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3. Looking to move to Montana

I love the Ozarks greatly, and I have no doubt I'll greatly miss my home rivers and creeks. But I spent a good part of my childhood in the Rocky Mountain west (northwest Colorado) and I feel that region calling to me with a vengeance. So I have resolved to move back in that general direction, although to Montana instead of Colorado. Fishing travel over the course of the years has lead me out that way several times, and nothing I have ever seen quite compares to it. I'm at a point in my life where I'm ready to drop everything and go live the life I've always wanted to, even though I know it's going to be extremely tough for the first few years-leaving the place I've lived for a dozen years now and my job. But it seems worth it, and I am going to try to make this happen this summer.

I have my eye on the Western Montana area, particularly in the region around Missoula. I say that area because of the excellent trout fishing (Clark Fork, Blackfoot, Rock Creek, etc) but also because getting a job seems much more likely there than in more remote parts of the state. But I am still very much open for ideas at the moment-really I'm open to just about anything in the Rocky Mountain west.

So if anyone has any ideas about where I should go, I'm open to being convinced. The thought of moving up to that country almost seems to good to be true.

Gonna be a dental floss tycoon??

A neighbor of mine, looking for lower real estate values, up and headed for Whitefish, MT, after doing some research. That was about 5yrs ago now though.

Paul ive been in Missoula for the last year and plan on finishing up college at the U of M. I couldn't think of a better place for you to go out west and settle down. The fishings obviously world class, and not far from the rest of the amazing western rivers such as the missouri, madison, gally, beaverkill, and soooo many more (couple of hours give or take ha). And the city is a growing so it would be a more safe place to hunt for a job. Missoula's an excellent choice, simply can't go wrong!

I don't quite get the dental floss joke, but I have actually considered Whitefish-I've also been through there and I like the area.

Old Frank Zappa tune called "Movin' to Montana".

Gotta love the Zappa!

I love it Paul! The young bucks don't remember Uncle Frank...:) We are old!

Spence

Weird isn't it. Never thought I could be "old". And I'm not! Young at heart, but...recently searched "arthritis" and "hip exercises" and stumbled into "hip relacement". Hey, not fair, I'm still planning on packing big hunks of elk out in the fall!

I hear you Paul...I just turned 57 Jan 2nd and have already had two back operations...I just got a call from the folks that were handling a small pension I had frozen from a place I worked at during my college days, and a friend sent me some pictures of an old friend I haven't seen since the late 70's and I hardly recognised him!

About moving to Montana...I have thought about it from time-to-time just as I have thought about buying a place on the Au Sable...If I were a much younger man it would make sense to me, but I think this sort of move is for a younger guy...Montana, as beautiful as it is, can be a little rough during the winter months. I spoke with a guy yesterday just outside West Yellowstone and he laughed when I asked him if it was snowing..."Spence. It snows every day out here!"

The Missoula area I haven't seen since 1973, but I remember it as being very nice there...There is so much to do especially for us anglers, but the eastern side of the Rockies there are sweet...Camping, hiking, hunting, and even a college near there...Again...I think it's a young man's deal...I'll just save up for my week or two in paradise and dream about it while I crank out flies that will work out there...:)

I guess I'm saying I'm a bit jealous...Not so much about Montana but being young in Montana...I had a blast there in 73 when I was 19.

Spence

"I'm gonna find me a horse, just about this big, and ride him all along the border line,

"With a pair o' heavy-duty, zircon-encrusted tweezers in my hand, every other wrangler would say, I was mighty grand..."

FZ by way of JMD

P.S. "Gonna be a mental toss flycoon..."

Ha, good one, that.

Spence, speaking of snowing every day, it's doing that up here in Oscoda now...second day in a row that I had 4-5" on my car in the morning and the roads were rather "squirrelly"...

BTW, speaking of the Au Sable, I just found a 3-bedroom ranch within walking distance of the lower river, you know, not the "trout stream" portion but rather the salmon/steelhead/everything else that feels like swimming up from Lake Huron portion... I will be signing the lease today! More details later...

I came to FZ later in life than probably most others on this site, purchasing my first album in '88, but he quickly became one of my all-time favorites, and I now own at least 20 or so, not nearly a majority of his catalogue! "She had that Camarillo Brillo, flaming out along her head...I mean her Mendocino Beano, by where some bugs had made it red..."

Oh yeah, back to the topic...MO, I wish you the best of luck in finding your own little piece of trout paradise! "GO WEST, YOUNG MAN!!"

Jonathon

After thinking about it for a bit, I've made a final decision. I will be leaving for Missoula, Monana the last week of July.

Life is good!

Do you have a job lined up out there, or are you going to start looking now that you have made up your mind? Whatever you do, man, best of luck, and find a place with a guest room! My new place up here in Oscoda has one...

"Now I might just grow me some bees, but I'd leave the sweet stuff to somebody else...

"But on the other hand I would keep the wax, and melt it down,
pluck some floss, and swish it around...

"I'd have me a crop, and it'd be on top, that's why I'm movin' to Montana!!"

Jonathon (and FZ)

Jmd123, the plan is somewhat half-hazard, and living quarters will probably involve a tent along some trout stream for a few weeks until I've got a job and things get in line. And I am sure as heck hoping that happens before fall gets too far along.That's why I'm going up there mid-summer.

I know the plan sounds a little crazy, but that's precisely why I think it's a good idea. As much as I love this area in one since, I have just had too much of Missouri and the lower midwest with the stuffy summer weather, limited (and crowded) trout water, and lack of true mountains. It's time to go... For someone who loves fly fishing and the outdoor sports about as much as life itself, it just makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing in Eastern MO.

For what it's worth fellas, I am only 29 and know Zappa very well.

Motrout- good luck on your mission there. I am actually planning a relocation as well. Although I was thinking more the Oregon/Washington area. Other than that my plan seems to be very similiar to your own. Camping/sleepin' in the car, etc.. I look forward to hearing/reading updates on how you make out!

I got lucky and the boss put me up in a hotel for a week and a half while I started my job and found a place to live...good thing because we have had three separate 5-6" snowfalls since I've been here! I don't think a tent would have worked for me...Make sure you have a nice comfortable set of camping gear!!!!

MO, I would start hunting around on the Internet for jobs in the area if I were you, if nothing more than to get a feeling of what's out there. What kind of job are you looking for?

Keystoner, glad to hear the "younger crowd" still appreciates old FZ. I think his music is timeless...

"Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow!!"

Jonathon

I hate to admit this but Frank and I go back to 1967 and his "Freak Out" album...Ouch! My favorite Frank-ism goes something like this:

"Burnt Weeny Sandwich" album circa 1970 from the live tune "The Little House I Used to Live In" (a great tune by-the-way)...During a break in the music some person in the audience begins to scream out some diatribe that can't be deciphered from the listeners perspective but Frank can hear it...

Frank, "Stop! You'll hurt your throat!"

The person continues with his rant...

Frank, "Everyone in this room is wearing a uniform and don't kid yourselves!"

I think of this quote sometimes around Opening Day weekend when I look around at my fellow anglers and think to myself..."Damn! We kinda all dress the same."

2nd Frank-ism: August 1979
Do you think about music in terms of its social purpose?
Well, when you play ugly music, it helps to have an elaborate philosophical system to rationalize its ugliness. This has been my experience with much of the avant-garde.


Hmmm...This is kinda interesting. The above quote should bring a smile to Taxon's face...:)That one's for you friend!

3rd Frank-ism: As a german-o-phile I love this one...He performed one night on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the lyrics to the song he performed were all in german...When he sat down to chat with Johnny Carson he looked at the camera and said, "That one's for your censors!" :) Now that was funny!

Spence who always says..."Brown shoes don't make it. Quit school why fake it. TV dinners by the pool...I'm so glad I finished school."

That's enough from the old-quard who is "going to San Francisco to play my bongos in the dirt."

"I wish I had a pair of bongos...bongo fury, bongo fury, aaaaaaaah BONGO FURRRRY...BOOGIE!!"

From the album of the same name, my favorite FZ album...and, also the favorite of Vaclav Havel, first President of the newly independent Czech Republic...

Jonathon

P.S. "Debra Kedabrah, chasing the witch, sh*tas* Charlie, ain't that a b*tch..."