Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "World According To Briggs" channel.

  1. "No such thing as bad weather. Just bad equipment." That's a Colorado saying, which applies to its northern neighbor. After 7 years up in Gunnison, Colorado, just to the south, Wyoming winters hold no mysteries, even though 8,000 feet in the Bighorns is colder than 8,000 feet in the San Juans. You have to develop a certain level of smugness about defeating the elements. "Yeah, it's cold, but I'm not." I spent some time in Laramie in the winter, and they ain't lyin' about the wind or the cold. Even if you love the outdoors, there are good stretches where nobody's going outside! So you better like puttering in your shop or curling up with a book next to the fire. Speaking as a sportsman and outdoorsman, I think I prefer Wyoming over Colorado. Colorado's got some great places, and some great out-of-the-way places, but even in those places, you're likely to run into strangers who think nothing of invading the hole you're working, like it's nothing, and scare all the fish. I remember getting offended a few times in Colorado, and then offending others in Idaho, when I acted too much like a Coloradan, and the 50 yards I gave 'em wasn't enough to suit. If you like having the whole area to yourself, like I do, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are all better than Colorado.
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  2. If you're stuck driving a lot of long trips, especially if you frequent high river canyons where the world's stood on edge, get you Sirius XM Satellite, and listen to WTF you want, 24/7.
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  3. Spent some teens, and all my twenties and thirties in Idaho. Moving back after 20-some years in Colorado. Idaho is what Colorado used to be, in a lot of ways. In Colorado, enjoying the outdoors means enjoying it with 20 or 30 other people with the same idea in the same place at the same time. In Idaho, if you see anybody, you camp around the next bend in the river or over the next ridge.
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  4. I never liked going to the city (Denver) when I lived in CO, but it's gotten really bad, the past few years.
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  5.  @daneharris8055  Yes, we are.
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  6.  @bluecollardiesel  Good diesel mechanic could write a 6-figure ticket in any town with 5,000 or more people, I'd hazard. Skill like that, you just go live where you want to, and the work will come to you, almost guaranteed. There's a huge labor shortage for skilled labor. Always is. More now than I've ever seen. Most kids don't dream of a trade as very fulfilling. The thing about a trade is you can always use it to make enough money to go to school, with a firm footing under you. Most tradesmen I know, however, find the work more stimulating than they thought it would be, and are content to make a good living doing their trade. Plumbers face different people and unique problems every day. So does any dry-waller or electrician.
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  7. Not being a racist, I never judged a place by the proportion of brown-skinned people. Looks like a great place where you could retire to a rural place in the mountains. I'd just way rather do it out West.
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  8. This reminds me of the postcard that the state of Oregon came up with, because they were being flooded by new people. And I'm not talking recently. It was the '60s or '70s, I'm pretty sure. "Welcome to Oregon!" and it was a kid in yellow slicker and galoshes in a rain storm, to put people off a little. Most of the countdown were all good things, to me. Those long straights are where you can make EXCELLENT time. Some of us like to be alone with our own thoughts, and you get opportunities for that in spots, in Wyoming. Now whether the isolation kills folks by their own hand, OR it kept more folks with that tendency ALIVE longer, because they chose to live in a quiet, natural setting. Most of the best places - I'm partial to the Gallatin - you're not putting in the video. Is this just a purposely bleak video? If I wanted a 2nd set of digs on the far (East) side of the Continental Divide, I'd look for something deserted on one of those high rivers and streams. My plan is to settle down on the West side of the Divide, like the North Fork of the Clearwater, or farther East, up the Middle Fork or on up on the Lochsa. You can get yourself attacked by moose, grizzly or mountain lion up there. Never go unheeled, though some do. Never spent much time on the Selway or the Salmon, but I spent months on the Lochsa, which is right near the Divide. Not many shots of some BEAUTIFUL country. You definitely want to get geared-up, even if you're just a townie, because all the best fun involves the elements. If you're high enough to be in the trees, it's high enough you want a big, sturdy truck and a snow machine. Nothing better if you're into skiing, though! People tend to be vigorous in those mountains. If you're not pretty brisk, you freeze to death.
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  9. If you're a big 'n' tall, the altitude takes some getting used to. Love Colorado up high, where there's water. I like the fact that there's sun, especially in those high valleys, almost every day. Even in the middle of snow, the daily air movements frequently blow a hole in the cloud cover, so you get some pure sun, 'most every day, even while the snow's piling up. A little farther north, you can get the nice climate, without having to go up as high, and the land's less barren between the peaks.
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  10. Denver used to be a pretty cool city. Now it's blue.
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  11. Rent and real estate prices have really jumped, all right. I'm tempted to sell out and pocket the difference, and taxes go up, when the home values go up, so I got a bump in my escrow payments this past year. But Zillow says the place is worth half-again as much, so I'd get my down payment plus another down payment, plus some, if I got top dollar for the place. But I didn't buy it to cash in. Bought it for the neighborhood and its proximity to work, so it fits my life like a glove, even though the taxes went up, quite a bit. I'm also making more than I did when it already fit my budget, so the bump isn't hurting me at my dinner table. Just my atrocious lack of enthusiasm in the kitchen.
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  12.  @davemcl1057  Yeah. Weld is hard-working and laid-back at the same time. I lived in Greeley from the 2000s until last winter. Working at a college, the amount of hysteria and illogic by people who should know better was pretty demoralizing. But most of the town just kept on like nothing happened. Even at the DMV, masking was optional, which you wouldn't've known, except some of the nice ladies behind the counter weren't wearing masks. Turns out masks were optional in Weld County. Greeley was more like Sweden. Don't come to work if you're not feeling well. Use common sense. Red counties are way more polite and reasonable than blue counties. Most of my liberal friends think Greeley's a pit. I always liked it. Since I bought that Greeley place, we'd been fighting the building of apartment complexes next door. Obama really wanted to put big apartment complexes right on top of single-family-dwelling neighborhoods, defeating the purpose of living next to other home owners. They finally forced through the construction of a bunch of duplexes, but that neighborhood was never going to be the same. Car and foot traffic all hours. For many years, it was the perfect neighborhood. Close to everything, but separate and quiet. Lots of big old trees. Shady and quiet little oasis that was about to get a lot louder. I couldn't believe that I got out of there, and got as much as I did. The home buyers thought they were ripping me off. My ex-neighbors are probably pissed, because that house will likely go back to being a rental, now, and they liked that they had an owner living there, who was quiet and constantly improving the property. That place was under $200 K in '13, and they're trying to sell it for $450 K. Unbelievable.
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  13. Ya just gotta understand that a lot of folks in Wyoming are descended from folks who wanted to live away from most other folks, or who chose the wide spaces because they were up to making it, there. Guys like Loving and Goodnight. You don't move there to huddle in a city, unless you're just chasing a good-money job. I imagine there's a chronic shortage of women, because a woman likes to be surrounded by more tribe. That'd make a man suicidal. But if you've got a woman who wants to live out with the critters and the weather, it's perfect.
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  14. Tax and regulate entrepreneurs out of business and out of town.
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  15. The folks who move out of California tend to be more conservative for Californians, but still way liberal compared to the states they move to. Imagine Texas becoming a blue state. The influx from Cali could do it.
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  16. Critters can pick up the smell of soap. Making preps for getting clean when you're "out" is important. Outfitters know all about that stuff, I imagine.
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  17. Ski.
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