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we are excited about retiring to the RC area (from Texas) sometime in the next year or two.
I have had the Rapid city weather on my phone here, just to occasionally see how the weather up there compares to down here. Many days it is fairly similar.
I'm fine with the average rainfall and snowfall in the RC area, the only thing I'm wondering about is the constant (several days a week) high wind warnings.
I hate rain, and it rains too much here in TX for me (annual 35-40" the past couple of years). The rain up there seems much less.
But I also hate wind. Just wondering if it really is constantly very windy up there, like my AccuWeather says.
It's not constantly windy but it's pretty damn windy at times. More so that most of the country. But it's a lot better than Wyoming!
Honestly, if you really hate wind then SoDak might not be the best fit. Although Rapid is much less windy than other parts of the state due to the sheltering effect of the Black Hills.
only reason I hate wind, is that I want to cruise around the state on my Harley when retired...
don't like getting blown around, it subtracts from the enjoyment....
There are hardly any "good points" to living down here (San Antonio TX), but at least it's pretty much never windy.
all states have their bad points...we are just looking for ones that have less bad points, and more good points. So far, SD is our favorite. We were leaning towards WY, but we decided SD sounds better.
Riding a Harley around the Black Hills is a national pass time for Bikers. If you are planning on touring the rest of the state on a bike you will have to deal with wind much of the time. Wyoming would not be any better except for the mountainous parts. I am not sure of any other pluses and minuses you might be looking for.
I plan to move to RC during first week of January, 2018 ( work).....I have a 15 ft truck plus a trailer with my personal car. Will be traveling on I-90 from West. Any tips?
Snafu, you might consider the Reno, Nevada area, Bend, Oregon or Boise, Idaho (for a few examples) if you're seeking reasonably warm, dry, not-too-windy weather, but also looking for beautiful scenery in a semi-rural setting that also has a touch of winter.
I don't know what kind of tax structure you'd be looking for in retirement though. I'm only in my very early 30's and it already affects me tremendously, but I know that taxation seems to hit retirees doubly hard sometimes depending on the state. I know South Dakota is friendlier than most in almost every area. One also has to consider if they're looking for land or small town living, and moving is always hard, but you seem like the friendly sort that would fit in anywhere.
property taxes are my main complaint here in TX. And too much rain as mentioned above.
I pay close to $5,000 a year this year for prop taxes, and they go up every single year. When retired soon, that will be a huge chunk out of our much smaller income. House has been paid off for a few years, but here in TX houses are never paid off... due to excessively high property taxes...
I have looked into the Reno area... I wouldn't mind NV, and my wife is from Vegas. The state's scenery as a whole seems kind of boring for riding around on motorcycles... dirt, rocks, as far as the eye can see...
Property taxes are also relatively high, at least in Pennington Country. There's no state income tax so they have to fund city/county government through property and sales taxes.
I lived outside RC from June to December working on a big cattle ranch. Rapid City is not for you if you don't like wind, even though it is sheltered from the Black Hills a little bit. NV, AZ, or those other states might be a better fit. The people here are also very mean and unwlecoming...and they HATE Harleys.
We are down in Bandera, TX now. We will be moving back in the next 2 weeks. We fell in love with it. You are right about one thing. The prop taxes here absolutely SUCK. Unless you like deer hunting 100 lb. animals and being around California townies, the Hill Country isn't for you. We found this out pretty quick. It's slowly becoming Southern CA here. It's just a matter of time.
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