Is Maine right for me? (Portland, Bangor: construction, live, shop)

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by shirtburt

That is because I plan on being a trucker, which seems to be an easy job to apply for in any decent-sized town.

There is a shortage of truck drivers. You should be able to find a job easily.

[InTheMountains93]

Originally Posted by shirtburt

I'm looking to move to New England because I'm getting tired of the hot summers and the lack of snow in the winter. Vermont is too liberal and New Hampshire is too expensive so Maine is my only option. I've been specifically looking at the Bangor area if that helps. Is Maine right for me? Here's what I'm looking for;

-A conservative/libertarian place with friendly people (Actually decent human beings, not the people you see in Portland, OR), lakes, and a Sam's Club
-The ability to do basically whatever you want (Live Free or Die)
-Doesn't get overrun by tourists (I've been to the Blue Ridge Mountains and MAN DO THEY GET CROWDED)
-In a place where the government won't bother you

I have considered Maine for the same exact reasons, wish Vermont wasn’t the way it is….. same with masssholes…..

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by shirtburt

That is because I plan on being a trucker, which seems to be an easy job to apply for in any decent-sized town.

Our eldest son is a long-haul driver, he has had difficulty getting hired by any company that does routes into Maine. Most of his driving so far has been between East Coast and West Coast, but only once into Maine.

[CARas2020]

Submariner as usual gives the best advice and information.

He knows what he is talking about.

Good luck getting a trucking job. I always see various ones advertising for drivers :-) If you drive drive a truck are you looking for cross country or more regional?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by shirtburt

...
-A conservative/libertarian place with

I must have missed this part, the first time I read your post.

Maine has a very active Libertarian Party. My Dw is an active member of the party, I chauffeur her around to most of her events. Right now they have been active in organizing rallies to protest the vaccine Mandate [they are not 'anti-vaccine', as the BDN keeps publishing in their news articles, they are simply anti-tyranny. The BDN is not known for picking up on nuances, they prefer to broadstroke smears against anyone they do not support.].

[CJinCA21]

New England as a whole is quite liberal, and we like it that way. Maybe you would like Idaho or Wyoming or North Dakota...

[mainegrl2011]

You might want to check voting results for local and national elections to determine where conservatives live and where liberals live.

[svband76]

Originally Posted by CJinCA21

New England as a whole is quite liberal, and we like it that way. Maybe you would like Idaho or Wyoming or North Dakota...

About 60% of Maine residents would disagree.

[katharsis]

I lived in a small town in Maine in the Lakes Region (about an hour northwest of Portland) from 2004-07, coming from Colorado. Maybe things have changed since then, but this is what I remember:

- Politics NOT a problem, no matter what your ideology is
- Winters NOT a problem (they did a good job of keeping roads clear)
- Bugs were bad for just a couple of weeks
- 90% of the service people we employed were very unreliable, to say the least, and most were actually incompetent
(even with references)
- Very difficult finding a doctor or dentist accepting new patients
- Beware of dishonest real estate people
- A LOT of pine trees
- We had to take our garbage to the town dump ourselves until someone started his own garbage pick-up service

Also, with any small rural town, be very aware before you move that you will NOT have much of a choice in shopping. For the first two years until a Hannaford's was built in town, we had to actually go the WalMart in North Conway, and the W-M was the closest thing to a major supermarket in our area.

In short, be aware that rural life is VERY different from suburban or city life in many areas, and locals do not like newbies making "suggestions" or complaints. (We did not do either one, but we heard plenty of grumbling from the natives about newbies who did.)


*We had one who was so dishonest I was surprised she had a license, and she was part of a national firm. Btw, dishonest real estate agents were a problem in New Hampshire, too -- and in talking with other people, dishonest real estate agents and incompetent construction and service people in New England were not rare, or at least they weren't 18 years ago!


P.S. Sorry -- I just saw that this thread is for the Bangor area, so take the above with a grain of salt!

[Phorlan]

"The ability to do basically whatever you want (Live Free or Die)"

Maybe you do need to make more money and move to NH?

Each time somebody who says they want to do whatever they want, I scratch my head.
Do you know a place on this planet where you can actually do what you want? is that even desirable? What is exactly you're looking for? A place where you can play loud music at 1 am and be able to shoot your neighbor, who's a nurse, who has to get up at 5 am who comes to your know to tell you to turn it down? Do you want to be able to have sex with kids and sell drugs to them? Do yo want to be able to shoot any wandering animals you see? Do you want to have the freedom to NOT vaccinate your kids against polio, homeschool them even if you can't tell a molecule from an atom? We have people like this in 2022 in the same country that sent people into the moon more than 50 years ago, invented the processor, the computer and more?