Whats wheeling in Cali like?

[fallacist]

I might be joining you folks soon, and was wondering what state specific modifications I might have to remove/replace? For the last 9 years I've lived in state that have no emissions testings, and I know Cali can be pretty particular about things.

Whats wheeling like? In CO there are mountain passes and forest roads everywhere to explore, so practical to have a jeep.

Can of you guys recommend a rural area to move to, but is reasonable for commuting to SF?

thanks!

 

[the_weirdo]

1) Nobody calls it Cali. Here is some good info from the DMV: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr9.htm. To gget smog, you will likely need to have stock emissions equipment. It is strict.
2) The wheeling is awesome but if you live near SF, you will have to drive ~3 hours to get there; even more if you go down south.
3) If you are working in SF, you will want to take BART (our "subway"). Traffic into the city and Parking in the city is an absolute nightmare. North of SF is going to be expensive, East Bay and South Bay are your best bets for "reasonable" house prices.

 

[sneakyjap96]

How far are you welling to commute lol vacaville/fairfeild is bout half way from sac an sf so here in sac yiu have the con along with several other trails an forest roads an wouldnt be a terrible drive from said cities then also being in vacaville or fairfeild not to far from places like cow mountain

 

[fallacist]

California is just too many syllables. Do I really have to say the whole thing?

So no aftermarket muffler or cowl intake? Bored TB?

We live about 15 miles from the nearest grocery store, so I'm kinda used to a drive. While it's always nice to be able to ride a bike to the bar, I really don't want to live around a lot of people, or directly off an interstate. I'd like to keep the commute to under 30 min if possible. But I also realize that I'm probably in for a world of change one way or another..

 

[the_weirdo]

Will you be working in SF? If yes, there is no such thing as a 30 minute commute from the areas you want. You will probably be looking at a solid hour or more.

Edit: muffler is OK, intake may not be unless you have a CARB EO sticker on it.

 

[Alex E]

Don't say Cali but start saying hella and you'll fit right in.

 

[Charlene]

Don't say Cali but start saying hella and you'll fit right in.

LMAO!

Livermore still has the feel you are looking for.
Vacaville is great, but yes it is farther.

There are a lot of wheelers out of the Danville Area.

My parents live in Palo Alto, and brother in Monterey. My Brother has taken his XJ up to Hollister Hills OHV Park a lot, and I hear they have just opened up more area.

Most all the wheeling is in the Tahoe Mountains or over into Reno... Plan to live east would be my suggestion. Lots of cool groups in Reno too.

I moved the hell out of there as fast as I could :wave: I go back and still say..."Me and My Truck don't belong here!" lol

 

[DaveNJeep]

Yes, please don't say "Cali". NorCal will do nicely. A few tips, just like folks from Colorado hate Californians, we hate people from SoCal. We hate the Dodgers, the Lakers, and generally everything south of Bakersfield, lol.

I think the folks who are telling you can live an hour from SF (AKA-The City, San Fran, etc. never "Frisco") and live in the country are being very optimistic. Vacaville/Fairfield is now Richmond east (high gang activity). Dixon is your best bet.

Truth be told, you had better be making a whole lot of money to make it worth while to work in SF. And to live in SF decently takes AT LEAST 80+K a year MINIMUM.

All this negative talk aside, I wouldn't live anywhere else! I personally live in the Central Valley and commute an hour to the East Bay. We have everything here. THE WORLD CHAMPION GIANTS for one, the Sierras an hour away, the Ocean two hours away, etc. I've been everywhere in the US, no one holds a candle to this State, even with all the bad. And there's a lot of bad, lol.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

80k in sf practically seems like poverty LOL , if you are living alone you could scrape by, with a family youd need at least a joint income of 130K plus if you are frugal. I think my girl and I make around 135k together and we always seem to be broke. and we are in sacramento where the rent is 1/4 the price of SF. I dont know where the money goes so dont ask LOL. vacaville to SF would be an hour easy every morning. and dave is right, vacaville /fairfield are ghetto now. im sure in 10-15 years Dixon will be that ghetto too but id choose Dixon over those 2 if I had to.

Livermore , Dixon, tracy? petterson, mtn house, oakley, antioch, etc

 

[blondejoncherokee]

80k in sf practically seems like poverty LOL , if you are living alone you could scrape by, with a family youd need at least a joint income of 130K plus if you are frugal. I think my girl and I make around 135k together and we always seem to be broke. and we are in sacramento where the rent is 1/4 the price of SF. I dont know where the money goes so dont ask LOL. vacaville to SF would be an hour easy every morning. and dave is right, vacaville /fairfield are ghetto now. im sure in 10-15 years Dixon will be that ghetto too but id choose Dixon over those 2 if I had to.

Livermore , Dixon, tracy? petterson, mtn house, oakley, antioch, etc

 

[fallacist]

Looks like it might be a rough transition. Durango is a town of about 16000, and its the biggest one in this corner of CO. Next closest/biggest in state is Grand Junction, about 5 hours away. Durango is expensive for what its worth

I know its going to be expensive, that's another reservation. I expect if I end up out there, I'll hopefully be making close to 6 figures, but I know my wife will begin nursing school full time, so I'll be the only income for the first 2 years. Thats rough no matter where ya are. Of course most of the cities I'm looking up mention something like "Oh this city is 3rd wealthiest in the state, with a median household income of $168000 dollars"

Maybe I should restate my priorities. Rural is nice, but when the commute begins to consume your life, it isn't worth it.

I didn't mean to turn this into a "moving, where should I live" but y'all have been super helpful so far, so I'm rolling with it! We're really into small town/main ave feel and outdoor rec: Backpacking, paddling, mountain biking, jeeping, wintersports, etc... Any further suggestions based off of that?

I've heard decent things about Alameda, San Leandro, Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga.

 

[Jeep450r]

I would look into Livermore if I were you. They have a very very nice downtown and a nice farmers market. Lake Del Valle is on the outskirts of town for fishing, hiking, camping, and biking. There is a backpacking trail that connects Del Valle to the Sunol area. Carnegie is local if you are into dirt bikes. Half of the town is country-like. There are some nice back roads to cruise or ride bikes on if you're into that. Technically you can wheel at Carnegie. It has a tiny 4x4 area but can be fun for testing stuff out. The Sierras are roughly 2.5 hours away. The beach (capitola/Santa Cruz) is roughly 45mins to an hour away.

Sounds like the best option I've heard so far! It will be different than what you're used to, but I think you'd enjoy it.

 

[Hoooper]

Looks like it might be a rough transition. Durango is a town of about 16000, and its the biggest one in this corner of CO. Next closest/biggest in state is Grand Junction, about 5 hours away. Durango is expensive for what its worth

I know its going to be expensive, that's another reservation. I expect if I end up out there, I'll hopefully be making close to 6 figures, but I know my wife will begin nursing school full time, so I'll be the only income for the first 2 years. Thats rough no matter where ya are. Of course most of the cities I'm looking up mention something like "Oh this city is 3rd wealthiest in the state, with a median household income of $168000 dollars"

Maybe I should restate my priorities. Rural is nice, but when the commute begins to consume your life, it isn't worth it.

I didn't mean to turn this into a "moving, where should I live" but y'all have been super helpful so far, so I'm rolling with it! We're really into small town/main ave feel and outdoor rec: Backpacking, paddling, mountain biking, jeeping, wintersports, etc... Any further suggestions based off of that?

I've heard decent things about Alameda, San Leandro, Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga.

I live in Hayward, its ok, and there are places around this area you can find that are "rural" but you have to own the property to really get the rural feel.

If you are working actually IN the city, I dont really see anywhere that is "rural" being a reasonable commute in my opinion. If you are commuting somewhere near a bart station and living somewhat near a bart station you could have a little over 1hr commute each way. In reality probably more like 1.5hrs each way if youre lucky. Personally, I think there are a lot of nice places to live on the peninsula and if I worked in SF thats where I would go, since commuting more than about 30-45 minutes is my limit and I dont mind living near/in town as long as its a nice place, which is easy to find on the peninsula. It really depends on what you like to do though, if you spend a lot of time outdoors, hiking, hunting, etc after work then you might need to commute, but if you do those things mostly on the weekend its pretty easy to get out of the area. One of my favorite things about the bay area is that even though its all one giant city, you are rarely very far from a county/city/state/federal park

dont go to alameda unless youre at least 65

 

[bluejeepkid]

1) Nobody calls it Cali. ve .

Every person I know from California, calls it cali

 

[Hoooper]

Every person I know from California, calls it cali

people still in california? I dont know anybody that lives here and calls it that

 

[blondejoncherokee]

i dont ever call it cali . I hear nor-cal, so-cal, mid-cal, but I dont hear cali. But maybe if I were to leave here to another state and reference back maybe I would?
I dont know.

 

[in4aride]

I might be joining you folks soon, and was wondering what state specific modifications I might have to remove/replace? For the last 9 years I've lived in state that have no emissions testings, and I know Cali can be pretty particular about things.

Whats wheeling like? In CO there are mountain passes and forest roads everywhere to explore, so practical to have a jeep.

Can of you guys recommend a rural area to move to, but is reasonable for commuting to SF?

thanks!

Just a perspective from fellow coloradan, It's Very difficult to breathe in SF. I used to live in ca and have family outside Sacramento that we see regularly, and SF felt like a slummy version of Denver.
For being 6k feet lower than where I live, I was astonished how hard it was to get a solid breathe. The smog and stench made the week seem like a month. There is a lot of cool stuff, but damn was it a rough change of pace. (and im in the springs!)

That being said I am going back soon to look into an internship with a company there.

HTH.

 

[Boatwrench]

Here's a few facts from a native San Franciscian, I moved out of the City & I don't miss it.

Don't call it Frisco, no real native calls it Frisco except for poser harley riders. Frisco is the name of a railroad. Natives call it The City, I even think people in the valley call it The City. Come to think of it we probably use the word "The" too much. Don't call it Cali unless you expect to have people look at the back of your head to see if there is water behind the ears. and we cheat tourists and drunks.

Josh's recommendation of living on a BART corridor is a sound way to commute, but BART doesn't come north across the Golden Gate. Another recommendation may be to look down the coast by Half Moon Bay, Montara, La Honda & Pescadero that are small town rural. With the Hwy 1 Devil Slide by-pass tunnel nearing completion this will open up the travel times.


I work in The City but live up Hwy 101 in Petaluma. The freeway doesn't reach that far. Home to work is 44 miles door to door. Carpooling we leave Petaluma at 0615 and arrive at work between 0730 and 0800, most of the time is spent driving across The City. There is only one freeway running northeast-south through The City and it doesn't travel up my commute corridor. Going home we leave between 5:30PM and 6:30PM most nights it takes between 55 mins to 1hr 10 mins. Friday nights during the summer are a real PIA, generally 2-3 hours home as weekenders head up to the redwoods, the lakes or the wine country. BTW: Bridge toll is $6. Driving to The City from the NE (Vacaville-Fairfield) crosses two bridges at $5 ea.

Petaluma has a population of 60K. It considers itself rural, not a suburb. Two big events are The Butter & Eggs Parade and Cruisin the Blvd. Butter & Eggs celebrates the many dairies and chicken farms of the area. Crusin the Blvd is a 3-day car show because American Grafitti was filmed in Petaluma. People in Petaluma wear Carhartt and cammo as normal attire. In The City Carhartts are usually worn by gay men or tourist. Other than fast food places the only chain resturants are Applebee's and Denny's. No box type Wal-Mart; Cosco, Lowe's Home Depot stores either, but a Target is planned for next year.

in 2009 I purchased an 1,800 sqft 3-bed, 2 bath on .23 acre built in 1981 for $472K. In 2011 my daughter and SIL purchased a 1,600sqft 3-bed, 2 bath built in 1989 for $432.

My closes wheeling prospects are Knoxville (never been there yet) 35 miles away; Cow Mountain 90 miles away or Lake Pillsbury basin 120 miles away. XJs don't rust & Sierra Chapter is a good chapter.

Good luck on whatever your decision.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Boatwrench nailed it pretty well.

Here's a few facts from a native San Franciscian, I moved out of the City & I don't miss it.

Don't call it Frisco, no real native calls it Frisco except for poser harley riders. Frisco is the name of a railroad. Natives call it The City, I even think people in the valley call it The City. Come to think of it we probably use the word "The" too much. Don't call it Cali unless you expect to have people look at the back of your head to see if there is water behind the ears. and we cheat tourists and drunks.

Josh's recommendation of living on a BART corridor is a sound way to commute, but BART doesn't come north across the Golden Gate. Another recommendation may be to look down the coast by Half Moon Bay, Montara, La Honda & Pescadero that are small town rural. With the Hwy 1 Devil Slide by-pass tunnel nearing completion this will open up the travel times.


I work in The City but live up Hwy 101 in Petaluma. The freeway doesn't reach that far. Home to work is 44 miles door to door. Carpooling we leave Petaluma at 0615 and arrive at work between 0730 and 0800, most of the time is spent driving across The City. There is only one freeway running northeast-south through The City and it doesn't travel up my commute corridor. Going home we leave between 5:30PM and 6:30PM most nights it takes between 55 mins to 1hr 10 mins. Friday nights during the summer are a real PIA, generally 2-3 hours home as weekenders head up to the redwoods, the lakes or the wine country. BTW: Bridge toll is $6. Driving to The City from the NE (Vacaville-Fairfield) crosses two bridges at $5 ea.

Petaluma has a population of 60K. It considers itself rural, not a suburb. Two big events are The Butter & Eggs Parade and Cruisin the Blvd. Butter & Eggs celebrates the many dairies and chicken farms of the area. Crusin the Blvd is a 3-day car show because American Grafitti was filmed in Petaluma. People in Petaluma wear Carhartt and cammo as normal attire. In The City Carhartts are usually worn by gay men or tourist. Other than fast food places the only chain resturants are Applebee's and Denny's. No box type Wal-Mart; Cosco, Lowe's Home Depot stores either, but a Target is planned for next year.

in 2009 I purchased an 1,800 sqft 3-bed, 2 bath on .23 acre built in 1981 for $472K. In 2011 my daughter and SIL purchased a 1,600sqft 3-bed, 2 bath built in 1989 for $432.

My closes wheeling prospects are Knoxville (never been there yet) 35 miles away; Cow Mountain 90 miles away or Lake Pillsbury basin 120 miles away. XJs don't rust & Sierra Chapter is a good chapter.

Good luck on whatever your decision.

 

[Hoooper]

I work in The City but live up Hwy 101 in Petaluma. The freeway doesn't reach that far. Home to work is 44 miles door to door. Carpooling we leave Petaluma at 0615 and arrive at work between 0730 and 0800, most of the time is spent driving across The City. There is only one freeway running northeast-south through The City and it doesn't travel up my commute corridor. Going home we leave between 5:30PM and 6:30PM most nights it takes between 55 mins to 1hr 10 mins. Friday nights during the summer are a real PIA, generally 2-3 hours home as weekenders head up to the redwoods, the lakes or the wine country. BTW: Bridge toll is $6. Driving to The City from the NE (Vacaville-Fairfield) crosses two bridges at $5 ea.

I work in San Rafael and grew up in Petaluma. Petaluma is definitely a good place to live but the commute is going to force me to not move back, since by the time that third lane opens up it will need to be 5 lanes instead. On that note though, Novato is a place where the commute to SF wouldnt be too bad and you can get the country feel mostly