Posted: 3/21/2025 9:39:20 AM EDT
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Well guys, I've been here 9 months, made it through a (mild) winter, and wanted to post what I've experienced up here. First of all, it's not what I expected or was looking for; but turned out to be 10x more. When I first decided to move, I was frankly looking for somewhere with a well-regulated militia, where I could help train, and get settled in for the duration, whatever that might be. So initially I was looking for a home close to town, with all the services, and some sort of survival bunker out in the boonies. What I quickly came to realize is that this whole area is essentially a "survival retreat", and there's really no need for a separate bunker or whatever. The peeps for the most part are not some flag-waving, gun-toting super-patriots, but rather quiet, Christian conservatives, who are patriots, but simply go about their business, without much fanfare. They don't wear their values on their sleeves, like you see down south, with all sorts of macho stickers, and big flags waving from pick-up trucks; they are quietly raising their families with good Christian values. So it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but turned out to be much more than I could ever have imagined. We have been so gas-lit, about how evil traditional Americans are, that when you get up here in this environment, where the vast majority of people have traditional, conservative values, you realize just how full of shit these people who are pushing that narrative are. So it is amusing to think about what was on my mind, when I moved up here, and what the reality on the ground turned out to be, and I don't just mean how the election went; sure that was a part of it, but what I've come to realize is that many folks live in such a toxic atmosphere, and don't even know it. Just moving up here has been a breath of fresh air, and much needed change, whether it was really "necessary" or not. I just thank my lucky stars I ended up living up here. After spending 20 years on both coasts, it reminds you of what America truly is, and what it will always remain, good Lord willing. |
It's all about the fiddle factor.
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Originally Posted By pokey074: You're welcome. Everyone else stay out. We're full. while in Rapid City a week or so ago at the DMV getting MY new license to establish residency, there were SEVERAL other people doing the same.  |
Democrats: ideas so great, they have to resort to censorship
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Originally Posted By 7insert: People here are slow to warm up to outsiders, but once you talk to anyone within 5 minutes they would give you the shirt off their back. 5 minutes is slow? I had a bartender in Hill City deliver the sunglasses I left on a bench in her bar to the restaurant in Custer that we had reservations for the next evening. I'd met her once and had only been in the bar a few times. Summers in SD, Winters in TX. That's the plan going forward. I'll be up in May/June and will head south when the snow flies. |
Vini, Vidi, Bibi
Life is too short to converse with stupid people.
Sir The_Dog, charter member Knights of Wonder
Cheesecake OG
Life is too short to converse with stupid people.
Sir The_Dog, charter member Knights of Wonder
Cheesecake OG
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Originally Posted By The_Dog: 5 minutes is slow? I had a bartender in Hill City deliver the sunglasses I left on a bench in her bar to the restaurant in Custer that we had reservations for the next evening. I'd met her once and had only been in the bar a few times. Summers in SD, Winters in TX. That's the plan going forward. I'll be up in May/June and will head south when the snow flies. I think this is my goal when I retire. I love SD but Jan and Feb here suuuuuucccckkkk. |
"Hey you guys with the glow sticks get over here! You're in range of the flame throwers!"
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Originally Posted By chargerkid5: I think this is my goal when I retire. I love SD but Jan and Feb here suuuuuucccckkkk. We were in the Southern Hills during Christmas... it wasn't bad this year. I was back up there for a week about 10 days ago... other than the crazy winds, it wasn't bad. Northern Hills get a lot more snow and colder weather. Winter is much more severe East River - I've got family in Sioux Falls and rarely visit them in Winter. When I do, I'm happy to see them, but regret being there. |
Vini, Vidi, Bibi
Life is too short to converse with stupid people.
Sir The_Dog, charter member Knights of Wonder
Cheesecake OG
Life is too short to converse with stupid people.
Sir The_Dog, charter member Knights of Wonder
Cheesecake OG
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Originally Posted By chargerkid5: I think this is my goal when I retire. I love SD but Jan and Feb here suuuuuucccckkkk. Since we moved out of town to the lake we've had 2 of the best winters ever in a row, I'm dreading the 14'+ snow drifts when we finally do get hit by a "real" winter... but it'll still be better than MN 
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Joined:
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Posts:
360
EE: 100% (16)
SD, USA
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Originally Posted By 7insert: People here are slow to warm up to outsiders, but once you talk to anyone within 5 minutes they would give you the shirt off their back. I’ve been here since the mid ‘90’s and people are starting to warm up to me, lol! If you see commie plates, treat them like shit. If you hear commie shit, let the commies know what a bunch of dumbfux they are and how this state will crush their spirits before driving them out. You can’t fix stupid and commies are some dumb motherfockers. Be well! |
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I moved to SD 3 times during my .mil career. Each time I lived there (8 years total), I enjoyed it a lot. The people, the scenery, and the outdoor fun opportunities were great. The winters drug on a bit more than I liked, but it weren't too bad. I wish we got a little more snow here, but not blizzards in May like I've seen in SD. A lot to like about that state. Maybe one day, I'll get back to visit. |
dum spiro piscari
Joined:
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Posts:
2304
EE: 100% (4)
SD, USA
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I couldn't disagree more on the warming up to outsiders. I'm sure it depends on who you are. I can go up to some random house in the middle of nowhere, and there's a good chance we could talk like we knew each other forever. I came from Minnesota, and 90% of the people there you could know for 20 years, and they are still wishy washy. That's one of the most defining differences I've found between the states. Here's an example from last fall. I drove out to a spot early I had scouted a couple days prior to go duck hunting. As I was nearing the spot I saw a truck pulled off in a field sitting there, and I thought it may have been a farmer, which at this time of year, every field has a truck with a farmer in it, and where I wanted to go was a ways farther to a slough. As I passed, I got that feeling like it was a hunter waiting, so I turned around. We talked, and sure enough it was a guy and his son wanting to hunt the same spot, seeing the same birds I had for sure. I asked if I could go out with them, and he agreed. It was never awkward, we hunted like we had been hunting together forever. It was one of the best days hunting that year, both getting our limits. Think about that, some guy and his little boy were so welcoming to me, a random stranger in the pitch black, to go out hunting in the middle of nowhere together, and we loved it. I lived and hunted in Minnesota for a large part of my life until I moved away, and nothing even close to that EVER happens there. It's never been bad, I've ran into other groups and one of us has moved. Public lands and waters there can be VERY crowded in certain areas, but that's just the way it is with the higher population areas. It's not that it can't happen, but nobody does that sort of thing there. Everyone tries to avoid others. Even outside of hunting, there's cool people around for sure, but there's a whole lot of assholes around too. I should be a little more specific, I'm talking about the more populated areas of MN from Bemidji to Mankato, and from Alexandria to the cities or Duluth/Rochester. The central-ish area. The cities is it's own shit hole. If you get way out in the western boonies, it's a different state. Even other pockets of the state are fine, I can think of worse places to live than Staples. There's some things I miss in South Dakota, Off roading for example, the only good riding in South Dakota is in the Black Hills. There's tiny little parks here and there, or motocross tracks, but if you live east river, it's bread crumbs. Same thing with any elevation. East river is so flat, and the only place in the state with any good downhill skiing is again the black hills. The tiny little thing in Sioux Falls is nothing, Andes Tower in Alexandria is still not much, but it's twice the hill. There's a bunch of other little differences you will find. Overall though, yeah, we don't really care that much what other people do. The people with flags and stickers stick out like a sore thumb. I don't have to listen to half the politics that I used to, and that's a huge benefit. Nobody is out to get you here, and nobody cares what you do for the most part. We are mostly a bunch of carhartt wearing live and let live hillbillies. Sioux Falls is kind of our version of the cities. There's definitely people there that look down on the rest of the state, but it's so insignificant, it's not like a major metropolitan area with 50% of the state population, specialized hospitals, big concerts (they have a few, but not more than other smaller cities), international airports or things like that. I swear Fargo has a bigger impact on eastern SD than Sioux Falls does. West river Rapid city is the big name. Sioux Falls is the "I don't think about you at all" meme for the other 98% of South Dakota. Since you seem to have lived on the coasts, I can only assume you haven't been through a bad winter. I've lived in places that are even worse than here, but it's still plenty wintery. The last one was I think 2022-2023 was pretty bad. I had multiple nights I came home from work and the driveway was too drifted over to drive through. I didn't want to put on snow chains or get the snow blower, so I just slammed it into the drift as best I could, and dealt with it in the morning. People aren't exaggerating, I've seen drifts as tall as a house, but that is really only on the backside of a hill/ditch or trees. It's not a super snowy area, just enough to be a problem sometimes. Lots of times the snow blows right off the roads if it's dry enough, and the area is flat. If you live in city limits, it's not as big of a deal. They do try to be conservative on snow removal and salting here. Outside of city limits or the most major highways, they don't really salt at all. Studded tires are legal here, I highly recommend them if you buy dedicated snow tires. You can live without them, but you will have winters like 2022-2023 where you are stuck driving 25 mph max with a clenched butt for weeks at a time. Snow drifts can be a major obstacle. They always prioritize major highways, so if it's blowing hard with even moderate amounts of snow, it's usually best to take the longer route with the more major roads. After a major snow storm, it can be multiple days before they get the most rural roads cleared. 4x4 won't get you out of everything, sometimes things build up so much nothing but a tractor can clear a road. Being in the center of the continent we are more prone to temperature swings. Last summer was pretty mild too. I'm in the northern part of the state, and we still get at least a couple days a year over 100f. Farther south it's even more common. 110f is pretty rare. In the winter there's always at least a few nights that get below -20f. -30f is rare, but more common than 110f. On a bad winter we go multiple months without ever having a high temperature above freezing. I think that same 2022-2023 winter we went over 5 month straight November to April without a single high over freezing, and that wasn't even close to the record from 2012-2013 of 172 days. Some people adapt to the weather, some don't. I grew up in it, so I never knew it any other way. It's not nearly as big of a deal as it seems. Your house should already be properly insulated to handle most of it. It's not so brutal cold that your battery or antifreeze in your car freezes like it can farther north. Propane seems to work fine here too, it's not too cold for that. Mostly it's a mental change. You will figure out you can't do certain things without gloves. You will realize how far apart gas stations can be, and not to run the tank down. One nice thing I have found is power outages are hardly a thing here. There's big long range power lines, but most of the lines going to the houses are under ground. There's not much for trees to fall on lines. I don't think I've ever seen a power outage as long as I've lived here. I'm sure it's blipped without me noticing, but it's not like other places where it's out for hours or days. In Minnesota I grew up expecting it, the power goes out there seemingly on a monthly basis. Any time it storms at all, thunder storm or snow storm, it's out for at least an hour, often longer. That's not really a thing in South Dakota. That doesn't mean a generator is a bad idea, but I wouldn't be wasting too much money on one of those big ones to power the whole house. Get one just big enough to run a furnace, and that's all you really need. I would rather have backup batteries, than waste money on Generac here that would never get used ever. You would have to look into that yourself and if your power company would pay you to do that or not, I do not know. West river you could probably get a bunker, but east river you would have to be very careful where you put it. Even in areas you wouldn't expect it to flood, the water table is so high. On wetter years, it can be just under the surface of the ground. Where I live, 4' to 8' below the surface seems to be the average water level when I look down my well. Even a house basement can be an iffy deal. I have a basement, kind of. It's more like they built the house, then banked up the sides half way with dirt, so it's kind of 3/4 of the way under ground. Even still, flooding in the basement is a big concern. I have drain tile into a sump, and two sump pumps in there. At wet times the pumps hardly stop running, and if both of those pumps ever failed, that basement would flood quickly. It's already happened once. Another difference from the coasts is severe weather. If you are in the south east part of the state, you are in peak tornado area, and will have to deal with them regularly. Even farther north we still get plenty of tornados. Once you get west river very far the risk goes down quite a bit. If money was no object, I would love to have one of those above ground vaults they can install in a garage or wherever it can be bolted down to concrete. If you have a basement, that's pretty good. Just have some place you can go that's better than huddling under some stairs or in a hallway. You are going to be dealing with tornado watches and sometimes warnings multiple times in a year, severe thunderstorms can be serious too, and it gets really old having to huddle in seemingly worthless places. Pick a spot and leave some chairs there along with a light. It's really annoying when you want to go to bed, and you are in a tornado watch, but at least we don't have to deal with hurricanes. |
| If I were to move back to the motherland I would look at buying a bugout spot at X Point. |
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Originally Posted By sunnybean: If I were to move back to the motherland I would look at buying a bugout spot at X Point. |
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Originally Posted By pokey074: That place is a complete fucking shit show from what I've read, and I believe it. Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By sunnybean: If I were to move back to the motherland I would look at buying a bugout spot at X Point. Could very well be. I haven’t really looked into it. Seems like an interesting bugout spot but implementation could certainly be a disaster. |
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Originally Posted By sunnybean: Could very well be. I haven’t really looked into it. Seems like an interesting bugout spot but implementation could certainly be a disaster. It's kind of a shitty "bug-out" spot when the entire USA knows about it. Everyone I talk to out of state asks about it. Also heard it's a disaster. My parents bought a "lake cabin" which is essentially just a trailer house on some bitches land next to the river, and it turned into a fucking nightmare. King kong mega bitch is one of the most controlling, micro-managing cunts I've ever seen in my life, and has complete control over your weekend get-away spot. And can make your life a living hell if she decides she doesn't like you or says you violated one of her dumbass rules. The nightmares my parents had with that place seemed very similar to what's going on at the bunker place. No. |
“It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.”
“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.”
John Paul Jones
“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.”
John Paul Jones
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Originally Posted By sunnybean: If I were to move back to the motherland I would look at buying a bugout spot at X Point. All the drama of a trailer park with an extra dose of unstable prepper crazy. No thanks. |
"Hey you guys with the glow sticks get over here! You're in range of the flame throwers!"
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Originally Posted By chargerkid5: All the drama of a trailer park with an extra dose of unstable prepper crazy. No thanks. Originally Posted By chargerkid5: Originally Posted By sunnybean: If I were to move back to the motherland I would look at buying a bugout spot at X Point. All the drama of a trailer park with an extra dose of unstable prepper crazy. No thanks. Haha! That’s a great quote.
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Originally Posted By chargerkid5: All the drama of a trailer park with an extra dose of unstable prepper crazy. No thanks.  I arrived 7 days ago at our place in the southern Hills. I can feel the north texas stress melting away. I'm here till October. |
Vini, Vidi, Bibi
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Originally Posted By sunnybean: If I were to move back to the motherland I would look at buying a bugout spot at X Point. That threat map.... I had forgotten about that. Where did they get the predicted submersion zone running through central MN from the Great Lakes to what appears to be Watertown and then north and south through North Dakota and some weird route through Nebraska. It's also interesting that the Rockies are also considered a predicted submersion zone. I'm sorry, but if it's gotten so bad that the Rockies are underwater, nothing in SD is ever going to save you. |
I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.
| All Minuteman Missiles based out of Grand Forks have been gone since early 90's. The map does not make sense there. |
jme and I am a NRA Endowment Member
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Joined:
Apr 2024
Posts:
2376
EE: 100% (4)
SD, USA
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Originally Posted By Dissident: That threat map.... I had forgotten about that. Where did they get the predicted submersion zone running through central MN from the Great Lakes to what appears to be Watertown and then north and south through North Dakota and some weird route through Nebraska. It's also interesting that the Rockies are also considered a predicted submersion zone. I'm sorry, but if it's gotten so bad that the Rockies are underwater, nothing in SD is ever going to save you. It has to be an IQ test. Anyone that sees that page and still likes it is the kind of person they need to find to put $55,000 upfront payment (I assume gone forever), then almost $1100 a month for a glorified mud hut with 30 feet of land around it they used to store bombs in, and you would never own any of it. You have to build the inside yourself anyway. They tout off grid, except I don't see a solar panel in sight. I can only imagine they use generators, and who knows how the sewer system works. Then again, anyone willing to seal themselves inside a little concrete bunker for up to a year is already dead inside. Anyone that isn't that foolish would buy some land nearby or elsewhere. Edgemont has a similar population to the bunkers, so no big cities around. You could get way more land, and maybe the bunker cost would be more upfront, but you would actually own it. That truck stop in Edgemont makes a mean fish sandwich. I don't know who came up with that submersion map. Somehow the water is going to go over the rocky mountains, but not Edgemont at 3517' above sea level? How would it possibly cover Colorado, with the highest parts of the Rockies, but not other states near it like New Mexico with lower elevations? The river in eastern SD appears to be the James river, which is nothing. It's maybe 100 feet across, fairly deep for how small it is, probably 10 or 12 feet deep in some spots. It also would NEVER flood like that. If it flooded any amount that could cover CA or FL, all of eastern SD except maybe the higher elevation NE part is going to be under water. The James river elevation at Columbia, SD is 1274', which fluctuates with water levels. Both Columbia and Aberdeen are only 1299'. Flooding in this area is a big problem. It's not a problem in the Rocky mountains. It's even more ridiculous when you consider North America has flooded in the past, and it is nothing like that map. About the time the dinosaurs went extinct, some of California, some of the east coast, and all of Florida was under water. More importantly, the center of the USA, and a huge chunk of central Canada were under what they called the western interior seaway. That included almost all of South Dakota underwater. That's one of the big reasons fossil hunting is so big here. That, plus soil that allows them to be found and a lack of glaciers to bury them, but all those sea fossils weren't placed there by a miracle, the whole thing was a sea. |