Life seems to be full of twist.

I got notice about a month after we moved lock stock and barrel to Alaska that my job wanted me to move to California as quick as we could get there.

How is it? Beyond hot, and full of Martians and other green flying men.

Looks to be the single right wing of California's leftist movement. Via the internet I see gun shops, gun ranges and a host of military contractors, civilians and military types waiving red flags, driving trucks and tearing up the desert on $40,000 ORVs.

What's the real scoup?

I spent 3 years in CA early in my Navy Career. I hated the place and got out as soon as I could. My shadow hasn't fallen on that place since 1993 and it never will again. I'll wade through Hell and fight a chain saw barehanded before I spend another second in the Land of Fruits, Flakes and Nuts. I've been to all 50 states and there are 2 I'll never go to again. CA is one and NJ is the other.

That's the real scoop from my perspective!

I don't think Tommy was talking about Ridgecrest or the other 85% of the state outside San Fran, LA or San Diego.
Ridgecrest is a couple hour drive from LA, it's in the desert, seems like a lot of the town works for the military directly or indirectly.
I think the base is China Lake Naval Air Station (might have that wrong).
People seem real normal their and yes they have gun shops etc.
If you enjoy the desert and exploring old mining claims and historic mining ghost towns, expansive scenery you may like it. Oh and it's close to California's highest Peak (over 14,000 ft) Mt Whitney.
There are a lot of places in California that are "must see" in my opinion, just stay out of the big city crazy zones and the people are far closer to normal.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I don't think Tommy was talking about Ridgecrest or the other 85% of the state outside San Fran, LA or San Diego.

Nope, I'm talking about the whole state. I have no use for a single square inch of that failed social experiment.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I don't think Tommy was talking about Ridgecrest or the other 85% of the state outside San Fran, LA or San Diego.
Ridgecrest is a couple hour drive from LA, it's in the desert, seems like a lot of the town works for the military directly or indirectly.
I think the base is China Lake Naval Air Station (might have that wrong).
People seem real normal their and yes they have gun shops etc.
If you enjoy the desert and exploring old mining claims and historic mining ghost towns, expansive scenery you may like it. Oh and it's close to California's highest Peak (over 14,000 ft) Mt Whitney.
There are a lot of places in California that are "must see" in my opinion, just stay out of the big city crazy zones and the people are far closer to normal.

Only thing I would add is expand San Francisco to include the whole Bay Area.

Ridgecrest is a few hours from golden trout fishing and the Owens Valley that offers good waterfowl hunting along with upland game, deer, and elk (tough draw). I have caught trout in the Owens River to 7lbs. Like to ski? Mammoth north of Bishop is world class.

It is all what you make of it.

quote:

Originally posted by TommyII:

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I don't think Tommy was talking about Ridgecrest or the other 85% of the state outside San Fran, LA or San Diego.

Nope, I'm talking about the whole state. I have no use for a single square inch of that failed social experiment.

Okay
your opinion is duly noted. With an attitude like that it would be pointless to point out any of the truly remarkable things about California. While your at it go ahead and throw away Oregon and Washington because they share the same coast as your hated "California". I'm sure you travelled the entire state to come up with that view of the place.

There's hunting, shooting, and other outdoor sports, but it's only 10% of what Alaska is. Ocean fishing can be quite good. You'll have to work a bit harder and travel further, but outdoor fun is possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I'm sure you travelled the entire state to come up with that view of the place.

Pretty much. I covered it from San Diego to north of Eureka and from the ocean to the Nevada border. I hunted blacktails in Lake County, Medecino County, and El Dorado County. I hunted hog by Napa and on FT Hunter Ligett and Sonoma. I fished for trout at Lake Berryessa , outside of Livermore and in the Golden Trout Wilderness Area. I fished the ocean outside of both San Diego and San Francisco.

And I still have no use for the place. It would be nice if they could get rid of 20,000,000+ Liberal IDIOTs. I spent 3 years there. I'll never go back.

quote:

And I still have no use for the place. It would be nice if they could get rid of 20,000,000+ Liberal IDIOTs. I spent 3 years there. I'll never go back.

Probably for the best.

So Ridgecrest is fine then, eh?

Anchorage itself has tons of problems, one wierd one and I don't know what the big draw is, but Anchorage is full of dikes. Tons of dikes. Wierd huh?

We aren't leaving for Anchorage because it sucks, and it does. We are leaving because I finally got a job that I have been dreaming of.

Not too many folks in life can say that.

PM sent.

quote:

Originally posted by JBoutfishn:

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I don't think Tommy was talking about Ridgecrest or the other 85% of the state outside San Fran, LA or San Diego.
Ridgecrest is a couple hour drive from LA, it's in the desert, seems like a lot of the town works for the military directly or indirectly.
I think the base is China Lake Naval Air Station (might have that wrong).
People seem real normal their and yes they have gun shops etc.
If you enjoy the desert and exploring old mining claims and historic mining ghost towns, expansive scenery you may like it. Oh and it's close to California's highest Peak (over 14,000 ft) Mt Whitney.
There are a lot of places in California that are "must see" in my opinion, just stay out of the big city crazy zones and the people are far closer to normal.

Only thing I would add is expand San Francisco to include the whole Bay Area.

Ridgecrest is a few hours from golden trout fishing and the Owens Valley that offers good waterfowl hunting along with upland game, deer, and elk (tough draw). I have caught trout in the Owens River to 7lbs. Like to ski? Mammoth north of Bishop is world class.

It is all what you make of it.

Oddly, I was offered a job in BigPine Ca, which is up the road from Ridgecrest, the day before I got the job I wants here in Wy. nothing could make me return to Ca but I have to admit that the Ridgecrest area is about as close to Wy as anything you will find in Ca.

It's very rural and in the same county that I am,(Kern). There are a lot of great fishing there on backside of the Sierras. Some great deer hunting and more coyotes and small game than you can shake a stick at.

It is the desert though with temperatures above 100 degrees all summer but great in the spring, fall and winter.

You're also about 1/2 an hour from Butch Searcy's shop in Boron.

Cool, I hadn't thought of Searcy. But I'll run down there and take a look.

His falling block rifles are super neat!

I think Ridgecrest is somewhat middle-of-nowhere, a mining area in the desert. There is probably a way to find out whether its residents vote Republican or Democrat; I would guess they are mostly Republican in Ridgecrest with the outside possibility of union democrats.

Interesting, I didn't know there was mining there.

Just knew about the military (Area 51?) stuff.

Either way houses are reasonable, and there is tons of BLM so we should have some places to explore.

lots of mineshafts. lots of open land, bird shooting, and a reasonably-priced gun club.

the problems with ridgecrest are that there is no work, and it is far away from city life. you have the job covered, so if you don't mind being removed from city life, you are good.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:
I think Ridgecrest is somewhat middle-of-nowhere, a mining area in the desert. There is probably a way to find out whether its residents vote Republican or Democrat; I would guess they are mostly Republican in Ridgecrest with the outside possibility of union democrats.

Kern County votes Republican, it's the law.

I hate cities, cities are a good place to die in a flop house.

Wife flew down to meet her parents in LA a last week. She already regrets the move back to California.

I am hopeful that it is more like you said Frank. We are meeting there in a 3 or 4 days I am in Dawson Creek BC right now.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
I hate cities, cities are a good place to die in a flop house.

Wife flew down to meet her parents in LA a last week. She already regrets the move back to California.

I am hopeful that it is more like you said Frank. We are meeting there in a 3 or 4 days I am in Dawson Creek BC right now.

only the crazy and the drug addicts die in flophouses. and you are not moving to LA. so, don't expect to see any flophouses or to die in one.

ridgecrest can be as nice as you want it to be, unless you - or somebody else you know - does not really want to be there. if that is the case, you will not be happy there or any other place you do not really want to be.

If I had good work there, I could be happy there. I hope that goes for you too.

I made yesterday after driving for 6 days on the Alaska highway.

Uhaul outfits throughout Alaska had no trailers, so I bought a flat bed from Lowes and pallatized what was left of our lives on it.

The trailer made it to Whitehorse where it was pretty much destroyed by the Alcan.

Thank God, the Uhaul in Whitehorse had trailers so I shifted my stuff and was on my way again.

I only had one short day driving up and that was when I got to Dawson Creek at 3pm after starting my day out at 4 am.

As for the town it's fine. I saw groups of women walking at night pushing strollers, we have had some good meals and the people have been nice.

Good job, not a bad place to live and nothing really bad to complain about.

My in-laws are about as bad as in-laws can be, and they live 3 hours away and hate it. So that's a major plus.

As for the flophouse comment, it was an attempt at poetic license.

What route did you take to get there, just out of curiosity? US 395 for the last of it is more-or-less a given, how about the trip down from Canada?

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:

Good job, not a bad place to live and nothing really bad to complain about .

How's the taxes compared to Anchorage? Were you here long enough to just get the $1,884 PFD?