Montana Tacomas

Nooooo!!! Just don’t get snooty and talk about how you live out by Shilo and we’re good!

 

Considering the snow in the mountains this week... try Mystic (short hike but steepish), Red Lodge area, just below Beartooth pass,
Makoshika State Park, Glacier Lake (near Red Lodge) and Sioux Charley near Nye.

 

Fine! I'll just go to Wyoming then, someday...

 

Anyone in Montana need a 2012-2015 Tacoma bumper? Needs touch up paint and has a dent.

Just put a new BAMF bumper on tonight.

 

Definitely no room there.

 

We've been saying that in WNC for 20+ years, it does no good.

But there is hope.

"Montana winters are like an immune system." - non-TW Montana resident

I have a point that's relative to Montana so please stay with me.

Unlike Montana the Southern Appalachians have a very mild winter. Everyone in the East wants to move to the Southern Appalachians. Why? Because it was basically a paradise 12 months out the year, with just enough winter for some variety.

Our only stop gap here is there is very little white color upper middle income work. As an engineer there are less than a dozen companies that have engineering jobs in this whole area, in example. Minimum wage service industry jobs and business owners are the bulk of the working class. The Montana saying "bring your own woman and money" semi-applies for the Southern Appalachians "bring your own money". No one moves here unless they have a nest egg, move their business, or they lucked out finding a white color upper middle income job. You can't afford to live here otherwise. With that said by my estimates the population has increased in the Southern Appalachians by 500% in that last 25 years (that's 5 times), with no sign of slowing.

In the 80's the Southern Appalachians were very western Montana like, in that we were extremely rural surrounded by openly accessible public land with small urban pockets.

Our very mild winters meant that we were basically a year around paradise with low population density, low taxes, low cost of living, nonexistent violent crime, and use of public land that was completely accessible.

That's all gone now and with it what made, to me, the Southern Appalachians a paradise. To the vast majority of people in the East the Southern Appalachians are still a paradise compared to where they are from, hence why they will continue to come.

Here is Western Montana compared to the Southern Appalachians, equal scale.



Roughly 4X the land mass, on a per square mile basis the Southern Appalachians has less non-public land (less space to develop which has almost run out). Yet they continue to come in by the thousands on monthly basis.

Why?

To paraphrase: "It's so beautiful here in the mountains. The real estate, taxes, population density, crime, and traffic is so much less than where I'm from. The cost of living is about the same so we're use to that financially. But it's the year round weather with the mild winter and moderate summer, that makes this place a year around paradise for us."

These people will continue to come and they will make the Southern Appalachians an unbearable place to live.

Back to my point of this post.

"Montana winters are like an immune system." - non-TW Montana resident

In my opinion, If it were not for Montana winters Western Montana would be a carbon copy of what I just described above.

Yes you all are having some growth, more than what you are use to, everywhere is. But in my opinion, because of the winters, you all will NEVER experience the out of control destructive way of life population growth seen in other regions of the country.

In that your winters are a blessing, without them you would be overrun in short order.

 

This is true in a lot of ways. Thankfully. Long hard winter's keep it in check....to a point.


What really happens is then just people with GOBS of money come. Look at Bozeman/big sky/Livingston. A lot of money with not as many year round residents.

That's the Colorado model. Can look at Aspen or Vail and such. Same thing is happening here. People soon won't be able to afford to live in the town they work in(already happening in Bozeman/big sky area) and no one will really live there year round. This is how Aspen is.

Jackson hole is another good example. No one from wy hardly claims Jackson as actually wy.

 

You've never been to Bozeman, MT have you...

We're growing so fast we can't find pants that fit anymore. Fast food pays $14/hr and rent can be $1,000 - $1,200/month for a one bedroom apartment... if you can find one. We have 17k college students in town and businesses are CLOSING because they can't find help. Lots of wealthy people are moving here by droves and gobbling up $500k - $1,000,000 homes as fast as we build them. And they all somehow afford them.

Just outside of town is a place called Big Sky, MT. It's a mountain covered in rich vacation homes. On top of that Mountain is Yellowstone Club. Bill Gates, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, and big CEOs you've never heard of live in multimillion dollar vacation homes in a private, gated, community that requires million dollar annual membership fees. There's one way in, one way out, and they enjoy hundreds of staff to serve these people. Private security. Helicopters flying people in and out. Front doors big enough to drive your truck through them.

Locals call our community Boz-Angeles because West Coast rich folks move here constantly. Our culture has changed from a small town with pastures and horses to a super left mini metropolis with fine dining popping up everywhere in the last 20 years.

Historically our annual mean temperature is 45 degrees.

 

I need to get out of this town. Can’t stand all the millionaires and their self entitlement wishing they were billionaires.

 

Yeah but you can't leave. You're too honored by their presence. LoL

 

New look for the Taco! Got my new BAMF bumper on last night.

 

I was there a few weeks ago for a couple hours to meet @MTgirl and I was there in town for a couple days/nights 2 years ago. I could tell the difference in just 2 years.

Wealthy seasonal residents is not what I was describing in my post above, we do have those as well. They are a very small percentage of the overall population. The bulk are middle upper income nest egg/business owners.

I don't believe you will have the massive influx of middle upper income nest egg/business owners like here in the Southern Appalachians. They have just enough money to make it here but that requires them to live here year round (can't afford multiple residents). These are the types that can come by the 100's of thousands but they have to be able to live there year round. I believe your winters will stop this type of destructive migration.

 

This is why we retired in Billings instead of Bozeman. Love Bozeman but it’s getting silly there.

 

I don’t think I could do Billing’s, too much of a city for us. I just wish we could afford the cost of living here but with my wife being a stay at home mom and a second kiddo on the way we just can’t afford a $350-400k house.

 

The VA tried to get us to borrow more when we said we only wanted $300. My family is here so that was a driving factor and I retired to spend more time with the wife. At the time we both planned to work so somewhere like Columbus didn’t make sense when you added in 1-2 hour commute each way. Wish I had known how methy Billings had gotten though.

 

That is one of the main reasons I left the Boulder area.... even the smaller surrounding towns were asking for almost a grand to rent a BEDROOM in a house...

 

Be nice!

 

No... WY and MT are full. Try North or South Dakota!

 

Oh hell no!

 

Billings has changed a lot in the last 10 years too. It's getting to be nice. But is big for sure.