Fraters Libertas

To Live and Thrive Outside LA

Lots of reader feedback regarding the post yesterday on escaping to the heartland.

Terry leads off:

Saw your entry about the Forbes May 23rd column by Rich Karlgaard. Rich wrote a book last year on that basic theme called Life 2.0 and it's well worth your time if the topic interests you--lots of true life tales of people who cashed out and are thriving outside coastal America.

I've had some conversation on the topic with Rich since our family is selling the California home we built new in 1997 and buying a larger house on a lake in South Carolina for cash.

What could be better--no more mortgage and we shed the Blue State Blues! Not even an action hero governor can save this once-great state.

Next up is Thomas from Colorado:

I enjoy reading you guys as often as I can and I found your comments regarding the Rich Karlgaard article in Forbes particularly interesting. I was born and raised in So. California (Pasadena) and picked up and moved here to the Denver area 2 years ago. One of the many reasons I did was the climbing costs of real estate and housing out there. I'm 39 and of all of my friends that I grew up with in the Pasadena area, only 1 remains there. Some have moved out to the Temecula area (between LA and San Diego) and the rest are out here in the Denver area. The thing that was so interesting to me about the article is how dead on it is about the way things are, not to mention the things to come. I cannot walk 5 feet out here and not run into another ex-Californian. In fact the city of Highlands Ranch is known as little California. It's amazing how many of us ex- So Cals are here. I travel a lot for my work covering 4 and a half states for Motorola and the other day, coming back here from Southern Utah and Las Vegas, I was heading east on I70. I saw more cars with California license plates coming into the state, than I saw Colorado plates, it was astounding.

Anyway, I found the article and your comments particularly interesting and again, it could not have been more on the mark. The heartland is definitely the place to be in the near future.

Keep up the great work, I enjoy your Blogs and love it when you guys substitute for Hugh!!

As do we Thomas, as do we.

Tim also e-mails from Colorado to report that there no longer is room at the Rocky Mountain inn for desperate coasters seeking refuge:

Thanks. Really, thanks a lot. I know the cat has probably been out of the bag for some time now, but there are some of us in "flyover country" who hope and pray that Californians and New Yorkers are extremely happy WHERE THEY ARE.

We here in Colorado are well aware of what housing costs in California. The typical Californian comes here, and, not wanting to pay taxes on the capital gains from the sale of his million dollar 900 sq ft house in California, buys a huge 7000 sq ft mansion here in Colorado, and still has a couple hundred thou' to shelter from the IRS. Californians need to know that we have extremely long, cold, snowy winters that last from September to May. And because they use sand on the roads in the winter time, you have to get a new windshield every spring. We have wild fires in the summer just like they do in California.

Plus, we have, in one of our larger college towns, Ward Churchill. We're also the home state of former Senator Gary Hart and Congresswoman Pat Schroeder. And they still haven?t solved that whole Jon-Benet Ramsey thing; her killer's still on the loose. Pretty scary, huh?

Really, Colorado is an awful place to live. Forget all that stuff I told you when I was defending our fair state during the "Quarters War." I was just kidding.

No Tim, you were right. Colorado is about as close to heaven as you're going to find on this fallen earth. It truly is the land where anything can happen. In fact, I would strongly encourage all disgruntled Californians and New Yorkers to load up their Subaru and Volvo wagons and make haste to colorful Colorado. And when you get there, tell Tim that the Elder sent you. He'll be sure to leave the light on for you and provide a warm Rocky Mountain welcome when you arrive.

(Note: In what can only be described as small world serendipity, it turns out that Tim and Thomas live in the same town in Colorado. Now isn't that special?)