We're similar age/area of origin -- lol, we might even know each other but happy to not go there -- and yes, "middle-aged road rage guy in a big truck" is a thing in Vermont now that absolutely did not exist when we were kids. But my experience is these guys aren't the newcomers, they are the natives. They're our old schoolmates, or thereabouts. Some of them are also my relatives, so best believe I am speaking from close-at-hand experience. They are still here and they, too, are mad that the place has changed. (Who thinks that there's some magical place that is exactly like it was in the 1980s, btw? Who would WANT that even if it did exist?) TBH I think they are just being constantly riled by whatever media they consume.

Old woodchucks weren't teed off all the time about everything. Sure, they'd get exasperated with the flatlanders, but they had a low-key way of showing it. They were men and women of few and well-chosen words, with dry senses of humor and quiet compassion. I don't know how the woodchucks of my age group ended up like this but I'm pretty sure too much reality TV had something to do with it.