome wagon. Want some baked goods or fine dining? Put on your chef's hat, because that's you, too. In short you had better be ready to "Cowboy Up" for everything at anytime or Montana will chew you up and spit you out. Honestly, most people are not capable or tough enough to manage life out here. Period. That's the truth. But if you can take all that in stride, this is still the best place to live free. Period.
This is 100% true. I laugh watching stuff like the 1923 because I still have my great great grandfathers memoirs from the late 1800s and early 1900s and he had his ranch in a similar area as to that show. Many of the scenarios shown in that show are no where near as brutal as they actually where. No one would leave cattle rustlers alive. You would shoot them where they stood. And if you decided to put a noose around their neck you would make sure they did not survive. That was everyone. My grandfather shot at cattle rustlers and they certainly shot back. When my grandfathers rivel arrived with a posse of men to kill him my grandmother had to take up arms to ensure he did not die. No shots were fired because she was able to get behind them and hold them up. Of course she and my grandfather were outnumbered so they just left. My grandfather then was arrested in town for attempted murder and got out of court because of his evidence of "You know me and what I have done for this town and you know that that man is a scumbag that lies cheats and steals cattle" that was enough considering my grandfathers rival had a reputation for killing folks with only 1 eye witness who backed up his story of "he drew on me" Not to mention when they tried to steal my grand fathers cattle he dropped one of his handguns on my grandfathers property. But that was the times. It was rough back then and while you have less of the gunslinger type of stuff, you still have the 8 months of winter 1 week of spring if any, and a few months of summer where it randomly snows. All of this while you have to maintain power, food, and your main trade to pay your property taxes. It is also important to note that due to the size of Montana that the industries are limited so you need to have a wide variety of skills to make it in whatever industry you go into whether its logging, ranching, working for the railroad, or perhaps one of those cushy city jobs that you may not be able to attend due to being snowed in because there is not a lot available. Also do note that in many places like livingston wind is not reported until it reaches over 50 mph and that the wind used to literally blow houses down and trains off the tracks. Not to mention the occasional tornado. Not to mention the unpredictability of the Yellowstone river which may just randomly take away a large chunk of your property if it decides to flood or change paths. But if you decide to just move to one of the cities or towns then life is a bit easier, but still awful weather 8 months out of the year without the benefit of freedom or a big economy so why are you moving up if that is what you want to do?
As a native Floridian for over 50 years I can definitely relate to people moving in from out of state and wanting to make it like it was where they "escaped from".
Yes, Florida is ruined and has been for almost 30 years. It is not going to get any better. Get out while you can. Most of my native friends are moving to Tennessee.
We're having the same problem in Texas; people moving in. Heard just yesterday that 10,000 a month is moving into Fort Worth. Go back and change it there.
Texas is looking more and more like California every month ..acres of new identical houses, strip malls gas stations, fast food..they’ve taken Texas ways out of Texas. Greed driven developers have ruined so much here. Many ranches and small towns all gone.
I moved to Missoula from Memphis, Tennessee, 15 years ago. Yes, it may take you 30 minutes to get to "civilization" if you live in Montana, but there are many metro areas where you can drive 30 minutes to an hour just to get somewhere in town! You have to drive 30 minutes to get anywhere in Memphis, in brutal traffic. I don't miss that.
Great comment!! I grew up in NW Ohio, had a young adult big city experience in San Francisco and Los Angeles and then beat feet for semi-rural. Flathead Valley is semi-rural in my opinion ... NOT Rural. Yes, I am 20-35 minutes to "shopping", but that is on state hwy (70mph) with no traffic lights. In L.A. it took me 1.25 hours to travel 12 miles to my office. I work from home for a CA educational institution as a computer programmer. I live on 8.25 acres in a cabin/ranch. I get my internet via Verizon hotspots: 4g ... hopefully soon 5g. I have a motorhome and have travelled MT and much of the US. And here at home ... golly UPS/FedEx and even the USPS provide excellent service for online stuff. I do not apologize for online shopping. I support local organic farms to THE MAX, though and we are fortunate to have many. Ultimately, anyone deciding on any lifestyle/location must do their homework. Much of this video is well said, but some is a bit off/cliche ... to me. FWIW, I moved to this area from Los Angeles in Feb 1994.
As a Montanian, i honestly would have no problem buying property next to somebody who has a whole bunch of broken down cars in their yard. Live and let live. Also, it suggests that might be a very handy neighbor to become friends with if you need car help in the future, and/or they might have a lot they could teach you!
As a Californian moving to Helena, I promise I won’t bring Cali with me. I love the freedom you have in your beautiful state and would never, ever disrespect it like that.
I moved from city to rural to retire. I love the mountains and trees but find the locals arrogant, ignorant, imbred and clanish. Here it's like - "I've been here 20 years", "I've been here 30 years", "I was born here", etc. Lucky for me, I dislike shopping, and enjoy nature. City folks in general are more friendly. In my life I have lived in 3 small towns and 5 large cities, in 6 different states. I don't recommend rural if you are a people person.
Thank you for leaving California in California. The worse thing i have see is them Democrats that bring their baggage with them and try to change why we Love out State.
@@joeblow5087 Ive had the complete opposite experience. Rural people can pick out a phoney from a mile away. The nicest people I’ve met. You just sound like a typical big city elitist ass wipe.
My wife and I moved to Lake County near Bigfork a few years ago from Louisiana. We love Montana and have no desire to change anything about it. My neighbors and I get along very well, we enjoy cooking out together and having fun occasionally. They are younger, but check on us and we check on them. Our road is dead end with only 3 houses on it, so we share in road maintenance and conditioning. Leave Montana the way you found it... it is beautiful and rugged. He is absolutely correct about cell service and snow fall... you would think being from Louisiana it would be a culture shock, but my wife and I absolutely love it the way it is.
I loved in Deer Lodge for awhile and I want add my support to this post.If you move to Montana you change. Montana is such a great state,cold winters and all,summers are great!I had some wonderful friends and cherished memories.
Im from south korea and i used to live in montana and there is nothing like montana. Most part of montana that i miss are going in to the woods camping with friends next to creek drinking brew
I grew up in Montana until junior high school. It is a very beautiful state. I have to live within a short distance to evergreen trees, as a result. I could not live in Montana alone, so I have no plans of living there now. I watched this video to see how accurate it was. You nailed it. The winters are long and intense. My family had an hour's drive to get groceries. I lived there in the 70's before cell phones. The mountains must block cell reception. I am not a big city person, but people that are need to have this information before living in Montana.
Lived off grid in Montana for 20 years 30 miles from the Canadian boarder and loved it. We spent all spring and summer getting ready for winter. It was nothing to have 3 to 8 feet of snow on top of 6 inches of ice. Great place but it takes a hardy breed of people to live there. Miss it everyday.
I’m 42 years old. I love the idea of buying a missile silo and making like a bear (prep and hibernate for the winter). The way global warming is going it might be we wise. I know better tho. By the time I retire my body will wish I’m back in Arizona. God bless Montana and all of its wild glory.
Brother you hit the nail right on the head...I'm an old Florida boy and we have seen through the decades how the big city moves down here and all we here is how much better things are up there than here..we have a simple response to that.."THEN GO BACK THERE".. I lived out west for 15 years and unfortunately had to move back to Florida. I left my heart in High Country Colorado...and absolutely adore Montana. It's a shame that Bozeman is being exposed to that situation. From experience I can tell you..if you give them an inch they will take a MILE...PUSH BACK against there ways that they try to invoke to your mountain lifestyle..just tell your county officials and local news agencies to make that as clear as it says "we like the way it is just fine, acclimate to our ways of life or GO BACK...God Bless you all out there and good luck.
You forgot to say, "What if you get sick?" The nearest hospital isn't at the end of the street . That being said, congratulations on your peace and quiet. Montana looks beautiful.
I moved out in the countryside in another country, and it's an old house from 1947. My first change after relying completely on wood for heating during a long winter, was that I never want to be dependant on wood for heat again. I've now installed a heatpump and it's just so much better. Having a fire going can be charming, but I would never have it anywhere but in a cabin that you only visit occasionally. It's a lot of work keeping a fire going, because if you ignore it it will ignore you and try to die out. Then you need to spend time trying to bring it back to life and so on. The other thing I hated was the superdry air, and how overly hot it was all the time. Either it was way too cold, or it was way too hot and superdry. It's just nothing I want on a day to day basis again. With a heatpump you just turn it on and you got steady temps, and the best thing is the humidity is also in check. I remember how quickly I became tired in the evenings when it was super dry and hot, so that's something to keep in mind. The other thing is that you have to plan for when you should start or not start a fire dependant on what you're going to do. The last factor for me at least is that I have to buy wood, and briefly into my 2nd winter here now with a heatpump, I already know I'm saving money by only using electricity for heat. So, for me at least it was just no gains by using a woodstove, and I could easily have needed a new one as well which would only made it more expensive and cumbersome. So, having a fire is charming, but being fully dependant on it is a chore. That's my 2 cents.
Now I'm homesick, the middle of nowhere, Glasgow is my home, still have family there. Thanks for keeping the Big Sky Country the same as I remember it.
The thing about living rurally is that people expect it to have the convenience of the city but with the lack of city. That’s not how it works, and I love it that way. Also people like to try to install the culture of their city, which in my opinion are cesspools, onto the wilderness or rural culture.
@Sean Fay that’s what I’m scared of… people trying to make the rural areas more fitted to their needs and adding home after home. Before you know it, it’s a big ass suburb in a nice open field..
The same people that complain about 'everyone' killing the earth yet they trample it everywhere they roam with their concrete and stores of convenience.
What was so sad was how people moved to Montana from out of town and stated to gate up the public roads that ran through their property. When my grandfather was a kid in big timber hearing stories from his grandfather of the wild west he was able to go wherever. Often times it was common practice to just open the gates to access the road and close it behind you to not let the cattle out. Obviously you stuck to the road to respect the property, but unfortunately many of the rich outsiders moved in and gated everything up. That then became the norm with all of the Californians moving up and basically disrespecting the state and now its sadly being changed by people that come to move to a place and then try to change it. As a kid I always wanted to go back to the area my parents and grandparents grew up in in Wyoming and Montana, but sadly the state seems to have changed too much with its low population with the massive influx of Californians. Many camping grounds, lakes and mountains that are no longer accessible because someone decided to put up a gate on a public road and has been using their money to fight the city on it for years with the sheriff getting involved multiple times. And just the stupid policies put in place. Despite there being a grey wolf breeder in the area that had wolves to add to Yellowstone, they brought in the most aggressive wolf possible from Canada and essentially decimated the Deer population in Yellowstone because they didn't want to allow hunters to do the work and were worried about the grey wolf not have been robust enough to last even though it was what originally survived there. Now we got shows like Yellowstone and the new 1923 has come out and showed Montana in its idealized way attracting people who like the idea of it without understanding the reality of it. Those people then come in and try to change it. And sadly it seems like they are taking over. With property tax the way it is, I know of multiple people including some of my family members that were taxed out of their house with the Californians buying houses above listing prices driving the market up so high that no one could afford a house or even to pay their property tax. I mean what do you do when you ranch that nets 75k a year after expenses now is on a property that is worth 10s of millions of dollars. That ranch was the idealized version of Montana and a way of life for them and now their property was sold to build homes because they were priced out of it. With no where even remotely affordable they had to move to a different state. And now they are down the votes for that household and replaced with multiple households that now vote to change the state. Its a crying shame. If you don't like it, don't move there. I hope Montana doesn't turn into another Colorado but I fear the worst.
You lost me a bringing the big mean wolves from Canada. Stick to a theme (idiots putting up gate with big money and ignoring western old entrenched law: you can't put gate up). The other stuff you actually know nothing about. We're now sending you beavers, after making sure the big mean grizzly and black bear have open borders. What did you send? invasive skunks, turkey, and racoon. We don't need no coons.
California gets a bad rap all the time, and many of it is deserved, but the data doesn't seem to back up your claims about californians messing up your state It's just all in your head.
Your country is being deliberately destroyed from within. You still have space to escape to, but that will also be ruined sooner or later. Millions are pouring in from the southern border changing the nature of what your country is. They are doing exactly opposite to the advice given by this gentleman in the blog.
I use to be a truck driver for Marten Ltd/Blue Bird a while ago. Loved the drive from Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana. Beautiful. The last time I saw that drive was when the shooting stars covered the skies. October
Great sound advice, I live in remote rural Ireland as my folks have done for generations, you got to be a special breed to hack it and i can emphasize with every word you speak . Love things the way they are and as they always have been, yep solar panels and that sort of thing i will grab and adapt to according to my needs, huge problem with most city folks is they can not hack country ways and then want to impose what they are running away from on their new alien environment there by defeating the whole purpose of the move in the first place and I have first hand knowledge. Love mountainy regions of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, Gods own country Gods own people, wish I were a young man again maybe I would join ye there, Best Regards from Ireland,
Thanks for speaking the truth! I lived in Idaho for a while and the challenges you face in Montana are much the same as in Idaho. One thing I would add is health care. If you retire to Montana or Idaho Don't have a heart attack or stroke unless you're ready to meet your maker. Even with Life Flight Insurance (if you're asking "what's that?" Don't move to Montana or Idaho) time is of the essence in surviving long enough to get to a hospital with sufficient resources, minutes count.
Husband was born and raised in Alaska. Myself, rural Washington. We've thought about rural Montana quite often. We want to be away from people. Too many people too many problems.
Moved to Montana with my family about 10 years ago from the Florida panhandle. Just to let you know, they pretty much lack manners here (at least what we call manners) You know, yes ma’am, no ma’am, holding the door for a lady, or saying excuse me. I’m not saying they’re flat out rude at all, they’re just a bit peculiar, and not what we’re used to. Oh, and forget the sweet tea. Lol 😂
That's because you are an outsider and probably not trying to fit in my in-laws live in dillon we visit a couple times a year and enjoy the place for what it is and get along with almost everyone but I'm a guest there and act like it don't leave wherever you are and try and make wherever you go like home
I was raised in Las Vegas, NV and hate city life even in a small big city. The closest walmart to me now and for the last 6 years is about 40 minutes away. I love it. Going rural is the best decision I could have ever made.
I think that if People Prepare for example to do their Shopping Every 3 or 4 or 6 months of everything they Need; that it won't be So bad, the problem is when they have to Drive So Far every week just to Get Groceries and toilet paper and Soap.
Funny though he's just talking about the mountains, which is where he lives, but 2/3 rlthe state is prairies. Cold as hell, windy . Like 40 to 50 mph sometimes. Wind chills in the -40 and below range. No trees, nothing at all to block it. I LOVED IT.
From rural Texas, I chuckle thinking of city slickers "discovering" these valid points and wholeheartedly agree on the "Don't try to turn my Red State Blue" point.
Paul Flannigan I didn’t hear him ‘politicize’ the meaning of the changes he was referring to. Rural living does NOT mean any color, be it Red or Blue, when it comes to surviving a bear attack, for instance, or giving someone a helping hand during a weather event. I sure hope you’re not one of those who may be screening or putting up filters before you help someone in need. Wonder how you would feel if someone would ask your preference on ANYTHING before they would help you.
These are all great points. One thing that was missed is the brutal cold that we can get. This winter for instance, I was out at 3:30 am in -45 temps trying to get my propane warmed up so appliances would work.
I'm not thinking about moving to Montana, but the title looked interesting. I wasn't sure if it was going to be a serious discussion or a comedy skit. I'm glad for your sincerity.
Agreed don't want to live in Montana too cold for me. I'll stay in Fla. Like the video don't try change it to where you came from. Too late for us. Great video though, refreshing to hear somebody being honest
Came from northern Ontario Canada. Hospitals bragged about their survival rate. If you survived until somebody missed you then they dragged you out of the bush at 20 degrees below to the nearest hospital 2 hours away your chances of survival were probably pretty good anyway.
He mentioned something about your car breaking down that made me think of parts of the Texas panhandle/NM/AZ. I've traveled from Oklahoma to Arizona numerous times. I've been across the Navajo Reservation, parts of NW NM, down I-40, etc etc. There were places out there where it was so far to anywhere, I was thinking that if I broke down, and called a tow truck/dealership, it could be hours before someone got to me...and there were places that were even more remote than where I was traveling. I'm not from a big city, but at least help wouldn't be more than 30 minutes away. Most people have no idea just how remote some places in our country are.
Been on that road. Drove to NM from MI. Grew up around farm country, so I'm used to open space... But I've never seen anything quite like that stretch. Farmers/ranchers were checking their land by helicopter, and there wasn't a building in any direction as far as you could see for hours at a time. Remote as I've ever been.
@mewabe4 "South east Oregon is like that." Two roads through it. I drove north from Winnemucca and was amazed at the wide open mostly uninhabited space. A good place for a wildlife refuge ;-)
Yes. P Anderson, I know what you mean. I have done a fair bit of traveling and even if you are off roading in CA, it seems like even if you get stuck 4x4 ing anywhere w/in 200 miles of L.A. there will be someone else coming along with in 2 hrs. Got stuck along Colorado River aqueduct east of Indio. Ca and about after about 45 minutes someone came along in a Jeep and pulled out my 2wd truck. I was exploring in SE Montana northwest of Buffalo, SD. heading to Capitol dome in the Custer N.F. Very isolated, and after running across a deeply rutted mud field turned around back ahead of hard rain that would have made climbing a dirt road back to the main highway, (SD-85) I BELIEVE impossible.
Many years ago when I was young (30) and very g-damn FOOLISH, I took a notion to build a small log cabin up in the mountains near Georgetown Lake. I talked to a few locals with property that summer around that area. Yes it is a gorgeous place to hang out when it is summer. The air is fresh, sweet with scent of the woods. As you can imagine, the winter time is a totally different story -- like being on a different planet. Snow can and does get 4 or more feet deep. There were few mountain men that lived in those conditions past that age. Any small accident could turn deadly. Help is often not going to be available. Although being snowed in sounds romantic, one's sanity can very quickly depart when cold and starvation is constantly at the door. If you want to live in a remote area anywhere in Montana, it is very difficult to be fully prepared for the harshness of months of winter. You will be working from spring until the first snow flake getting ready for that onslot and much snow and brutal weather. If you live in Bozeman now days, you have to be able to make some sort of living that pays hugh amounts of $$ to afford even a modest home, which is very likely not available. Those kind of jobs do not exist anywhere these days. Many people live in campers on side streets which can get a good meaning person in trouble with the city. And I should mention, a lot of people would like to live in this state, but just cannot make it. Luck only goes so far.
Guys, to be perfectly honest, those of us in rural far Northern California, would love for these nut cases from Hollywood, etc. to move out... ANYWHERE. But we wouldn’t want them to spoil what you are so blessed to have!
@@yellowdog762jb So many of us wish we could do that. CA needs to be 3 or 4 states. Not one. If they could even split it into 2 states with conservatives on one side and libtards on the other, the rest of the US would see how many conservatives live here.
You did a great job pointing out rural living in Montana except you forgot to mention that UPS & FedEx will not deliver your packages if your road & driveway are not plowed and USPS mail will not stop at your mail box if it is not plowed in front of the mail box. I live in Sula Montana and that has been my experience, we had to have the Schwann's delivery truck towed out of our snowy driveway twice then they put the a stop on delivery during the winter months.
@@LivinginMontana1 I subbed, hope to see your channel grow. I will share it on twitter to see if we can get you some new traffic so you can get monetized.
I live in the city and visited my grandfather for Thanksgiving this year. I immediately fell in love with the state, especially the area where he lives (Red Lodge). The town is small enough to where it seems like everyone knows everyone else, and people actually greet one another on the sidewalk and stop to chat. The people are honest and hard working, and are outwardly friendly. It’s a small and quiet little town, but it’s simplicity and location near to nature and the mountains is what I love more than anything about it. Beautiful state with some beautiful people. Wouldn’t mind moving up there or to the Dakotas sometime in the future.
I've noticed that most transplants are moving to the southwest and south of the state. We are starting to get movement up north. Takes me over an hour to get to Great Falls. I love it up here. Moved from Colorado 9 years ago when my home state went crazy.
I broke my leg working on a feedlot up in Sydney and had to wait for an ambulance to come and pick me up and drive me over to Minot North Dakota to get the surgery done. Also, the nearest Walmart was 50 miles away. Couple things to think about
Did the rural thing with a half hour drive to the market for years, lots of snow too! No cell coverage etc. Loved it when I was younger but lots of work to live like that. Snow must be plowed. Ice damming can be an issue. If you are over 70 it’s not really a brilliant idea to move to a rural area. Remember medical is far away also. Just some stuff to consider. Montana is awesome, Go visit and then go live where you can be safe!
Right on Linda, my wife and I will visit, but moving to Montana no. We both are in need of medical every three or four months an our time done come and went. I would like to hire a guide too take me fishing only because my doing so assures I don’t step on any landowners toes. Peace and beauty and then the old folks home.
Having lived in Alaska for a decade, I am so surprised at how much rural Alaska and Rural Montana have in common. I was over in Bigfork last weekend and there is some beautiful country between there and Billings. Townsend was my favorite on the drive.
I'm going to save this for anyone who is considering the move. I've lived in Madison county my whole life and I couldn't have explained it better. Thank you!
Some questions these people need to ask themselves: -Do I need to always be connected to cell phone service? Do I need any internet beyond slow DSL? -Do I like going to the club or bar every weekend or so to get my social fix? Do I need the occasional hookup? -Do I like shorter commutes? Would a long drive drive me bonkers? -If anything on my car or in my house breaks, will I readily call somebody to fix it instead of fixing it myself? Do I prefer to have all the ready conveniences of civilization within close reach? -If my neighbor's property looked like a squatter's village or a junkyard, would I be able to tolerate it? Would I take it as my right to ask him to clean up HIS property? -Would I be unable to tolerate or cooperate with someone with different political views than my own? Would I feel the need to impress my own views upon them? It's not an all-inclusive list, but if you answered yes to any of the aforementioned questions, rural living may not be for you.
I just went through Montana with the train, you never realize how vast it is. The train goes pretty much all day 80-90 MPH with just a few stops, it's just huge ranches, farms, or nothing, occasional small towns and no phone service almost all day during your ride.
Totally relatable. I live in interior Alaska by myself, up on top of a mountain.. 8 miles drive down the dirt mountain road just to get to my mailbox, and another 40 minutes to town after that.. about an hour drive to visit local stores and things. I plow my own property, I fix my own everything, etc etc etc.. This video is so on point, about every little detail.
Awesome point made. If you want to live there, then don’t try to change it! That advice could be applied to immigration in general. We live out in the country in northern Canada and we agree with your views exactly!
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"Don't push where you came from onto the place you're moving to." Perfectly said and should apply universally everywhere.
👍🏻Very well said sir👍🏻
I read a great one- when you come you're not a missionary, you're a refuge
There should be a law if you moved out of state you cannot vote for 5 years on local elections. I think 5 years might be a little long but it gives people enough time to adapt and look at things from the locals perspective.
AMEN!!
When in Rome...
In Montana you can stand in the road talking for 7 minutes and not a single cars comes by. I love it
And probably that car would stop and join the conversation.
10+ years ago I cycled from WA to PA. As I went through MT I was able to cycle down the middle of I-90 w/o a car insight. Took a selfie to share with others. Love MT and hope to be one of the lucky people to move there when I retire and blend in.
Talking to who ?
I lived in Idaho for 11yrs..2 miles outta town no cell service..ive walked down the main road and no vehicles for 1 1/2 hrs...but 90% of the time they stop and ask if I need a ride..my eyes are tearing up as I write this...i miss it and will be back
😂
I love the fact that more people have watched this video than live in Montana.
Wow, you're actually right
@@oz9063 Yo, it's the dude who made me like Montana.
It's the Moving to Montana Hashtag #MovingtoMontana that directed the traffic to this post. Me being a Montana resident finds that scary. This was a spot on video of how we live in Montana.
There are over a million people in Montana now but of course, winter will come!!
😂 all the ‘interested to move there’
As a fellow Montanan I think the best way to show how winter life here is to show them. Sometimes visual is better than words.
Some people don’t understand we actually prep before winter starts i.e. checking maintenance on snowplows, generators , making sure wood ready if wood fireplace or stove. Plenty flashlights/candles , and of course food and water supply. This is not the place where winter rolls in and you think everything will be the same as fall. Don’t bet on it.
We live 4 miles from town and every winter our driveway has about 3 inches of ice. 2 years ago no one could come in and no one could get out. So sand is highly recommended. Yes winters can be rough but I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I’m a baby boomer and this is home.
I love these ranch ads and big lake houses and they ALL show the places in the summer. How about seven months of winter along with three months of tough sledding???!
"I think the best way to show how winter life here is to show them." That's the general idea, yes.
Boomer. Haha.
Back in my day.
If you want to move to Montana, and change it. Don’t! We like it here!
I live in a rural area. and though we did need a few things like better medical I personally resent people coming here and ruining it "where they came from" and our BOS are so stupid they fawn over the shiny city money. they LEFT "where they came from" so WHY reproduce it?? Changes come with a price and some prices aren't worth it.
M G yes agree but I think we lost Bozeman to liberals unfortunately
I hear North Dakota is nice....
Katrina Gunther which is very sad. Such a pretty area.
collinsfriend1 amen
I pray Montana stays wild.
Love the Montana state and its really cold weather and a lot of snow but still a nice place for people who want to live in PEACE.
Not much problem. Too cold for most people, hard, hard winters
Pray, Montana is a cool little place. I could totally live there.
In a lot of places around the country there are "twin cities" but here in the west, Montana and Wyoming are like "twin states."
Me too. Hey it could be a movement!
City folks tried to do that out here in NE PA. They wanted curbs and street lights in miles of rural farm country because its too dark. Our twp told them they should go back to the city where they have those things. Gotta love it.
Where in NE Pa do you live, Pam? My parents are from Bradford County and we still have kin living there.
Lmao Pam I’ve been looking to go out in that neck of the woods. Specifically to get away from curbs street lights and the annoying hustle and bustle of suburbia and urban areas. Don’t worry if and when I come I won’t be looking for street lights or curbs. I just want a homestead and self sufficiency.
I live there too. Tried to do? Kiddo, have you been to the Poconos lately? They've done it. We had a police force of three people, one police car. They closed at nights and weekends Now they have a force to rivel a big city and the laws to boot. They came in from N.Y. and N.J. to get away from the crime and taxes. Well, guess what? They brought it with them. They took over the local political systems, Then squeezed out the locals. Then proceeded to make it just like where they came from. That's the problem, It's like a cancer. They kill where they're at then move on to a healthy environment and take over and ruin that. Over and over.
Here in rural Virginia people come from the city to live in the country and the first thing that they do is add more exterior lights to their house and keep them on all night. Then they try to get street lights installed and the road repaved and widened with drain pipes installed in the ditches. If they wanted a suburban neighborhood then that's where they should have moved.
Right on. Cant stand pansy ass city folks who move to the country and then try to "get involved" in everything.
Australian here, an hour is a very close neighbour in our rural areas, I’ve lived places where it was over an hour drive to the front gate of the property and over 2 hours to the nearest neighbour with a 4 hour drive to the closest shop/store, most people own at least one aircraft and many have multiple aircraft in the family, both rotary and fixed wing.
And just like here, the people you're describing are one micro fraction of a percentage of the populace. Hence why it's easy to romanticize - most people don't know anyone who lives like that personally unless you're also from the country/bush.
That is not true. In Europe almost everybody own rotary fixed wing
Australia is like the desert version of Alaska to me. Almost nobody lives there except natives and most of the territory is so vast that it’s near incomprehensible in both places. Both are super cool places on earth.
I live in California and I'm all for places like Montana staying the way they are. For as they say" Come, visit, have a good time. But please go home and leave us the way you found us. Happy"
Amen brother. I’m in California, from Utah.
And for full disclosure there were some great places in CA. Even L.A. but as a kid in the 1960s. To Sac area mid 80s for EMT/ER training; mtns around Georgetown/Cool were very nice but the city fundamentally scared me off forever.
Hello Donald , I've lived near to the Lake District, the most beautiful part of England, about 900 Square miles which is visited by more than 15 million (!) most every year and quite obviously far smaller than parts of Montana. The most of those '15 mil.' centre themselves in three small main towns of Ambleside, Keswick and Windermere ... the souls of those places have long since been erased in lieu of monetary gain and the 'property game' ... As one of your country's native elders stated some time ago ... " Only the mountains and the wind remain the same " Be well .
Problem is liberals want to impose their ideology where ever they go. It's like a cancer. Oregon, Washington, Colorado. Large towns in Idaho. They feel they are 'entitled'.
Me too, I'm in LA and I would never try to change another place. I don't quite understand how they're changing it. Are they opening yoga studios and coffee bars?
He’s right. About everything. We’re 45 minutes from the nearest store and 15 miles from the nearest gas station. We learned. You will too. Just don’t bring the madness you’re leaving with you and you’ll be just fine.
Well PUT
Good advice, here.
madness?
@@stellabluelulu if you have to ask you are part of the problem.
When I lived there it was 80 miles one way (160 miles round trip) to a Walmart or Target! And that was in a tourist area.
As a Native of Montana I’ve seen many people come and go- first thing they do fence and post NO TRESPASSING! Growing up here you could pretty much pull off the Hwy, walk across a field to the river and fish anywhere. The landowners would wave to you, ask how the fishing was, chat then go on their way. Those days are gone..but feel incredibly blessed to have been raised here.
I am sorry to hear it is being ruined already.
I'm from so cal just checking out Montana. If I ever decide to move there I'm gonna do my homework. Like the guy said winter is bad for city folks there's no Walmart home depot close by. You've got to be ready mentally and physically. Not sure but very old people from California won't make it there. It seems you have to be in shape mentally and physically.
larry trejo I would recommend living somewhere like Laurel, where I was raised, so Billings is only about 20 mins away. Yellowstone river is great, not too much wildlife, but the wilderness is easily accessible. Red lodge ski mountain is only and hour or two away, Clooney dam lake about 45 min, and the Interstate near for further travel.
That sounds like a real nice place.
The Lawyers have destroyed this nation.
I lived in Montana years ago, and returned many times to visit family and friends. The people are great. And the scenery is wonderful. He's right: don't expect urban conveniences in rural areas (in any part of the world). With some self reliance, life is good in Montana.
Do you have tips? Like how to be self reliant enough? For example, a food garden, a few chickens etc?
Like Montana we're having an influx of Californiastanians in Northern Wyoming, and yep 6 months in and they're already trying to change things. What they've yet to realize though is that not only are they wasting their time, they're wasting their time in a place they are not wanted. Winter is coming though and with that things should begin working themselves out all natural like.
I hope it doesn't happen to ya'll like it has in Texas. They started with the big cities. Then they hit the small towns and rural areas. No maatter where they go they want to change things. Now they are dividing up the big ranch lands and selling them into small tracts. Getting harder to farm, ranch hunt and fish here. Especially hunting.
i hope and pray for yall. i've lived in L.A., D.C. phoenix, AZ. houstan, TX. they can have the big cities!! those people are so screwed up mentally, it's terrible, arrogant, self centered, greedy, i could go on, but yall livin in the great northern states, yall know what lifes about. i miss the west. please protect the wide open i call it cowboy way of life.
Fortunately my Town is quite small and these People are facing resistance like they never expected. Those of us who were born and raised here are banking on Winter to get rid of some of them (these clowns have no idea), others will leave because we have no Shopping Malls or fancy Restaurants and the remainder will learn that their bullshit is not welcome here and they need to fit in with us, not the other way around.
What changes are they making that are unwelcome?
We keep trying to run up the thermostat in AZ but it isn’t working!
Spot on. A lot of folks want to "Get away to the country" but they will bring with them the same pathologies that turned the cities into shit to begin with.
Amen Amen Amen
O not us
Yep. Painful to see it happen but happen it has. 😫
You might also add about being seperated from medical facilities. If your health is a problem, then you need to consider that.
Right you are! This is far more important than many people realize. It should be the first thing to consider, especially for anyone who is retired and already older whether or not you already have health issues.
That would be my number one concern. Great point.
Yeah living in MT if something really was life threatening they’d fly them to places like Seattle
Or even an emergency. If you’re 30 minutes from groceries you’re probably at least 30 from help.
@laurie Walker, Montana actually has some of the most available high quality healthcare in the country. The budget subsidized by the government for Montana per person is extremely high and thus there are many large hospitals with extremely low quantities of patients to serve. It is one of the easiest and most affordable places to get the highest quality care in the country
I love how he’s just standing in the road and no one is driving by. Makes me miss Nebraska ❤️ you’re awesome dude
Wait, let me get this straight. Are you saying that people move to Montana from California to try to escape all the madness there and then they try to change Montana into the hellish California they just escaped like refugees? Wow. Some people just never learn do they?
commanderdavey - Here in Kern County, Home of the Okie based Country Sound, we call these folks do-gooders. Such folks have heaved themselves into our state in such great numbers few cannot communicate with one-another. Small children of ethnicity must translate for the older family members. Its common as the wind blows here. Illiteracy is so bad, the elementary schools cannot even began to cope with such overwhelming numbers of what I call needy. Over one third to half of every one single classroom has diabetes, inhalers, medical limitations mandating a full time county aid worker with them.
Country of origin; Equator. The unspoken issue/s are each tribe coming too California’s cities hate one another, do not speak the language, as well as have differing cultures. Its amazing to see and hear third an fourth graders go at each-other as hate spews from they’re tongues. California has allowed this horrendous cross cultural mass divide to such a pandemic degree even medical personnel and other first responders cannot communicate with so many non-English speaking people.
Jobs disappearing, coming here to work they claim. Doing what? Filling job Vacancies at NASA at Edwards Air Force Base? Robotics Technicians? Blue collar jobs requiring certification? Licensing? The ability to read write English? NOPE. Hardly. I’m tired of the lies. Political correctness is destroying our entire country.
I could fill every comment section of this page with horrid California state destruction all from within. Meaning, by political progressive elites living behind great security walls in Palo Alto, huge estates by the coastal regions. ALL speaking down to us peons of the working class dictating how we must be prepared to give more, while learning to live with less. HORSESHIT! Who fights for us the common man? I feel beat-down as a Native born resident. I broke bread with many a hard worker from the farm industry to the Oil industry. Picked up Merle Haggard many a time to help get his drunkin’ ass to his hotel room.
Todays drug addictions rule over all available first responders capabilities.
I know full damn well the Fonda’s bought up a huge patch of ranch land, moved in, then immediately set in trying to change or lure big $$$ into the community. I series Yellowstone I believe points this out. Its a modern version of old way melding into new progressive corporate greed ways. The Indian tribe thrown in just to make the full guilt complete.
Sorry- I am on a free writing binge. I love my state, even my states flag. I love the geography it offers up. Its vast deserts too High Sierras...
I happen to feel the Native who’s being pushed away. I mean nothing. As nothing here has meaning, other than, wheres the unlimited bread basket United States Movies have shown the world for decades? Yes! They come because Hollywood is the teacher 👨🏫
It’s called Arizona.
Same problem in North Carolina they come from New York, New Jersey and wanna change what we have to New York and New Jersey. insane!!!
It is what has happened in Denver. Rural Colorado is still good. But, Denver and the suburbs is mini-California.
I believe it’s called insanity - doing the same thing over and over, hoping for different results.
I used to be an over the road trucker.
Winters in Montana and Wyoming can be brutal.
My dad used to drive truck too. He said winters in that area and the midwest are pretty bad. Gets so cold that you don't shut the truck off at times.
Winters in the Adirondack mountains with 10 20-30 below, one day 50 below when I was leaving work at four. Is even more brutal than where my family was at in Wyoming.
Yes yes yes true
@@janetpattison8474 Yes, I went out X-C skiing at
- 43 F back in the 70s in the Adirondacks. You could ski right on over the roofs of the lake camps on 15 feet of snow. I’m back in upstate NY now and the winters are too warm !! I miss the old predictable snow and ice skating. The cold also keeps out the riff raff who want a lazy life.
The one thing about WY and MT winters is the wind. That would get to me. I spent 3 winters in Chicago and that was bad enough. It would be worth it though for that gorgeous Montana country, and people who are self-reliant.
I drive trucks over Montana mountain passes every day -- it's a shit show of out of state drivers.
Cityfolks moving out to the country and trying to change the country towns is an issue all over the U.S. If you want to move to a more rural location you need to be willing to embrace what is there or you are better off saving your money and only going there for vacations.
They call them "city-its" for a reason.
@@hemisuperzee1287 *Citiots
Oh I agree be for we know it there will no trees because people want to be out in the country but the more people the less country humans destroy so much for animals.
Sadly people are trying to make these small towns like LA now :/
Yes exactly, so fed up with city folk trying to change everything back to the way their shitty city was
I lived in Montana for 5 years. The last two years I lived in a town with a population of 85 people. We did have a very small grocery store but they didn’t have most of what people normally buy. One hour and 45 min away from any big town, near a ski resort and I miss it so much! Had to put antifreeze in the toilet, when pipes freeze I’ve had to wait for them to thaw or the only local with a welding machine. I experienced 2 days of near 60 below, and was snowed in for 5 days. Only way I finally got out was one of the neighbors had a tractor but I was close to last in the list. Also, another thing people aren’t familiar with is a block heater. You literally have to plug your vehicle in even when you go shopping because it gets so cold it probably won’t start when you come back out. There’s white outs so if you don’t know the road you’ll wind up in the ditch or off the side of a cliff. And I’ve had to hitchhike many times when my truck broke down. Just a few more things to think about! But, if my wife would move, I’d go back in a second!
That's ROUGH.
Hell yeah
Living in Montana : Sometime around 2006 or 2007, Neil (or is it Neal) Boortz had a conservative radio talk show. He spoke to this woman who came from either Honduras or El Salvador; I can't remember which country. She spoke pretty clearly. She said she could not understand why so many people come to this country from horrible third world countries, or from war torn countries, and try to make this country like the one they left behind. She said something like this, "If you hated it so much there, why try to change this country to be like the one you left behind?" She couldn't understand that.
My molther told me many times about her grandmother, my great grandmother.. She had come to the United States in the late 1880s or early 1890s. She came from Kiev, Ukraine. She spoke not a word of English. When she came here, she wanted to become an American. She wanted to learn to speak and write and read English. She wanted to be an American, and not a Ukrainian. And she became an American. She did not try to make this country like the one she left behind.
Funny, I lived and worked in San Diego for about yrs. I worked in a restaurant. The LEGAL Mexican immigrants that had gone through the proper channels to get their citizenship, seriously spoke worse about the ILLEGAL immigrants than anyone I’ve ever heard! I swear😳 I was shocked- but that’s exactly why they moved here was to be an American - they were VERY proud of their accomplishments and I’m telling the truth they did not like the ones sneaking in! It pissed them off!
Excellent points I was born in 1948 my grandparents immigrated from Poland my parents would not even teach me the Polish language because they wanted me to be an American how times have changed
She's like my grandparents and great grandparents from either side! Grandma from the Basque Country may have spoken Basque with some of her family who came over too. But she was adamant that her kids would learn English, and didn't use Basque much around them! She and her family who came here from the South of France, wanted to assimilate, they even 'Anglicised their names! So did my those on my Dad's side, they changed their last name slightly to seem more English! They came from the German-speaking countries like Prussia!
I’m from Mexico, I’ve living here for 15 years. I see a massive problem with people migrating to this country. from all over the world. These people don’t have a small clue about why this country is SO GREAT! Then, these migrants have kids and these citizens vote for the same socialist/communist ideas once their parents fled from!!! USA will eventually become a mix of Europe/SouthAmerica/Asia :(
We need to learn history! Is SO IMPORTANT!! For the sake of the world LEARN!!!
Susan wise “The Story of the World” series books are great :)
Love Boortz
I come from a wilderness region in Sweden and when we move somewhere else, the rule is that you go and stay for a short visit and "listen to the wilderness". It means find out what nature is telling you; water, wildlife, roads, etc., because it will determine much of your future. Also, make the smallest "foot print" you can and let nature give you what it has so when you leave, nobody knows you were there...and if you move, the first thing you do is bring a gift to your neighbors, saying: "thanks for letting me come and stay" as sign of respect for them...
A good philosophy, thanks for sharing. Greetings from Calgary :)
I remember things such as this from my childhood in the 80's. It's sad that this tradition has been forgone by so many.
That just sounds beautiful :)
Are the Swedes getting the same respect from your newly arrived guests? How’s a place like Malmö going these days?
I LOVE your way of living!
Montana is probably the most rural state outside Alaska. It feels like the wild west in some spots... its awesome.
I drove from Bozeman where we flew in, and went to east glacier. We then spent time over in west glacier. Stayed in Columbia Falls and Whitefish. It was beautiful, but driving up and back was amazing the open land! 80mph speed limits and hardly a car on the road. Loved it, but I doubt I would make a winter. Lol.
@@Michael-qy1jz Winter is honestly scary. Even on major interstates near descent sized towns there are almost no plows or deicer. And everyone still drives the speed limit.
Really
That’s right
I went to Montana for an elk hunt and easy 2 hours without seeing a gas station. Not used to that being from upstate NY and almost ran out of gas. Other hunters told me Wyoming was even more desolate though. So probably Alaska then Wyoming then Montana
The Montana cold is no joke. I used to work the ICBM Missile field in Central Montana. The last alarm I responded to was in the middle of the winter. It was -30F with 45 mph sustained winds which made the wind-chill factor -80+. Your tears will freeze if you don't blink rapidly and you'll develop frostbite in seconds (not minutes) if you're not properly covered up. Always carry a 50lb bag of cat litter and a shovel along with an extra set of winter blankets in your truck (please buy a truck if you plan on moving to Montana...most cars just won't cut it.)
Montana is an Outdoorsman's paradise, but it will chew you up and spit you out if you're not prepared for it.
Georgian here who is going to be working out there till November. Why do you need cat litter if you don’t mind me asking.
Also is 4x4 a must have or would I be fine with a 2WD tacoma.
@@willytfiveo7391traction in the snow. Under the tires even us northerners know this
It’s my dream to move to montana. Born and raised in north texas, my family is all super into the city. We live 30 minutes outside of dallas and my mother still complains about being in “hillbilly town”
My grandfather (best friend) was the only one that grew up in paris tx, on a ranch. I want to move my family out to montana, I want to get away from the city. I want to live in a small town, people there are kind and there’s a sense of community. I’ve been doing research about how to adapt to montana living for YEARS in preparation. But I’m afraid I’m going to get in over my head….I wish my granddad were here to give me advice. I don’t know SQUAT about living in a rural area. I’ve had a taste here and there, and it keeps calling me back to the point that I’m in tears just thinking about being stuck in the city.
Refreshing honesty from a realtor? Must be a Montana thing.
I immediately subscribed! Not often you find a pair of reality check Realtors.
Remarkably, straight-up honest. (That was refreshing. Thank you.)
Love his straight forward no BS
My mom's family settled in flathead. I remember visiting my grandma in Kalispell. They were always blue dog dems, now she can't stomaches what they have become and has to reckon with the changes between rural democrats being completely eclipsed by crazy urban mindsets.
Yeah, this is awesome candor. I loved 6:30. Entertaining thoughts about moving out west. That’s exactly the attitude I want to see-and to see someone who is not too shy to express it.
Snow was something I struggled with for some years. Hiring someone is not the answer: 1) do they show up and 2) do they do it right, and 3) they often can do damage. Depending on the property an ATV is minimal. Most people around me have a tractor and help out when things get real real bad, but you have to be able to deal with it yourself 99% of the time.
Why not use a snowmobile with a sled?
@@jacobari6371 Cars and trucks have to go to town on the road. Plowing snow is something we do as needed. If one has money enough to buy the place, spend money on a skidsteer with a plow and be done.
I love how as he's talking to us not a single car drives by
Montana has a massive collection of backroads and forest service roads and trails that go in and around mountains and wilderness. That combined with the fact that we have a tiny population means really sparse roads everywhere
So true 😁
That's his driveway....
@,Cassidy I KNOW YOU DON'T REALIZE HOW NICE THAT REALLY IS !
I LIVE IN NEW MEXICO I HAVE A SMALL FARM AND NO TRAFFIC NONE IM TUCKED IN A SPOT WITH SOME BLUFFS AND HILLS BUT IT'S VERY NICE ,I DO OR AM OPEN TO A SWEET FARM GIRL IM A SINGLE FATHER SO IF YOU ARE OR YOU KNOW ANY THAT MAY BE LOOKING ID LIKE TO AT LEAST GET TO KNOW THEM 😁😘🇺🇸🙏
"Montana traffic" appears at the 2:35 mark.
I love how honest and well intended Montana realtors are with videos like this. Was in a 9 year relationship with a man who’s family owned a 500 acre dairy farm. I can’t wait to get back to living this way. That being said many a friend who visited over the years were shocked by the rural life.
What?! In MT? Dairy? wow I guess we have 400 or so dairy farms.
@@SaintSaint I was on a plane dropping into Kalispell on my way back to Canada. Two kids sitting with me are fifth generation ranchers. We're talking about John Deere tractors costing 500 grand US dollars. Helps to have a homestead that has NEVER had a bank mortgage. That's really the issue: Montana is NOT inexpensive, and there's either ranch families with no debt or you're just scraping by. Helps to have a certified Trade, preferably Red Seal. Or a govt. job with benefits.
I live in town now, but I would gladly take a place out in the woods even if it meant driving an hour to a major town like I used too.
The simple life is beautiful, but not convenient. Very.well.spoken.
First move here in a Jan w/o much cash or firewood but able to posthole up into woods to hack up an old deadfall over a week or two ... quite inconvenient/labor intensive than turning a thermostat! Got that right.
Very good way to say it
The only thing that sounded difficult was the snow. Having a road blocked due to snow can be tricky for groceries. Other than that....24 miles away from a grocery store isn't bad. I live in Texas where you have to drive an eternity for everything.
Well said! I'm a conservative, born and raised in rural San Diego. My wife is from Great Falls. California, as you know, is falling apart. We're not sure how much longer we can stand it here. Our worst nightmare would be to move to Montana, and have all these CA City-dwellers that complain about this state, come and trample Montana, and vote-in the same kind of lunacy.
My parents, family and friends that are born and raised San Diegans are all leaving California. We have had enough of the liberal lunacy in this state. We were going to try and hold out longer, but when Covid hit, it really opened our eyes to how far gone this state is. We truly believe its a lost cause. Good luck in figuring out what you are going to do my fellow San Diegan. We will truly miss this beautiful city.
They've been doing it since the early 90s. They ruined main street of the town of my earliest memories, Ennis, in the Madison Valley. I know a lot of the locals were totes fed up with the changes they'd brought in with their city planning and zoning ordinances (Ennis has a population of 800, tops, in a county of 6000). I just hope they all grew some cojones and voted the b***ds out next elections and returned to sanity. Alas, the aunt and uncle I communicated with there a lot back then are both gone, so I no longer hear anything from them.
I was born and raised in San Diego. My husband is from Philipsburg, MT. We spend a lot of time up here and the Californians have already driven the prices sky high and instituted all kinds of rules and regulations. We had talked about retiring up here someday but my husband says they've ruined it, which is sad.
@@SoCalianSD1 If I can get out, I won't miss San Diego one teeny tiny, bit. In my eyes, there is no such thing as a 'beautiful city'. Then again, I was raised rural and only hit the city when I was young and wild. As a kid I was rural enough that there was nothing to do outside of immediate family and to top it off, I was an only child. Friends were in school only. No one lived close enough to visit or hang out with. I was bored stiff. My best friends were my dogs and cats. I spent my free time alone exploring the wilderness with them.
When I moved to the city, it was exciting. There was so much to do it was mind boggling. But back then, I was a wild young adult. The only thing I can say about city life is that it gave me the opportunity to become what I always wanted to be. A singer in a band. At 64 years old and doing that since I was 20, I'm tired of that too and was pushed into forced retirement, thanks to CoViD-19. Plus, I am no longer that wild crazy girl.
All I want is to get as rural feeling as I can get, with no neighbors only feet away from me, no screaming traffic or planes, or emergency sirens, and no legal way to protect myself from 'bad guys'. I WANT OUT!!! I'll never look back if I can GTF out of here! You can miss San Diego and city life all you want. I won't. Not one iota.
@@TipsyMarlinTravels I agree with you, but to only a point. It isn't always Californians changing places. It's also the insane population growth and changing attitudes, even among locals.
Yes, people moving from one place to another does skyrocket prices but that can happen within a state. Just look at what happened in "Silicon Valley" in California.
The huge jump in real estate all over the country lately has been driven by the interest rate dropping to the lowest it's ever been, along with what the Covid pandemic has done to change how so many people work. (Gee, I don't have to go to the office. I now work from home so I can live anywhere)
Laws change. Heck, when I was up in Montana it was shortly after the national speed limit on ANY road, which was 55 MPH, was given back to the individual states to decide. During the day, on any highway in Montana, there was no upper speed limit. (I thought I was in Germany on an autobahn!) At night there was a very low speed limit that was strictly enforced. Why? Because too many people were getting killed on curvy roads and hitting large wildlife, causing the rural emergency services to be overloaded. Zero daytime speed limit didn't last long though I think it was about two years.
One thing worth mentioning is the isolation in terms of lack of social stimulation and connection. In the country one can’t just pop into a night club or choose between multiple restaurants at the drop of a hat. You have to be ok with loads of alone time.
🤔
Not really. There are plenty of restaurants and bars.
Yes, that’s why you come here...
Ya...maybe in two dot....im in Superior and even we have a restaurant (it sucks...but still) and 2 bars....
@@mindyharwood5992
Not like a city. Thank you. N u DO spend lots of time alone especially if u live up fairly high back in the mountains. Thank you again for your opinion.
I visited Montana a few years ago and was spending a month there. It was the greatest holiday I ever made! I loved the culture of the small cities, the ranches, the forests... Then we went to Bozeman and nearly immediately turned around and canceled our hotel... As a german, I can't understand why people who can live a life like you could in rural Montana want to change it in a life like we have to live in Germany - make every weak person feel comfortable and worry about everybody's feelings, get your everyday life dictated by a minority who is unable to get mentally adults.
As a 6th generation Montanan, I appreciate you bringing up the fact that out of staters are changing stuff and thats not what we want. I want my great-grandchildren to be able to do the things that I am doing with my son.
Yet did you vote for two of the biggest east coast developers into Montana politics? Gianforte and that other guy? Just asking for a friend.
Every place has that. I grew up in a small oil producing, farming town along the beach in Southern California. It became known as surf city. Then all these out of staters, including those from Montana, moved in, and started crowding out and raising the land and housing prices. They made it so bad that they pushed working man out.
@@normpaddle Jersey Greg and Maryland Matt the weasel. Gianforte has a thing for killing animals that have been treed. Also wanted to keep people from using the river in front of his mansion in Bozeman. Montana used to be a purple leaning state - or at least had a more balanced political scene. Last couple years it has gone tin foil right.
That isn't just Montana. That's everywhere liberals move.
I'm a 6th gen as well. Let's keep this state great. God bless you man.
WOW! This is the most honest real estate agent ever. All the things this guy says are very true especially the trailer trash and junk cars. If you don't like that don't move here please.
Good video! We’re here for 8 years and we absolutely love it!!! Quiet , remote .. no people.. no traffic.. best life ever!
I was told by a Missouri river boat guide that out of over a million people living in Montana, only about 300,000 are "real Montanans".
He took us up the Missouri river from Upper Holter Lake to Mann Gulch in his skiff so we could hike the trail where the Mann Gulch Fire claimed the lives of 13 out of 15 smoke jumpers in 1949. This is the country that Lewis and Clark named "Gates of the Mountains" because it''s where the Missouri goes into the mountains from the flat lands.
Mann Gulch was really amazing with a wonderful trail, and the crosses and the plaques on and near the trail on the hillside the firefighters were running up to try to escape the fire. Also there were burned trees still evident, which was amazing after 60 years.
It was kind of spooky because it was so isolated and you knew it was a place where you didn't want to get stuck at night with the temperatures plummeting.
We paid him 100 dollars each way which was well worth it, seeing how the only other way into the gulch was beating through a very bushy trail from north of the gulch, navigating cross country, a pretty sketchy option. I trusted the guide but of course paid him the second hundred when he picked us up and took us back to the harbor.
We've RVed in Montana a lot and know that the winters are nothing to fool with. Even in the summer you can get adverse weather, rain, snow and hail.
One year in June Yellowstone Lake was still frozen, west and south Yellowstone were clear, but north and east Yellowstone still had 5 feet of snow on the road shoulders.
And 4 wheeling, some of the worst most cement like mud I've ever encountered is in Montana, almost impossible to get off your truck.
And of course you have to be aware of the wildlife. We've seen a lot of elk, deer and wolves, beavers, badgers, snakes and others in and out of the park, and bear and bison in the park.
Gotta say, you have to have a satellite phone up there.
Great info!
As a trainee naval officer, I recall hitch-hiking through Montana and Wyoming around 1952. I can close my eyes and see the wind blowing the tumbleweeds across the grassland that stretched as far as the eye could see. I had to lean against the wind that did not come in puffs. The wind was as steady as it was at sea. And truly, I stood in a sea of grass.
This is not country for a person who needs a lot of company and the sound of voices. I met a cowhand in the dining room of my hotel. We talked. But not to fill the air with sound. And I felt more than heard from this fellow how people of the West differ from those from the East.
The Old West we see in the movies has gone, if it ever was. But the West makes a person or breaks a person. Those who survived passed on their ways from generation to generation.
If you could live at sea in a frigate for weeks and month at a time, you might be able to live in a small Western town. You have to be able to take people as they are and not as you wish them to be. You have to cultivate a generosity of spirit if you ever want to survive. For in the West, you cannot hide who you are.
Well said Benjamin.
I like that brother.
You sir, such a good story teller. Thanks for that narration.
Beautiful
Sounds wonderful to me. It's a life I would appreciate but beyond my reach these days.
That's why rural people don't rely on government, we have to help each other or do it on our own.
You have to be a really fend-for-yourself kind of person.
Exactly!
Hah. Rural areas depend on government more than urban.
@@steveb796 cool, i live out in the country. I hope city folk money comes to us. Hope you put in some ot. Stevie B!
We don't want government people telling us how to live. It's that simple
“The other thing we have out here is animals”
I grew up in rural Texas. Down the road a ranch had sold to a developer. They turned it into a bunch of 5 acre yuppie lots. We had community meetings at the local fire hall. Well at one of these meetings a lady stands up, explained that she lived in the above mentioned development, and that the deer were getting into her garden, she wanted to know what WEEEEE were going to do about it. My Dad being the smartass he pipes up “Oh I know! We’ll just put those invisible fence collars on them!” The ladys eyes get big and she exclaimed “Thats a great idea!!” The whole place erupted in laugher. She never came to another meeting.
Omg!
What is wrong with people!!!
LOL!
Lolol 😂
I see this as scary because that stupid woman will vote
She should get a rifle or buy rattlesnakes to run the deer off.
I don't get it....what's wrong with the invisible fence collars?!😵
Absolutely agree!! I lived for several years while I was growing up on a ranch in the central Rockies in Colorado. We had to ride horses to the school bus pick up point where we tethered the horses in a three-sided shelter for the day. The day started at 4:30 a.m. and ended at 9:00 p.m. We all had our own chores and there were no excuses for not finishing because everyone relied on each other to get their work done. Sometimes that included wading through thigh-deep snow to get to an animal enclosure. It was no picnic, but it was beautiful, gratifying, and healthy. Truly miss it, but am too old now to try to rekindle it.
What can you leave to a 21 year old trying to live in the country side. (I’m going to homestead)
I live in Montana and I have for over 45 years. I am 15 minutes from the nearest store and if I want a Walmart or some fast food I have to make a 140 mile round trip. I lose cell service for about 20 miles on my drive into the larger town. I love Montana this way and don't want any big city ways here. Montana is perfect the way it is, if you can't live this way stay where ever it is you are now.
That sounds awesome
This sounds like paradise to me... I was born and raised in texas. Californians are destroying texas and we can't get rid of them.
I was looking at Montana, Alaska even russia or poland.
@@Robert53area If you like remote places Poland wouldn't be so good - small villages and towns everywhere or swamp in the east.
Schopenhauer was used to Say that WE cant spend all thé life whatching a beautifull landscape...
You can always buy a satellite phone. They have them on amazon.
When in Rome do as the Romans do- or stay the hell out! And this is from a city dweller who understands and agrees with all the comments here. If you move to somewhere nicer leave your bad habits behind.
True.
As I stated in another comment, as far as I'm concerned as a native Montanan, you don't have to change overnight if you move to an area whose culture and political climate differs from where you came from, but make a sincere effort, and don't cop the attitude that you not only don't need to adapt but the natives need to change for you.
That’s the whole point is to move to live somewhere different. Not to make it like the place you came from which literally you were trying to escape from that kind of life.
Best info I have heard.
People moving here to NC have ruined the peace and quiet, and want to change it to exactly where they came from. We have moved to get away from them...but they continue pushing further out. Keep those out people out.
My fam moved to Montana (Missoula & Superior) from SoCal in 1970, when I was 6. Moved back to Cali in 1978. As a kid I absolutely LOVED growing up in Montana. You're right about the snow, bears, wolves, et al. And more right about fitting in and not being from somewhere else. True story in 1970: On the Montana border, Interstate 15 heading north, a big beautiful billboard was posted that said: "Californians, Welcome to Montana. Now Go Home". We eventually fit in :)
I saw that billboard!
Sounds as though more billboards with the same message should have erected in the cities of Montana as well as their small towns.
I met this guy in Montana once, who was moving out of the state with his wife and children. He told me he and his new bride move there and one night it started snowing. And it kept snowing. And yet more snow. Finally the snow storm let up, so he packed up his wife and three children and fled the state.
😂😂
I’m from what used to be a rural area. It’s been so overrun with people from the city that I left. I’ve been to Montana and loved it. I just hope you folks can keep from being run out of your own state.
If the money pours in then you’re out of luck
The Internet Gremlin your correct...we r losing here in Texas 😰
I moved to eastern Montana for a job. I was told that the weather is just like Nebraska. A member of the community asked me if I have a battery blanket. I replied No, I have an electric blanket. She insisted I get a battery blanket! I found out the battery blanket was for the batteries in our auto. I should have noticed the plug ins all over town. I bought a whole new wardrobe as I could not keep my dresses from off my head and face. When the temp was at zero or above, people did not wear coats. It was a heat wave. I looked like an Eskimo and took lots of ribbing. And lastly, in Montana it is a status rule. You were judged on the pickup you drove, the gun in the rack and how big a dog you had. I drove a car and had a cat. I guess my stature was not too high.
That sounds like they are too snobbish!
😂😂😂
Yeah! You will be a lot cooler with a dog. Not so much on car status. My son was driving a bmw first 6 years working for Montana railroad. No problem, he presently drive a 4Runner now. FYI he was only 22 years old when he moved there for a Railroad engineer job. Now when he complains it’s to hot here California.
@@MyJuicyTv prime example of what I was talking about….
Plenty of cats roaming around in Montana...so I'm guess your cat isn't a bobcat or cougar.
I’m in Utah I would like everyone in the city to stay there!
John Boyle im moving there this winter from the city! 🤣
Pretty much how we feel in the U.P. of Michigan
That was a refreshing dose of reality. Montana can be a beautiful place to live and raise a family, but it is not easy once you are away from the cities, i.e. Billings, Bozeman, Missoula. Almost everywhere else you will find that you must be everything. If you want or need something you will have to figure it out. If you are not an independent self starter with abillities in various fields from mechanics, plumbing, agriculture, carpentry, medicine, electricity, hunting, self defense, irrigation, vetenary, first aid, canning and freezing, butchering, etc., etc., YOU WON'T MAKE IT. Nobody has a 8hr job. It is 24hrs every day and you are not always in control of your schedule. You may be snowed in or burned out at any time. And guess who the fireman is? That's right, YOU. You are also the truck driver, Snow plow operator, Ambulance driver, animal control, exterminator and garbage man. You are the first responder, police, search and rescue, school board, councilman, and wildlife officer. You are the volunteer, librarian, accountant, entertainment and welcome wagon. Want some baked goods or fine dining? Put on your chef's hat, because that's you, too. In short you had better be ready to "Cowboy Up" for everything at anytime or Montana will chew you up and spit you out. Honestly, most people are not capable or tough enough to manage life out here. Period. That's the truth. But if you can take all that in stride, this is still the best place to live free. Period.
This is 100% true. I laugh watching stuff like the 1923 because I still have my great great grandfathers memoirs from the late 1800s and early 1900s and he had his ranch in a similar area as to that show. Many of the scenarios shown in that show are no where near as brutal as they actually where. No one would leave cattle rustlers alive. You would shoot them where they stood. And if you decided to put a noose around their neck you would make sure they did not survive. That was everyone. My grandfather shot at cattle rustlers and they certainly shot back. When my grandfathers rivel arrived with a posse of men to kill him my grandmother had to take up arms to ensure he did not die. No shots were fired because she was able to get behind them and hold them up. Of course she and my grandfather were outnumbered so they just left. My grandfather then was arrested in town for attempted murder and got out of court because of his evidence of "You know me and what I have done for this town and you know that that man is a scumbag that lies cheats and steals cattle" that was enough considering my grandfathers rival had a reputation for killing folks with only 1 eye witness who backed up his story of "he drew on me" Not to mention when they tried to steal my grand fathers cattle he dropped one of his handguns on my grandfathers property. But that was the times. It was rough back then and while you have less of the gunslinger type of stuff, you still have the 8 months of winter 1 week of spring if any, and a few months of summer where it randomly snows. All of this while you have to maintain power, food, and your main trade to pay your property taxes. It is also important to note that due to the size of Montana that the industries are limited so you need to have a wide variety of skills to make it in whatever industry you go into whether its logging, ranching, working for the railroad, or perhaps one of those cushy city jobs that you may not be able to attend due to being snowed in because there is not a lot available. Also do note that in many places like livingston wind is not reported until it reaches over 50 mph and that the wind used to literally blow houses down and trains off the tracks. Not to mention the occasional tornado. Not to mention the unpredictability of the Yellowstone river which may just randomly take away a large chunk of your property if it decides to flood or change paths.
But if you decide to just move to one of the cities or towns then life is a bit easier, but still awful weather 8 months out of the year without the benefit of freedom or a big economy so why are you moving up if that is what you want to do?
This comment says it all. Thanks for your proper insight. All the way from nyc.
As a native Floridian for over 50 years I can definitely relate to people moving in from out of state and wanting to make it like it was where they "escaped from".
Yes, Florida is ruined and has been for almost 30 years. It is not going to get any better. Get out while you can. Most of my native friends are moving to Tennessee.
Try the Villages FL ,have to have your white roof washed every 2 years. It's the HOA rule
As a North Carolinian, I can relate to all the Floridians moving here to escape Florida and bitching about & trying to change everything.
@@allenc7313 nope.
@@CarsandCats You Are Right, FLORIDA has been Ruined!!! The people who moved there Ruined it!!! And then the F/Greed.
We're having the same problem in Texas; people moving in. Heard just yesterday that 10,000 a month is moving into Fort Worth. Go back and change it there.
We in southern Oklahoma can tell, we have y'all Texans fleeing across the Red.
Amen!
Texas is looking more and more like California every month ..acres of new identical houses, strip malls gas stations, fast food..they’ve taken
Texas ways out of Texas. Greed driven developers have ruined so much here. Many ranches and small towns all gone.
@@MeadowDay love your testimony!
I moved to Missoula from Memphis, Tennessee, 15 years ago. Yes, it may take you 30 minutes to get to "civilization" if you live in Montana, but there are many metro areas where you can drive 30 minutes to an hour just to get somewhere in town! You have to drive 30 minutes to get anywhere in Memphis, in brutal traffic. I don't miss that.
Great comment!! I grew up in NW Ohio, had a young adult big city experience in San Francisco and Los Angeles and then beat feet for semi-rural. Flathead Valley is semi-rural in my opinion ... NOT Rural. Yes, I am 20-35 minutes to "shopping", but that is on state hwy (70mph) with no traffic lights. In L.A. it took me 1.25 hours to travel 12 miles to my office. I work from home for a CA educational institution as a computer programmer. I live on 8.25 acres in a cabin/ranch. I get my internet via Verizon hotspots: 4g ... hopefully soon 5g. I have a motorhome and have travelled MT and much of the US. And here at home ... golly UPS/FedEx and even the USPS provide excellent service for online stuff. I do not apologize for online shopping. I support local organic farms to THE MAX, though and we are fortunate to have many. Ultimately, anyone deciding on any lifestyle/location must do their homework. Much of this video is well said, but some is a bit off/cliche ... to me. FWIW, I moved to this area from Los Angeles in Feb 1994.
As a Montanian, i honestly would have no problem buying property next to somebody who has a whole bunch of broken down cars in their yard. Live and let live. Also, it suggests that might be a very handy neighbor to become friends with if you need car help in the future, and/or they might have a lot they could teach you!
How about if someone built a mountain roller coster next door? Ask the people in Lakeside about that one!
As a Californian moving to Helena, I promise I won’t bring Cali with me. I love the freedom you have in your beautiful state and would never, ever disrespect it like that.
I moved from city to rural to retire. I love the mountains and trees but find the locals arrogant, ignorant, imbred and clanish. Here it's like - "I've been here 20 years", "I've been here 30 years", "I was born here", etc. Lucky for me, I dislike shopping, and enjoy nature. City folks in general are more friendly. In my life I have lived in 3 small towns and 5 large cities, in 6 different states. I don't recommend rural if you are a people person.
Thank you for leaving California in California. The worse thing i have see is them Democrats that bring their baggage with them and try to change why we Love out State.
@@joeblow5087 Ive had the complete opposite experience. Rural people can pick out a phoney from a mile away. The nicest people I’ve met. You just sound like a typical big city elitist ass wipe.
@@joeblow5087 city folks are more friendly? what the fuck what city are people nice in?
Okay. We'll be keeping an eye on you. 👀
My wife and I moved to Lake County near Bigfork a few years ago from Louisiana. We love Montana and have no desire to change anything about it. My neighbors and I get along very well, we enjoy cooking out together and having fun occasionally. They are younger, but check on us and we check on them. Our road is dead end with only 3 houses on it, so we share in road maintenance and conditioning. Leave Montana the way you found it... it is beautiful and rugged. He is absolutely correct about cell service and snow fall... you would think being from Louisiana it would be a culture shock, but my wife and I absolutely love it the way it is.
You're Good neighbors to have!
Well said. People from the big cities should stay there. Rural living can be brutal if you're not prpared.
There is a reason they call it rural.
And preparation is the key.
You guys are driving a heated car around, you’re not frontiersman. A 15-year-old girl can do it😂
I loved in Deer Lodge for awhile and I want add my support to this post.If you move to Montana you change. Montana is such a great state,cold winters and all,summers are great!I had some wonderful friends and cherished memories.
Im from south korea and i used to live in montana and there is nothing like montana. Most part of montana that i miss are going in to the woods camping with friends next to creek drinking brew
Wow cool
Definitely the best!
Is your name a common korean name?
All fun camping and boozing by the creek until the grizzly crashes the party.
@@brianandlynphilippines Here in Kentucky I never go camping without at least my .38 Montana it would be a .41 mag.
I just moved from Pennsylvania to Montana and I love it here, exactly the way it is. I don’t want to change anything.
What part of Pa ? I moved back here last year after being away for 32 years with my career.
In which town of Pennsylvania did you live?
I grew up in Montana until junior high school. It is a very beautiful state. I have to live within a short distance to evergreen trees, as a result. I could not live in Montana alone, so I have no plans of living there now. I watched this video to see how accurate it was. You nailed it. The winters are long and intense. My family had an hour's drive to get groceries. I lived there in the 70's before cell phones. The mountains must block cell reception. I am not a big city person, but people that are need to have this information before living in Montana.
interesting ...
Lived off grid in Montana for 20 years 30 miles from the Canadian boarder and loved it. We spent all spring and summer getting ready for winter. It was nothing to have 3 to 8 feet of snow on top of 6 inches of ice. Great place but it takes a hardy breed of people to live there. Miss it everyday.
I’m 42 years old. I love the idea of buying a missile silo and making like a bear (prep and hibernate for the winter). The way global warming is going it might be we wise. I know better tho. By the time I retire my body will wish I’m back in Arizona. God bless Montana and all of its wild glory.
Brother you hit the nail right on the head...I'm an old Florida boy and we have seen through the decades how the big city moves down here and all we here is how much better things are up there than here..we have a simple response to that.."THEN GO BACK THERE"..
I lived out west for 15 years and unfortunately had to move back to Florida. I left my heart in High Country Colorado...and absolutely adore Montana.
It's a shame that Bozeman is being exposed to that situation. From experience I can tell you..if you give them an inch they will take a MILE...PUSH BACK against there ways that they try to invoke to your mountain lifestyle..just tell your county officials and local news agencies to make that as clear as it says "we like the way it is just fine, acclimate to our ways of life or GO BACK...God Bless you all out there and good luck.
Same goes for South Dakota. Don't bring your liberal BS to our state.
Fellow Floridian here who proudly displays a bumper sticker that reads “Happiness is a North bound Yankee”.
You forgot to say, "What if you get sick?" The nearest hospital isn't at the end of the street . That being said, congratulations on your peace and quiet. Montana looks beautiful.
Summary: “grow up, take care of yourself, don’t tell others what to do”.
I grew up on a farm in Iowa, but I agree that what you just said is something a lot of city folks have NEVER been told. Well spoken!
Well said.
Sadly, three things that a lot of people will never do.
Didn't hear him telling anyone what to do jackass
That is what's wrong with America today.
I moved out in the countryside in another country, and it's an old house from 1947. My first change after relying completely on wood for heating during a long winter, was that I never want to be dependant on wood for heat again. I've now installed a heatpump and it's just so much better. Having a fire going can be charming, but I would never have it anywhere but in a cabin that you only visit occasionally. It's a lot of work keeping a fire going, because if you ignore it it will ignore you and try to die out. Then you need to spend time trying to bring it back to life and so on.
The other thing I hated was the superdry air, and how overly hot it was all the time. Either it was way too cold, or it was way too hot and superdry. It's just nothing I want on a day to day basis again.
With a heatpump you just turn it on and you got steady temps, and the best thing is the humidity is also in check. I remember how quickly I became tired in the evenings when it was super dry and hot, so that's something to keep in mind.
The other thing is that you have to plan for when you should start or not start a fire dependant on what you're going to do. The last factor for me at least is that I have to buy wood, and briefly into my 2nd winter here now with a heatpump, I already know I'm saving money by only using electricity for heat. So, for me at least it was just no gains by using a woodstove, and I could easily have needed a new one as well which would only made it more expensive and cumbersome.
So, having a fire is charming, but being fully dependant on it is a chore. That's my 2 cents.
Good to have the wood stove as a backup though.
Now I'm homesick, the middle of nowhere, Glasgow is my home, still have family there. Thanks for keeping the Big Sky Country the same as I remember it.
Glasgow is also my Hometown!
I was born and raised in the Flathead and now I’m living in Switzerland with my husband. I miss my treasure state every single day ♥️
Lived there 5 years, 2004-2009. Great place.
graduated Glassgow 1973
I had to go to the treatment center at Glasgow lol from Glendive now reside in Texas and sober
The thing about living rurally is that people expect it to have the convenience of the city but with the lack of city. That’s not how it works, and I love it that way. Also people like to try to install the culture of their city, which in my opinion are cesspools, onto the wilderness or rural culture.
In total agreement that cities are cesspools. I live very near what is considered one of the best and it has real problems and is getting worse.
@Sean Fay that’s what I’m scared of… people trying to make the rural areas more fitted to their needs and adding home after home. Before you know it, it’s a big ass suburb in a nice open field..
Lol
@Sean Fay and lregon
The same people that complain about 'everyone' killing the earth yet they trample it everywhere they roam with their concrete and stores of convenience.
Same is true for parts of Vermont. No cell, long drives to stores, bears, and yes rural roads with lots of snow, 6 months of winter.
My two favorite states - Montana and Vermont
What was so sad was how people moved to Montana from out of town and stated to gate up the public roads that ran through their property. When my grandfather was a kid in big timber hearing stories from his grandfather of the wild west he was able to go wherever. Often times it was common practice to just open the gates to access the road and close it behind you to not let the cattle out. Obviously you stuck to the road to respect the property, but unfortunately many of the rich outsiders moved in and gated everything up. That then became the norm with all of the Californians moving up and basically disrespecting the state and now its sadly being changed by people that come to move to a place and then try to change it. As a kid I always wanted to go back to the area my parents and grandparents grew up in in Wyoming and Montana, but sadly the state seems to have changed too much with its low population with the massive influx of Californians. Many camping grounds, lakes and mountains that are no longer accessible because someone decided to put up a gate on a public road and has been using their money to fight the city on it for years with the sheriff getting involved multiple times. And just the stupid policies put in place. Despite there being a grey wolf breeder in the area that had wolves to add to Yellowstone, they brought in the most aggressive wolf possible from Canada and essentially decimated the Deer population in Yellowstone because they didn't want to allow hunters to do the work and were worried about the grey wolf not have been robust enough to last even though it was what originally survived there.
Now we got shows like Yellowstone and the new 1923 has come out and showed Montana in its idealized way attracting people who like the idea of it without understanding the reality of it. Those people then come in and try to change it. And sadly it seems like they are taking over. With property tax the way it is, I know of multiple people including some of my family members that were taxed out of their house with the Californians buying houses above listing prices driving the market up so high that no one could afford a house or even to pay their property tax. I mean what do you do when you ranch that nets 75k a year after expenses now is on a property that is worth 10s of millions of dollars. That ranch was the idealized version of Montana and a way of life for them and now their property was sold to build homes because they were priced out of it. With no where even remotely affordable they had to move to a different state. And now they are down the votes for that household and replaced with multiple households that now vote to change the state. Its a crying shame. If you don't like it, don't move there. I hope Montana doesn't turn into another Colorado but I fear the worst.
You lost me a bringing the big mean wolves from Canada. Stick to a theme (idiots putting up gate with big money and ignoring western old entrenched law: you can't put gate up). The other stuff you actually know nothing about. We're now sending you beavers, after making sure the big mean grizzly and black bear have open borders. What did you send? invasive skunks, turkey, and racoon. We don't need no coons.
California gets a bad rap all the time, and many of it is deserved, but the data doesn't seem to back up your claims about californians messing up your state
It's just all in your head.
That sentiment is not unique to you or Montana or even the USA.
Your country is being deliberately destroyed from within. You still have space to escape to, but that will also be ruined sooner or later. Millions are pouring in from the southern border changing the nature of what your country is. They are doing exactly opposite to the advice given by this gentleman in the blog.
They're doing the same thing to Texas. Sick of those smug, arrogant SOBs.
I use to be a truck driver for Marten Ltd/Blue Bird a while ago. Loved the drive from Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana. Beautiful. The last time I saw that drive was when the shooting stars covered the skies. October
Great sound advice, I live in remote rural Ireland as my folks have done for generations, you got to be a special breed to hack it and i can emphasize with every word you speak . Love things the way they are and as they always have been, yep solar panels and that sort of thing i will grab and adapt to according to my needs, huge problem with most city folks is they can not hack country ways and then want to impose what they are running away from on their new alien environment there by defeating the whole purpose of the move in the first place and I have first hand knowledge. Love mountainy regions of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, Gods own country Gods own people, wish I were a young man again maybe I would join ye there, Best Regards from Ireland,
Well put about people coming in......don't make Montana like the place you just left.....
Thanks for speaking the truth! I lived in Idaho for a while and the challenges you face in Montana are much the same as in Idaho. One thing I would add is health care. If you retire to Montana or Idaho Don't have a heart attack or stroke unless you're ready to meet your maker. Even with Life Flight Insurance (if you're asking "what's that?" Don't move to Montana or Idaho) time is of the essence in surviving long enough to get to a hospital with sufficient resources, minutes count.
I’d rather die a fast death in Idaho than a slow death in San Francisco
@@sfdvr2; True, either way; if nature doesn't Kill you; then the two-legged VICIOUS Animals of the City will.
Husband was born and raised in Alaska. Myself, rural Washington. We've thought about rural Montana quite often. We want to be away from people. Too many people too many problems.
Lol. Imma bout to move to Montana from rural Washington.
I Like People but too many is too many problems
If I ever move to Montana the only thing I'm bringing are my manners and my sweet southern tea.
@Evey Hammond so true!
Bring some warm weather with ya too
Mint julep?
Moved to Montana with my family about 10 years ago from the Florida panhandle. Just to let you know, they pretty much lack manners here (at least what we call manners) You know, yes ma’am, no ma’am, holding the door for a lady, or saying excuse me. I’m not saying they’re flat out rude at all, they’re just a bit peculiar, and not what we’re used to. Oh, and forget the sweet tea. Lol 😂
That's because you are an outsider and probably not trying to fit in my in-laws live in dillon we visit a couple times a year and enjoy the place for what it is and get along with almost everyone but I'm a guest there and act like it don't leave wherever you are and try and make wherever you go like home
Clarification: When he mentions predators, he's referring to the ones that walk on 4-legs.
Those 2 legged bears are not pleasant
Lmao!!!
Yites!!! Nooòo thanks.....city please...🖐🏽🖐🏽🖐🏽🖐🏽🖐🏽☕☕☕
I rather worry about the 2 legged predators. 🤣
I Wished
I was raised in Las Vegas, NV and hate city life even in a small big city. The closest walmart to me now and for the last 6 years is about 40 minutes away. I love it. Going rural is the best decision I could have ever made.
I think that if People Prepare for example to do their Shopping Every 3 or 4 or 6 months of everything they Need; that it won't be So bad, the problem is when they have to Drive So Far every week just to Get Groceries and toilet paper and Soap.
I don’t blame you, I would not want idiots trying to make things like where they came from. Thanks
Funny though he's just talking about the mountains, which is where he lives, but 2/3 rlthe state is prairies. Cold as hell, windy . Like 40 to 50 mph sometimes. Wind chills in the -40 and below range. No trees, nothing at all to block it. I LOVED IT.
@Charlotte Skiftun Well, it is just south! (My people are from near Gravelbourg SK, BTW.)
That is where I lived and loved the prairie. Most of those yuppies would not like it there because it is rugged and Isolated, just my kind of country.
From rural Texas, I chuckle thinking of city slickers "discovering" these valid points and wholeheartedly agree on the "Don't try to turn my Red State Blue" point.
*OR ANYWHERE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER!!!*
Paul Flannigan I didn’t hear him ‘politicize’ the meaning of the changes he was referring to. Rural living does NOT mean any color, be it Red or Blue, when it comes to surviving a bear attack, for instance, or giving someone a helping hand during a weather event. I sure hope you’re not one of those who may be screening or putting up filters before you help someone in need. Wonder how you would feel if someone would ask your preference on ANYTHING before they would help you.
Hey neighbor
Amen!
Ditto!
These are all great points. One thing that was missed is the brutal cold that we can get. This winter for instance, I was out at 3:30 am in -45 temps trying to get my propane warmed up so appliances would work.
I'm not thinking about moving to Montana, but the title looked interesting. I wasn't sure if it was going to be a serious discussion or a comedy skit. I'm glad for your sincerity.
Agreed don't want to live in Montana too cold for me. I'll stay in Fla. Like the video don't try change it to where you came from. Too late for us. Great video though, refreshing to hear somebody being honest
One big point is getting to a hospital for emergency! That's BIG. Believe me!
I'd rather die in montana than live in the city
Came from northern Ontario Canada. Hospitals bragged about their survival rate. If you survived until somebody missed you then they dragged you out of the bush at 20 degrees below to the nearest hospital 2 hours away your chances of survival were probably pretty good anyway.
Learn herbology. The medicine is in the plants. Without big pharma you probably won't get sick, anyway!
He mentioned something about your car breaking down that made me think of parts of the Texas panhandle/NM/AZ. I've traveled from Oklahoma to Arizona numerous times. I've been across the Navajo Reservation, parts of NW NM, down I-40, etc etc. There were places out there where it was so far to anywhere, I was thinking that if I broke down, and called a tow truck/dealership, it could be hours before someone got to me...and there were places that were even more remote than where I was traveling. I'm not from a big city, but at least help wouldn't be more than 30 minutes away. Most people have no idea just how remote some places in our country are.
Been on that road. Drove to NM from MI. Grew up around farm country, so I'm used to open space... But I've never seen anything quite like that stretch. Farmers/ranchers were checking their land by helicopter, and there wasn't a building in any direction as far as you could see for hours at a time. Remote as I've ever been.
@mewabe4 "South east Oregon is like that." Two roads through it. I drove north from Winnemucca and was amazed at the wide open mostly uninhabited space. A good place for a wildlife refuge ;-)
Yes. P Anderson, I know what you mean. I have done a fair bit of traveling and even if you are off roading in CA, it seems like even if you get stuck 4x4 ing anywhere w/in 200 miles of L.A. there will be someone else coming along with in 2 hrs. Got stuck along Colorado River aqueduct east of Indio. Ca and about after about 45 minutes someone came along in a Jeep and pulled out my 2wd truck. I was exploring in SE Montana northwest of Buffalo, SD. heading to Capitol dome in the Custer N.F. Very isolated, and after running across a deeply rutted mud field turned around back ahead of hard rain that would have made climbing a dirt road back to the main highway, (SD-85) I BELIEVE impossible.
Many years ago when I was young (30) and very g-damn FOOLISH, I took a notion to build a small log cabin up in the mountains near Georgetown Lake. I talked to a few locals with property that summer around that area. Yes it is a gorgeous place to hang out when it is summer. The air is fresh, sweet with scent of the woods. As you can imagine, the winter time is a totally different story -- like being on a different planet. Snow can and does get 4 or more feet deep. There were few mountain men that lived in those conditions past that age. Any small accident could turn deadly. Help is often not going to be available. Although being snowed in sounds romantic, one's sanity can very quickly depart when cold and starvation is constantly at the door. If you want to live in a remote area anywhere in Montana, it is very difficult to be fully prepared for the harshness of months of winter. You will be working from spring until the first snow flake getting ready for that onslot and much snow and brutal weather. If you live in Bozeman now days, you have to be able to make some sort of living that pays hugh amounts of $$ to afford even a modest home, which is very likely not available. Those kind of jobs do not exist anywhere these days. Many people live in campers on side streets which can get a good meaning person in trouble with the city. And I should mention, a lot of people would like to live in this state, but just cannot make it. Luck only goes so far.
Simply put, if you aren’t the self sufficient type, stay where you are. Looks and sounds like absolute heaven to me.
And it’s a lot of work
Guys, to be perfectly honest, those of us in rural far Northern California, would love for these nut cases from Hollywood, etc. to move out...
ANYWHERE. But we wouldn’t want them to spoil what you are so blessed to have!
Yeah there are conservative areas of California, many people don't understand.
You guys just need to chop that crazy state up into thirds. Put all the loonies into one place and lock the door.
California is so big, been all over one recent trip we went redwoods and to Lassen area and back to the Bay Area. As far as visiting it's awesome
Well said and true!
@@yellowdog762jb So many of us wish we could do that. CA needs to be 3 or 4 states. Not one. If they could even split it into 2 states with conservatives on one side and libtards on the other, the rest of the US would see how many conservatives live here.
You did a great job pointing out rural living in Montana except you forgot to mention that UPS & FedEx will not deliver your packages if your road & driveway are not plowed and USPS mail will not stop at your mail box if it is not plowed in front of the mail box. I live in Sula Montana and that has been my experience, we had to have the Schwann's delivery truck towed out of our snowy driveway twice then they put the a stop on delivery during the winter months.
That's right, I should have mentioned that. You definitely need a good plow here in the winter!
@@LivinginMontana1 I subbed, hope to see your channel grow. I will share it on twitter to see if we can get you some new traffic so you can get monetized.
Burlap Garden Gal Thank You!
Raised in Darby. I can't believe Schwanns is in Sula. Came in with all the rich Commiefornians I guess.
Burlap Garden Gal 7h
I live in the city and visited my grandfather for Thanksgiving this year. I immediately fell in love with the state, especially the area where he lives (Red Lodge).
The town is small enough to where it seems like everyone knows everyone else, and people actually greet one another on the sidewalk and stop to chat. The people are honest and hard working, and are outwardly friendly. It’s a small and quiet little town, but it’s simplicity and location near to nature and the mountains is what I love more than anything about it. Beautiful state with some beautiful people. Wouldn’t mind moving up there or to the Dakotas sometime in the future.
I've noticed that most transplants are moving to the southwest and south of the state. We are starting to get movement up north. Takes me over an hour to get to Great Falls. I love it up here. Moved from Colorado 9 years ago when my home state went crazy.
Sorry about Colorado😩
I broke my leg working on a feedlot up in Sydney and had to wait for an ambulance to come and pick me up and drive me over to Minot North Dakota to get the surgery done. Also, the nearest Walmart was 50 miles away. Couple things to think about
The nearest Walmart is 50 miles away? That sounds good to me! 😂
Wow , I was born in minot
1963 those were the days !!
Did the rural thing with a half hour drive to the market for years, lots of snow too! No cell coverage etc. Loved it when I was younger but lots of work to live like that. Snow must be plowed. Ice damming can be an issue. If you are over 70 it’s not really a brilliant idea to move to a rural area. Remember medical is far away also. Just some stuff to consider. Montana is awesome, Go visit and then go live where you can be safe!
Good advice!
Right on Linda, my wife and I will visit, but moving to Montana no. We both are in need of medical every three or four months an our time done come and went. I would like to hire a guide too take me fishing only because my doing so assures I don’t step on any landowners toes. Peace and beauty and then the old folks home.
Having lived in Alaska for a decade, I am so surprised at how much rural Alaska and Rural Montana have in common. I was over in Bigfork last weekend and there is some beautiful country between there and Billings. Townsend was my favorite on the drive.
I'm going to save this for anyone who is considering the move. I've lived in Madison county my whole life and I couldn't have explained it better. Thank you!
Whenever I was in Ennis I would always stop at the drug store and get a club sandwich. And I may have had to go to Virginia City a few times. lol
I was in Sheridan county until February. Then went to Arkansas. I miss Montana
Articulate Management yo same here.
Some questions these people need to ask themselves:
-Do I need to always be connected to cell phone service? Do I need any internet beyond slow DSL?
-Do I like going to the club or bar every weekend or so to get my social fix? Do I need the occasional hookup?
-Do I like shorter commutes? Would a long drive drive me bonkers?
-If anything on my car or in my house breaks, will I readily call somebody to fix it instead of fixing it myself? Do I prefer to have all the ready conveniences of civilization within close reach?
-If my neighbor's property looked like a squatter's village or a junkyard, would I be able to tolerate it? Would I take it as my right to ask him to clean up HIS property?
-Would I be unable to tolerate or cooperate with someone with different political views than my own? Would I feel the need to impress my own views upon them?
It's not an all-inclusive list, but if you answered yes to any of the aforementioned questions, rural living may not be for you.
This is a good comment.
Damn.. I was good until you asked if I can fix stuff myself. I can't even put a nail in a wall.
SpaceX Starlink 💫 solves the internet issue.
Well put!
Thank you K Note.
I just went through Montana with the train, you never realize how vast it is. The train goes pretty much all day 80-90 MPH with just a few stops, it's just huge ranches, farms, or nothing, occasional small towns and no phone service almost all day during your ride.
Totally relatable. I live in interior Alaska by myself, up on top of a mountain.. 8 miles drive down the dirt mountain road just to get to my mailbox, and another 40 minutes to town after that.. about an hour drive to visit local stores and things. I plow my own property, I fix my own everything, etc etc etc.. This video is so on point, about every little detail.
If I hear we did it like this in CA one more time I'm gonna kick them in the shins really hard
Awesome point made. If you want to live there, then don’t try to change it! That advice could be applied to immigration in general. We live out in the country in northern Canada and we agree with your views exactly!
As an Alaskan I find these rural warnings adorable! Good information and definitely worth noting for city folk.