Wyoming, here I come!! (Rock Springs, Jackson: RV parks, for sale, rent)

[KillerK]

Just landed a job in Pinedale working for the newspaper. I know for a fact that all the financial stuff will be absolutely fine.

I've lived in the snow-belt region near Lake Erie all my life, so I'm used to getting 150-200+ inches of snow a year and am used to winter temps ranging from anywhere from -10 or lower to 30 with that nasty moist cold.

I actually love winter though. It's my favorite season. My body tends to run at a higher temperature than other people it seems. Love the snow, love the cold. Summers here are brutal for me with temps in the 90s and high humidity.

I keep hearing that Wyoming gets colder, but that it's also dry - and windy! The only other dry climate I've experienced is northeast Arizona in summer. Even though daytime temps rose to the 100s I felt fine since it was a dry heat. Anyone with experience about Pinedale or that region have any tips about weathering winters there? Or any other tips or advice about the area and/or Wyoming in general?

And don't worry; I love integrating into new places and will not be one of those "Well, this is how we did it back home" type of people.

[ElkHunter]

Sorry, can't tell you anything about Pinedale, but I did want to say, "Welcome to Wyoming". You're not going to want to leave.

[sunsprit]

While Pinedale sits out on the flats in a rather exposed location ... in seemingly the middle of nowhere ... it isn't a very windy area.

It's got a main street on the highway commercial/downtown district, with a decent grocery store and other small stores for most of your needs. Nice airstrip, too, with an industrial commercial area adjacent. Close by access to a very nice reservoir, just a few miles northeast out of town for boating, camping, and fishing ... good boatramp, nice docks, close enough to town that you can be there in minutes at the end of a workday and on the water very quickly for an evening. Newly remodeled brewpub seems to be doing a fair amount of biz, although I didn't stop there so don't know the food/brews.

The local economy seems to be based in seasonal tourism, ranching ... and an oil play that appears to have much lesser activity than a couple years ago. When I last went through for three nights, just before tourist season started this year ... there were a lot of hospitality properties for sale, many shut down and being remodeled, about 75% of the motels there. The RV parks were still closed for the season; the old KOA was closed for the season and the owners appeared to be on-site but wouldn't answer the knock on their door when I pulled in looking for a spot to stay ... and I didn't even need their hook-ups. I tried to get into a couple of motels and was greeted by a notice on their lobby front door that they were closed/for sale and had the seller contact information despite other signage that made them look like they were open and the lights were still on. Two still had "vacancy" signage up but when I pulled in, the owner who was doing remodeling waved me off, saying that they were closed. Of the open motels, only one would allow me in with a small dog, and it was ... to be very kind about it ... an old dump, but they wanted tourist season dollars to stay the night there. There was one nice looking place on the West side of town, almost brand new, that wouldn't allow me to stay there with my dog, but had an almost empty parking lot where they were kind enough to allow me to park my self-contained RV in the back area and get WIFI reception. What I did see was a fair number of field service trucks hitting the road from the yards at daybreak each morning ....

The appearance is that of a town that is coming off of a recent oil play boom economy and settling back into the tourism and ranching economy that it survived on for so many years. It's essentially the Western access point to the Bridger-Teton forest, and there's no other towns nearby to support that, so it's got the edge in the tourist traffic activity. It's also a convenient stopping point for folk heading to Jackson from Rock Springs (I-80), so gets trade from that. But it's miles from anything else except some very wide open country ....

Perhaps in your new job, you'll get an insight into this and can update the forum?

[paintersspouse]

I think you will like Pinedale just fine.

My boss owns two businesses in Pinedale and things may have had a bit of a slow down for some businesses but not for all. I was working on site in Pinedale last fall for several days a week and I now remote in to the businesses every day. Our business is dramatically up over the last 12 months.

I found everyone to be great to work with and the people friendly and helpful. Winter is cold but less snow. You only need to head west and over the rim to get into more snow. It is not a huge town but has lots more services than it did just a few years ago. I was very surprised on how much new construction there was in the last 5 years.

Depending where you get a place to stay, internet can be dicey. They have finally had some upgrades and it goes down a lot less. The power however seems to cut out a few times a month.

Union wireless has the best coverage if you travel out of town at all for cell service but Verizon is almost as good.

The Chinese restaurant in town is better than any in Jackson. There is a Subway and a chicken place but no other fast food places. Lunch is very busy at those two places. Restaurants and such are a bit more expensive. I think that has too do with the influx of oil workers that come and go. The highway gets really busy at 6 every morning with the crews heading on. Getting coffee or gas at those times can be a bit of a wait.

[KillerK]

Thanks for the info, sunsprit and paintersspouse! And thanks for the welcome, ElkHunter!

Yeah, from what I've read about the town, it seems to have a lot more amenities than a similar-sized town would elsewhere in the country. I currently live in a town of 6500 near Erie and even we don't have nearly as many interesting/nice things as Pinedale does. Probably because we're so close to Erie, everyone just goes there if they want to do/see interesting things or eat good food.

One of the best perks of this job is I get free housing. The paper pays the rent but I split utilities with a roommate. (It's a 2-bedroom place.) So in regards to housing, finding affordable places and whatnot, I don't have to worry about finding it or whether I can pay for it. Takes a huge load off my shoulders and frees up more $$ to funnel into other things (like student loan repayments... ) Honestly if it weren't for that, I don't think I could afford to live there anyway.

I am very excited to get there and start exploring the Bridger National Forest and Wind River mountains in my free time. I'm a HUUUUGE outdoors fan, especially in winter. Love hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, etc. This past winter I even tried out winter camping. It's a lot of fun but takes waaaay more preparation!

And I like the proximity to Jackson. I had applied for a job there before, but never heard back. And after I learned more about the town, the culture/atmosphere, people etc., I am kind of glad. Because it sounds a little *too* "cultural" / uppity for me. I could be wrong but that's the vibe I got. I feel like it will be a fun place to visit, but living there? Not so much, maybe.

[Goin'toasquarestate]

Sounds like you'll have a ball out there.

[NDak15]

Welcome to Wyoming! I don't live in Pinedale but I visit it frequently. You'll love it there.

[KillerK]

Thanks!! I'm looking forward to it. I leave on Monday. 3-day road trip!

Speaking of driving, do you guys think I need to get a block heater for my car? (It's a 2004 Honda Civic.) It's in great shape, and I've driven it through 2 notorious Great Lakes winters fine...driven it through several feet of unplowed snow (too early in the morning for the road crew to have plowed it yet), and have been able to start it just fine in -15 temps or so (not factoring wind). It started more slugglishly on the cold days but I haven't had trouble with it. I just ask because I have read it gets much colder in Wyoming.

Particularly in the Pinedale/Sublette County area....which according to Wikipedia has a subarctic climate. I know Big Piney's reputation as the "icebox of the nation" and it's just down the road from Pinedale...

Any thoughts? I am used to driving in bad winter conditions. Especially poor visibility, not because of blowing snow/wind so much as just plain old constantly heavy snowfall. Our unpredictable lake-effect snow squalls are legendary for making people want to leave...

[NDak15]

Originally Posted by KillerK

Thanks!! I'm looking forward to it. I leave on Monday. 3-day road trip!

Speaking of driving, do you guys think I need to get a block heater for my car? (It's a 2004 Honda Civic.) It's in great shape, and I've driven it through 2 notorious Great Lakes winters fine...driven it through several feet of unplowed snow (too early in the morning for the road crew to have plowed it yet), and have been able to start it just fine in -15 temps or so (not factoring wind). It started more slugglishly on the cold days but I haven't had trouble with it. I just ask because I have read it gets much colder in Wyoming.

Particularly in the Pinedale/Sublette County area....which according to Wikipedia has a subarctic climate. I know Big Piney's reputation as the "icebox of the nation" and it's just down the road from Pinedale...

Any thoughts? I am used to driving in bad winter conditions. Especially poor visibility, not because of blowing snow/wind so much as just plain old constantly heavy snowfall. Our unpredictable lake-effect snow squalls are legendary for making people want to leave...

I wouldn't worry. I've started my car up in -25 degree weather when the wind was howling. It was a bit sluggish but it ran just fine. Just give it plenty of time to warm up.

[sunsprit]

The difference you'll see in the dry climate of Pinedale is that the snow will be much lighter, have much less moisture content than what you've seen in the Great Lakes area. So the blowing/drifting snow and lowered visibility is the issue, and you'll rarely find snow depths that your Honda cannot adequately negotiate with decent tires on it.

A block heater is a nice item to have if you have access to an electrical outlet. You don't need to use it constantly, but on the lower temps, it's nice to have the block preheated for an hour or two before starting the car by using an appliance timer plugged in the night before. The engine can be warming up while you're still waking up ... It makes the load on the starter motor/battery easier, and it's that much faster to having the heater/defroster start delivering useful heat. A far better alternative to idling the engine with gasoline to warm it up when a block heater costs pennies to operate for a couple hours. By using an appropriate winter weight oil, you'll also help the starting/warm-up cycle for the engine ... maybe even as low as a 5w-20 synthetic. The local auto shops know what seems to work best for their clients, there's a very good shop right across from the Pinedale airport.

By the same token, if your car gets cold-soaked or you can't get to an outlet, it will still start OK with the low vis oil. But you'll appreciate the difference if you can use the block heater for those AM starts.