What keeps you in CA ?

[graygun]

I'm sure you have your reasons. :lol:

 

[wolfsong]

Ahhh, not again!

Sigh.

I guess that means it's also time to rehash the Civil War/the war between the states/the war of Northern aggression/the war of Southern pride...

 

[graygun]

I don't mean it "that" way.

 

[Jeepnik]

The realities of family and work responsibilities.

 

[RSIno1]

Six figure salary. House I bought for $45,000 in 1977. 100% paid medical (zero copay for anything except meds $5), good dental, new glasses every year. Retirement plan that will pay 2.3% of salary for every year I work and 100% medical. Had planned on moving once I retired but wife says she's not leaving grandson time. Weather ain't bad either.

 

[bogus bill]

RSIno1, Does your outfit need a busted down 75 year old unfit geezer?

 

[Rick Courtright]

Ahhh, not again!

Sigh.

I guess that means it's also time to rehash the Civil War/the war between the states/the war of Northern aggression/the war of Southern pride...

Hi,

Has it been six months already? How about "The War of Southern Attrition?" That oughta stir up something in the pot.

As for the OP, every time I think I want to be somewhere else, I remember Ol' Ben (Franklin) and get out a piece of paper, then draw a line down the middle and put the "pros" on one side and the "cons" on the other. So far, the pros still outweigh the cons...

When that changes, maybe I'll move. But first I'd have to do the same thing for the prospective new place. Fact is, I've done that a time or two, and so far it's looking like unless it happens while I'm traveling somewhere else, I'll probably die here. In the mean time, I'm debating where to go trout fishing in the morning to help bid adieu to another "old" year before I've gotta put away my toys for a while and get back to work for real. It's supposed to be sunny and warm, a great combo in the mountains this time of year!

Rick C

 

[powder smoke]

Been there once on a Military lay over in Psuedio. No real opinion wearher
was nice it was mid Jan. ps

 

[smoke-eater]

The realities of family and work responsibilities.

Well said, kept short & to the point. Exactly why I continue to reside in New Jersey (which surely must be worse than living in CA).

 

[bobski]

communists don't let their people travel. you all know that. lol.

 

[RSIno1]

RSIno1, Does your outfit need a busted down 75 year old unfit geezer?

Nope - already have that guy for my boss.

 

[redhawker]

Family mostly, but as I get older it is becoming more important to be near superior medical care. I have a cousin that lives in a small town in Colorado and distance from and quality of medical care almost cost him his life. He finally had to come out her to get things taken care of. Between Cedars Sini and USC Medical Center they finally got him straightened out. The Doctors in Colorado never did figure out what was wrong and what to do and the 3 hour drives through blizzard conditions (which was normally 1 hour) to get to medical care and the 2 hour flight through storm conditions over the Rockies were almost fatal to not only him but everyone that was with him.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Family mostly, but as I get older it is becoming more important to be near superior medical care.

Hi,

Sadly, I don't think your story's unique, RH. I know several folks who've left CA, only to return for the very reason you mention: local medical care in their version of "a new paradise" was lacking or non-existent, to the point of being potentially fatal. A couple more left, and didn't return, but it's arguable whether they would have lived better, or possibly longer, lives had they stayed closer to advanced medical care. Life involves a lot of choices, and one must look at everything possible when making the decision to go elsewhere, and then picking that elsewhere!

Rick C

 

[redhawker]

Family mostly, but as I get older it is becoming more important to be near superior medical care.

Hi,

Sadly, I don't think your story's unique, RH. I know several folks who've left CA, only to return for the very reason you mention: local medical care in their version of "a new paradise" was lacking or non-existent, to the point of being potentially fatal. A couple more left, and didn't return, but it's arguable whether they would have lived better, or possibly longer, lives had they stayed closer to advanced medical care. Life involves a lot of choices, and one must look at everything possible when making the decision to go elsewhere, and then picking that elsewhere!

Rick C

If it was ONLY the medical care I might risk it because if I lived 10 more years happy instead of 20 more years miserable under Commiefornia rule it might be worth the risk. Ultimately the family is the final and real deciding factor, especially with a new grandson in the picture.

 

[blackhawknj]

An Army buddy was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey 1967-1968. He said the gun laws were a LOT better then. 18 and older to buy, 5 day waiting period for a handgun while they checked you out in Sacramento, walk out the door with a long gun. California is like New England, a lot of people moved there to take what it offered but they turned it into what they left behind.

 

[Jeepnik]

An Army buddy was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey 1967-1968. He said the gun laws were a LOT better then. 18 and older to buy, 5 day waiting period for a handgun while they checked you out in Sacramento, walk out the door with a long gun. California is like New England, a lot of people moved there to take what it offered but they turned it into what they left behind.

Handguns required that you be 21 back then. Also needed to be 21 to buy "handgun" ammo. Rifles & shotguns and their ammo could be bought at 18. Interestingly in some shops a kid (and I mean early teens) could buy .22 lr. Others interpreted it as needing to be 21 to buy .22 lr because there were handguns chambered for it.

 

[WAYNO]

This discussion, and the finger pointing, happens too often. What has happened in California, is happening in Oregon and Washington. There are a few more Western states that are ruled much by a big main city that are also ripe for the leftist expansion.

So many fingers pointing in our direction causes me to wonder why people stayed in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, et al. Thinking it can't happen in other places is sticking our head in the sand.

So instead of attacking the folks that got caught in a state that was taken over by leftists, I'd hope we'd band together and take this craziness all back. In spite of the numbers of leftists that have caused all this, I'll bet if the "rightists" would actually support Constitution-loving candidates, and actually go to the polls and vote, our percentage numbers just might be higher than the red and blue maps would suggest.

I think Missouri is an example that it can be done. Missouri, controlled by two large ghetto-cities, was one of the last hold outs to allow concealed carry. And in a short time, it's gone to permitless! Some folks are critical that the permitless law is not perfect, but it's gone quickly in the right direction. Missouri is a very rural and very conservative state, but the leftists have been allowed to have a louder voice until recently, when the conservatives insisted they were listened to also.

I could move out of Oregon, away from my family, and the mountains, and the rivers, and the desert and the ocean, but then be let down in another state where the silent majority chose to remain silent.

WAYNO.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Well put Wayno. The whole question gets old. If someone has a job, family, house, where they live, no matter how bad it is, it can be more comfortable than some where they don't have any of that. Regardless of how much they may dislike the "rules" in California, all the rest is familiar. If I didn't come to Idaho to retire, and have the money to buy a house and not have to worry about a job, this would be pretty hard as well. No family, very few friends, it's not easy to just up and move from somewhere that is familiar. Trust me on that.

 

[RSIno1]

California is like New England, a lot of people moved there to take what it offered but they turned it into what they left behind.

Handguns required that you be 21 back then. Also needed to be 21 to buy "handgun" ammo. Rifles & shotguns and their ammo could be bought at 18. Interestingly in some shops a kid (and I mean early teens) could buy .22 lr. Others interpreted it as needing to be 21 to buy .22 lr because there were handguns chambered for it.

Bought my first rifle at 18 from a discount department store called White Front - my birthday present to myself. Worked at the PD as a jailer @ 19 and bought my Colt Trooper - still have both of them. I bought lots of handguns pre 21 - just not from dealers. There was a period where you had to show your DL and sign a registery when you bought ammo. The idiots in Sacramento have just brought that nightmare back. No more mail order ammo to CA starting 2018.

The real problem for the rest of the country is that the CA liberals are moving to other states and contaminating those too - take a look at OR, AZ, CO, WA and even NV have been getting idiotic CA inspired laws.

 

[volshooter]

I went through there once and have known a lot of folks from there. Mostly good folks ceptin them ones that wanted to change things here cause they were from there. I can dig the pay, resources land wise, beauty, weather and such, but an ole country boy like me would never fit in where any new idea is the norm.
I'll just stay here in the foot hills of east TN where we is all poor and happy. If I had to move, I'd go to western NC, bout 30 something miles to the line. Them's good folk. Or back to Kentucky, went to HS there. Hell, I'm staying in the southern US. It's where GOD put me and I love it.
Besides, when the big one comes all ya'll be swimming.

Funny thing, we get a lot of folk from big cities moving here to retire. Low cost of living, slower pace of life and the flavor of southern charm.
Everywhere has it's trade offs.

 

[blackhawknj]

IIRC there was an attempt to put the RKBA in the State Constitution by Initiative and Referendum a few years ago. Perhaps that needs to be looked at again. They did it in Nebraska sometime ago.
He told me his bought his Browning High Power there a few months after he turned 18-still has it.

 

[opos]

Guns and loading are one hobby that is a part of my life but certainly not all I do or enjoy....Let's see....why do I live here..let me count the ways:

Greatest weather on the face of the earth in San Diego
10 miles to the ocean and outstanding fishing year round with marlin and tuna in the summer
20 miles from the mountains with beautiful lakes and parks and skiing (I don't any more) as well as hunting
50 miles from the desert
20 miles from Tijuana and upper Baja if you enjoy Mexico...I spent years "crawling the Baja"
Best beaches anywhere
Best zoo in the world
My home is increasing in value on a steady rate as is our rental property
A bustling tourist season to keep us entertained watching them tear around totally lost most of the time.
Best girl/woman viewing anywhere during beach weather (which is most of the year)
When working my earnings here were far beyond what I could have earned anywhere else doing what I did
Main thing is family: Kids, Grandkids, Great Grandkids all here or close enough for a quick visit
Far enough from my ex wife to never have to cross paths with here again
I'm active in AA (36 years in a couple of weeks)and I have my choice of over 800 AA meetings a week in San Diego...
Best Hospital in the U.S. with the Scripps organization here..Scripps Green can not be beat.
Best golf courses in the Western U.S. with Torry Pines just a few miles away.
No snow
No chiggers
No serious snow melt flooding
Mexican food that is the best anywhere...either in San Diego or just across the border (that's less attractive than it used to be)
No tornadoes
No hurricanes
Did I mention the bikini girls?
Great custom and hot rod car culture and a car club for every taste...we enjoy the cruise nights 6-8 months a year and the year round car shows
I collect and restore antique farm engines...one of the best museums and working antique equipment museums anywhere is 25 miles from home.
I can go pick lemons, oranges, tangelos, and grapefruit from my back yard..nothing like a Meyers lemon merangue pie fresh off the tree..year round.

Yep ....we got an occasional earthquake....we do have wild fires....we got illegals by the truckload but they are mostly passing through to other places...we got teen gangs but who doesn't....and we are home of a couple of 1% biker groups but if left alone they tend to keep things pretty mellow in their areas. Our taxes are high but our heating bills are minimum so it works out...our laws are insane but we break most of those on a regular basis and at my age if I get caught I'll be dead before they get done with all the do gooders wanting to appeal my guilty conviction. I don't drive much so the insanity that can reign on the freeways is of no concern (I like driving 55 in the fast lane with my left blinker going for miles...drives the Arizona tourists nuts...

Did I mention bikini girls?


Lots more here but we don't talk about it as people elsewhere note it and we got enough new residents already.

I'll stay..if you come to visit bring lots of cash and bring your daughters for the surfers to teach them how to surf...if you don't like it here...don't come...we'll try and survive.

Now to compare...I lived for a while on our family farm in North Central Nebraska many years ago....the town had a population of under 400. County seat was 16 miles where you had to go to shop...if you wanted to drink beer there were 3 taverns in the little town...no automotive repair shop..no grocery store....no doctor (visiting nurse once a week)..no hospital..only church was the Catholic church...everyone in town was related and if you were not you were on the outside and never going to crack the "code"....most folks retired or unemployed...worst weather on the face of the earth...chiggers...mosquitoes....floods most springs...snow, snow, snow...tornadoes, no town cop...only the sheriff that was 16 miles away if you could find him...allergies and hay fever for months....Posted the land during hunting season and then had to run the hunters off constantly (they shot the cattle and tore up the fences..not locals)....No restaurant in town except one little cafe that was only open on Sunday after church and run by the church auxillary for fund raising....wind was constant....30 miles from a town with any real shopping (the county seat didn't have any big stores of any kind)..it was nice to shoot and hunt and fish when and where I wanted but it was not pleasant to be the "out of towner" to the locals just because we were from somewhere else (Denver at that time)...

The folks that lived there loved it and hated big cities...I understand but that is what makes a horse race..different strokes for different folks.

 

[shagasawin]

Genuine topic. Welcome. Looking for more contributions from you.

 

[NixieTube]

For most people, probably the same set of reasons that keep me in Massachusetts. I have a family and a business here. After the economic crash of 2008, which wiped out several hundred thousand dollars of actual and potential income, there was no pipedream of picking up and moving things.

Also I stay in MA to serve as a "canary in a coal mine" of sorts.

But the bottom line is that when you've settled somewhere and staked out a business, built a customer base and are moving forward with your plans, the idea of picking up and packing things into TWO 52 foot trailer trucks (which is what it would take for us) just isn't feasible, it's more like suicide.

You defend what you have where you are, in a lot of cases. People say: "You should move."

OK. It'll cost us a quarter of a million dollars and four or five months of lost income. And we don't know how fast we could sell the property.

It really bugs me when people give this knee-jerk "advice" - you should move. Hey pal, YOU should move. C'mon up here and help us change the laws. It can be done. The advice is glib and kind of stupid, it's fine for some young guy/gal or couple who have no roots where they are and can pack what they have into a 10-foot U-Haul truck, but for most people it's not an option.

By the way I was very glad to see that Ruger went through the process of getting the new Mark IV approved and certified for sale here in two models. I was starting to think they had given up on us, I'm glad they didn't.

Anyone who runs a small business knows just how the bad recession was - because most of them got whupped in one way or another - and they also know the 8 years after that were no happy dance, either. The consumer confidence index hit a rock-bottom *decades* low point in March of 2008. Anyone who was counting on making money in 2008 and 2009 didn't. Many, many people bled money from every pore, got foreclosed on, lost their assets, lost their credit, went bankrupt, and a lot of businesses went under. It's going to take until 2018 or 2019 to really recover from that - if it ever happens. TEN YEARS. You can't move when you can't afford to rent the truck, not to speak of all the rest.

Pulling the floor, the basement and the sub-basement out from under the economy has a way of making sure a lot of people stay exactly where they are.

 

[graygun]

It's a question...nothing more.

 

[NixieTube]

It's a question...nothing more.

I enjoyed the question. It's a good question and I tried to give a good answer from my perspective. I've heard the line at least 50 times in the past 8 years: "You should move." Yeah, OK. Write me a check for $250 grand without expecting to be paid back, and I'll move. Then arrange a buyer for my property with absolutely ironclad credit so that I can sell it to them without taking a 30% loss on the principal - because the equity - HAHAHAHAHAH that's all gone. You can have the mortgage too. I'm talking in a general sense, not you specifically. It's a good question and there are probably some people who *should* move. But there are a lot of times that you just cannot, unless you want to basically throw it all away and start from nothing at 40 years old.

The one big difference between the US Government and regular people is that we cannot print money whenever we want to.

 

[volshooter]

Ya'll ain't got chiggers??

 

[Colonialgirl]

Guns and loading are one hobby that is a part of my life but certainly not all I do or enjoy....Let's see....why do I live here..let me count the ways:

Greatest weather on the face of the earth in San Diego
10 miles to the ocean and outstanding fishing year round with marlin and tuna in the summer
20 miles from the mountains with beautiful lakes and parks and skiing (I don't any more) as well as hunting
50 miles from the desert
20 miles from Tijuana and upper Baja if you enjoy Mexico...I spent years "crawling the Baja"
Best beaches anywhere
Best zoo in the world
My home is increasing in value on a steady rate as is our rental property
A bustling tourist season to keep us entertained watching them tear around totally lost most of the time.
Best girl/woman viewing anywhere during beach weather (which is most of the year)
When working my earnings here were far beyond what I could have earned anywhere else doing what I did
Main thing is family: Kids, Grandkids, Great Grandkids all here or close enough for a quick visit
Far enough from my ex wife to never have to cross paths with here again
I'm active in AA (36 years in a couple of weeks)and I have my choice of over 800 AA meetings a week in San Diego...
Best Hospital in the U.S. with the Scripps organization here..Scripps Green can not be beat.
Best golf courses in the Western U.S. with Torry Pines just a few miles away.
No snow
No chiggers
No serious snow melt flooding
Mexican food that is the best anywhere...either in San Diego or just across the border (that's less attractive than it used to be)
No tornadoes
No hurricanes
Did I mention the bikini girls?
Great custom and hot rod car culture and a car club for every taste...we enjoy the cruise nights 6-8 months a year and the year round car shows
I collect and restore antique farm engines...one of the best museums and working antique equipment museums anywhere is 25 miles from home.
I can go pick lemons, oranges, tangelos, and grapefruit from my back yard..nothing like a Meyers lemon merangue pie fresh off the tree..year round.

Yep ....we got an occasional earthquake....we do have wild fires....we got illegals by the truckload but they are mostly passing through to other places...we got teen gangs but who doesn't....and we are home of a couple of 1% biker groups but if left alone they tend to keep things pretty mellow in their areas. Our taxes are high but our heating bills are minimum so it works out...our laws are insane but we break most of those on a regular basis and at my age if I get caught I'll be dead before they get done with all the do gooders wanting to appeal my guilty conviction. I don't drive much so the insanity that can reign on the freeways is of no concern (I like driving 55 in the fast lane with my left blinker going for miles...drives the Arizona tourists nuts...

Did I mention bikini girls?


Lots more here but we don't talk about it as people elsewhere note it and we got enough new residents already.

I'll stay..if you come to visit bring lots of cash and bring your daughters for the surfers to teach them how to surf...if you don't like it here...don't come...we'll try and survive.

Now to compare...I lived for a while on our family farm in North Central Nebraska many years ago....the town had a population of under 400. County seat was 16 miles where you had to go to shop...if you wanted to drink beer there were 3 taverns in the little town...no automotive repair shop..no grocery store....no doctor (visiting nurse once a week)..no hospital..only church was the Catholic church...everyone in town was related and if you were not you were on the outside and never going to crack the "code"....most folks retired or unemployed...worst weather on the face of the earth...chiggers...mosquitoes....floods most springs...snow, snow, snow...tornadoes, no town cop...only the sheriff that was 16 miles away if you could find him...allergies and hay fever for months....Posted the land during hunting season and then had to run the hunters off constantly (they shot the cattle and tore up the fences..not locals)....No restaurant in town except one little cafe that was only open on Sunday after church and run by the church auxillary for fund raising....wind was constant....30 miles from a town with any real shopping (the county seat didn't have any big stores of any kind)..it was nice to shoot and hunt and fish when and where I wanted but it was not pleasant to be the "out of towner" to the locals just because we were from somewhere else (Denver at that time)...

The folks that lived there loved it and hated big cities...I understand but that is what makes a horse race..different strokes for different folks.

AND 4 to 5 HOURS to get anywhere with all the traffic !! Lived there, did that, aint forgot.

 

[opos]

That's why I never go anywhere..and if i do...I'm the old man in the white Buick 4 door Regal with the left blinker going for miles...all at 55 mph.

 

[graygun]

That's why I never go anywhere..and if i do...I'm the old man in the white Buick 4 door Regal with the left blinker going for miles...all at 55 mph.

I hope you're kidding.