Well Vegas ended up being a bust for me. I'll be here for 8 months in February, and I'm planning to make a move. A company in Texas beat my pay here, and I'm also transferring to an area that has a significantly lower cost of living. So it'll be a win in the long run. I'm planning to bump my 401k to 15% of my income, since I'm not going to need the extra money and I plan on early retirement.

I wanted Vegas to work out, but I felt broke trying to find a house out here, and even in Henderson, the crime is just too high. Shortly after I moved here, there was a string of vehicle break ins at my apartment complex, and a lot of the locals seem to hate being here. I heard at my work all too often "Oh well if it wasn't for my kids in the school system" or "well if it wasn't for my Wife's job" they'd have moved out. Vegas is obviously great for entertainment, events and even provides great trails for hiking and outdoor activities, but unfortunately even in the nice and expensive neighborhoods, there's still a lot of issues with crime and chitty people.

I also looked forward to Nevada, because it's a purple state, and it would have been good to "hold the line" and help it turn red, but Texas seems to be absurdly based, and I'd rather have my tax dollars and volunteer work go to better communities and the state as a whole.

You work in fencing?

im assuming firearms industry since shot show.

Nah, heavy equipment technician. Definitely good job security for that though lol.I wish. I've thought about pursuing a gun smithing course for a side job or for retirement.

There are literally 10,000 illegal immigrants pouring into this state each day. This state will look like a third world country in a few years. Keep that in mind.

This is part of the reason why I'll be moving to the Odessa/Midland area, in hopes that I avoid *most* of them. Based on my admittedly limited research, the illegals outside of the cities are usually just working in the back of restaurants/construction sites/small shops/etc. They don't seem to pose much of an issue in that area.

A company in the DFW area interviewed me, but they wanted to pay me less money, and as a rentcel for the first year or two, my cost of living would have been almost the same as Vegas. Renting is better than home ownership here, but it seems to be almost the same cost or cheaper to mortgage a house out there. I'm definitely not planning to buy a house right off the bat in a new area.

Have you been to Odessa/Midland? It's very remote.

It's more like rural New Mexico than what people typically associate with Texas.

Oh Lord, he's going into the oil patch.The only good thing about Odessa is that it's not Pecos.

This may sound comical at first, but I haven't. I'm planning a trip there next week to scout apartments and houses to rent, and obviously stop by the shop to meet people in person and make sure it'll be a good fit. While I'm flattered they gave me a job offer just from a few emails, a phone call and a zoom meeting, I'd obviously want to make sure it'll be good before I move there. I've also lived in Wyoming for 1.5 years, and I loved it minus the winters. Yeah a 2 hour drive to Costco can suck, but the area has all I'd need otherwise. I'm looking to stack checks and have a low cost of living. I thought Vegas would provide a good party life, but it turns out I didn't really do it as often as I thought I would. Maybe I'm getting old and growing up.Hey I feel like I'm getting called out here. Lmao

From what I've gathered about the area, it could be underwhelming to most since it doesn't offer a lot, but considering I lived in Wyoming, it's still better than that. People on Reddit chit on the area, but I think it's just turbo libs complaining about the lack of things to do and their echo chamber gets disturbed outside of their bedroom.

did you go to shotshow buddy?

So you are a mechanic, OP? As an operator I've worked every place you've mentioned so far. Currently not in any of those places but I don't plan on going back to rural Texas.

People in Texas are friendly, but god is it a boring place. Decent place to raise a family, but I can't imagine having fun as a single guy there over like 25.

I've lived in Wyoming too, for about 4 years, and I mostly agree with you. I dread winter, never again, so even though I did it, I don't think I'd be able to do it again. Vegas to Odessa's gonna be a crazy culture shock, but I guess you've already sort of experienced that living in Wyoming.

Like you said, 2 hours to Costco in a city that doesn't have much to do in it either. I don't mean to hate too much, but you don't have options in other cities that are cheap? Tbh El Paso would be infinitely better than where you're going.

Explain this. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard people say. Texas is the second largest state in the nation. What is “boring?” / what can you do elsewhere you can’t do in Texas? Are you a fkn idiot?

OP, the Permian is not low COL. Rent and housing is ridiculous due to the oil and gas industry. I think you will be surprised at how little $1500/mo gets you for a rental.

EDcellent

Yeah I don't get that either. DFW and Houston are both MASSIVE cities, on the scale of LA.

San Antonio and Austin are interesting cool cities too, especially San Antonio, imho.

It's a big state.

Godspeed OP. Wish I could give advice, but I haven't really spent time in Texas. You'll probably have a good time there. Personally, I think I would have stayed in Wyoming, but I could see that being tough for a single guy. Funny enough, I'm going to be heading that way in April. My wife wants to road trip it for the eclipse, and we booked a hotel in San Angelo last week.

A lot of the guys that work on rotation out there actually live in Houston and drive all the way across the state every 2/3 weeks. Let that sink in.This. It's like the COL is unofficially linked to the oil price. Good luck renting a car. Last time I did I couldn't get anything at the airport, even trying to reserve ahead of time, and ended up having to reserve one in town and Ubering to the rental place. The time after that I couldn't get anything anywhere and had to drive out.

Yessir, I work on engines and components for heavy equipment. I've thought about trying to find a way to become an operator for the equipment, but it seems tough to break in to. Any advice?Yeah I'm turning 38 in April, but honestly I didn't do as much as I thought as I would have in Vegas. I dunno, maybe I'll just be a single guy that works, and wrenches on my truck and tinkers with guns for hobbies.I loved Wyoming, but those winters are brutal. I lived through 2 of them, coldest day was -30 and windy. I thought I knew what cold was growing up in New England, but I guess not lol. I started out in Casper, then transferred to Gillette within my company. Gillette was small, but honestly I liked living there over Casper. Casper is a chithole. I worked security at Gaslight social on the weekends to network and smash sloots, and it was a nightmare. I think half the people that went there just went to try to start chit or pick a fight. Absolutely miserable and chitty people. I worked security in Hartford CT for a super busy bar, and I had FAR less problems there than Gaslight. I left GL after 2 months because I was genuinely concerned that I'd put someone in the hospital and get sued or get revenge jumped. I'm kind of a big dude too, and it blew my mind how people acted towards me.


Texas is so huge, that I honestly didn't really know where to start looking first. DFW was low hanging fruit because it's a huge area, and a Caterpillar dealer had a heavy presence there. I ended up passing on that, since they weren't very competitive with pay, and the DFW area seems like it's too big for it's own good. Plus I hear Dallas is turning into a lib hellhole. I settled on Odessa, because it has a lot of job security for my line of work, and the company seems very committed to getting me out there. I mean there's a chance it's too good to be true, but that's why I'm going there first to check out everything. Then again I wore a suit for my zoom meeting, so I'm sure I blew them away since they deal with field monkeys all day. LOL

So you're still trying to get some experience under your belt or you really want to go to the middle of nowhere and work a ton of hours bro? From what I've heard they charge a lot for rent out there too. I was out there a few years ago for a few weeks to work/hide while my union was slow, but I didn't pay for room or food so I can't quite remember.

There's good money in both but I barely hear of mechanics switching to operator, it's usually the other way around. If you really want advice I can give you some though.

I loved Casper on the occasional weekend, you ever go to Rawlins? That place was a true **** hole. Maybe it was rock springs though been a long time.

I mean I'm pretty committed to wrenching on the equipment, but with what I'll be getting paid in this LCOL area after saving, I'd probably just want to operate equipment for an easier job in my late 40's/early 50's. Maybe I'm just better off sticking to what I'm doing.


Yeah Rawlins is rough too, lol. I drove through there a few times on my way to and from Vegas. Rock springs is on the res, right? I drove through there too, the casino is near there. THAT is probably the roughest part of Wyoming I've been to. I only stopped to get gas lol.

Anything is better than the northeast. Good luck with your move.

I've been poor my whole life. So were my parents, their parents before them. It's like a disease passing from generation to generation, becomes a sickness, that's what it is. Infects every person you know, but not my boys.

You can't really just switch to operating and make the same money at that point, you won't have the skills and knowledge brother, it would take time to get out of low 20s even with your background. If you're okay with working in those isolated places you should buy your own truck and work for yourself. I've met quite a few mechanics in places like that on their own making bank.

Lol, yeah not sure about rock springs though res' are always sht except the ones I've seen in CA. It was Rawlins I was thinking about. I remember stopping there for the night and buying a six pack. The lady at the counter started hitting on me and told me her shift is almost over and how she can't start her car because it has a breathalyzer installed and asked if I wanted to go home with her. Piles of trash off to the side of the road that literally look mini landfills.

I've been out of the northeast for over 3 years now, best thing I've ever done.Thought it sounded familiar, had to look it up. Come Hell or High Water was a great movie.I wouldn't expect the same money, it would be more of a "cushy" job to cover bills when I get older. There was a miscer on here who does field/mobile tech work for himself, and seemingly does great for himself. If I had field service experience, I might do something like that. In Wyoming, there are guys who went from the shop, to the field to make more money, but damn out there, that's brutal.

Lmao, yeah unfortunately it's a lot like that in Wyoming. Alcoholism was brutal out there. If you're clean cut and in decent shape, it's like fishing in a barrel out here to pick up women. The problem out there is everyone starts early to make kids, and a woman in her 20's without kids is hen's teeth. Plus a lot of the guys out there are almost all fat and have rats nests for beards, so it's not hard to look good compared to that. (No homo)

Now you're being a phaggot. Both jobs pay nearly the same. Both have pay gaps from starting operator to starting mechanic is all I was talking about.

Imagine choosing to drive on Texas highways of any kind unless you're suicidal; if you know you know

Texas has become literally Mexico 2.0; you'll see more browns than whites unless you're in some 800 person town 2 hours away from anything

Property taxes are as high as Los Angeles; you're never going to own a home living there



Texas is a lost cause, go to Kansas or Missouri and the COL is 60% less

Obligatory fuk off we’re full

But I would 100% move to where you’re going if I could still do what I do for a living there.
Cities suck, and if you can have land you don’t need Costco that often. Just avoid Austin it’s a disgusting cesspool

I didn't mean to be insulting, I literally meant that I didn't expect the same money as a level 3 tech, then switching to a novice operator. I'm not implying that being an operator is easy, but I can't see it being harder physically than assembling 16 cylinder engines or using 3/4 and 1 inch impacts trying to take chit apart all day. I've seen some of the older techs, and they boomer grunt all day from having broken down bodies. Granted they don't take care of themselves that much, but it's something I'd like to avoid doing in my 50's.

LOL, it can't be worse than driving in Vegas. These streets are brutal, and insurance is awful out here. Even without my Audi, my insurance went up like 600% going from Wyoming to Vegas for just my 79 K10 with GEICO. Ded srs

Also I have a bad latina problem, so I don't think I'll mind. (Don't tell Johnnydeep pls)LOL

Yeah with trying to get out of Vegas and go back to a smaller town life, DFW and Austin would be a hard sell for me to move there. I mean I don't think it could be worse, but I doubt I'll see much of a difference if I moved there.