desperate for info on small town ks (Wichita, Olathe: cheap house, buy)

[celery]

I need to move outta phoenix before I go mad! I want to live in a smaller ks town with a walmart, auctions for household items, taxi service and somehow to connect up with my bags and baggage on amtrak. HELP...I am running out of time quick! I can't buy a car till july, as I will get the funds to do so then, so that's why the taxi. I am an early retired chef due to arthritis. I could really use some help here! Thanks..

[janetjanetbobanet]

Originally Posted by celery

I need to move outta phoenix before I go mad! I want to live in a smaller ks town with a walmart, auctions for household items, taxi service and somehow to connect up with my bags and baggage on amtrak. HELP...I am running out of time quick! I can't buy a car till july, as I will get the funds to do so then, so that's why the taxi. I am an early retired chef due to arthritis. I could really use some help here! Thanks..

Newton has a Walmart and Amtrak connections, don't know about the auctions and taxi service. I did live there for awhile and found it to be a pretty good place. I lived in Phoenix for a couple of years back in the 70's, can't imagine what it must be like now.

[kosnebbear]

Why Kansas? Why not Nebraska? You could look at Grand Island, Kearney or Hastings areas. All three have Wal-Mart and shopping centers. Grand Island has the regional airport and Hastings has Amtrak that stops there. Greyhound bus service runs on I-80 which runs between both cities. All three have taxi service. All three are close to each other only about 30 to 45 miles apart. Grand Island has a population of about 40,000, Hastings and Kearney are about 20,000. All three are nice cities.

Sorry I can't help you much about Kansas, but consider Nebraska.

[StealthRabbit]

Might try Salina

[ripley]

How 'bout Emporia

[Versatile]

Gardner outside of Olathe has it all except AM-TRAK and you can get around that.

[Cindy frm ks]

Newton KS has a superwalmart, amtrak depot, nice mainstreet downtown shopping, outlet mall outskirts of town, lots of churches, and lots of parks, and only 30 miles from Wichita. I Have lived here since 1965, I guess its all in how you look at things, Im ready to move out, but, on the outside it looks really nice. If your an out going person, and like civic clubs, and going to church, you will love it....other wise there isnt alot to do here.
oh and we have taxi service....Moderator cut: ...

[kansaslady]

Just curious why you selected KS after living in AZ. And why you are fed up with living in Phx. I ask because you are thinking of moving from a location that does not have winter, to an area that definitely HAS winter. Have you lived in an area before that has winter?

Guess it's all relative, many who live in KS, or other cold-winter areas, are wanting to relocate to southern AZ to get away from frigid winters.

[Ellie C.]

You should look at the Amtrak schedule if you're planning on considering Newton. I think it only arrived/departs once a day at around 2AM.

Rural Kansas is not the place to be if you don't have a car. You might get around in Wichita with the bus system, but even that is not great. I wouldn't ride it.

Why Kansas? It's flat, windy, boiling hot in the summers and freezing and icy in the winters. The social services, especially outside of Wichita, are poor. Do you know that some people drive for hours to their doctor's appointments here? If your health is failing, I would think you'd want to be closer to a doctor, not farther.

That Norman Rockwell picture of the country doctor doesn't exist. They can even get doctors to work in rural emergency rooms here. When they're even open, they're run by PAs and nurse practicitioners. And I'm serious - you could go to an emergency room in one of these small towns and find the door locked.

[dr. kenneth noisewater]

I would say emporia looks like the best bet of any on the board so far; i have never lived there, but it's not more than an hour or two from wichita and kc, it's definitely a smaller town, it's kinda pretty, and i think william allen white lived there. i don't know about the social services or amtrak. it is home to division ii emporia state university.
i live in hays right now; similar size to emporia but located roughly in the middle of kc and denver on i-70. it has a wal-mart, plenty of auctions, and a nominal taxi service (a few vans that take the elderly around town). no amtrak. and the hospital is wildly overrated; imo it sucks ash. and i've heard housing prices are out of whack compared to native earning power, although there are several tiny neighboring communities where housing is dirt cheap. overall, i don't think hays is the fit you're looking. if i had to live in kansas, i would probably live in lawrence, aka the blue dot in the red sea. if i were you, i would check out amtrak's route through the state and then ask about particular towns that interest you. most smaller towns will have little or no taxi service, relatively cheap houses, and generally not a whole lot to do unless a college is located there. i think lawrence or a kc 'burb might be a good fit. good luck homes