15 seconds of fame

I like the Volt model behind the guy on the left.

 

I suppose you lack the upper body enhancements to be as popular!! Har, har,

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

Uncle Bob,
Our gas prices here in Socal change every week, sometimes daily! We're at $3.16/gal for Regular, at the rare cheapest gas station, while the average is closer to $3.50/gal. Prices have risen to this level in just 2 weeks from about $3/gal. Our recent California gas tax increase (November 2017) did not correlate with any increase in gas prices here in Anaheim. With oil coming on at $63/barrel and going up, I hope to see more of the smarter people moving up to greener cars.
Of course, you have Screaming Yellow Monkeys and Pruitts performing sabotage, so lord knows where we'll end up. Sounds like we're headed for at least a mini Civil War!! And there ain't much Civility about it!!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

We're paying 3.239/gal at the cheapest ARCO on this side of town. Looking back through my ledger, I paid 2.619/gal at the same station this same week last year. The raise in the gas tax accounts for 12 cents of the 62 cent increase; the other 50 cents of increase will still be there even if the tax increase is repealed this coming November.

Market forces aren't going to allow car manufacturers to abandon fuel economy improvements altogether. Advertising emphasizing fuel economy is ingrained in the culture now and people are comparing those numbers as part of the shopping process. Buyers in areas like southern California will keep demand for fuel economy up since we don't have great alternatives in the way of mass transit that the majority can (or will) use. We simply can't afford to put a lot more of our tight budgets into buying fuel and manufacturers are not going to abandon this large of a market.

 

Oh you WONDERFUL optimist. I need people like you to give me hope!!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

Despite the natives' preference for Stupid Utility Vehicles and Cowboy Pimpmobiles, I see a lot of Gen 3s and more Gen 4s around here.

The lowest gas price I've seen is $2.49, even at sludge shops like Shamrock. Chevron, Conoco and Mobil are $2.55 and up.

Raise the gas tax so the roads can get fixed. I won't have any issues with that.

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Raising the tax to fix the roads would be fine but don't follow our state's example. We instituted comparatively high gas taxes for that reason an then the powers in the state capital took the money and spent it elsewhere. The roads haven't gotten fixed and I don't expect this latest increase to produce any meaningful improvement in the roads either.

 

Just received the annual registration renewal for the Prius in the mail today. $191 dollars a year for a 10 year old Prius!

Just another reason we're leaving this state after our youngest daughter graduates from high school in a couple of years. We're retired and simply won't commit our fixed incomes to the outrageously high of living in this state, especially since it shows no signs of ever getting better.

 

do you pay excise tax there?

 

Oh yeah. The rate is 0.278. It used to be almost 0.395.

The excise portion was the part specifically dedicated for roads and mass transit. When Schwarzenegger was governor he signed a bill gradually reducing the excise portion in exchange for raising the sales tax so they could use that money for anything.

 

where will you move to? when my parents were in vegas back in the 90's, california retiree's were flocking to the massive build out's in the desert.

 

We're looking at multiple states. We have family spread all over the country from coast to coast. We have brothers and sisters in Hawaii, CA, AZ, UT, CO, IL, TN, GA and NC. Our daughter in law and son just inherited a house near Ft. Worth in TX so they'll be moving there in a few years. We'd like to settle somewhere kind of central because of that. We're just starting to research but our initial thought is either CO or Texas around Wichita Falls. We're also looking at other states but we haven't looked enough to have any other states on our short list already.

 

i can't imagine anywhere as nice as where you are now, all the best!

 

I've lived in both CO and IL, currently live in TX.

Much of IL is an economic disaster area due to the state government not being able to get anything done. However, Chicago has just about everything you would ever want, with certain exceptions.

CO is beautiful and legalizing marijuana has helped out with the tax situation. However, it can be hard to buy an affordable house, due to large numbers of tech sector workers moving in and a local rule that had the effect of virtually halting apartment/condo/townhouse building in/around Denver.

TX is interesting. Forecast for jobs in the Plano/Frisco area is to equal or surpass the number of people employed in downtown Dallas within 2-3 years, so looking south of the metroplex might be less expensive than north.

Interestingly, Chicago, Denver, and D/FW are all Amazon HQ 2 finalists.

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It is nice. I'm one of those people who has had the neat experience of cross country skiing in the a.m. and body surfing in the ocean in the afternoon the same day. Weather is great and by and large the people are too. It's just expensive, getting worse and we don't see any prospects of it getting better in our retirement.

 

Sounds like we may have had some similar experiences. I grew up here; my first experience with CO was at Adams State College in Alamosa,. Brother is retired in Colorado Springs; sister in law near Denver. I lived in Indianapolis for a year and a half as well as five months "wintering" in Chicago on business. We had company divisions in Dallas and Houston so I spent some time there as well, albeit in two week stints over a few years. I was fortunate to have a job that sent me all over this great country and at all times of the year. I only have four states (Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Idaho that I haven't been to for either business or pleasure.

One of our restrictions is the weather so places like Chicago and the northern plains states are out. My wife has, among other things, rheumatoid arthritis which will only be aggravated there.

Fortunately time is on our side. We have a few more years to check things out before we will make a final decision and move.

 

I can't imagine a nicer place than where I am either; maybe Huntington Beach where we lived for over 35 years. Sorry, paradise ain't cheap!! And as an old fart, I can't see going through all the weather horror stories like those described by relatives in Texas and Florida, who were forced to move by employers or to join family, and are now stuck in retirement. In the end, it's what you're used to, and what you're comfortable with; I love my current little cul de sac neighborhood, and I'm close to all my kids and grandkids!
I wish anyone embarking on a late life migration, good luck!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

florida is nice outside of hurricane season. i would never consider it between may and january. if i had to move somewhere and stay there year round, it would be a difficult decision. maybe cali, outside the fire/flood/earthquake zones.

 

So true. We just won't have the family here any more after a few more years.

My sister in law in NC is acutely experiencing what you describe as being stuck in retirement. They used to live a few blocks from us but her husband was transferred to Winston-Salem. Now they are 2,500 miles away from family, retired, in poor health and can't afford to come back. All those other relatives we have across the country are not hers; they're either mine or my wife's biological siblings who reunited about 10 years ago.