Moving to Pocatello! (Idaho Falls, Chubbuck, Ammon: sales, apartments, health insurance)

[Fish Taco64]

It's near official that my wife and I will be moving to Pocatello at the end of April! Moving long distances (from Wisconsin) is a pain no doubt, but we are both extremely excited to live in a place with so many more options in terms of outdoor recreation. Not to mention that that the area is just much more scenic in general!

A few quick questions if you all wouldn't mind, I have read through this forum quite thoroughly while planning this move, but just hoping for a few answers. Hopefully in a few months I will able to answer some questions of my own!

1. I will likely be able to keep my current job and telecommute. There is a chance that my employer could take this off of the table though, so wondering about potential employers as a worst case measure. I have extensive experience in the health insurance field. I have considered billing departments at local hospitals, any other suggestions? How about for my wife? She is currently working in industrial sales and would love to continue with a similar job. We've done a lot of research on this question, but would love input from a few locals.

2. We have three pets (one dog, two cats). Would love recommendations on a veterinarian. Somebody that knows what they are doing with reasonable prices has become very hard to find here.

3. Is there any part of town that you absolutely would not recommend living in? Based on the crime stats it seems to be fairly safer then what we are used to, but would still prefer to avoid the rougher areas.

4. We love to hike, what are some of your favorite hiking trails in the immediate vicinity?

5. I love shooting bows and crossbows, any good archery ranges nearby? That allow crossbows? Most ranges here do not allow them because they do not want to pay for the insurance, but I like to shoot a variety when I go.

6. We live in Wisconsin so we are no strangers to extreme winter weather. My one question would be how good the plowing is during and after snowstorms? Because it really stinks here, we just got nearly a foot and on many roads it was hardly touched.

That's all I have for now, thanks for any insight you can offer! Looking forward to living in Idaho, we've wanted this for years!

[Ret.InAmmon]

I can highly recommend Ammon Veterinary Hospital as a very caring and capable vet in the Idaho Falls area.
Two vet Drs. there, Colby Burke and Lindsay ??? They also have grooming and boarding, though I'd use Ameri-pet for boarding beyond a day or two.

There is an archery range just off S 65th East, just East of Sandy Downs racetrack, where you can shoot any kind of arrows or bolts you desire.

P.S. Do not expect to find any good fish tacos in Idaho Falls. I have been trying for 20 years and so far, no luck.
Even good fish and chips is basically limited to The Celt restaurant downtown. Fresh or well prepared fish is a rare commodity here.

[Fish Taco64]

Thanks for the vet recommendation! Also great to know about the archery range.

[cleosmom]

Where you're going to be living in Pocatello, I would suggest a vet there, I like Community Animal Hospital. As for hiking, I have a friend that lives in Idaho Falls, yet goes to City Creek in Pokey for hikes and runs.

[Fish Taco64]

Thanks cleosmom! Any thoughts on who provides the best cell and high speed Internet service? If I am bringing my job with me, it is important to be hooked up with fast reliable Internet as quickly as possible.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by Fish Taco64

Thanks cleosmom! Any thoughts on who provides the best cell and high speed Internet service? If I am bringing my job with me, it is important to be hooked up with fast reliable Internet as quickly as possible.

I'm a fan of Verizon for cell service, husband drives truck cross country and coverage is essential to us! I just switched to Century Link for Internet and have no complaints.

[f5fstop]

Not sure I can post on here, and if not, delete the post.
However, to help out someone moving to Pocatello.
For a vet, depends on where in Pocatello you are moving. I live in Chubbuck and use Bannock Animal Medical center for my Malamutes. Have had not problems and they will work with you on certain items such as in my case, I keep my dogs on Heartgard year around and they will send a prescription to a reputable online company so I can save a lot of money. (Two over 100 pound Mals cause the drug to cost heck of a lot. And I do not want someone jumping into a discussion on whether or not Heartgard is needed...thanks.)

Internet. Centurylink in some areas says that their 12 mbps speed is high; I say BS. It is less expensive that what I pay, but I cannot enjoy 4K movies with that slow of a speed. They do offer speeds up to about 40 mbps in some areas for a decent price. So check your area on their website for speeds.

I have used Cable one since I moved here. It costs me 55 per month, but I have speeds that clock out at 100mbps with a 300 GB per month. I have verified their speeds by connecting my laptop directly to my router and tested it and usually the speeds are around 102mbps. I did ditch their gateway modem/router and connected my own modem and netgear router so that I can have darn good speeds everywhere in the house; or even outside. Even standing in my neighbors driveway, I have clocked wireless speeds of over 70 mbps. But again, exactly where you live in the pocatello area will determine what you may want to get. (Cable one actually overs 1 gbps speeds in some areas.

As for cell....Verizon here. Tried AT&T for a few months but dropped them, but not due to local coverage here where I live, just for when I was traveling in ID/UT/WY/MT/CO, they just did not have the coverage that Verizon had.

There is a couple sites to look at such as map my walk or the portneuf greenway organization that shows some of the many trails.
Also the portneuf wellness center up in the northern part of Pocatello, just east of Chubbuck (East Chubbuck Road at Olympus drive has a great walking track, soccer fields, and even a large fishing pond.

As for where to move. I moved to Chubbuck since it was more convenient to shopping since most of the large retail outlets like Home Depot, the small Mall, Walmart and many restaurants were in Southern Chubbuck right at the northern pocatello border. And some places like Lowes, Stables, Dick's sporting goods are just on the other side of the road in Pocatello.
Meanwhile places like Portneuf Hospital is just ten minute drive away.

Hope this helps. Time for me to disappear again. Need anymore info, PM me.

[Fish Taco64]

Thanks for the input f5fstop! Just over 3 months to go, and we can hardly wait!

[Fish Taco64]

Ok, so an update on this! We were unable to move in the spring due to some unexpected medical issues in our family. However, we are back on track and set to make the move the last week of September, expecting to arrive around the 25th. Our truck is booked and we have sold most of the things we aren't bringing with us, begun packing some things we are.

The big headache at this point is finding a pet friendly rental. We need to get set up with something ASAP since I am telecommuting and need to be back at work the following Monday. Any suggestions on this front would be welcome. Thanks again for all the the earlier assistance, we are 22 days away from rolling out and cannot wait!

[f5fstop]

What area...still Pocatello or Chubbuck?

From what I can see, there are some pet friendly apartments down the road from me. One I know for sure is pet friendly since the Chubbuck Animal control officer lives there and he has a couple dogs; one a Boxer, the other not sure. The complex down the road and across the road appears to be pet friendly since I have seen some with larger dogs (labs, etc.) come walking out of the complex over to the sub I live in.