Beauty in the Backwoods: How we arrived in The Great Northwest, Part 4 (Oakridge, Oregon)

After arriving in Oakridge, Oregon, and looking around, we quickly fell in love with this cute little town. We stopped at the local bait and tackle shop and got a referral to the local property management office in town. They had two rentals available; one in town and one just outside of town. They showed us the rentals, we put our application in, and we were quickly on our way to wait to hear back from them. Several days went by and after contacting them several times for an answer, they finally let us know that we had been approved for the little home just outside of town. This is the home they said is in the country, but actually it is surrounded by other homes and not exactly what we were looking for, but at this point we couldn’t be picky or we would be living in the tent until we found another place.

Twins excited about our new home.

After we secured the home rental, we made two trips to the Columbia River on the Washington side to get our trailers. So thankful for my sister-in-law’s parents for letting us store them on their property.

We lived in Oakridge for over a year and the kids spent one full school year there. During our time living in Oakridge, we made many friends, and took advantage of having the National Forest at our backdoor. The weather was perfect all year round. Perfect to us, after living in tornado alley, earthquake central, and the unbearable heat and humidity of Oklahoma, to which we both were accustomed. We found paradise, so we thought. The beauty of this area is overwhelming to say the least.

Crater Lake

Fishing at a lake, near town.

Trout

With me being just out of the workforce and after the children went back to school, I found myself bored. Looking for something to occupy my time, I started a vinyl and rhinestone business making t-shirts and decals, etc. I also brought, Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op, to this town and was the site coordinator.

The late summer of 2015, we took a trip to Idaho, Montana, and into North Dakota. On the way back we stayed the night in a cabin, just off the interstate, Black Diamond Guest Ranch. The ranch had horses and the girls fell in love. The very next day, on the way home, I started to really think about why we moved from Oklahoma in the first place, our priorities in life. Sometimes getting away or a vacation will do that for you. I had been so busy this past year, working, having fun, and enjoying the area, I overlooked the reason we started this journey in the first place. Living a debt free, self sustainable life in the county was our dream and we had definitely gotten sidetracked. We had been looking for property to buy in this area for quite some time now. They seemed to be very proud of their land in this area, as it was quite costly compared to what we are used to in Oklahoma. With a budget we wouldn’t budge from, and all the permits, inspections, rules, and regulations of this county, there wasn’t a way we could live the way we desired and we came to the realization that we needed to look at another area to live.

Having lived in a red state and then moving to a blue state was a drastic change for us. The land was beautiful, but oh how the beauty can fool ya. Without going into politics or trying to offend anyone, this little town of Oakridge just wasn’t for us, plain and simple. We were raised in the conservative south and we had moved too far west, too far into the land of the Liberals. They legalized marijuana in Oregon and the pot shops and growers were setting up shop in this little town. Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe in medical marijuana, but not for recreational purposes. This little town also had a theft and vandalism problem along with several homeless people, squatters as they called them. We are also Christians from southeastern Oklahoma and our beliefs are a lot different than the majority in this community. Don’t get me wrong, we met some really great friends in this town and are still friends to this day, but in reality, this area didn't fit with our ideals. We were ready to move on to find the “right” place for us to make our home and raise our children.

As soon as we arrived home from our trip we started looking for a place to rent elsewhere. About a week later, we made a trip just outside of Boise to look at a cabin and check out the area. We really liked the cabin in the woods and the old western town nearby. Idaho is a red state and there seemed to be more like minded folks here. Have we found the area we are looking for or will this just be another temporary home?