Why Missouri?
I was born and raised in Lansing, Michigan. I love the state of Michigan. It's beautiful. The laws and policies there, not so much! My wife and I had 0.09 acres in the city of Lansing, and our property taxes were almost $2k a year. Now I don't mind paying my fair share, but when your governor loses her mind and starts talking about transgendering children and paying for illegal aliens to get their citizenship with my tax money, that is when I knew it was time to go.
Koza the goat...
Time to go...
My wife and I started looking at properties in states that are friendly to homesteading. Zoning restrictions were a big thing we were looking at, and there were only a few states that we wanted to go to. Sure, you can do a lot in Arizona, but who wants to live in the desert? Our search narrowed down to Kentucky, West Virginia, and Missouri. We finally chose Missouri more because the land we found was in our affordability range. We ended up putting a down payment down without ever seeing the land. I did all my research online. Topographic maps, the county assesor, and the land title company became my friends we talked so much.
The Final Straw...
We put the down payment on our land down in August of 2022 and were able to make a trip to see it in September. We met the neighbors, and right away, it was clear that we were right where God wanted us to be. Our neighbor is a disabled veteran, and he needed some help on his land, so things worked out for everyone. Of course, when we met him, we didn't know things would turn out this way. We were just happy to have land of our own that we could build on.
Friends Aren't Always As They Seem...
In October, we sold our house in Lansing to a "friend" and made an agreement to rent from him until we were ready to leave. Right after we sold, he started talking to me about remodeling his bathrooms, which is something I know how to do and am fairly good at. It didn't take long for things to go south, however...
Christmas...
The guy we sold to was from New York, and he decided to go visit family and friends over the holidays. He called me often and told me how great a time he was having... Then Christmas day came. I woke up to my phone ringing Christmas day, and instead of answering, I let it go to voice mail. The guy actually left me a message telling me that he had spent too much money and instead of starting the bathrooms on the first like we had agreed, well, he was going to need rent money. That was the last straw.
Temper, Temper...
Some of you may know that I come from a rough background and only got my life together about 8 years ago. When I heard that message, I was so mad that my wife and I went and stayed at a hotel for 4 days. I knew if I saw the guy, there were going to be problems, and I was not going back to jail for anyone. That is when the wife and I decided that we were moving as soon as possible. I turned 50 in April and did not want to spend my birthday in Michigan again. So we started getting ready.
Calming The Storm...
It was not feasible to stay in a hotel for long, so I reached out to the guy, and we made arrangements for us to return to his house. We avoided each other for the most part, and we continued to plan our move. The guy apparently thought we were joking because every time I saw him, he would make comments about the bathrooms. I would blow him off and tell him that I was not going to do them, but he did not believe me.
Lesgooo!!!
When we left Lansing, we had a 25-foot RV trailer home filled to the brim with stuff. It must have weighed 50k pounds! We also had a 20-foot UHaul filled to the top as well. We had our chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, and two honey bee hives as well! Talk about a journey! The UHaul was pulling a utility trailer with our sawmill in it, and we actually lost it on the highway in Illinois. Luckily, it was impounded, and we were able to get it back. But that's another story.
Best Thing We Could Have Done!
We got to Missouri on April 8th, 8 days before my birthday, and just in time to see the solar eclipse. The people here are friendly, something we're not really used to in Michigan. Not only that, but people mind their business here and wait to see how you're going to do. Work does not pay as good as in Michigan, but that's OK because everything is cheaper. I'm working at a job I really like, and my wife is doing home health care. Things are coming along slowly, but they are coming. We now have 3 goats! I guess that makes me a goat farmer, which is something I never thought I would say! I guess my point here is this...
If You Have a Dream - Chase It! Don't Let Anyone Stop You!