Wednesday, May 23, 2007

 

Mountain home of the week

This is the house that has my attention this week. Still too early to be taking hard steps toward either renting OR buying. There is one major repair that needs to be done on our current house before I even think about putting it on the market. Then, we'll see.

But what about these digs? Purdy cool. Horsey even.

It's about 45 miles, or an hour-plus on dry roads, from about anywhere I would work in Denver, and about 25 miles and 45 minutes on dry roads from where Dr. ER works in Boulder.

We would find out just how spoiled we are from livin' in the shaodw of a Wal-Mart Supercenter for seven years. Hmmm.

Assuming gas were to hit and remain at $4 per gallon, it would cost me about $560 per month to get to work and back. (That's 15 miles per gallon X 100 miles per day X five days X 4.2 weeks.)

The truck's paid off next year. Then I'll get some litle 4WD thing that gets better mileage.

Ah -- hmmm, Satellite TV, I'm sure. How do they get the Internet in las montanas??

Just thinkin' out loud.

--ER

Comments:
Ha! I love that. Style: Other.

If that don't fit an ER ...
 
Time to work, in other words, would be about like going from Long, OK, to Barling, Ark., down Rogers Ave. in Fort Smith, for y'all who know what that means.

Or going from where I live to Stillwater.

Or from Guthrie, OK, north of OKC, to Norman, south of OKC.

Or from Harrah, east of OKC, to El Reno, west of OKC.

Or from Mesquite, TX, east of Dallas, to Lake Worth, northwest of Fort Worth.

Or from Chickasha, OK, to the hospital in far northwest OKC, where Mama ER was (one or two of the nurses made this trip).

Or from Wichita Falls, Texas, to Vernon, or Seymour, or Bowie, for y'all who know what that means.

But with a combination of gravel roads, windy state highways, a couple of interstates and some urban streets.

And people make those trips every day.

He said. Convincing himself that it's workable.
 
Ur still workin too hard at it.
FWD will do as good in snow and ice as a 4WD, better even. Besides if Al Gore is correct you may not have snow and ice to worry about, huh?
You could convert the monster truck to propane.
Commutes can be educational. My kid has gone through four DVD graduate lecture courses on Religion and Philosophy while driving to and from work. Not for credit mind you, he just gets the sets from the public library. But you might get credit for such by setting up an individual study course at the seminary.
 
Internet works fine in las montanas as long as you can run a phone line to your place. The critters and the weather extremes are kind of tough on the utility poles.

Cell phoneage is hit and miss. Another reason to live in the Front Range.
 
WTH am I working too hard at? I get hit from one side for being slow to cowboy up to this move, then I get slapped around on the other for thinking too hard? Pbbht.

Taddy: Are you saying that hit-and-miss cell phoneage is a good thing? LOL :-)
 
I live the life you describe. The Honey drives about 100 mi. RT Mon-Fri for work. When I'm not working from home (something I do more often with the current gas prices) my commute is about the same.

I won't go into the length of my drive because hopefully the traffic in Colorado isn't like the I75 nightmare.

No garbage collection or curbside recycling - we have to go to the recycling center.

No cable - we have to do satellite t.v.

No high speed internet - we did dial-up for a couple of years then bit the bullet and purchased (approx. $700) DirectWay/HughesNet satellite internet service, there's an additional monthly charge of $69.99 a month (for three computers networked).

The nearest full-service grocery store is about 18 miles away. The nearest gas station is 5 miles. The nearest WalMart is 13 miles. Fast food? 18 miles (not a bad thing)

I fill up the car about three times a week - The Honey requires it at least twice. I do a little more driving for kids' stuff and extra trips to town.

Property taxes - low. Home prices - reasonable.

We love the country, but it has its downsides. Our carbon footprint is huge, unfortunately, due to all the driving, but we make up for it in the summer when the kids and The Honey are home from school and I work from home.

Good luck as you and Dr. E.R. think it through - somedays I'd love to move to town, then I go outside and commune with the birdies and pace the garden and am glad for what I've got.
 
Skin a bit thin?
"WTH am I working too hard at?"
Oh, I don't know. Maybe bringing up the eight different trips and their exact routes in OKLA/Texas/Ark that might "equal" your possible commute in Colorado.
But I might be overstating it.

BTW, distance in Denver means nothing. It is "time" that has meaning and "time" varies with the time of day. You almost have to just go there and do it to see what it really takes.

They also have a very nice light rail system that is expanding all the time. Might be able to drive to a light rail lot and then take the train to work.

When you were talking about your Dodge Megatruck, I had a vision of you in a Smart Car, tooling up and down the mountain roads at 60+ mph. Smart Cars do get 45 to 60 MPG and will be available in September. And if you get it stuck you just get out and pick it up and put it back on the road.

Have you looked out on the flats and little towns East of Boulder and North of the Airport. Knowing that Dr. ER may be flying almost every week that might be a viable option. That way you would have a view of the mountains rather than a view from the mountains. Hell, get 5.1 acres, run a cow/calf on it and call it a ranch for Tag and Tax purposes.
 
Skin not thin. You are overstating it.

To all, recall: "Blog" "Web log." Personal log. Diary. And for me, like a diary that I leave open for anyone to see, and write in their own notes.

These are not essays. These are not fully formed thoughts. They are notes. That's all. So, no one should expect rational thinking all the time, nor emotion all the time, nor anything else all the time. Just random brain farts a lot of the time.
 
Also, there are people I know who read this stuff who will jknow in an instant how logmn of a drive I mean based on each of those eight examples. Time. Not distance.
 
Strike: "Then I'll get some litle 4WD thing that gets better mileage."

I'm keeping the truck. Therefore, get, like a Toyota Corolla -- a good mix between mileage, quality and safety, for everyday nonsnowy days.
 
"You are overstating it."
Gee, I guess there is a first time for everything.
"These are not fully formed thoughts."
No argument there.
"Just random brain farts a lot of the time."
Naw, that's too harsh a self critisism.

By the way so long as you stay on the east side of the mountains and up valley from a city you will most probably have the same accessability as those on the piedmont.
 
Yeah. I think we've both decided that if we can afford it, if we're gonna be *that* close to the ountains, we want to live in 'em, not just live close to 'em. I spent the first 20-some-odd years of my life in the toehills of the Ozarks (and Arkansas River bottoms), and I've spent the past 20 years on the plains. I'm ready to be a mountain man.
 
Thanks, DCUP.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?