Moving to Gillette, need advice? (Cheyenne, Powell: sales, Valentine's day, real estate)
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I am transfering with my job to Gillette in January and I am looking for some advice. I have read just about everything on this website in regards to Gillette. I know that it will be windy, cold and a lot of snow. Can someone please tell me the best and worst parts to live in Gillette (ne,se,nw,sw)? I know that there are good and bad areas to every city. Where is the best place to find rental houses online? I have looked at the Gillette News Record, but was wondering if there is another source for information. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thx
I think the News-Record is about it for rental houses online. You might also try contacting some of the local Realtors.
You can forget Craigs List for house hunting in Gillette. It's just not used enough to be worth it. As a landlord I tried it once. It was a waste of time. After a week or two I put the ad in the News-Record and had a line of people wanting it within hours. If you want a nice "rental house" plan on $1500-$2000 per month.
Selecting general areas isn't that easy. I'd say SW in general, but you can get some kind of creepy neighborhoods there too, and some of the other exclusive areas of town are on the east side, in the center, etc. In every direction you can find nice neighborhoods and some not so nice.
If you must pick a place before you move here, pm me an address and I'll give you a frank opinion of the neighborhood.
And may I be the first to say, welcome to Gillette!
Actually not that much snow (vertical accumulation).
Where you coming from? (Florida / South Pacific Islanders get different advice than folks from northern Canada or UP MI)
Generally,
#1, Find a warm place to lay your head (before you arrive, as per above)... it is very stressful to do from a motel. BTDT... (I suggest a Pendleton Wool Blanket for the bed, wherever you lie down)Pendleton Woolen Mills: Blankets
#2, bring a coat(actually several / layers, but be sure at least one of them has a waist band to keep the wind from blowing up your back when you bend over, or walk with back to wind). A few pair of poly prop long underwear. My favorite attire is insulated coveralls (OMG, these are wonderful when working outside) coveralls - Google Search
#3 I like a good pair of mittens, and several pair of thinsulate gloves (I find wearing nitrile / medical gloves against skin helps reduce the 'wind loss' through gloves (as long as you are not sweating))
#4, I find a neck scarf and good stocking cap invaluable.
#5 NEVER open both car doors at the same time (unless your intent is to have the wind clean the car out and send your important papers down to Bill, WY)
Do your shopping BEFORE you arrive. There are some great tractor / farm stores with winter wear in Midwest if you are coming from the east. If you are coming I-80, you can stop in Sidney, NE at Cabela's and look in their 'outlet' store. (that is pretty hit and miss, and more expensive).
If you are coming from the west... both Oregon and MT have no sales tax, but I recommend buying at Powell, WY Community Owned Mercantile .
On areas, / housing, I would find a South facing house / garage with minimal / no windows on the north (and certainly no pipes in the north walls). Driveway Ice (shade) tends to become a problem w / north facing garages. Unfortunately, South facing Garages can drift shut. (hint, back your snowplow into the garage). There are some 'push blades' that folks have invented to bolt onto the rear of their cars. (no guarantees on how THOSE work... but there are some impressive Youtube videos of 'crazys'. ).
'Accumulated' snow is quite minimal, 'horizontal' snow is ez'r to shovel (usually).
Be prepared for a 'brown' Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, Easter.
Enjoy the opportunity and take advantage of the super nice people. You can quickly get to Black Hills if you need some trees. I recommend the Main Street Hostel in Lead, SD as a super place to retreat. GREAT bike trail, food, and community sports facility (nice pool / indoor track) all within a few blocks. Main Street Manor Hostel, Lead South Dakota
Thank you StealthRabbit. I am from East TN. I know the weather will be tough, but I will do my best to survive. In TN, we had to walk to school, up hill, in the snow both ways, so I hope I can make it in Gillette. Right now, I just want to try and find a good 1 bed, 1 bath house to rent. I know that renting is the hardest part about moving to Gillette, so keep me in mind if you hear about a 1 bed, 1 bath rental. And if you see a guy next month that looks frozen with TN plates, then come say hi to me..
I can't recall ever seeing a one-bedroom house in Gillette, and I sold real estate for a couple years. I imagine there might be a few but probably not for rent. Keep in mind, most of Gillette's housing isn't that old. When I moved here in 1971 the population was about 7,500. It's now 30,000, so I'd imagine that 75% of the homes have been built since then, and I doubt any of those only had one bedroom.
There are plenty of apartments available, and many of those will be one-bedroom.
I think the News-Record is about it for rental houses online. You might also try contacting some of the local Realtors.
You can forget Craigs List for house hunting in Gillette. It's just not used enough to be worth it. As a landlord I tried it once. It was a waste of time. After a week or two I put the ad in the News-Record and had a line of people wanting it within hours. If you want a nice "rental house" plan on $1500-$2000 per month.
Selecting general areas isn't that easy. I'd say SW in general, but you can get some kind of creepy neighborhoods there too, and some of the other exclusive areas of town are on the east side, in the center, etc. In every direction you can find nice neighborhoods and some not so nice.
If you must pick a place before you move here, pm me an address and I'll give you a frank opinion of the neighborhood.
And may I be the first to say, welcome to Gillette!
You can also use googlemaps street view to see what the neighborhoods look like, driving up and down the streets.
I'm going to chime in on this and urge the wyoming wannabe to come out for a visit before committing to a permanent move to Wyoming.
Absent having come out here to visit a few times during all seasons ... but particularly the winter months, you are in for a complete paradigm shift coming from TN.
TN cold isn't anything like the low temps and wind chill factors that present in Wyoming.
It's not just making light of the climate/weather conditions; what you've seen for snow in a low altitude riparian climate and what you'll find out here on the exposed plains are two drastically different environments. For example, there's few trees to block the winds in this area compared to the deciduous dense forests of TN. Here, the winds blow the snow into drifts so that a very minimal total moisture/snowfall amount can create obstucted visibility/roads/surfaces and the cold temps promote black ice conditions. For the most part, we don't drive in deep snow, we drive on minimal snowfall coated but slick conditions; but when the snowfall is deep, the roads are likely to be closed until cleared.
No matter how good a winter conditions driver you are, no matter how big/how bad/how equipped your wintertime vehicle is ... you cannot outdrive the zero (or almost zero) visibility conditions that present or the roadway that has disappeared in front of you. Don't expect edge of roadway markers to be of much assistance in these situations.
In keeping with some of the other relocation threads on the forum, I'd point out that Gillette is very much a boom town in a strong boom cycle right now. That means that the local economy is geared to the prevailing high wages of the energy/extractive industries at this time. If you aren't making that kind of money, then you may be in for less of a standard of living then you'd like to be accustomed to.
Case in point ... I made a sales call today in Cheyenne on a shop where the owner had left Gillette two years ago after a lengthy career as a mine/equipment superintendent. He left because his children couldn't afford the standard of living that he'd achieved after paying his dues for many years. They left the area, and he followed shortly after so as to be closer to family in an economic situation where they could all afford "nice" housing and the economic freedom to enjoy themselves a little bit. None of them have had vacations in several years, but they're making ends meet and not going upside down in the current economy.
You'll find that the places for outdoor recreation in the nearby area are predominantly tourist oriented and packed in the summer months. On a trip last winter into the area, we found that many of the facilities were closed during the winter months. The tourist areas in the Black Hills are especially hit by this ... and I was in Rapid City last week on a sales trip and found that even the KOA shut down to all but fully self-contained RV's. Yes, we can rent you a space with an electrical hook-up, but all the rest of the facilities are shut down. And similarly, I found other campgrounds either closed for the season or very restricted as to what was available. IMO, recreation in the Black Hills area is expensive due to the tourist oriented economy and the short season where the businesses must make their year's income. Many outfits close for the winter, and most that do stay open in the winter are exceptionally short staffed which leads to consistently poor services.
I've driven many of the roads through the Black Hills region and am astounded at how just one car moving slowly ... even in the winter months ... on very passable roads reduces the flow of traffic to slow and slower as they gawk at the scenery instead of pulling over to get out and explore. Imagine what this congestion is like during the tourist months with thousands of gawkers in slow-moving RV's. There are places that aren't so popular and densely traveled, but they aren't as alluring as the high traffic areas.
Bottom line: I urge that Wyomingwannabe exercise as much due diligence as possible before making the move to Gillette. Even if you are looking at a good income for the area, you still must deal with the drawbacks of living in the region. There are attractions to the area that present, but whether or not they fit your concept of a good life remains to be seen.
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bring a coat 
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