Why I moved away...

CharlieD3

CharlieD3

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CharlieD3
Parts of East central Iowa, now.
Nonsense!
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Weird, that's a big part of why I left Cedar Rapids too!
 
Would rather have the white stuff on the ground here right now than the dark white/grey/black stuff in the air...
This is when the Troublesome fire blew up on Friday. We were maybe 15 miles south.
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Man, I hope we get a good couple of 8"-10" snows in Tulsa this year. We've been in a snowfall "drought" the past several years. I just bought a 4x4 and need to justify the investment, lol.
 
My bones, my attitude, and my plane are getting tireder and tireder each passing year. Another 5 years til the last college grad. Hopefully they get southern jobs!
 
My wife lived in Iowa from 1st grade until I met her in her mid-20's. She LOVED Iowa... NEVER wanted to leave there... Then we came down to visit my family in Alabama for Thanksgiving - wearing t-shirts and chatting on the front porch. She was OK with moving south after that. :)
 
I'm hearing reports the Des Moines area may have seen up to 9 inches of snow today.
 
gkainz said:
Would rather have the white stuff on the ground here right now than the dark white/grey/black stuff in the air...
This is when the Troublesome fire blew up on Friday. We were maybe 15 miles south.
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Hah! When our cabin in NY was threatened by a forest fire working its way down the mountain we were just praying that the forecast snow would actually happen... fortunately it did when the fire was only a few hundred yards from the cabin... -whew-
 
No snow, no Rain, and it is 55 degrees, but windy. (14 MPH) but it will be dark in 3 hours.
 
I miss the mountains and snow. COS was good for my soul.
 
My wife refuses to consider becoming a snowbird. We are semi-retired and live just outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho so we get a full 4 seasons and winters typically over a 100” of snow and occasionally below zero (F) temps. We still ski so that helps plus we are season ticket holders to Gonzaga men’s basketball program and for the last 5 years they have been ranked #1 in the nation several times and typically in the top 10. My idea was to buy a 35-40’ sailboat and sail the Caribbean or the Mexico Baja for a few months in the winter. No dice. Next idea was to rent apartments in different countries in the Southern Hemisphere for 2-3 months during the winter as a way to learn new languages and cultures. No way. Next, next idea was to rent something in the Florida Panhandle or Gulf Coast for a few months and fly our Tiger back and forth. Again, same answer. Simply put she doesn’t want to be out of touch with her grandchildren that long. Sigh - I keep telling her I am gonna miss her and before I go, I promise to teach her how to use the snowblower - simply doesn’t phase her or move her. Maybe when the grandkids get older.
 
I keep asking myself why I moved back to eastern Iowa. Winters here are miserable because it is wet. I'd much rather move back north to a drier climate even though it gets colder, because the winters don't seem so bad.

It was 70 degrees on Saturday and 33 degrees today here.
 
When it gets cold it's easy enough to put on a warm coat, a long scarf and a strong hat. When it gets too hot there's naught to be done. I will continue to live in the north. Snow is an inconvenience. Fires and hurricanes are also inconveniences, but orders of magnitude more inconvenient.
 
CJones said:
My wife lived in Iowa from 1st grade until I met her in her mid-20's. She LOVED Iowa... NEVER wanted to leave there... Then we came down to visit my family in Alabama for Thanksgiving - wearing t-shirts and chatting on the front porch. She was OK with moving south after that. :)
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Yep. My wife's sister and family, from Wisconsin, came to visit us in Atlanta one time for Thanksgiving and couldn't believe we could hang out on the deck in late November. They loved it.
 
Jumpmaster said:
My wife refuses to consider becoming a snowbird. We are semi-retired and live just outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho so we get a full 4 seasons and winters typically over a 100” of snow and occasionally below zero (F) temps. We still ski so that helps plus we are season ticket holders to Gonzaga men’s basketball program and for the last 5 years they have been ranked #1 in the nation several times and typically in the top 10. My idea was to buy a 35-40’ sailboat and sail the Caribbean or the Mexico Baja for a few months in the winter. No dice. Next idea was to rent apartments in different countries in the Southern Hemisphere for 2-3 months during the winter as a way to learn new languages and cultures. No way. Next, next idea was to rent something in the Florida Panhandle or Gulf Coast for a few months and fly our Tiger back and forth. Again, same answer. Simply put she doesn’t want to be out of touch with her grandchildren that long. Sigh - I keep telling her I am gonna miss her and before I go, I promise to teach her how to use the snowblower - simply doesn’t phase her or move her. Maybe when the grandkids get older.
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I don't know... I'd have a hard time leaving CdA, too. We did an anniversary trip at an AirBnB in Hope, ID a few years ago in December. Hiked to the Ross Creek Cedars area after the road was closed for the season and hiked back out in fresh falling snow. Went up north a bit to see the herds of elk at Kootenai Wildlife Refuge. Spent the night watching the snow fall from the warmth of the hot tub. It was hard to leave!
 
Jumpmaster said:
I keep telling her I am gonna miss her and before I go, I promise to teach her how to use the snowblower - simply doesn’t phase her or move her. Maybe when the grandkids get older.
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ok, well it sounds like approval to me. Take your girlfriend and go have a great winter.
 
Once retired, one can move some during the heart of Winter. Everyone’s situation is different. I’ve known a handful from MI that moved back North after a few years, that’s where grandkids, relatives, friends, and familiarity was.

Since I’m still a working stiff, no reason to have a firm plan. I have some ideas floating around, flexibility is key. As far as the snow & cold, just dress for it. Some grouse hunting this weekend, deer & more in Nov. The snowmobiles are ready too.
 
Once I gave up snow skiing,it was time to go south. Never looked back.
 
My sister went to the cabin over the Labor Day weekend. While she was there, they got 15" of snow, then the next day another 18". So, they broke out the snowmobiles for some fun. But had to shovel some in front of the garage door.
 
Yes the south is nice in October through April, but the summers it is 90 degrees and 90% humidity, us fat guys sweat too much and the damn bugs.
 
Getonit said:
Yes the south is nice in October through April, but the summers it is 90 degrees and 90% humidity, us fat guys sweat too much and the damn bugs.
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Bugs? You ain't seen bugs unless you been to Minnesota in the summertime!
 
CharlieD3 said:
Bugs? You ain't seen bugs unless you been to Minnesota in the summertime!
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Yeah, they have N numbers stenciled on their sides.

The nice thing about living on the west side of the state of Washington is that their idea of snow removal equipment is called "rain". I'm going to miss the weather in Cancun when we return back to the PNW tomorrow. Mid 80s every day.

I just hope the snow isn't too bad in Denver tomorrow as we are supposed the change planes there in the afternoon. We shall see what happens.
 
Ghery said:
Yeah, they have N numbers stenciled on their sides.

The nice thing about living on the west side of the state of Washington is that their idea of snow removal equipment is called "rain". I'm going to miss the weather in Cancun when we return back to the PNW tomorrow. Mid 80s every day.

I just hope the snow isn't too bad in Denver tomorrow as we are supposed the change planes there in the afternoon. We shall see what happens.
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Well, as a follow-up...

We didn't leave Cancun on Monday as planned. UA cancelled our flight to DEN. They didn't say whether it was due to weather in Denver or the impending hurricane in Cancun. And, they cancelled all flights in/out of Cancun on Tuesday. So we flew to PDX on Wednesday. CUN-IAH-SFO-PDX. Spent Wednesday night at our daughter's place in Vancouver (instead of Monday night) and drove home on Thursday.

The eye of Hurricane Zeta came ashore in Mexico about 50 miles south of Cancun. A category 1. We had a very noisy night due to the wind and the room we had for Monday and Tuesday nights. Yes, we had to pay for it and a couple days of all inclusive. Monday that all inclusive wasn't anything to write home about. "Dinner" was a sandwich, a few potato chips and a piece of cake. And Tuesday there wasn't anything to do as the grounds crew was cleaning up the sand that had blown up from the beach. Normally that beach is one of the nicest we've seen anywhere in the world, but Tuesday it left a bit to be desired. I wonder why? :D:D

Then we needed to leave the hotel an hour before their shuttle service to the airport started, so we took a taxi instead. Oh well...

That was the first hurricane I've experienced and as hurricanes go I understand what we experienced was fairly mild. That said, one is enough.
 
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