Fill me in on Michigan!

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

I’m looking for more of a small town feel as I get older. I like peace and quiet despite enjoying the chaos of work at times.

I hear that Hazen, Arkansas is a nice slow department in a small town.....

[iminhell1]

This nice lady covers a good bit of the cool part of Michigan,


https://www.youtube.com/@AlexisDahl/videos

[iminhell1]

There is also a good amount of Rallies to go to, LSPR, Sno_Drift, Hardwood, Iron Mule ...

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I hear that Hazen, Arkansas is a nice slow department in a small town.....

lol! Do they LIDAR squirrels too?

Originally Posted by iminhell1

There is also a good amount of Rallies to go to, LSPR, Sno_Drift, Hardwood, Iron Mule ...

Rallies like the Gumball??!?!

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Yes, bugs are awful, stay in Nevada! Just kidding, it’s all relative to what you’re used to. Being from New Orleans the bugs in the Upstate of SC are nothing. From Cali and Nevada, you might be bothered by them.

I’m still trying to adjust to the scorpions. lol! I’ve heard a lot about Louisiana bugs. I don’t know how you did it. When I spent time in AR as a child, I almost walked into a spiderweb with a spider as big as a baseball. Yeahhhhhhh nope! Not for me. lol!

[chassis]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Rural OR and parts of WA are tempting. I haven’t considered the Carolinas, AR, AL or GA though. A friend just moved to TN, but the bugs are horrid.

Michigan has mosquitoes in the summer. I would say an "average" level of them, compared to eastern states.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by chassis

Michigan has mosquitoes in the summer. I would say an "average" level of them, compared to eastern states.

Went to visit friends in Lino Lakes, MN a few years ago. I swear their mosquitoes were as big as our humming birds! I once read that the mosquitoes in Alaska were so big that a small swarm could suck a cow dry!

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

Went to visit friends in Lino Lakes, MN a few years ago. I swear their mosquitoes were as big as our humming birds! I once read that the mosquitoes in Alaska were so big that a small swarm could suck a cow dry!

Mosquito is Alaskas state bird! I went up for my aunts wedding and took more cigars than clothes

[cozye]

Western NC is the most beautiful area to live in east of the Mississippi. Total car country too with hundreds of miles of the best roads. There are car meets every weekend. I’ve been to Michigan. It’s’ pleasant during the summer, but other 9 months of the year suck.

[kscarrol]

* east of the Mississippi…

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I hear that Hazen, Arkansas is a nice slow department in a small town.....

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

lol! Do they LIDAR squirrels too?

No, just a truck stop off of the Interstate with interesting transient riff-raff, and weeks off with pay for deer and turkey hunting seasons.....

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Haha! It was just something fun to try. I will not stay in California. No way in hell would I set myself up for lifelong frustration when I have the power and ability to avoid that. As it is, I’ve already moved to Nevada. I’m looking for more of a small town feel as I get older. I like peace and quiet despite enjoying the chaos of work at times. Seeing a person light themselves on fire or commit suicide by train is entertaining.

Might have been covered already but with a Porsche you can't seek out too small a town as you would not have any Porsche dealer handy to service your car.

But I think you could get a suitable small town vibe in NV and still be close enough to a Porsche dealer. I'm thinking a small town in the Reno area or down in the Las Vegas area. (Years ago a co-worker at a job in CA left CA for Las Vegas. Having no need/desire to visit the the Strip -- thus avoiding that area -- he claimed living in LV was like living in a "small" town.)

One negative to living in NV is I read NV is dependent upon CA for its gasoline. (The refineries there.) The problem is for NV gas prices will be high and go higher.

Back in Spring of 2020 when I was looking at leaving CA I considered a number of areas, NV included. I rather like the desert and mountains but my sister who would be following me from CA can't tolerate cold weather so NV, AZ, and other areas in the southwest were not acceptable.

Long story short and having some bit of "connection" to the area I chose Benton County AR. Nice area.

No Porsche dealer here. The nearest dealer is in Springfield MO.

But there is a BMW dealer here. I've been told its service department can service Porsche vehicles. (FWIW, it serviced my 2 MINIs just fine.) There is a highly regarded indy shop in Siloam Springs that has a good rep regarding Porsche servicing.

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

Might have been covered already but with a Porsche you can't seek out too small a town as you would not have any Porsche dealer handy to service your car.

But I think you could get a suitable small town vibe in NV and still be close enough to a Porsche dealer. I'm thinking a small town in the Reno area or down in the Las Vegas area. (Years ago a co-worker at a job in CA left CA for Las Vegas. Having no need/desire to visit the the Strip — thus avoiding that area — he claimed living in LV was like living in a "small" town.)

One negative to living in NV is I read NV is dependent upon CA for its gasoline. (The refineries there.) The problem is for NV gas prices will be high and go higher.

Back in Spring of 2020 when I was looking at leaving CA I considered a number of areas, NV included. I rather like the desert and mountains but my sister who would be following me from CA can't tolerate cold weather so NV, AZ, and other areas in the southwest were not acceptable.

Long story short and having some bit of "connection" to the area I chose Benton County AR. Nice area.

No Porsche dealer here. The nearest dealer is in Springfield MO.

But there is a BMW dealer here. I've been told its service department can service Porsche vehicles. (FWIW, it serviced my 2 MINIs just fine.) There is a highly regarded indy shop in Siloam Springs that has a good rep regarding Porsche servicing.

The dealer network here in Nevada is pretty good. Gaudin Porsche is 10 minutes from me, and I’ve purchased a lot from their parts department (…including my AeroKit). I still spend 4 days a week in CA, so I take the Porsche to Ontario Porsche for service. My service advisor and shop foreman know me well and knows to handle my car with kid gloves. Thankfully, Grand Rapids has a Porsche dealership, so should I choose to make that jump eventually, that aspect is covered.

Nevada gas prices are LOVELY! I’ve lived here a year and prices are $3.XX. When I’m in CA the lowest I can find is $4.XX at Costco. Nevada is dependent on California for a portion of its electricity, so that sucks. Insurance is much cheaper here than in CA, but all three of my vehicles are still registered in CA (…and I still have a CA driver’s license; required for work).

I like Nevada. It’s close enough to CA to make a beach run an easy task, and it’s better suited to me politically. It gets super hot here though, and I prefer colder climates.

[CamasM3e93]

You also want to think about access to healthcare. I think upper peninsula is fairly remote and an unplanned illness may mean a lot of traveling. Take a look at Sandpoint, Idaho, which has drawn many So Cal transplants for the reasons you are looking to relocate. It’s an hour from the Spokane, Washington metro area and on the arid side of the NW. Tons of property options with rural seclusion within a 60-75 minute radius. Both will have more tolerable winters than the upper peninsula but still cold by your measure. Spokane has an active bmw cca club.

+1 for Nevada, excluding Vegas

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Do you use the ammonia method to keep them at bay? Lots of Californians have relocated to TN recently.

I don’t know that method.

We sealed up our house to keep pests out. Caulk, steel wool with caulk for bigger holes (mice, snakes). Haven’t had very many bugs and no mice/snakes inside since. Saw more roaches growing up in SoCal than I’ve seen here or in FL.

I sprayed Permethrin last Spring (2023) outside around the perimeter of the house and some of the wood trim (carpenter bees), and inside perimeter of the basement (unfinished) and garage. Haven’t sprayed anything since. Permethrin is safe for most animals but apparently cats are very much affected by it. We don’t have cats but I won’t spray it if a neighbor has one.

There is usually a breeze here (east of Knoxville, foothills, lakeside) and that keeps the small flying bugs away. When it is calm we get some small mosquitos on the deck but they are easy to repel.

As far as wildlife, other than the usual squirrels, we have a groundhog that visits, bats (eat mosquitos), lots of birds including hawks and bald eagles, fish and occasionally a bear is sighted - we haven’t seen one. There were fox last year but haven’t seen them this year. We generally let the bugs be, as they are part of that food chain, unless they intrude on the house.

[erickonphoenix]

Up until last year my mom had a summer place in Grand Rapids. I visited a few times and the summers were magical. Really beautiful town. My wife and I are six generation Texans and were advised to avoid winters there.

[chassis]

Magical summers in Michigan is a fitting description.

[floridaorange]

No knowledge of Michigan - but I am headed to Detroit tomorrow to hop on a plane to Madison to hop in a car to go to a hunting lodge for the rest of the week .

[Germanauto]

I spent half my life there before migrating to the west coast.

Metro Detroit is sizable and has everything you need, homes are large and affordable, there's some nature in other parts of the state, summers and autumn are wonderful. Same deal for the western part of the state/Grand Rapids, however it's a much smaller town.

With all that being said, there's other major metros with better weather, lower taxes, reasonable home prices, and better core cities. Also if you are still working, metro Detroit is sorta whatever as far as salaries and career advancement goes. Overall it's a decent place to live but Michigan has seen its best days, I wouldn't go back.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

If you think that drive-by shootings are bad in LA, wait until you drive through the heart of UAW country in a flashy German automobile not made in America by union labor.....

This was true in the past but isn't really the case anymore. There's a fair number of non-American/UAW cars driving around metro Detroit. Birmingham/Bloomfield/Ann Arbor especially have plenty.

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by CamasM3e93

You also want to think about access to healthcare. I think upper peninsula is fairly remote and an unplanned illness may mean a lot of traveling. Take a look at Sandpoint, Idaho, which has drawn many So Cal transplants for the reasons you are looking to relocate. It’s an hour from the Spokane, Washington metro area and on the arid side of the NW. Tons of property options with rural seclusion within a 60-75 minute radius. Both will have more tolerable winters than the upper peninsula but still cold by your measure. Spokane has an active bmw cca club.

+1 for Nevada, excluding Vegas

A partner of mine left CA for ID last year; he lateraled over to Twin Falls PD. He loves it there for many of the same reasons I’m looking to move, but admittedly misses the money. Apparently TFPD is the highest paid agency in his region, but it’s nothing like So.Cal law enforcement pay. He’s looking to come back to my department and commute weekly back to ID (….much like I do with my NV-to-CA-back to NV commutes). I’ll take a look at Sandpoint. Thanks for the suggestion.I know quite a few retired personnel who moved to that state.

Originally Posted by 2000cs

I don’t know that method.

We sealed up our house to keep pests out. Caulk, steel wool with caulk for bigger holes (mice, snakes). Haven’t had very many bugs and no mice/snakes inside since. Saw more roaches growing up in SoCal than I’ve seen here or in FL.

I sprayed Permethrin last Spring (2023) outside around the perimeter of the house and some of the wood trim (carpenter bees), and inside perimeter of the basement (unfinished) and garage. Haven’t sprayed anything since. Permethrin is safe for most animals but apparently cats are very much affected by it. We don’t have cats but I won’t spray it if a neighbor has one.

There is usually a breeze here (east of Knoxville, foothills, lakeside) and that keeps the small flying bugs away. When it is calm we get some small mosquitos on the deck but they are easy to repel.

As far as wildlife, other than the usual squirrels, we have a groundhog that visits, bats (eat mosquitos), lots of birds including hawks and bald eagles, fish and occasionally a bear is sighted - we haven’t seen one. There were fox last year but haven’t seen them this year. We generally let the bugs be, as they are part of that food chain, unless they intrude on the house.

There are some great ideas in this post. Ughhhh snakes creep me out so bad. Thankfully I haven’t run into any here in Nevada yet.

Originally Posted by Germanauto

I spent half my life there before migrating to the west coast.

Metro Detroit is sizable and has everything you need, homes are large and affordable, there's some nature in other parts of the state, summers and autumn are wonderful. Same deal for the western part of the state/Grand Rapids, however it's a much smaller town.

With all that being said, there's other major metros with better weather, lower taxes, reasonable home prices, and better core cities. Also if you are still working, metro Detroit is sorta whatever as far as salaries and career advancement goes. Overall it's a decent place to live but Michigan has seen its best days, I wouldn't go back.

Thanks for that information. I probably would avoid going into Detroit as a career option. I would try to stay closer to home if I can help it. I’ve even considered finishing my career here in CA and commuting back and forth to Grand Rapids weekly or bi-weekly. It sounds crazy on the surface I’m sure, but there are so many CA law enforcement personnel who commute from NV, ID, TX, etc.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

No knowledge of Michigan - but I am headed to Detroit tomorrow to hop on a plane to Madison to hop in a car to go to a hunting lodge for the rest of the week .

When I worked at Ford in the RenCen in the early 1980s, I had some colleagues who hunted in a lodge upstate. For some reason a film projector was part of the hunting gear. Never heard about any successful hunts, either.