The Manifesto; There was just not enough to keep me here anymore. My daughter is done with school. My wife has topped out at her job. My job is going nowhere. Every day it gets more crowded and the traffic gets worse. Taxes keep going up at an alarming rate. I totally disagree with the politics here. Most of my projects are at a standstill. It's time to eject.
The plan; This has been simmering for years. It actually started as a half-joke about finding a little town somewhere and setting up camp like Boss Hog. Evolution took us to a more practical conclusion. I needed to find a more rural local. Oregon and Washington were off the table. I researched Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming. As my focus narrowed to Idaho I found that my parents were beginning to have the same thoughts about the Portland area as I was. Being freshly retired, they made the move first. That gave me the opportunity to get a feel for the region without having to move there myself.
The hunt; After kicking around the western side of the state for awhile, I decided that it made the most sense to be on the west side of the Snake. Owyhee county is much less populated yet close enough to Nampa/Caldwell/Boise to make travel reasonable. Focus narrowed even tighter to the Marsing area. Official population 970. The town is on the left bank of the Snake river with the north side being relatively flat. Pockets of housing are interspersed among corn fields and a couple dairies. My parents are 2 miles north of Main street (AKA Highway 55). To the south of town the terrain backs up to a range of hills that mostly parallel the river. The river side is mainly orchard and vineyard with some corn fields mixed in. It stays pretty green. On the back side of the hills it gets much dryer and runs out to the Owyhee mountain range, high desert. That's where I wanted to be.
The spot; I searched for over a year and found that places in my target zone didn't come up often. Then one day I accidentally stumbled across a poorly placed by-owner sale. The location was perfect. The topography was exactly what I was looking for. Best of all the price was reasonable. After pleading my case, my wife was reluctantly on board. We did the deal. That was last fall.
Limbo and the hustle; Since my wife and daughter still had to finish out a school year, we were able to put some short-term renters in the house over there. I mentioned the purchase to one coworker who can keep his mouth shut but said nothing more to anyone else. Just kept going to work. As spring approached we contacted a realtor about selling The Compound. I always assumed due to it's lot size and location that it would probably just sell to a developer who would tear it down and build townhouses. She was convinced that it would be more valuable as it stands but needed but needed a remodel first. Sure, why don't I just go borrow even more money so I can get out from under this place. When the dust settled we had a new roof, gutters, flooring, countertops, paint inside and out, lighting, fixtures, door hardware, concrete work, landscaping, and a host of other small odds and ends. My last day of work was June 2nd and the house listed later the same day. Lots of interest but no real action yet.
While all the remodeling was going on we were packing and liquidating. I sold lots of parts along with my Goldwng and the ShotRod Sedan. I also hauled two Uhauls worth of unneeded household stuff and almost the entire contents of 2 shops along with all remaining vehicles to my parents' house to be stored in my dad's shop. I'm a huge inconvenience.
