Cheyenne and Laramie

[Ralphie]

Wyoming is candy ass about closing roads? Lol. It could appear that way sometimes to somebody I guess. Once you’ve seen several dozen semis slammed together with a few mini vans thrown in the mix you might think different. Also yes stretches of freeway will be closed that appear fine, but 100 miles away it’s a frozen hell. You can’t just shut down the freeway there or you’ll have 100s of semis getting off in one tiny town.

The roads round Cheyenne and Laramie are some of the most often closed in the state.

 

[Bighorner]

That's no joke

 

[HuntWyo]

I used to commute from Cheyenne to Brighton everyday and some days it wasn’t uncommon for it to 3.5 hours to get to work. I still commute from Cheyenne everyday but it’s only to Fort Collins and it’ll still take an hour to an hour and half some morning. Highway 287 from Laramie to Fort Collins is your fastest route but in the winter it isn’t uncommon for it to get closed along with I-80 to Cheyenne (the only other route to Colorado) as far as Cheyenne to Colorado along I-25 it don’t close nearly as often I missed like 8 days this entire winter due to closed road so not to bad. Best selling points to your wife are probably political views (unfortunately Laramie is turning very democratic), small town values, lower crime, cheaper cost of living, way less tax on everything.

I got hired by a company in Denver. I have the luxury of being able to commute within a 2 hour radius and I’d love to make it into Wyoming. Cheyenne and Laramie are the only two towns that are realistic. It’s a bit of a hard sell for the wife. What are the redeeming qualities of those towns? I’ve shown my wife pictures and houses and she isn’t impressed. The highest selling point I’ve found so far is how conservative WY is…. We would need to live within 20 minutes of the town so she and the kids have access to church, sports, school, stores, etc. looking to find some place with a little topography and maybe even a tree or two. Also, how bad do the roads get between both towns and Denver?

 

[TheCougar]

For residents? WY General Elk tags, OTC region G/H MD tags, a truck load worth of antelope tags.

Yeah, I’ve got to disagree with his point of view. Wyoming hunting is heads and shoulders better than CO. It’s one of the primary drivers to try and get over the border.

 

[TheCougar]

So to sum it up:

1. if the wind doesn’t kill me the roads will
2. If the roads don’t kill me, I’ll die waiting in I-25 traffic.
3. If the traffic doesn’t kill me, my wife will, then collect the insurance and move to CO.

So much for my plan to make it to Wyoming! I’ll have to look for something in CO that fits our family.

 

[nodakian]

Did anyone say the wind blows in Wyoming?

This could be Livingston MT, too.

I-25 from Fort Collins through Denver was awful 25 years ago when I was stationed in CO. I recall spending two hours just getting through Denver between rush hours. Sounds even worse now.

Your summary is accurate. Good luck.

 

[go_deep]

So to sum it up:

1. if the wind doesn’t kill me the roads will
2. If the roads don’t kill me, I’ll die waiting in I-25 traffic.
3. If the traffic doesn’t kill me, my wife will, then collect the insurance and move to CO.

So much for my plan to make it to Wyoming! I’ll have to look for something in CO that fits our family.

If your looking for small town feel, I'd look east of Denver. Still some farming and ranching towns that direction, but lots of people trying to do exactly what your doing too.
Good luck!

 

[TheCougar]

If your looking for small town feel, I'd look east of Denver. Still some farming and ranching towns that direction, but lots of people trying to do exactly what your doing too.
Good luck!

Faaaaaaaaack! I’m just pissed. I spent 20 years going wherever the AF stationed me, always planning to move to the mountains and get away from the crowds when I retired at 42. I saved my money, found a great job flying for United as my second career, and now I can’t make the dream happen. CO has gotten so expensive, so crowded, and so liberal that it’s basically California now. I can’t afford to buy in places that I was looking at just 12 months ago - that’s if I could even find houses and land to buy. We are starting to consider buying land and living in a double wide until we can build a house. It’s gotten so bad that we are entertaining giving up the dream and living in Eastern PA just across the river from Jersey so I can fly out of Newark.

 

[zion zig zag]

Texans already ruined Colorado. Looks like they are starting on WY now?

 

[go_deep]

Faaaaaaaaack! I’m just pissed. I spent 20 years going wherever the AF stationed me, always planning to move to the mountains and get away from the crowds when I retired at 42. I saved my money, found a great job flying for United as my second career, and now I can’t make the dream happen. CO has gotten so expensive, so crowded, and so liberal that it’s basically California now. I can’t afford to buy in places that I was looking at just 12 months ago - that’s if I could even find houses and land to buy. We are starting to consider buying land and living in a double wide until we can build a house. It’s gotten so bad that we are entertaining giving up the dream and living in Eastern PA just across the river from Jersey so I can fly out of Newark.

Thank you for your service, and I totally understand your frustration. With the housing prices where they are today, I'd never be able to own the house I have with what I make today. My neighbors listed their house yesterday at 10 a.m., excepted offer by 3 p.m. for $10k over listing price, and he thinks they screwed up and should have waited a day and maybe got more.

 

[TheCougar]

Texans already ruined Colorado. Looks like they are starting on WY now?

I’m stationed in Texas, but it’s not home and I can’t claim to be a Texan. And I’m pretty sure you meant to say “Californians” instead of Texans. I’m a military vagrant looking for a place to hang my hat in the second half of my life.

 

[HuntWyo]

Faaaaaaaaack! I’m just pissed. I spent 20 years going wherever the AF stationed me, always planning to move to the mountains and get away from the crowds when I retired at 42. I saved my money, found a great job flying for United as my second career, and now I can’t make the dream happen. CO has gotten so expensive, so crowded, and so liberal that it’s basically California now. I can’t afford to buy in places that I was looking at just 12 months ago - that’s if I could even find houses and land to buy. We are starting to consider buying land and living in a double wide until we can build a house. It’s gotten so bad that we are entertaining giving up the dream and living in Eastern PA just across the river from Jersey so I can fly out of Newark.

I know Cheyenne’s airport runs flights daily from Cheyenne to Denver threw UnitedExpress I don’t know if that’s a division of Untied or a whole separate company but you already working for United could be a step in the right direction to transfer and still be able to continue your career as a pilot in the west. That being said the market is horrible right now and cost of building has hauled the expansion of the Cheyenne airport but they do plan on expanding it and offering more and more flights out of Cheyenne.

 

[Coveyleader]

For residents? WY General Elk tags, OTC region G/H MD tags, a truck load worth of antelope tags.

CO has pretty much the same. OTC elk, Mule deer tags galore, antelope as well. Not to mention everything else. I'd say WY has CO beat in the elk department, from a "big ticket item" but that's about it.

Keep in mind, it's not like WY is a long ways from CO. You can enjoy what both states have to offer, and in "My Opinion" the quality of life is better down here. At least the winters are, that's irrefutable. Heck, if I was this guy, I'd take my two hours and head straight West to the mountains and really enjoy what CO has to offer.

 

[Coveyleader]

Yeah, I’ve got to disagree with his point of view. Wyoming hunting is heads and shoulders better than CO. It’s one of the primary drivers to try and get over the border.

You'd really have to define that, and break it down by species and actual opportunity to hunt. As a Colorado resident for over 20 years, I've hunted Bighorn Rams twice, Mountain goats twice, Bull Moose once, WT deer every year, antelope pretty much went I want, elk every year......... If you like waterfowl , pretty hard to beat eastern CO. Again, WY does have great hunting, but it's really species specific. Elk and Antelope are your bread and butter. Mule deer, CO trumps WY by far.

 

[Fatcamp]

You'd really have to define that, and break it down by species and actual opportunity to hunt. As a Colorado resident for over 20 years, I've hunted Bighorn Rams twice, Mountain goats twice, Bull Moose once, WT deer every year, antelope pretty much went I want, elk every year......... If you like waterfowl , pretty hard to beat eastern CO. Again, WY does have great hunting, but it's really species specific. Elk and Antelope are your bread and butter. Mule deer, CO trumps WY by far.

Couldn't agree more. Colorado is an amazing place.

 

[cnelk]

A couple things that Wyoming has over Colorado is no income taxes and cost of living is less.

Like anything in life, most things are a trade off.

 

[wind gypsy]

CO has pretty much the same. OTC elk, Mule deer tags galore, antelope as well. Not to mention everything else. I'd say WY has CO beat in the elk department, from a "big ticket item" but that's about it.

Keep in mind, it's not like WY is a long ways from CO. You can enjoy what both states have to offer, and in "My Opinion" the quality of life is better down here. At least the winters are, that's irrefutable. Heck, if I was this guy, I'd take my two hours and head straight West to the mountains and really enjoy what CO has to offer.

In regards to Mule Deer, you feel the 0-1 pt tags in CO are better than being able to hunt both archery and rifle season every year in region G/H in WY? I get that the breadth and depth of higher end LE tags in CO is better but i was thinking about the every year opportunity. I'm not a mule deer guy so this convo interests me.

 

[ozyclint]

Heard there are some nice beaches to walk in Cheyenne.

 

[cnelk]

Gotta love Wyoming roads

 

[TheCougar]

Gotta love Wyoming roads

Holy crap