Movin' cross country. No local friends, little money, tiny car.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
81

Nah, the snakes won’t be hard. Their tanks will be emptied (well, refilled with sweaters or something) and each snake gets tied inside a well-knotted pillow case. Put 'em inside something hard-sided and sturdy for protection, then onto the floorboards of the passenger side, with the floor heater on. Maybe with one or two of those hand warmers that skiiers tuck into their mittens.

Ah, well, fuck me, then. Mine is not a glamorous job, but it IS full time, and that is … close to my monthly take-home pay after taxes.

I knew a cute bungalow with a garden was probably not gonna happen right the fuck away, and I knew my current state has lower costs of living than many others, but that’s more than a wrinkle, that presents a serious fucking problem.

Crap, I wonder how shitty of a craphole imma have to settle for?

82

Voice of reason here:

Daydreaming about moving to a beautiful area like the PNW is fun, but if your monthly take-home is $1500, that is one of the last places you should be considering. I’ve moved from DFW to Seattle, and it isn’t a little more expensive – it’s a LOT more. I only went because my pay was (literally) doubled from what I made here, and I only stayed a few years to build up investments/savings and my resume. Once I got a similar salary offer elsewhere, I was gone. IME, everything, from rent to food to gas was noticeably more costly.

Sorry, but unless your company is increasing your pay commensurate with the COL of the new area, you should either stay put (your best option) or consider an area with a lower COL than DFW.

Disclaimer: I’m assuming Portland and Seattle are similarly expensive compared to N Texas.

83

It never occurred to me to ask about COL raises. I absolutely doubt it, but since I’m asking HR to clarify the city boundaries question anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

The PNW wouldn’t really be a top choice for me, except that it’s on the short list for where my job is portable. Since we’re ramping up significantly at work as the Holiday Season Approacheth (already getting mandatory O.T. by a few hours a week) I’m about to have very little free time, and no time off, paid or unpaid, until after New Year. Which is surprising unconducive to job hunting.

84

You’re right on 2 points - those are states w/ little protection for low wage workers and I’ll bet the cities specified have a law that bucks the state minimum wage b/c it’s higher than the federal one. I worked for Convergys/Concentrix and it’s the same way or the same reasons; they pay 10.50/hr full time to work-at-home employees so will only hire where that’s legal.
The other right thing is that Utah (I live there) can be hothothot. But muggy it is not. I’m in Northern Utah, just south of Ogden and the winters aren’t bad at all. The summers can be miserable for going outside much but I know many people adjust to it.
Cannabis is only medically legal here so far, but w/ Nevada and Colorado flanking us, plenty of people get theirs w/ little trouble and its acceptance is growing.

85

COL raises aside, current minimum wage in Portland metro is $12.50/hr, is that going to improve your wage situation any? I know wages in TX tend to be on the low side so it’s possible this would actually be a good sized raise for you–of course the higher COL will take a bite outta that.

Share rentals are also a thing, renting a room or basement or ADU is also an option here. I’d get all over Craigslist and do some shopping–just keep in mind there are a lot of rental scams out there so if there’s a rental that seems out of line for the area (use Zillow to check) I’d run the address through Google, make sure the scammers aren’t pretending to be the owners of the house. My daughter just caught one of those christless fucks with my assistance–sometimes my long years of experience in the appraisal field come in handy.

86

Every time I see the thread title I want to sing “Movin’ cross the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches…”

87

I spent many years in west Texas (Lubbock & San Angelo) before moving to the Portland area…been here 28 years now, & don’t see myself leaving by choice. I second the craigslist recommendation. Depending on where you’d be working in PDX, Clackamas County is a good bet for the most part, especially if you stay in the unincorporated areas. I found several shared living ads from $600 on up. I’m halfway between Sandy and Estacada & it’s 30 minutes, plus or minus, to hit I-205, maybe 45 minutes to hit I-5 & I-84 interchange. 30 or 35 minutes up the hill to Mt Hood ski areas, if you’re into that sort of thing.

88

Advice from my personal move across country, many years ago now. I hope this isn’t hopelessly outdated:

1.) I bought a trailer to haul my stuff. It was a very light trailer, a secondhand purchase, that I got because everyone assured me that my car wouldn’t be able to pull a U-Haul. So I spent a lot of time fixing it up an getting it street-legal.

2.) I had already rented an apartment beforehand, just so I’d have a place to stay, even if it turnout out to be awful.

3.) I packed up a lot of my belongings and shipped them to myself, care of “General DElivery”. That way, the Post Office wouldn’t have to try and leave them at my apartment. Also, if my stuff got there ahead of me, the P.O. would hold onto it for x days (I don’t recal how many). It was like getting free storage.

4.) Ship your books to yourself , paying “book rate” – it’s the cheapest way to do it, and better than hauling them yourself.

5.) Between Gary, Indiana and Lincoln, Nebraska I had six flat tires on my trailer, and then the trailer spring broke. I had to ditch iot in Lincoln. Fortunately, by making a LOT of phone calls to people advertising in the “sell your stuff” flyers, I found someone willing to buy it, even broken down.

6.) I rented a U-Haul. Fortunately, all those people who told me my car couldn’t handle it were wrong. Otherwise, I’d have had to ship ma lot more stuff to “General DElivery”, or abandon it.

7.) Turns out they were almost right, though. Crossing the Continental Divide I was inching along in first gear and barely moving. I was afraid I’d have to shift lower, and didn’t know how I was going to do it. If I could have gotten out and pushed at the same time I drove, I woulda done it. Fortunately, I squeaked over the divide.

8.) Then it was literally downhill all the way. Which is scary. I learned what “Runaway truck lanes” are for. No accidents, though.

9.) Made it to my goal in Salt Lake City. Unpacked my U-Haul. Got my boxes out of General Delivery. Turned in my U-Haul. And the apartment wasn’t bad, after all. I couldn’t find anything better for the money, and stayed there the rest of my time in the city.

89

I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your friend VOW. Can I ask, how did it turn out for her?

90

No foolin’, Rand McNally! Jump off the 40 in Kingman, avoid that mess of Southern Kalifornia.

91

Thank you for your concern.

Mr VOW and I travel back and forth between our place in AZ and SCal where our kids (and grandkids) live.

Jane arrived in September. When December rolled around, we made our plans to return to SCal, Jane was given a choice to stay in AZ, or come with us. My son’s wife, who had never met Jane, offered her guest room. (Mr VOW and I have a room at the Daughter’s house.

I must interject here that I adore my daughter-in-law.

Mr VOW drove Jane over to my son and daughter-in-law’s house. Jane walked in the front door and saw my grandson. He was about 18 months old at the time.

Jane fell in love with that little boy.

Jane now lives with my son and his family. She is Nana.

(Don’t worry, I’m still Grandma!)

Jane receives a small check from her dead husband’s Social Security, as a survivor’s benefit, so she can take care of her own expenses. She contributes to the household, and is considered to be family.

Everyone is blessed by this arrangement.
~VOW

92

That part of the US is a whole LOT of nothing. In summer, it’s potentially deadly.

A single woman driving alone needs a route with services available, beyond a canteen of water, a pith helmet, and a Bowie knife.
~VOW

93

One big drawback with towing anything behind you is that thieves target vehicles like that. My niece and her boyfriend found that out the hard way, when the cargo trailer they were hauling from Missouri to Alaska was stolen from the motel they were staying in in Kansas City. The trailer was found, but it was empty. If you do tow something, find a tamper-resistant hitch lock, similar to this one.

As for Portland, I agree with all of the above comments. We love living here, although traffic has become an unholy bitch and most long-time residents went to Bob’s Pretty Good Driving Skool. Rents are VERY high, so if you can find a roomy, that would be helpful. Otherwise, you’ll likely find yourself way out on the eastern part of the city. The good news is that public transit is very good. It does rain a lot in the rainy season, but then you’re basically living in a temperate rain forest. There are a lot of days with sun breaks, though, especially in the afternoons. Summers are glorious, with brief spells of 90+ weather.

94

As a general observation from all my centuries on Planet Earth, traffic NEVER EVER improves.

Traffic was reason one, two and three why we moved from SCal to NE AZ.
~VOW
PS Actually, traffic was reasons six, seven, eight, and nine, too.

95

I’m late to the thread, sorry.

If you can work from home and just need to be able to get to Portland if necessary, you can live quite a ways outside of town and I think you won’t have trouble finding your dream bungalow. We have a house down in Albany (South of Salem, near Corvallis where OSU is). I worked from there and was able to get to our offices in Eugene (further South) and to fly out of Portland on the regular.

I will also say that Oregon is amazing and if you like the outdoors, you will love it. Easy access to so many things: mountains, beaches, forests, rivers.

Regardless of where you end up going, after doing multiple cross-country moves, I say pack a POD with what you want to keep but don’t need on hand. PODS or UBF (or other companies) have a variety of options and sizes. They’ll store your stuff until you have a place for it. Then, you drive with your pets and your “must haves” and keep things as light as possible for you on the road. It’s actually cheaper to do it this way than renting a truck and towing. It’s also much less stressful.

Good luck and go for it! Remember, if you don’t like it, you can make another change. You’re not signing up in blood for this. If you end up hating it, you can leave. It’s a beautiful part of the country, though. I think you’ll enjoy it.

96

A cautionary note: I work in a business where I occasionally employ people that work from home. As a hypothetical example, if I said it was permissible for someone to work from Portland, that would not automatically include suburbs or nearby regions. It’s about where we have the correct business license, tax setups, corporate structure, stuff like that (I have never cared to dig into all the whys). Our payroll tools have a spot to enter the address where the work takes place, and I have learned from hard experience that if I tell payroll someone is working in Portland (for example) and they end up working in Beaverton, I’m going to get a whole ration of shit.

That may not actually matter in this case, but I am suspicious that they identified some cities by name.

97

Well, hopefully VOW, if it works out just right, I’ll be going there to help if Purple needs and wants me too (it’s my vacation, I’ll work if I want to)

last time I took a trip around the Rockies, the ex-Mrs and I took that route. What I remember was a veerrrrrry long day of driving and at about 1100 pm looking down to my left at the headlights of the traffic ahead of me. I was tired and needed to pee which made the unexpectedness of it that much more unsettling.

98

I re-read the thread.

If you would be working for the same COMPANY doing what you are doing now, talk to a boss or someone from HR.

Your company could very well PAY your moving expenses! I mean the whole enchilada, hiring a moving company to come to your home and PACK everything, load it all into a moving van and haiul it to Portland or wherever. You might also get a per diem for travel and a relocation allowance.

Please please PLEASE go ask!
~VOW

99

Would Colorado work? Being up in the mountains usually keeps the evenings and nights cool, if not the days. Duluth, Minnesota or Superior, Wisconsin are happening towns. In MN, it’s medical use only, but small amountsmay be to be overlooked. Wonderful communities.

100

AZ is medical use only, according to my BFF getting the card is very easy. She loves it because she has access to much better stuff now. My BFF is also pretty sure that it will be fully legal next year.

While much of AZ is hot (but its a dry heat), northern AZ and above 3600 feet is not. Prescott and Flagstaff are beautiful, but pricey. Before we got married, 4 years ago, I worked in Prescott and was bringing home 840 every 2 weeks. This allowed me to make mortgage payments on a 3 bedroom home with fenced yard and storage sheds. The commute to work was 45 minutes each way, but I wanted to buy and wouldn’t have been able to afford a garage in Prescott.

Living in the sticks is way different than living in a city, though. You need to be sure you like living somewhere that you have to drive half an hour just to get groceries. While I was living there, folks were constantly moving in because it was affordable, then moving out because they couldn’t take the silence.