Ever Move To Escape Realities?

Discussion in 'Other Reminiscences' started by Frank Sanoica, Nov 21, 2017.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    My wife & I, she 25 and I 30, sought to escape the bleak (and black) memories haunting us in the Chicago area, plus, we both greatly loved the openness, mountains, pleasant warm weather for 2/3 of every year, and so gathered together our "bongos", closed up the "loose ends', and pulled up stakes. Moving was not new to her, but I had lived in the same house from my birth till age 30. I realized all those ingrained memories would stay forever, my friends could visit me out west, my Dad had died, and my Mother had proclaimed intense interest in coming to visit us in........Las Vegas, where else? It was calculated to succeed, this massive upheaval of new and seemingly impossible to understand proportions to our friends and relatives, sparse though they were. My older nephew Dan, recently discharged from the Marines, had approached me about going into business together. He had learned the skilled trade of Welder in the Corps., his new wife was a California Girl, and the Service Station business seemed to fit, providing income following an arduous move by us, and knowledge that just moving somewhere without secure underpinning was foolishness.

    How did it work out? We took over an ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) gas station in Vegas, July, 1972. I spent the first 4 weeks travelling between Vegas and El Monte, CA, attending Dealer Training. My wife became employed by Annie of Paris Beauty Salon, in the Stardust Hotel. Dan ran the station in my absence.

    The result? Around Thanksgiving, scant months after I had completed the training, Dan almost tearfully, announced his wife could not remain in Vegas; she needed to be closer to her mother in L.A. They left Vegas.

    Before Christmas, ARCO sent me a letter stating that beginning in January, gasoline shipments to the station would be limited to 60% of month-earlier deliveries, due to Arabs embargoing the supply. Good timing? Faced with an extremely dismal economic future, I opted out of the ARCO lease, which required 90 days for them to secure a new "sucker". They did, easily. Seemed folks stood in line to move to L.V. By March, I was out, unemployed, no income save Sue's at the Stardust. What to do?

    Go to the bank, of course, seek a building loan, and build a custom home in this burgeoning metropolis! Me, unemployed, Sue working as a hairdresser, the loan was approved without a second thought! I searched my mind, coming up with, "Only in Las Vegas"!

    Having read through this meander to this point, not losing the original thought, have you ever made a big move in your life, as we did? How did it turn out? Would you do it over again? My own experience of it, continued on way farther, but doesn't fit the OP (yet). My memories are both bleak, and black. Allowed to reconnoiter, I'd do I exactly the same way over! Frank
     
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  2. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    Doesn't always work out
     
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  3. Missy Lee

    Missy Lee Veteran Member
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    I've moved so many times I have run out of fingers now to count them on....might have to start counting on my toes. I've always looked at each new move as an adventure, meet new people, go new places.

    I do feel regret at the last move, had intended to make that one the last move and stay there for the rest of my life. A lot of love and hard work went into that little place but when neighbors from hell moved in next door it was time to regretfully say bye bye.

    Feeling a big like a caged lion in this tiny apartment but the knowledge it is only temporary brings a somewhat feeling of peace. What does not bring peace is knowing that next time must be the last time whether it's a good move or a bad move.
     
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  4. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Since we've been married, we've moved three times, which isn't too bad for 16 years of marriage.

    We definitely hope that our next move will be our last. Moving just cost too much money, being that we have to use a moving company, PLUS we feel that we are getting too much "up in age" for packing stuff. But, the upcoming move is a must for us. Other than going back to "Old Man Winter", we just don't have what we really want where we currently live. IOW, we made a mistake in moving here.
     
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  5. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    My biggest move was to Hungary for 6 years 1997-2003. My daughter had just gotten married, my son was in dental school.

    We sold our house in Indiana and moved our car and stuff in a container to Hungary..also 2 cats. It was an ordeal and I fought my husband tooth and nail on it and even threatened divorce but it was an awesome opportunity business and money wise and I conceded.

    Those were the best years of my life!
     
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  6. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh
    You are in Florida? And the move is imperative....you've mentioned Colorado, I believe. Parts of CO are not all that cold in winter. Depends on altitude and location with respect to the close-in mountains.

    I lived in Canon City over a year. Got a little snow several times, but the sun shone bright and warm afterward, unlike where I grew up, gray skies constantly. The lowest temp. that winter was around 10 degrees as I recall. Canon City is at 5,000 feet altitude just like Denver.

    Other than the crime rate you've mentioned, why is moving imperative?
    Frank
     
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  7. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    First, why is the move imperative for us? We miss a lot of things about Colorado and Wyoming. Like, freshwater lakes for boating/fishing, the wildlife in RMNP, prorodeo action and other things.

    Florida just is no longer for us.

    Does this answer your questions?
     
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  8. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    When I moved to California, I hitchhiked out there with what I could fit into a backpack. But I was young then and had hitchhiked all over the country, the only difference being that I stayed a while this time.

    However, when Champion shut its plant down in Anaheim, I accepted a job in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The timing was good, as I was going to have to make a change anyhow and my son was about to be married, so I didn't need to stay there for his sake. Still, I was moving to a place where I didn't think I knew anyone, and where English was not the primary language. As it turned out, I had a cousin in McAllen, Texas, which is also in the Rio Grande Valley; in fact, she was a cousin my age who had spent her summers across the road from me.

    When I married, I was about to retire from being a paramedic, so my wife and I decided to move from Texas to Maine, where neither of us knew anyone. I won't tell the story here because I have told it elsewhere in the forum before. We found a good price on a house and moved to a town that neither of us had even visited.
     
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  9. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    No, I haven't. I would certainly consider moving now if I could. I think sometimes things work out for people and for others they don't. Not sure why it works for some and not for others.
     
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  10. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Kitty, there are a lot of folks here that really think we are nuts for wanting to leave Jacksonville, FL., let alone Florida period. They think Jacksonville and the state of Florida is the best place in the world to live. Thing is, a member of the relocation forum I'm in, who lives in Tenn., told me that there are a lot of former Florida people that live there and have nothing good to say about Florida at all.

    Most people here don't even know where Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Dakota's are. The ones that do know where these states are, would like to visit, but definitely not live. Mention any of the east coast states or southern states, they know exactly where they are.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    If I were to make another move, which isn't likely, it would probably be the Dakotas or Wyoming, because I've never lived in that part of the country.
     
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  12. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    If we would have given moving more thought, as in, either of us could fall in any State, be it winter or summer, we would have never left Central Colorado (Front Range aka Eastern Slope). After my fall, in our snowy/icy driveway, and following rotator cuff surgery, we decided to move. Not even thinking we could fall anywhere. Heck, I fell in the parking lot,next to our apartment, during the summer right here in Florida. That fall required rotator cuff surgery in my other shoulder. So, we ran to an eastern state (North Carolina) to live. After a year and two months and my wife losing her job there, we decided to check out where we are now. At first, good choice, but as time went on, we really started to miss the things we liked about Colorado and Wyoming.

    We just don’t make good Eastcoast or Southern States people.
     
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  13. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    I find it interesting just how many places there are to live. And how does one choose? I know many people move because they may already have family or friends there. Or they visited someplace and liked it. Many people in the military may stay where they last were stationed like my brother after 20 years in the Navy. I don't know, even if I could move, where and how would I pick a place.
     
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  14. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson
    What a "rounder"! I may revise my claim of being the most "around the block" member, after hearing this. Amazing and interesting background.
    Frank
     
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  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Do you remember when you could have a shot at changing your realities by moving to another part of the country? It didn't often work because people tend to bring themselves with them but, fifty years ago, you could screw your credit up in one place, then move to another and start over. It didn't follow. you. In fact, although I don't remember which towns now, but a guy who founded a town in Minnesota, and turned out to be a major swindler, moved west a little to South Dakota, where he founded another town, cheating people out of whatever he could. Eventually, he was arrested on a murder charge from Wisconsin, I think.
     
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