needing info on rapid city (Sioux Falls: car insurance, house, income)

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by drblue

after four years in puerto rico, my wife and i are moving to rapid city. we are planning on renting first until we get a "feel" for the place. before pr, we both lived in florida our whole lives, so we are totally unaccustomed to anything resembling winter. we are both excited about sd, but we realize we are going have a steep learning curve. i had a few questions:

is four wheel drive and/or snow chains necessary? i have a 2wd truck, but i'm not sure if it's up to the challenge. IT ISN'T MANDATORY, BUT IT'D BE REALLY HARD TO GET AROUND WITHOUT A 4 WHEEL DRIVE OR CHAINS OUT THERE.

what do people wear in sd? i'm used to board shorts and flip flops. i keep hearing that i need to wear "layers," but layers of what? long underwear? YES, YOU COULD WEAR A PAIR OF LONG JOHNS, A PAIR OF JEANS, AND COVERALLS. ON TOP YOU COULD WEAR A THERMAL TOP ALONG WITH A SHIRT AND PUT ANOTHER SHIRT ON TOP AND OF COURSE, YOUR COVERALLS WILL COVER YOU FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. YOU CAN WEAR A COUPLE PAIR OF SOCKS AND BE SURE TO HAVE SNOW BOOTS AND GET THEM LARGE ENOUGH FOR A COUPLE PAIR OF THICK SOCKS. DURING THE SUMMER, WE WEAR SHORTS, TANK TOPS, AND SANDALS, TOO


do i need to "winterize" my truck? a friend of mine said i shouldn't have to worry about antifreeze, because my truck is relatively new. i'm planning on getting a place with a garage so we won't have to scrape the windshield. i was dreading that after watching fargo. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW NEW YOUR VEHICLE IS, YOU NEED TO WINTERIZE IT EVERY AUTUMN. THEY'LL ADD ANTIFREEZE AND TEST IT TO BE SURE IT'LL GET WELL BELOW ZERO AND BE OK. THEY NORMALLY CHECK YOUR BATTERY AND SPARK PLUGS AND THAT KIND OF STUFF, TOO CAUSE IT'S HARDER FOR VEHICLES TO START IN THE WINTER TIME. ALSO, GET A COUPLE OF ICE SCRAPERS. EVEN THOUGH YOU'LL HAVE IT IN A GARAGE, YOU'LL NEED THE SCRAPER WHEN YOU LEAVE WORK OR LEAVE THE MOVIES OR WHEVER YOU'LL GO

do we need a humidifier for our house? every time we've been on vacation somewhere cold, we've had to deal with static shocks and dry skin. we were thinking a humidifier might fix this. YES, IT'S NOT A TOTAL NECESSITY FOR SURVIVAL, BUT YOU'LL WANT TO HAVE ONE. USE PLENTY OF CLING FREE SHEETS WHEN YOU DRY CLOTHES, TOO. BUY GALLONS OF LOTION, TOO

thanks for your advice in advance; we'll use all the help we can get!

YOU'RE WELCOME AND WE DO WISH YOU LUCK. FEEL FREE TO ASK WHATEVER YOU NEED TO KNOW AND GOOD LUCK.

[pejuta]

when i moved to south dakota about 3 winters ago, i had never been in a blizzard..hurricanes and a dust storm,yes. so in rapid city i walked to to town about a half hour or so walk in a blizzard. hi winds, below zero temps,etc. i think the snow was a couple feet deep. i wore i think a sweater and couple jackets well padded. jeans, with weatherproof pants over, leather snow boots,two pair socks. of course something on my head. i fared just fine. i did fall in snow twice,but it was fun. im 66 now. i fell in rapid city on ice jan of 2006,broke my wrist. dr. put cast on wrong,caused problems all way to shoulder,neck. i thought i was walking carefully. beware of ice. i take cayenne pepper powder in my food(never on empty stomach) for arthritis pain. that seems to help me tolerate cold temps.only thing is,youll smell like cayenne pepper

one more thing,the sun is in this part of country in winter so 30 degrees here is like a heat wave

[drblue]

thanks, pejuta. blizzards will definitely be a new thing for us, as the only blizzards we've experienced have been at dairy queen. i like spicy foods, too. is there a specific type of cuisine that predominates in rapid city?

[uncleharley]

There is plenty of Tex-Mex food around Rapid. Tabasco sauce on scrambled eggs is a favorite at some of the local diners.

[Movingrightalong...]

Don't know if any of you are church goers in the area, but I'll be heading up there this summer and would appreciate a recommendation (hopefully something with an adult singles group so I won't be the only single guy sitting in on a marriage enrichment class...

[DannyBanany]

In Rapid City, it all depends on which church you belong to. There are many Ctholic churches in the area... but I am not sure if they have a "singles" program per se. I think they have many enriching activities that will introduce you to interesting people that may become possible reltionships. Other churches may have "singles" programs, but I am not sure because I am Catholic and I do not go to other churches for religious reasons...

We also have one synagogue... don't even ask!

[pejuta]

i went to first united methodist downtown rapid city. behind library. cant remember if they have singles. might. nice size church. it might be a nice idea to visit diff. churches. in the rapid city journal they have a church directory. i think listed on a certain day. maybe a list of singles groups. cant remember. ive been in spearfish almost a year.

[Jammie]

Pejuta, that's a good suggestion. Over here on the east side, it seems that the Methodists and Lutherans are the ones with singles clubs. Of course, they're all-inclusive, but their get togethers are often held in either of those churches.

[Amac]

Hello everyone,

I figured I'd ask those of you familiar with the Rapid City area a question about the town and the real estate market there. I've noticed in my online home searches that the Southeast and Southwest (particularly) and to some extent the Northeast quadrants of town seem to have more expensive homes while the Norwest corner seems to have some less expensive homes.

Could any of you who are familiar with the area tell me something about how the various compass directions of Rapid City compare? Are there any particularly bad parts of town? Also, can you call a courthouse or some other city office and get historical sale data on properties (online would be great) to get an accurate basis upon which to make an offer to purchase?

Thanks...

[BusySocialWorker]

Really there are no "Bad" parts of town - I would personally avoid the north rapid area which is older homes - if you are looking at new construction all areas are pretty nice - I would also personally avoid East of Rapid near Box Elder which is near Ellsworth AFB (it is more of a priarie setting then hills).

The South east and South west areas are very nice as are the Northern areas... some of the developments we like the best (so when searching MLS you can find them) are

Auburn Hills
Red Rock Meadows
Red Rock Estates

Another website you may want to look at is 605home.com

it shows a map of locations of new developments (some of them) along with a representation of the homes and costs.

South East you will find The Ranch at Black Gap which is nice, but not many trees...

The South West side of town will put you alittle closer to the hills

Another option to look at is Summerset, which is about a 10 minute drive to Rapid - nice foothills and views - this area is a bit cheaper due to a large surpluse of homes for sale - the area is also going through some growing pains as they are now their own town and taxes / services are being determined.

Rapid lies in Pennington County so you can search for the court info and Summerset lies in Meade if you want to do some checking.

If you have specific questions Id be happy to fill you in more