Eclipse 2017

LCL-Dead said:
You're both making me want to move to the PNW even more (except for the eclipse traffic part).
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Come on out! It's not as bad as we make it seem. Just remember that the "Stars and Bars" has a whole different meaning out here. It's a general middle finger, out here, to all things liberal and bureaucratic. The Gadsden flag is pretty popular for the same reason.
Chris said:
If you can afford it, it's a great place to live!
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Depends on where you live and your lifestyle expectations. Cities = Uber Expensive. Starbucks, New Subaru Outbacks, McMansions, restaurants. Rural = Not so Expensive, Coffee at home, Old Pickups and Jeeps, Double-wides or old farm houses, Barbecues with your buddies. Set your expectations correctly and go for it! If you can't stay busy and entertained in Oregon, you got bigger problems than we can fix.
 
StG58 said:
Depends on where you live and your lifestyle expectations..
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True, to some degree. For instance, Medford has skyrocketed in price. Now granted that's a city, but it never used to be an expensive city, and it is by no means a large city.

When we were looking for our house, we set a budget of 250k max, and we were looking on Zillow for ANYWHERE in Oregon. What we found is that that price range was barely cutting it for anything with 3 or more bedrooms. Prices all over Oregon have gone up. Nowhere as much as Portland, but you get what I'm saying.

Case in point: We paid 234k for our house in Salem last May. As of this July it is worth 285k. So we've gained $50,000 in value on our house in just over a year.

Now I was looking at some really nice houses out in places like John Day, and those places were still really affordable. Maybe not as affordable as rural houses in other states, but still affordable for most of us.

Take a look sometime on Zillow all over Oregon, I think you'll be shocked at how much some of the house price have gone up, even outside of Portland. Forest Grove is a perfect example! That place is off the hook with housing prices!
 
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Chris said:
True, to some degree. For instance, Medford has skyrocketed in price. Now granted that's a city, but it never used to be an expensive city, and it is by no means a large city.

When we were looking for our house, we set a budget of 250k max, and we were looking on Zillow for ANYWHERE in Oregon. What we found is that that price range was barely cutting it for anything with 3 or more bedrooms. Prices all over Oregon have gone up. Nowhere as much as Portland, but you get what I'm saying.

Case in point: We paid 234k for our house in Salem last May. As of this July it is worth 285k. So we've gained $50,000 in value on our house in just over a year.

Now I was looking at some really nice houses out in places like John Day, and those places were still really affordable. Maybe not as affordable as rural houses in other states, but still affordable for most of us.

Take a look sometime on Zillow all over Oregon, I think you'll be shocked at how much some of the house price have gone up, even outside of Portland. Forest Grove is a perfect example! That place is off the hook with housing prices!
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Yup, I get that. Check out land prices. Stupid expensive everywhere in Oregon. Naturally, the price of developed land goes up as well. Want to see what stupid really is? Check out the price of land on the hills out in Yamhill County. 10 years ago, you couldn't give it away, literally. Red soil, lots of rocks, no water. Then the whiners came in and discovered that it grows pretty good grapes. Now it's going for more than prime agricultural land with water rights next to the river! The folks from Sonoma have discovered that they can generate a huge profit in the area, and pretty much closed everyone out of any land deals except for rich east coast wannabe's.

I get it, @Chris, but living well here can be done. You're not going to get rich, or live like it any more, if you work for a living. You can have a pretty decent life though, and end up on a chunk of your own land with a nice, livable place on it. It's doable. Just don't expect to buy a new pickup every other year, or have the misses drive a newer Mercedes. Hell, I'm doing OK, and I'm not even the sharpest tool in the shed!
 
StG58 said:
Yup, I get that. Check out land prices. Stupid expensive everywhere in Oregon. Naturally, the price of developed land goes up as well. Want to see what stupid really is? Check out the price of land on the hills out in Yamhill County. 10 years ago, you couldn't give it away, literally. Red soil, lots of rocks, no water. Then the whiners came in and discovered that it grows pretty good grapes. Now it's going for more than prime agricultural land with water rights next to the river! The folks from Sonoma have discovered that they can generate a huge profit in the area, and pretty much closed everyone out of any land deals except for rich east coast wannabe's.

I get it, @Chris, but living well here can be done. You're not going to get rich, or live like it any more, if you work for a living. You can have a pretty decent life though, and end up on a chunk of your own land with a nice, livable place on it. It's doable. Just don't expect to buy a new pickup every other year, or have the misses drive a newer Mercedes. Hell, I'm doing OK, and I'm not even the sharpest tool in the shed!
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Oh yeah, you can live here and do it with a modest amount of money. However, you're not going to be living in the city most likely. Salem for instance still has reasonably priced houses. I don't expect that to be the case 5 years from now, but they're still out there.

If you're willing to live rural, it can be done for much less. Makes sense though, since yuppies and snowflakes don't want to live in rural areas.
 
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BendLarry said:
And then there is Bend!


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You mean the 5th fastest growing city in the U.S.? Apparently Californians are flocking to Bend!

Sad... I've always loved Bend. I hope they don't ruin it with their usual BS.
 
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Eureka! Did it!

Found a way to get from my place into the South Siuslaw in the path of totality for the upcoming eclipse, using only gravel and dirt! OK, I do have to get onto a state highway for a mile or two, to get across the highway to the other side. Trivial stuff there, I hope. All of the city dwellers and out of state gawkers can now just bite me!

Even have some pictures to share of some of the highlights:
This is supposed to be a road!?
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OK, this is more like it.
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Completely Doable, right there!
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This one too!
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Didn't figure that I needed to show any gravel roads, everyone on here has seen those, but maybe not with 6" minus gravel on them! The actual 4x4 dirt roads didn't get photographed, because I kinda had my hands full at the time.
More...
 
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Lots more pictures of the area...
Camping spot:
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Another shot:
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Pretty nice, huh? You need four wheel drive and a good sense of direction to get into this place. Or a guide who's been there. It's been used before, but not recently.
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Nice creek. And there are fish in it! Some pretty decent sized one's at that.
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Was having a few problems with getting the pictures off my phone, so these are the only two pictures of the creek. I have some of the big, deep pools but they didn't come out the way I wanted.
 
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Overnight spot. The chunk of plywood was there when we got there; someone was using it for a target backer. Lousy shot from the holes in it.
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More pictures in camp, there's supposed to be a pond right down there someplace.
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Anyway...It was a good trip this weekend, the wife didn't freak out on some of the roads where she probably would have a year ago and nothing got torn up to speak of. I do have to check my front tie rod though. It may not be as straight as it used to be. Some of the roads were a lot rougher than anticipated. Ended up lifting a tire about a dozen times this weekend. The cut and berm spots down there are a lot older and you can get over most of them, but it's a challenge. The stock 4.10/4.11 gears still suck with 31" tires and a 2.5, and lockers are still going to be nice to have.
 
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The front tie rod is as straight as it's ever been, so no excitement there. I do feel a ZJ conversion coming on though. One less thing to worry about in the back country.
 
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Wow, congrats, I'm glad you found a way without using major roads!

However, I'm going to laugh (really hard) if you get there and it's overrun with other people. Wouldn't that just suck? Of course I doubt that will happen, but you never know!

Nice looking camp site too!
 
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Chris said:
Wow, congrats, I'm glad you found a way without using major roads!

However, I'm going to laugh (really hard) if you get there and it's overrun with other people. Wouldn't that just suck? Of course I doubt that will happen, but you never know!

Nice looking camp site too!
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Thanks @Chris, the whole country side is going to be overrun with people it seems. The only ones we'll have to deal with are the more adventurous ones with the smaller off road rigs. We didn't even see sign that anyone had even been scouting down in that area. Locals aren't a worry.
 
StG58 said:
Thanks @Chris, the whole country side is going to be overrun with people it seems. The only ones we'll have to deal with are the more adventurous ones with the smaller off road rigs. We didn't even see sign that anyone had even been scouting down in that area. Locals aren't a worry.
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I'm anxious to see if it's really going to be as crazy as they predict, or if it will fall flat and not be as bad as they think.
 
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Chris said:
I'm anxious to see if it's really going to be as crazy as they predict, or if it will fall flat and not be as bad as they think.
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You know, my opinion is it's going to depend on where you're at and the craziest person in the area. Seriously, think of civil war weekend, Oregon vs Oregon State. I5 is just fine even with 40,000 plus extra people driving on it all at once. That is right up until someone does something stupid. I believe this will be the same way. It'll all be just fine except in those places and at those times when somebody does something stupid. That's where the high entertainment value is going to come from.
 
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It's nice to know where the gates are at, as well. If the shit ever does actually hit the fan and I need to move around a little, I've got it all mapped out now over a couple of hundred square miles of territory. Not for normal times, mind you, but thermite anyone? 9 out of 10 of those gates are easy-peasy. :firedevil::coti::risas3:
 
Yeah, I'm thinking it may not be as bad as they're predicting it to be. Of course only time will tell, and even the city officials have admitted that as well. They are predicting it's going to be nightmarish, but they don't know for sure obviously.

I am however, anticipating lots of "stupid shit" happening. With the many people visiting (and a once in a lifetime event), you can bet that something stupid will happen.
 
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Interesting observation today. I went out to order some BLM high resolution maps to transfer my notes and sketches to, and bam! 404 error. Tried a couple of secondary sources and no joy there ether. Not even listed any longer. It may all be coincidental, but it did make me go hmmm. Wish I had ordered a week ago when I was looking at them. I have digital copies, so printing them up shouldn't be an issue, just more expensive. USGS and the local printer, here I come.
 
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