Have you ever sold your home and moved to a place you have never been? The Ramsey family did. We lived a a small farming town on I-5 in northern California. We had just bought our first home and had put alot of work into it. It was the perfect home for us. We were very happy.
My husband and I were set in our jobs and roles in the community of Glenn County. My husband worked for Burrows Oil as a tanker driver and I worked at North State Title as an Escrow Officer. In our spare time we were volenteers on the City Fire Department, we were also on the Little League board of Trustees and the Safty Officers, and  coatched the girls fast pitch softball team.
Then one day in Feburary of 2004 my husband came home from work and he was so fired up about the state of California. His boss had a couple of ranches, one just out side of town. He had received a letter from the State of California about the ponds on his land. The state had started this new thing, flying over the ranches and checking the ponds. If the ponds were full from the rain water then the ranchers were sent a bill. A bill for catching rain water in the ponds, now that is just obsurb. As we were discussing this we were just imagining how bad it would be in ten years from now. We got to dreaming about living in the great outdoors and doing what we wanted without all the restrictions. We were just discussing and dreaming, thats really all.  The next day David went to work and they were all still fired up about the letter and the all the other thing the state of California was doing.  Mr. Burrows started talking about all the places he has traveled and hunted like Alaska, Montana, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming. Well that got David thinking and he started to look around on the intranet.  We started to notice the beautiful mountains and rivers and all the out door activity they allow and encourage. We started to look into the local laws and making calls. We looked into things like car licence, dog licence, property tax, sales tax and anything else we could think of. We were still just dreaming. We let it go and went back to our normal lives.
   Then a few months went by and our girls were at my brothers house, and his neighbor lured our oldest daughter Jessica into his apartment  and locked the door. My nephews started to bang on his door and scream to be let in. He took jessica into his room and she had to fight him off  and climb out his window to get away. The short of it is the man tried to rape her and he only spent two days in jail, because she got away. The Police said that since there was not a rape and she got away then they could not do much more. Over the next few monthes, when we were down town at the store or movie theater we would see him. It angered me and upset Jessica.
   Thats when we sat down the girls Jessica, 13 and Jamie 11 and told them about our thoughts and dreams about living in the outdoors. We were shocked when the girls were up for the adventure.
From there it all happened so quick. We had a family meeting with our parents and siblings and let them in on what we were doing. They thought we were crazy, since we have never been to Montana and really was not sure how to pronounce Kalispell.
We put  a for sale sign in the yard, and had a cash buyer in 5 days. We were so shocked it happened so quick. There was no turning back now! We gave our notices at work and closed escrow in two weeks. Packed everything we owned between 3 trailers. Our four wheeler trailer, a 28 foot inclosed cargo trailer and our 5th wheel. I will never forget the day we left Willows. My Mom pulled the 28 foot trailer, I pulled the 18 foot four wheeler trailer and David pulled the 5th wheel. We pulled right out of town with no idea where we were going or what was instore for us. All we knew was we were leaving the only home our children have ever known and our family. We pulled the trailers to Oregon and parked them at my Moms place for the summer as we traveled the US and looked around.We wanted to make sure Kalispell Montana was the perfect place for us. And it was. We are so happy we made the move and have not looked back since.