Glacier Park Chat
No one reason. I'm simply not happy living here anymore.
Some reasons in no particular order are:
Attending my bother-in-law's funeral back in July made me realize just how important "family" is.
I have very little family left--My sister Vickie, her two children and their families, a cousin in Virginia, another in Sarasota are about it.
The last few years I have realized that I just don't have the physical ability to do many of the things I want to do. I'm still fairly healthy but...
I do NOT want to become a "long distance" burden on my family in Florida should I become disabled, sick, etc. and unable to care for myself.
And then there are what I would call "life style" issues living here in the Flathead Valley where my principle recreation revolves around Glacier National Park.
This area has experienced incredible growth over the last 4-5 years. A huge, for here, apartment complex(350 unit, 500+ residents!) was just completed last month across the road from my bedroom window. The increase in noise and traffic is pretty annoying. It's the same all over the valley.
A biggie for me relates to Glacier National Park. GNP is just no longer fun to go to.
The crowds, the more frequent fires and smoke, the restricted entry(ticket system) make going to the park a pain in the ass.
In the past, I really looked forward to a "day in the park". I could just hop in my truck and go without a hassle.
Now, as I said above, going to the park is just a giant pain in the ass and I don't see that changing.
Some say I could go to places like the Bob Marshall complex or other beautiful locations in the area.
True, but that's not why I moved here.
The price of gasoline($3.40-3.50/gal) makes travel to the park very expensive for me these days--never mind more distant places.
Driving directly to Logan Pass and back, about 130 miles costs me $30.00 just in fuel costs--never mind cost of maintenance over time.
Many Glacier would be about double that! I just cant do that.
Those who believe that gasoline prices will go back down are dreaming. Not going to happen in the short/medium term--if ever.
Winters have been a disappointment in terms of recreation. Climate change? The reason doesn't matter.
Why put up with grim winters if I can enjoy them snowshoeing, xcountry skiing, etc.?
Life around here just isn't fun anymore.
Soooo.....what am I going to do after moving to Florida?
My sister said I could live with her. Her house is a large 4 bedroom house, master and 3 others. Each bedroom has a full bathroom.
So room for me with 2 other bedrooms for visiting family, etc.
I'll be able to continue with my photography. While Florida's environment and climate is radically different from Montana, photo opportunities are huge. No big vistas, but I want to do more photography in the mixed forests, swamp lands, seacoasts, etc. Lots of wildlife, especially birds are another subject to photograph. I'll enjoy getting back to one of my childhood passions of finding and photographing animals like alligators and snakes.
So plenty to do in Florida. Just different stuff from here. And I can do it all year. Winters are nothing compared to Montana.Hence, the name of the town where I grew up--Winter Haven.
The incredible generosity of my sister Vickie( a "saint" imo
) letting me stay in what she now calls "the family home" will allow me to do trips like travel to Europe this summer. !!! 
I bought a round trip ticket to London yesterday. I will fly to London in early June for a 6 week "wander" as the Brits say.
And as typical of my style of travel, I will go with pretty much no plan after I get there. I did the same thing in 1997 after my divorce.
I will be traveling by train for the most part. After visiting with some YouTube "friends", photographers and bush crafter types, The rough plan is to take a train to see places I haven't seen before to include, but not limited to: Switzerland, southern Germany, specifically Bavaria, the Balkans along the Adriatic, Romania Ukraine. At some point work my way back to London for flite back to Orlando. Once off the train in a location, use bus service or local trams, trains, etc to see specific places.
I've done a lot of research on travel and accommodation costs. It'll be easily affordable since I don't mind going "cheap".
So there ya go!
pete
