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Old 10-11-2013, 07:17 PM
 
Location: Hot Springs
1,299 posts, read 2,847,365 times
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Most of Hot Springs sits in a canyon and is protected from much of the wind. Consequently it is probably one of the best protected towns in S D. Since you have lived in S D before, you know that isn't much of a promise. All I can say is check it out. The wind is there, but it doesn't bother me. Most of it goes over the top.
Fall River county recently built a new hospital in Hot Springs. We also have two family clinics, a couple of optometrists, at least one dentist and a chiropractor. There is no public transportation, but there is a growing number of retired people that will or are facing problems that are similar to the ones you are anticipating. We do a lot of ride sharing and whatever else it takes to get along. There is also a retirement community where you or a survivor should be able to move into if they need more help. It is named Pine Hills. Check that out also.
I personally think that Hot Springs may be a fit for you and your wife, but I realize that everyone has a different perspective so I will let you check things out and make the decision.

uh
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Old 10-12-2013, 10:19 PM
 
Location: Boundary Waters, MN
24 posts, read 40,742 times
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I'm the wife.

Thanks for the info.

Yeah, we well remember the wind, especially on the east side of the state with no trees to slow it down. The only still times were right before the tornado sirens went off.

Good to know about the new medical facilities and also the ride sharing.

Who knows where this will all end up? We have a few years to think about it yet. I was thinking that's a good thing but maybe it would be easier to decide what to do if we had a closer deadline. There is just too much unknown yet.
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Old 10-13-2013, 10:43 AM
 
Location: Hot Springs
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Hi wife,
You probably haven't made a decision yet because there is no need to. I went thru the transition a few years ago. All that I knew at the beginning was that I wanted to be in a drier, warmer climate than in central Wisconsin. I thought I would like a smallish town with some hills or mountains.
One of the first things I learned was that there generally was not a lot of services in a town that was supported only by agriculture, logging, or a mine. But the county seat of most counties had a handful of state & county jobs that helped to support such things as a small county hospital, perhaps an extra grocery store, etc.
I also learned that crime follows drugs and drugs can follow the interstate hwy system. Low crime rates can hold down property taxes as well as other more obvious benefits. So I began looking for county seats that were 40 or 50 miles off the interstate.
During my search I learned that mountains had a lot of odd weather patterns. If one chose a location that was on the leeward side of a mountain or mountain range, one would be in a much milder climate than on the windy side.
When I had finally learned all of that, I very quickly discovered Custer, SD and Hot Springs SD. I chose Hot Springs because it had the larger permanent population and was less dependent on tourism.

No doubt you will have additional criteria, but this should reduce the thousands of places you may like to look at.

uh
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Old 10-13-2013, 01:53 PM
 
Location: Boundary Waters, MN
24 posts, read 40,742 times
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Such excellent advice, and great observations, too. Thanks.

To be honest, we weren't in retirement mode when we were in the Black Hills in July, except for Hot Springs. We were there simply as tourists, and of course that makes a big difference in a person's perspective. We lived in SD before and hated it, me more than my husband but he wasn't dealing with the crap I was. A lot of what happened then would not be an issue now, and since my husband isn't opposed to living there again, I'm trying to resolve old issues and reconsider. I also think the western half would meet more of our criteria for geography and wildlife as well as habitat (trees). We really don't want to live on the prairies again with no trees around and not as much wildlife or the variety that's in the Hills. One of the things that tickles me the most when thinking about living out there is that there are noisy little red squirrels, just like we have here. Dumb, I know, but the little things are important, too.

We currently live on a hill with a south-facing slope and the hill is quite a bit taller than our house on the north side. It makes such a difference, so I know what you're talking about. We can leave our yard with no cold wind blowing, and get into town where it's like being trapped in an icy wind tunnel. So a south-facing house with a windbreak to the north is on our wish list for any house we might buy out there. I can't even imagine how many thousands of dollars in heating costs our current location has saved us just because of the topography. Thanks for confirming that it works the same on a larger scale.

We've talked about Custer but not in depth at all. We don't know much about it but we will. We did like the grocery store there, as I recall. We plan to be fully armed with data when we get back out there next year.

How's the basement situation out there? Are basements typically dry? We don't have a basement now and that's a must-have in the next house, no matter where it is. We want it to be a usable space.

Is flooding a problem?
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Old 10-13-2013, 03:10 PM
 
Location: Hot Springs
1,299 posts, read 2,847,365 times
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Flash floods can be a problem in the hills. Especially in the spring when you might get a couple feet of wet snow followed by a couple inches of rain while the snow is melting. If you are planning to build in the country, look very close at the terrain and where the water is going to rain. We don't get floods like the red river valley when the Red River overflows its banks. I guess I am trying to say that we get floods, but they are different in the hills than on the prairie. Hot Springs has storm sewers and a river that handles the storm water in town.

My basement is dry and so is my neighbors. I think that typically, yes, the basements are dry. You should be aware that the hills have very little black dirt to dig in. We have some red clay on the parimiter of the hills and there are spots of sand. But mostly it is rock. Fortunately there are two kinds of rock in the hills. There is digable rock and there is blastable rock. You want the digable stuff.

I understand your feelings about the prairie. I used to fight with my sisters over who's turn it was to stand behind the telephone pole while waiting for the school bus. LOL

uh
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Old 10-13-2013, 03:22 PM
 
Location: Boundary Waters, MN
24 posts, read 40,742 times
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Thanks yet again. More good info. I did notice the flooding reports from Spearfish and that area due to the big storm. We've been getting some newspapers from out there and the Black Hills Pioneer is one. Naturally, that was big news.

There's a lot of blastable rock here, too.

I grew up in southwest Minnesota which was prairie, too, so I completely understand fighting over any kind of wind break when the wind starts to howl!

We can see if we move out there, we'll probably need to buy a generator for power outages.
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Old 10-13-2013, 06:33 PM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,932,772 times
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No black dirt, UH?

We lived up by Johnson's Siding and had good black dirt and a very large garden. My aunt lives between Hill City and Custer, again, she has good soil. You have to be careful where you build or buy, because there is a lot of rock, but we lived close to Rapid Creek (30 ft higher, but the creek run through the property). Actually, the house was 30 ft higher, but down where the garden area was was only about 10 feet higher than the creek.

To the op, have you thought about Hill City? My aunt is in her 80's and she drives into Rapid City at least twice a week, even during the winter. Nice easy drive and only minutes away from Medical, as the hospital is the first thing you come to in Rapid City.

Last edited by ElkHunter; 10-13-2013 at 08:03 PM.. Reason: can't spel
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Old 10-13-2013, 07:08 PM
 
Location: Boundary Waters, MN
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Thanks, EH. I'll mention it to my husband. We hadn't really thought about it.
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Old 10-14-2013, 02:38 PM
 
Location: Hot Springs
1,299 posts, read 2,847,365 times
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"No black dirt, UH?"

I was referring to basements and building. I think I posted something earlier on this thread that gardens can do well in the Black Hills and surrounding area.
If one is going to dig a basement they should drill the footprint of house full of holes to discover what is under the first couple of bulldozer scrapes.

uh
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Old 10-14-2013, 05:04 PM
 
Location: Boundary Waters, MN
24 posts, read 40,742 times
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Some of the houses up here have huge honkin' chunks of ledge rock in the basements. It was too expensive to blast the rocks, so the foundations were built around and on top of them and the boulders are just part of the basements now. (Think rocks the size of two or three cars or bigger.) It's the weirdest thing to walk into one of those places.
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