Moving to Reno

[sdf527]

The CFO has been offered a great job in Reno, NV, so it looks like we're moving from beautiful San Diego. Most of you know me from my prospecting yarns in the AZ and S.CA deserts, as well as my Moore Creek adventures. I'm going to miss my winter trips with Dig Deep and Ken P., but I hope to hook up with Renoites and Motherlodites to find new prospecting areas, and continue my passion for this hobby.

For you fellers in the Reno/Motherlode area I'm a young 55, fit and always willing cover rough ground in all weather. Long hikes and heavy packs are never a problem. I'm retired so I'm ready to travel anytime.

Stephen

[El Dorado]

You will never be far from gold............Reno is a great place, except maybe for the real cold temps in winter. Don't forget to re-register to vote so you can help dump Whacky Harry.

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Stephen,

This is way too cool!

I was born in Alaska and have lived here my whole life. When I got married, I told my wife "I'll do anything in the world for you, but never ask me to leave Alaska. You do that, you are getting on the plane by yourself".

But as the years have passed I find myself less and less inclined to go outside in the winter. I can't metal detect 6 months out of the year. I'd like to be somewhere there are four seasons instead of two. So the last few years I have been scouting for a place to settle down south. My wife never could decide so it has fallen to me. I decided on Reno, and recently was able to get her to agree it is our goal.

A big factor is that we have a daughter in Reno. True story is she wanted to go to college elsewhere, but got a full ride scholarship at UNR so that is where we sent her. She literally had tears in her eyes when we put her on the plane - she was convinced she would hate it. But now she has found out all the neat stuff she can do as a very active young adult who loves outdoors sports. Reno is smack in the middle of almost anything you want to do outdoors. She loves it there, has a house, and will probably never leave.

My motivation of course was prospecting. Reno is central to many western locations all of which by Alaskan standards are very close indeed. I can pop over to northern California or drop down to Arizona or head up to Colorado. Gold in every direction. Yeah, they have winter in Reno, but from my perspective it is extremely short. Temps here in Anchorage right now is high of around 30, and Reno right now is getting a high around 60. Funny thing being desert country is the nighttime lows are not too different though. Reno has huge temperature swings compared to Anchorage.

I can't do California. Too many taxes and rules. I looked farther south, but it starts getting too hot for me down there. Might work since I'd be in Alaska in the summer hot months, but I might miss having at lease a little bit of winter. And hey, I could just drive on down!

Final deal is that Reno housing was too expensive just a couple years ago due to the housing bubble. Real estate prices have collapsed, which is sad for many but good for me looking to buy. So I've been shopping via the Internet, which is a godsend for remote house shopping. Google Maps in particular can give me a bird's eye view of the neighborhood, and street view can even let me cruise down the street and look around. Amazing stuff!

Interest rates are as low as they can go. And after 15 years of putting money in my house instead of buying toys I'll have my current house paid off in a month or two. Events are converging for me to make a move soon.

And now I hear that a great nugget hunter is moving to Reno! The whole thing seems like fate. Chris lives there also and probably others I've met via the forums. I see great gold hunting adventures in our future!

Anyway, it is a bit of a stretch trying to come up with a down payment but I hope in the next 12 months to be buying a place in Reno. My wife and I made an exploratory trip down there recently so I could make my final sales pitch to her. We drove all around the area for four days. Downtown was much nicer than I had thought it would be. You hit ground level at the strip in Vegas and it is nasty. But you walk around outside the casinos in Reno and it is clean with families and people walking their dogs. It has it's seamy side but nothing worse than I see in Anchorage. The downtown river area is just pure pleasure. The outlying neighborhoods are real gems compared to Anchorage. I loved the older areas with all the brick houses. We can't use brick here due to earthquakes, so I've always found it appealing from never really experiencing it here. Yards are well tended, whereas here there is a certain sense of why bother, its frozen half the year. Bottom line my wife found the place to be way nicer than she expected. One thing I really did not expect was all the ranches in the area. Cattle, sheep, lamas, you name it. A few years ago our daughter drove us over to northern California and gold country there and it was just awesome. Another time we drove from Reno over to Moab, then down to Vegas, then back up to Reno, pretty much making a loop around Nevada. So much open ground! Dirt everywhere instead of tundra!! What probably looks like wasteland to many looks like heaven to me. And then we went over to Tahoe. All I ca say is Wow!

So Reno it is, and I feel like a whole new world is opening up for me. Time to dive into geological reports and maps of the western United States to prepare myself for a program aimed at residual/eluvial gold. Somewhere down there I can smell an undiscovered patch waiting for me. My goal is means I'll be putting in long hours of detecting finding nothing but when I do find something it is going to be good. I can't wait to get started.

Alaska will always be part of my life, but hopefully only in summer. For now I'm just looking to get a place, but no move in the immediate future. I may have to rent the place to one of my daughters' friends for cheap just to keep it occupied. But no matter what I'll be spending more time in the area until it does come time to move down. So Steve, we are going to have to hook up sometime!

Steve Herschbach

[~LARGO~]

Hi Steve,

That is a great choice!

Now, Reno Chris may be able to fill you in on "real good" real estate deals, (not), there may

be, because of the earthquake tremors felt in the Reno area not so long ago.

It really quite difficult to find the "perfect" place, but we think that Boise is the better choice, at least for us.

We live in kind of a "banana" belt, of mountains, which redirect bad storms from the city. Not to say we don't

get some snow once in a while, but normally just a skiff of a few inches occasionally.

Who knows, we might just meet out in the goldfields one day. I have met quite a lot of the forum folks, quite

by accident, out in the Nevada goldfields: Reno Chris, Nevada Chris, Rob Allison, and John B. (now there's a pair).

Digger Bob, Havasu Bill, Little Bill, Chuck of Texas, Lunk, and others whom I may have forgotten their names, but still were a joy to meet and swap stories and methods.

I am confidant that there will be plenty of folk to welcome you, when you and yours finally arrive.

All I can add to that is:

GO BOISE STATE BRONCOS!!!

~LARGO~

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Largo,

There are so many great places down south. My business partner is actually doing the same thing and Idaho it was for him. Beautiful state for sure, as I know from driving around there also.

Our other daughter is in Helena, Montana and I really liked that area also. But it is at the eastern edge of the goldfields so Reno made a bit more sense to me. That, and Nevada has no state income tax, just like Alaska. I don't need any more tax forms!

Steve from California visited Moore Creek twice and is one heck of a hard working nugget hunter. I was there when he found his very first nugget weighing over an ounce. And I was there when he saw the 32 ounce nugget Ken dug up. He was more excited then Ken. Super nice guy and so it is just neat that we may end up in the same area.

Steve Herschbach

[~LARGO~]

Hi Steve,

I really like Nevada as well, and love to go there when I can!

Besides, having friends down there, gives me a good excuse to get out of

town. Truth be known, this Boise town is really a mix of relocated Kalifornicans

with big bankrolls, bad attitudes, and poor manners...

However, the biggest nugget I have ever seen, and had the pleasure of holding,

from this area, is a 6 pounder, taken just less than an hour away! I think it has been

since been sold at one of the larger gem & mineral shows...

Gary

[matt]

Welcome (in the near future) to the both of you. When you get settled and are ready to prospect, send me a PM. There is so much area in the northern Motherload a person could spend a whole lifetime and never see it all. Reno is a short distance from some great prospecting areas that I frequent. I hope to meet up with you guys one of these days.

Cheers,

Matt

[DigDeep]

Just make sure you buy a house that has an extra room for visitors..... like me.

Damn all this talk about the Reno area makes me want to move there.

Good luck SDF!!! I am sure we will meet up in the goldfields again somewhere.

[Nuggetslayer]

Yep we are just on the other side of the hill from you. There is some good gold close, you will like the area. Now you got Sportsman Warehouse, Cablea's, and the biggest Sheels in Sparks. I wish I lived closer to those sports stores. Stay away from the slot machines!!!

[sdf527]

Thanks for all the welcome words. I really hope Steve H can get up there or down there as it were. We'll get El Dorado up there and the Steve's will take control of the prospecting world. I'll have some down time until the movers get our household goods and my truck shipped. I think I'll mail my detector to myself for the near term. Looking forward to the change and seeing some new faces.

[El Dorado]

I don't live in Reno (actually Lemmon Valley, one of the North Valleys) anymore, but did for over 10 years. My heart was still in the tall trees of the Motherlode and I now live in the Historic mining town of Foresthill......Just over the hill from Reno. Looking forward to bumping beepers one day!

another Steve

[Steve Herschbach]

3 Steve Mining?

Thanks Matt!

[leroym]

3 Steve Mining?

Thanks Matt!

Since you spent all that time in Alaska I would suppose that you are a hunter? If you are a bird hunter and you want a challenge then try hunting the himalayan snowcock in the Ruby Mtns just out of Elko Nv. I say try because it is hunting above the mountain goats at around 11,000 ft in elevation. It's the only place you can hunt them in the states and there is a good population of birds. It's really a tough hunt and many of those places you don't want to go in by yourself.

You can fall a long way.

I live in Southwest Montana and we are about 100 miles from Helena.

LeRoy

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi LeRoy,

My wife was born in Butte and grew up in Anaconda and Helena. We have a daughter in Helena and I really, really, like the area. Truly God's country.

I only hunt precious metals. If I ever have a day to get out, I'm going prospecting. My family are major hunters/fishermen but they all gave up on me long ago.

Steve Herschbach

[fredm]

Well I am envious of anyone moving to Reno!!! I hope to get back to that area myself, someday soon...

Mountains, deserts, lakes and rivers at your doorstep...who could ask for more!!!

Fred mason

[Reno Chris]

Steve and Steve-

Welcome to both of you!

I came to Reno years ago to go to college and liked it so much I never left. Its a nice little town - big enough to have all the basics, like good hospitals, stores, etc. but small enough to lack the big traffic jams and other problems of the big metropolis. A little cold compared to Southern California where I grew up, but not bad. By comparison to AK, it will probably seem like endless summer. The uniform temps in Anchorage are a function of its nearness to the ocean. The advantage here is in the summer when it may be 90 in the daytime, it will cool off to 60 at night. Air conditioning is really only needed for a few weeks per year.

The Reno area is pretty ideal as far as prospecting. The central and northern parts of the CA motherlode are just to the west and NW. Lots of places to detect, plus nice warm water dredging in the CA rivers if the state ever gets its act together and restores dredging.

The Rye Patch (Humboldt and Pershing placer region) is just to the NE

The epithermal gold areas of the walker lane zone sit just to the E and SE.

There are more than enough places to prospect for a lifetime, even if one stays fairly close to home. If one drives farther, there are lots of possibilities in Nevada, CA and the adjoining states.

Yep, there are lots of outdoor opportunities here. From Tahoe, the Sierras, the deserts, you name it - even the ocean is not that far away. My wife and I spent the last weekend at a beachfront house near Monterrey.

Lamas - hey, you might have been cruising in my neighborhood! One of the guys down the street has several.

Let us know when you make it down this way, maybe we can meet up with Matt and check out some of the motherlode backwoods.

Also if you have any questions about the area, I'd be happy to answer them.

Chris

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Chris,

Thanks. You know you'll be seeing me.

Looks like I'll have to join the Nevada Mining Association. Been a member of the Alaska Miners Association forever so may as well pony up for the NMA. The Geological Society of Nevada looks interesting also.

Steve Herschbach

[DOC]

Steve!

Welcome to Nevada! It will be nice having you right up the road. As soon as we get rid of Harry Reed, Nevada will be an even nicer place to live.

Doc

Hi Stephen,

This is way too cool!

I was born in Alaska and have lived here my whole life. When I got married, I told my wife "I'll do anything in the world for you, but never ask me to leave Alaska. You do that, you are getting on the plane by yourself".

But as the years have passed I find myself less and less inclined to go outside in the winter. I can't metal detect 6 months out of the year. I'd like to be somewhere there are four seasons instead of two. So the last few years I have been scouting for a place to settle down south. My wife never could decide so it has fallen to me. I decided on Reno, and recently was able to get her to agree it is our goal.

A big factor is that we have a daughter in Reno. True story is she wanted to go to college elsewhere, but got a full ride scholarship at UNR so that is where we sent her. She literally had tears in her eyes when we put her on the plane - she was convinced she would hate it. But now she has found out all the neat stuff she can do as a very active young adult who loves outdoors sports. Reno is smack in the middle of almost anything you want to do outdoors. She loves it there, has a house, and will probably never leave.

My motivation of course was prospecting. Reno is central to many western locations all of which by Alaskan standards are very close indeed. I can pop over to northern California or drop down to Arizona or head up to Colorado. Gold in every direction. Yeah, they have winter in Reno, but from my perspective it is extremely short. Temps here in Anchorage right now is high of around 30, and Reno right now is getting a high around 60. Funny thing being desert country is the nighttime lows are not too different though. Reno has huge temperature swings compared to Anchorage.

I can't do California. Too many taxes and rules. I looked farther south, but it starts getting too hot for me down there. Might work since I'd be in Alaska in the summer hot months, but I might miss having at lease a little bit of winter. And hey, I could just drive on down!

Final deal is that Reno housing was too expensive just a couple years ago due to the housing bubble. Real estate prices have collapsed, which is sad for many but good for me looking to buy. So I've been shopping via the Internet, which is a godsend for remote house shopping. Google Maps in particular can give me a bird's eye view of the neighborhood, and street view can even let me cruise down the street and look around. Amazing stuff!

Interest rates are as low as they can go. And after 15 years of putting money in my house instead of buying toys I'll have my current house paid off in a month or two. Events are converging for me to make a move soon.

And now I hear that a great nugget hunter is moving to Reno! The whole thing seems like fate. Chris lives there also and probably others I've met via the forums. I see great gold hunting adventures in our future!

Anyway, it is a bit of a stretch trying to come up with a down payment but I hope in the next 12 months to be buying a place in Reno. My wife and I made an exploratory trip down there recently so I could make my final sales pitch to her. We drove all around the area for four days. Downtown was much nicer than I had thought it would be. You hit ground level at the strip in Vegas and it is nasty. But you walk around outside the casinos in Reno and it is clean with families and people walking their dogs. It has it's seamy side but nothing worse than I see in Anchorage. The downtown river area is just pure pleasure. The outlying neighborhoods are real gems compared to Anchorage. I loved the older areas with all the brick houses. We can't use brick here due to earthquakes, so I've always found it appealing from never really experiencing it here. Yards are well tended, whereas here there is a certain sense of why bother, its frozen half the year. Bottom line my wife found the place to be way nicer than she expected. One thing I really did not expect was all the ranches in the area. Cattle, sheep, lamas, you name it. A few years ago our daughter drove us over to northern California and gold country there and it was just awesome. Another time we drove from Reno over to Moab, then down to Vegas, then back up to Reno, pretty much making a loop around Nevada. So much open ground! Dirt everywhere instead of tundra!! What probably looks like wasteland to many looks like heaven to me. And then we went over to Tahoe. All I ca say is Wow!

So Reno it is, and I feel like a whole new world is opening up for me. Time to dive into geological reports and maps of the western United States to prepare myself for a program aimed at residual/eluvial gold. Somewhere down there I can smell an undiscovered patch waiting for me. My goal is means I'll be putting in long hours of detecting finding nothing but when I do find something it is going to be good. I can't wait to get started.

Alaska will always be part of my life, but hopefully only in summer. For now I'm just looking to get a place, but no move in the immediate future. I may have to rent the place to one of my daughters' friends for cheap just to keep it occupied. But no matter what I'll be spending more time in the area until it does come time to move down. So Steve, we are going to have to hook up sometime!

Steve Herschbach

[LuckyLundy]

SDF,

You'll love Reno...I do! You sure you want to leave that big gold down south? Welcome to our neck of the woods.

LuckyLundy

[Reno Chris]

Its also nice if you like Hot rods or Hot air balloons.

[El Dorado]

Not to forget the National Air Race Championships AKA Reno Air races...

My absolute favorite airplane "Rare Bear" fastest prop plane in the world 426.6mph

[Steve Herschbach]

I LOVE the Hot Air Balloons! We had them in Anchorage for two or three years, and then they went away. Something about insurance. Truly a sight to behold and I hope to see it next year!!

Steve Herschbach

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Doc,

Well thanks! It will be nice to wander down and visit you. You've been too kind over the years.

OK, I''ll bite. What's the issue with Harry? From what I can tell he is a miner's son and an ardent defender of the 1872 Mining Law. But he has been off my radar by and large so is there something I have missed?

I hope I don't highjack this "we love Reno" thread into something else!

Steve Herschbach

[Reno Chris]

There are about 150 that take off in the morning during the event, including a number of specialty ones like the Energizer bunny, a panda bear, the Wells Fargo Stage Coach, etc. The balloons come right into the neighborhoods. These were taken in my parents yard - they live a couple blocks from the regional park where the event is held. It usually happens a week or two after Labor day in Spetember. Here are a few more pictures.

Harry? Well, it is true he has stiffled some really extremist anti-mining stuff, but I wouldnt really call him pro-mining. Without being too political, many Nevadans feel his views on most subjects now more closely reflect the New England coastal cities, and that he'd fit in better as the replacement for Ted Kennedy than as a senator from Nevada.

Chris