UTAH (and Surrounding Areas) BS Thread

I am.

 

Know anyone looking for a nice 1st gen?

 

Me. Can you point me in this ones direction?

 

PM sent

 

Will trade for a 01/04 dbl cab

 

I'm from SoCal but visiting family in cottonwood heights right now and just saw a blue dcsb with a plate bumper and roof rack with what looked like smoked headlights on bengal blvd and had a TW sticker on the back window

 

I wish my truck were unique enough someone from out of town would take notice...but I don't have the money for mods, or a wife that would be willing to let me spend it on those type of things if I did...lol!!! Otherwise I'd have full retros, a prinsu cab rack, and one of three select manufactures front bumpers...

 

I look at every tacoma I see. I'm from SoCal so they're all over there. I always just look for an TacomaWorld sticker and if I see one I'll post about jt

 

Going to be heading back to Moab in a month. Maybe I'll see some of y'all around.

 

It's official, I'm sticking with the 2nd Gen. Let me know if you know anyone who needs this truck.

 

Anyone ever had their shock rebuilt? I have some Non resi kings that I'd like rebuilt.

Any suggestions on where to go? Prices/ turn around time?

 

Anyone going to the Big Sky Open bow shoot at the Easton Center?

 

Midnight 4x4 just did my icons $180 each. Randy is a good dude

 

How long did it take?

 

Well I hadn't installed them yet so I was in no rush but once he got the seals kit in it was only a few days.

 

So my manager asked me if I was willing to relocate to Salt Lake City. What I want to know is the pros and cons to the area: what the weather/temps, cost of living, gun laws (one of the biggest reasons I never stayed in Cali after leaving the navy), traffic and anything else I should need to know. I would appreciate it.

 

Mark if you love the outdoors you will love SLC. Gun laws are good, we are a right to carry state. Cost of living is not bad, but the housing market is on a big uptick now as it is in most of the country. Not sure where you live now but there are tools on the internet that will look at where you live now and tell you what wage you would need to make to maintain the same life style you have now. 26 years in the military and have lived many places including Socal. This is where I choose to live. Oh the alcohol laws are funny.

 

• Weather
  • summers - you'll get several weeks of above 90 and a week or so of above 100. The upside is the humidity is low so IMO it isn't that bad.
  • winters - one word inversion. SLC is a like a big bowl surrounded by mountains. Once the snow sticks and doesn't melt, usually early December, the pollution builds and builds until you feel like you're living in a great toxic soup. This continues until spring comes in March. I love the snow storms because they clean out the gunk, and they're fun to drive in, think 4 wheeling to work. During the inversions the temps will get into the 20's and stay there pretty much non stop until the storms.
  • Bottom line - from March to November the weather is great. December is meh. And January and February suck.
• Cost of living - housing is going up. A lot of tech companies are moving in which is a good news/bad news kind of thing. Good for me as my property value increases / bad for those that want to buy. You'd have to google the differences in cost from your current location.
• Gun laws - The gun laws are about as liberal as you can get. Concealed carry in schools - check. An indoor shooting range on nearly every corner - check. Any place to shoot outdoors - fail. Comparing Utah's gun laws to Cali is like comparing Nancy Pelosi to Rush Limbaugh. If you like shooting holes in pieces of paper there are a lot of options. But, since everyone and the kids have guns finding a place to shoot outdoors near SLC is impossible. For me it's a 2 hour drive one way. There is a place people go west of Utah lake, but last time I was there there were groups of people shooting AT each other. Jesus, just because people can buy a gun doesn't mean they have any sense on how to safely shoot one.
• Traffic - There's one main freeway that runs north/south through the valley and it's just like every freeway in every city. Rush hours suck. Depending on where you live vs where you work traffic can be horrible or a non-issue.
• Things you should know
  • The local religion - The Mormons are individually some of the kindest people in the world, except the ones in the legislature. Those Mormons are the most overbearing, hypocritical, tell you how to live your life group of assholes you'll ever find. If you can ignore the laws, and not get too offended when the Missionaries come knocking they won't be a problem.
  • Raising non-mormon kids - It's better than when I was a kid, but Utah can be a difficult place. Being Mormon means you spend a lot of time in church, so non-mormon kids have fewer opportunities for finding friends that can play. My son didn't seem to have any problems, but I can think of only one friend that was mormon.
  • Recreation - If you like outdoor recreation Utah and the surrounding states can't be beat. The different activities are too numerous to mention.
  • Culture - I like trying different restaurants, seeing plays, art museums, sitting on sidewalk cafes watching people, going to major league baseball games, and so on. There's some of that, but it's quite limited compared to bigger cities. For me it's a good excuse to travel, but every time I come back it is a little depressing.

I travel, a lot. I've been to many American cities large and small, and everywhere I go I ask myself "would I like living here?" My answer, comparing the good with the bad, is Utah is still the winner. Is Utah perfect? No, far from it. Would I choose it over anyplace else, so far yes, but I haven't been everywhere yet.

 

I've lived in 5 states and the SLC area is a great spot overall. People are generally friendly, most places are pretty safe, and there's tons of outdoor stuff to do within driving range (in springtime you can pick from a half dozen world class ski resorts in the morning then be rock crawling in Moab by evening). It'll get over 100 in the summer and there'll be days below 0 in the winter but the dry air takes the edge off and it makes for beautiful seasons. The mountains are super close and beautiful. Cost of living is lower than average. Laws are generally very gun friendly - concealed carry is easy to get, for example. Traffic is nothing compared to "real" big cities.

That's a very short answer to some big questions. Overall, most people I talk to who have moved here from out of state love it. Especially outdoorsy types and those looking for a great place to raise a family.

 

I grew up in southwestern Utah, and lived in SLC when I went to college. From a native non-Mormon's point of view, this post is pretty spot on.

If you're looking for a big city that doesn't feel like a monstrous metropolis, then SLC is a good fit. And the rest of the state happens to have what I feel is the absolute best mix of terrain anywhere, from mountains to deserts and everything in between.

Just be ready for an incredibly dominant culture that pervades every part of life there, especially politics. What's nice about Salt Lake is that it is far and away the most liberal part of the state which probably puts is solidly at the center of things relative to the rest of the country. I always loved that.