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Old 06-03-2014, 12:35 PM
 
10 posts, read 11,433 times
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Hello my husband might be relocating to Allerton IA. However small town living is NOT for us we are from California. We were looking into maybe a suburb of Des Moines. We are used to the commute so that does not scare us. We have 2 boys one in Middle School and one in Elementary. Therefore we are looking for good school districts, Preferably one with a good Gifted and Talented program or International Baccalaureate program maybe Advance Placement classes. Also we will probably rent until we get to know the area little better so a suburb with rent under $1500 is what we are looking for. Thank YOU in advance.
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Old 06-03-2014, 05:58 PM
 
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Commute? That is more than a commute. That is 75 miles 95 if you take I-35. Have you driven 75 miles in a blinding snowstorm?
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Old 06-03-2014, 06:28 PM
 
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I agree with EllaTea. As long as you don't mind the gas and time, your husband could easily drive from Des Moines for most of the year. But the winter season is a totally different story. The are days where it is downright dangerous to drive those roads. I'd look into moving someplace closer such as Lamoni Iowa. It's still a 40 mile drive, but its much closer to your husbands work than Des Moines. It's no Des Moines, but at least has some amenities such as grocery stores, a movie theatre, and restaurants. There still may be some days that your husband may not make it to work, and others where he will have to drive slowly, but it less then living all the way in Des Moines. Des Moines is still an easy day trip except on some those harsh winter days. It's more important for your husband to get to work then it is for your family to get to Des Moines.
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Old 06-03-2014, 06:59 PM
 
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Can he work from home on bad days? There will be bad days every winter. Guaranteed.

The drive from the south edge of West Des Moines isn't bad (almost all interstate) where there are good schools, but if you aren't used to driving in snow and ice then that will be a nightmare during the learning curve. Heck, it's stressful for me and I've lived here my entire life.
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Old 06-03-2014, 07:57 PM
 
Location: Jonesboro
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It is 59 miles by highway from Allerton to Indianola the closest suburb of any size in the south metro. They have a decent school district, a liberal arts college & assorted shopping & cultural amenities that you would expect to find in a small city of 15,000 that dually functions as a mixture of suburban growth & market/county seat town traditions.
You wrote about finding a suburb so that's the closest one to Allerton even though in the purest sense it's not really one as compared to typical closer in & larger Des Moines suburbs.
However, as has already been written here, the driving between Indianola & Allerton is prohibitive both in distance & the time that your husband would spend on the road. And the winter driving conditions can be problematic enough to be a red flag given that you folks may not have any experience with such driving conditions. Some winters it may not be much of a problem but the past winter, which you doubtless heard about, was severe as compared to the norm.
Perhaps the idea of a suburb should be cast aside and the option of small town location in south central Iowa put into consideration. Either that or the remoteness of the job setting should be viewed as a major reason for caution.
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Old 06-04-2014, 10:16 PM
 
Location: Minneapolis
1,704 posts, read 3,420,146 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Monwest2004 View Post
Hello my husband might be relocating to Allerton IA. However small town living is NOT for us we are from California. We were looking into maybe a suburb of Des Moines. We are used to the commute so that does not scare us. We have 2 boys one in Middle School and one in Elementary. Therefore we are looking for good school districts, Preferably one with a good Gifted and Talented program or International Baccalaureate program maybe Advance Placement classes. Also we will probably rent until we get to know the area little better so a suburb with rent under $1500 is what we are looking for. Thank YOU in advance.
I will echo what the others have said, that's a 90-minute commute with good weather, and it's not major roads so you you could be dealing with some unbelievable delays during winter weather.

Unfortunately, Allerton is smack dab in the middle of nowhere. The closest you could get that's still "urban" at all would be Indianola or maybe Ottumwa (a stretch).

The only IB schools in the state are in the Des Moines proper district. That's not a bad thing necessarily, it's quite a good district for the most part, and very diverse by Iowa standards. It's just not as wealthy as many of the suburban districts. The best gifted/talented and AP programs are also in the Des Moines district at Central Academy. This is a magnet school and it's open to students from all over central Iowa, but logistically it's much easier to make it work via DMPS. Otherwise, you'll find good academics and happy students at all the schools in the area. The big ones are West Des Moines, Urbandale, and Waukee, but like I said they're all fine.

I'm sure you can find a place to rent for that amount almost anywhere in the metro.
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Old 06-04-2014, 11:12 PM
 
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If that is 2 lane highway, the commute could be longer in good weather due to getting behind slow drivers or farm equipment and not being able to pass. Plus the drive has got to be mind numbingly boring! LOL
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Old 06-05-2014, 08:40 AM
 
Location: Keosauqua, Iowa
9,611 posts, read 21,140,076 times
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Why the heck would your husband be going to Allerton? I doubt there are 500 people there, and no industry that I'm aware of. I can't imagine what would entice someone to move halfway across the country to live there.

As others have said, the commute is prohibitive. The drive is pretty nice, but would get boring every single day. If you really wanted to do this I'd be inclined to suggest that he rent a place in Allerton and stay there during the week, then come home on the weekend.
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Old 06-05-2014, 11:44 AM
 
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
2,401 posts, read 4,325,429 times
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If this is correct, Des Moines schools are the only ones in Iowa that offer International Baccaluarate programs:

International Baccalaureate | Des Moines Public Schools

That said, I'm going to echo others on the commute. In addition to the weather issues, that seems like a lot of unnceessary time away from the kids/family. They will only be their ages for so long and then they'll be gone and out of the house. Hate to see anyone miss that time unnecessarily.
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Old 06-05-2014, 12:44 PM
 
Location: Des Moines Metro
5,103 posts, read 8,543,352 times
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I hate to discourage anyone from moving to Iowa because it's a cool state, but this move might not be right for your family, unless you are okay with small-town living and Midwest culture in general or the job pays enough that such a move is necessary for financial reasons, or to advance in the company.

I agree with the others that a long winter commute is not a good idea and won't be possible some days.

I'll also share that one of my criteria for picking out a house was that it was within 20 minutes of work. The one I picked is about 12 minutes from work in decent weather and it's taken me 45 minutes to get home during an ice storm or near white-out. I can't imagine having to commute an hour down the freeway on a day like that, plus IDOT does shut down the major roads in extreme conditions. As I recall, I -35 was closed twice last winter.
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