Moving from California to Virginia!!!!

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Shootist45

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Ladies and Gentleman:

I learned just hours ago, six to be exact, that we are being relocated by our company from California to the Commonwealth of Virginia!!!

I need help!!!!:eek:

We, my wife and I, will be moving by next Sunday! This is a very fast transfer. What can I expect in Virginia? We will be managing a self storage facility in Herndon, Virginia, about a mile from Dulles International. We understand this is a great area.

I need to know about getting a CCW; hunting; fishing; churches; who of you are near; shooting ranges, both indoor and outdoors.

I realize this is on short notice but, we were shocked at the whirlwind needs of our company.

Again, any help on the above would be appreciated.

My greatest reservation is that I can't help my fellow shooters in booting Gray Davis. Or could I? Maybe not change DL 'til nest year? Oh, well.

Thanks to whom ever can help.

Shootist45. :what:
 
Well, I've been there several times. Never checked out the prices for housing but general rule of thumb I'm given to understand is that the closer you are to Washington, the more it costs.

Gun laws are better than CA and a lot of THRers will tell you that. CCW are much easier to get unlike CA. You're near Fairfax and the NRA National Firearms Museum. You're also close to a lot of battlefield (there was a big family feud around 1861-1865).

Congratulations on your escape from the Waste Coast.
 
Here's a site that has some decent overview information.

http://www.nvaweb.net/

Cost of living in the area is damned expensive, and has been going up quite a bit over the past few years.

I bought my townhouse in Fairfax in 1993 for $154,900. It's worth almost double that right now in the current market.

CCW permits are handled by the County Sheriff's office, or the chief LEO of independent cities. You'll need to figure out where you're going to park.

Check out the Virginia State Police web page for more information on that.

Hunting and fishing I don't do anymore, so I really can't help you there, other than Virginia has decent hunting from what I hear.

Churches? What denomination? Take your pick. It's a cosmopolitan area. Within 30 miles of Herndon you have all major Christian faiths, Latter Day Saints, Jehova's Witnesses, Church of Christ Scientist, a variety of Hindu and Sikh temples, Mosques, Hebrew Temples, etc.

Outdoor ranges are hard to come by. Your best bet is to join Issac Walton if you want outdoor rifle. The NRA range is within 20 miles of Herndon in Fairfax, as is Blue Ridge Armory. Bull Run Shooting Center, for the clay sports, is also in that periphery in Centreville.

There are a BUNCH of us in Northern Virginia. I'm in Fairfax, MTNBKR is in Manassas, and others are scattered liberally througout the area.

We've been meeting occasionally at Bull Run for shotgunning, or at the NRA Range, and have dinner afterwards.

Welcome to Northern Virginia. The traffic stinks, and it's pretty liberal, but it's not a bad place to live.
 
Needless to say you are moving into a high cost of living area of VA. Things are way overinflated there because living near the beltway is more of a status symbol. Because of the DC crowd northern VA is trying hard to become liberal, but on a whole the state is conservative. The northern VA residents here can point you to the finer points of the area. I'm in central VA. Just remember that when the stress of of the area starts to get to you (traffic, liberal know-it-alls) in just a few hours you can either be sitiing on the beach sunning or admiring the lush green mountains we have. Just to add what 4v50 Gary said, all of VA is basically a war memorial for the Civil, and Revolutionary wars. Parks, points of interest abound all over the state.

I don't know about where you are coming from, but here in VA you will learn the meaning of "Humidity".
Fishing is great with ample rivers, the Chesapeake Bay, and the ocean. We have a wide variety of fish. We are in the belt for migrating saltwater species.
Hunting, most of Va is run over with deer. Turkeys are plentiful too. Small game hunting depends primarily on what the preditors have done the preceeding year. There is also duck and Canadian geese hunting.

Welcome to the state
 
If you're close enough, consider a place in West Virginia or Pennsylvania (dont even look over the river to MD) if you can save on the price of a house. One downside is that Virginia only issues resident permits, so you might be in a bind getting reciprocity.

Kharn
 
My greatest reservation is that I can't help my fellow shooters in booting Gray Davis. Or could I? Maybe not change DL 'til nest year? Oh, well.
Click to expand...

Ummmmmm absentee ballot? Is that allowed in recall votes?
 
Welcome to Virginia! Our gun laws are much more reasonable than CA of course. Super easy to get a CCW; I got mine in December. We DO have some stupid gun laws - that one handgun per month thing, for example, and you can't carry concealed in any establishment that serves booze. But you CAN openly carry just about anywhere.

As you're going to be in Herndon, you could live in the Shenandoah Valley (technically not Northern VA) where I do. I know quite a few people in Winchester who work near Dulles. It's a 45-50 minute commute, not that bad for this area. As you'll soon discover, housing costs withing 20 miles of the Beltway are high. My 257K house in Winchester would cost 500K in Fairfax.

For working near Dulles, WV is also a strong possibility, the panhandle, I mean. But the schools up there aren't very good I hear. In any case, welcome to the area!
 
Thanks for the early responses.

I guess I should have mentioned that we will not need housing as that is provided for us.

The church denomination is Episcopal.

Fishing and hunting sounds great!! I'm eager to get back into it again.

We lived in north Georgia for 8 years and know about that little "feud" way back when and will look into that part of history again.

Again, thanks for the early responses!!
 
Welcome. As everyone has said already, there's a lot here to enjoy. Fishing in the Potomac and Shenandoah river is generally good, but due to pollution, you don't want to keep anything. If you like smallmouth fishing, this is a good area. For hunting, the nearest public land I know of is the GWNF down by the intersection of I81 and I66. It's about an hour from you.

Gotta run, but we're happy to have you!

Chris
 
most northern virginians are pretty familiar with most of northern virginia. feel free to ask more specific questions. i like this area.

and hey! us people closer to the beltway aren't always status seekers. i just prefer mass transit when possible, so i live near a metro in arlington. yes, i know, this makes me weird. but my wife and i also save by not having a second car.
 
"The church denomination is Episcopal."

No problem. There are Episcopal churches in the area.

And, given what's been happening with the Rev. Gene Robinson, there may be double the number of Episcopal churches if the church splits as some are predicting if he's confirmed as Bishop of New Hampshire.

Where is the housing you're being given?

Do you have a physical address (street)?

The reason I'm asking is that the Herndon/Reston area has suffered through one developer's social conscious view of what a community should be when the area was being developed in the 1960s and 1970s.

In many areas of Reston you have VERY nice houses socked right beside some rather seedy and nasty public assistance projects.

When they were first built they were fine, but then drugs moved in in a big way, gangs followed, and now the crime rate in Reston is higher than it should be.
 
If your storage location is anywhere near your home or work, you'll be very near me as I'm in Reston.

Shooting:

From Herndon/Reston area just hop on Reston Parkway toward Fairfax. Turns into West Ox Road. Get on 50 toward Fairfax. Left on Waples Mill. Couple of blocks and NRA range is on your right. Takes me 20 minutes. Very nice indoor range.

Another place, get on Fairfax County Parkway toward Fairfax. Hit 66 West down to the second exit for 29. Take that...errr...I think toward Warrenton. Go many miles down that to Clark Brothers for outdoor shooting. I tend to take back roads for this one so I'm not too certain on directions. Should take about 60-90 minutes.

For trap/skeet, get on 66 west and take the first 29 exit. Take 29 South about 2 miles. Turn left on Bull Run Post Office Road. Its a twisty turny road for a few miles. You'll see a sign.

There is also Blue Ridge, but I don't recommend it for anything. Poorly ventilated range. GSCs abound. Overpriced on everything.

There are a few good stores in this area. Virginia Arms in Manassas, Shooters Paradise in Woodbridge, Gilberts in Lorton, Loudon Guns in Leesburg, Galyans in Fairfax, and soon a Dick's in Manassas.

CCW process is have some form of approved training (NRA course, military, something on paper), go fill out some paperwork, give them a check, wait up to 45 days. You'll probably be living in Fairfax County so you will end up waiting 44.999999 days. I think you will get it on 11:59.59 PM on the 45th day.

Don't know much about hunting around here. But there is West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all of Southwest Virginia that is worth exploring for that.

Fishing locally you've got a few lakes and the Potomac. There's Fountainhead about 40 minutes away from this area (and a bit hard to get to, haven't been there in years). I've pulled more than my share of bass and some huge catfish out of there. Currently I go to a private lake about every other weekend and have for several years now so I don't know the fishing around here as well as I used to.
 
If you meet a girl that can pick the banjo and put a .223 up a fly's doo-doo, PM me! Southern drawl a bonus.

Congratulations....
 
I must have been an anomally, I got mine in 41 days. Welcome to the area. Blue Ridge has its goods and bads. And I think its getting better, slowly, under new ownership. Good luck with the move, I know the feeling your going to be dealing with soon. I just bought a townhouse in Centreville.

If you find out where your job is located, we can help you better with figuring out where it will be better to live to be going against traffic instead of stuck in it. I'm stuck in it, but for only 10 mins on 28.

Good Luck,

John
 
The packing is going to be "fun"? Oh, well.

Thanks for the housing suggestions. As mentioned, the company provides housing. It's on site, Mini U Storage, located in Herndon on 13741 Wall Road.

Also, the commute is literally "down the hall and through the door". VERY lucky in that respect.

The site for the DGIF was good and I'll be going over it later. And the stores, that was great, afraid the wife might object, but......

Skunk, sorry didn't get to meet ya. If ya like, ya can drive the truck to Virginia, a reverse of the Beverly Hillbilly's !!!!!!!!:D :D

And MJRW I'll be about 5 minutes from you. I'll let you know when we get settled.

Thanks again and keep that info goming, I'll be on line 'til Thursday the 7th.
 
Skunkabilly:
I know a few such girls, but there's a few problems:
1. They live in Maryland
2. They dont want to leave MD, who would tend to Pop's tobacco (pronounced tow-back-ee) farm if they left? (If you had a relationship with them, you'd be expected to pull 16-18 hour days on the farm)
3. They dont like carbon fiber, and say its just a marketing gimic, as Pop's Remington .223 from 1968 works just as well on groundhogs as any other .223 in the store.
Sorry dude, I think you're SOL. :neener:

Kharn
 
Welcome to the Commonwealth

Plenty of local history to explore. The bases have pretty much all been covered. Virginia has some firearm oddities, but all in all is a very pro 2a state. Unless you're in the heart of LA, or are used to NYC traffic, get prepared for culture shock, traffic around here brings non-civility to new heights. We've got a lot of "transplants" who know nothing of southern hospitality.

Open carry is not only legal here, VA SP acknowledges such... See VCDL website. The VA permit application, while long, is straightforward, and if you're not a bad person the court has to issue the permit. Open carry goes a little further if you have a concealed permit due to our laws here...

It's very likely that you will also have a class 3 friendly CLEO ( for form 4 signoffs ) too.

Ranges already covered - NRA, speaks for itself, Blue ridge arsenal - hot, needs better vents, and loud, but has a cult following ;) New ownership is improving things. I and several buddies shoot there Friday nights and hang out for dinner afterwards... Don't think anyone's mentioned Shooter's Paradise in Woodbridge. Newly class 3, recent range upgrades with good vents... A really decent gun shop - but no range - Virginia Arms in Manassas. Decent prices, cheap transfers, excellent ( and helpful ) staff.

P.R. said "housing costs within 20 miles of the beltway are high" HOGWASH. :uhoh: They're INSANE. One thing is certain though, if you can afford to buy here, you won't lose money.


Again, welcome...
 
Ditto on all things mentioned above. For outdoor shooting, the Itzaak Walton League-Bethesda Chevy Chase Chapter has a beautiful facility in Poolesville, Maryland (right across the river on the beltway).

I did my Basic Pistol Course there and they must have several hundred acres of land in the midst of one of the most densely developed places on the east coast. You don't even feel like you're in PRMD:D
 
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