The best towns in Wyoming? (Cheyenne, Laramie: transplants, house, best schools)

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by racechick73

Thank you, Sunsprit! That is exactly what I was after regarding the liberal bit. So I'm guessing you saw exactly what we're trying to get away from in Western WA! The media around here is terrible- very one-sided. Thanks for the input- now Cheyenne is sounding a lot better to me! As long as there's a race track, good schools, and decent housing prices I'll add it to my list of possibilities. Thanks!

What kind of race track are you looking for? I like Colorado National Speedway in Erie, CO for stock car racing. It's a small, local track, but it's also a lot of fun to go to. It's probably just over an hour south of Cheyenne, a little bit north of the Denver metro area. They have some pretty fun races there too, such as school bus races and "train" races. These events are exciting to watch, and are usually hilarious.

[racechick73]

Good stuff, everybody! My husband races what we call "hornets" up here. stock 4 cyl. street cars, but he's thinking he'd sell his off, and build a V8 for WY instead. Looks like there's a pretty good population of racing fans in WY! He found your website for Big Country Speedway- he's used to clay but he thinks he could get used to pavement!

[racechick73]

Thanks for the info on the Col. track- sounds right up our alley! We have a track up here that does that fun stuff occasionally- bus races, figure 8s, etc. We'll check it out if we end up in that area- thanks!

[Meg Lesher]

I've spent much more time in Sheridan than in Casper or Cheyenne, but feel in terms of your liberal question that they are fairly similar. They are all western towns with roots in a conservative base. All three are liveable. In terms of natural beauty, I'd put the Sheridan area ahead of the others; the Bighorn Mountains are right at hand, big and beautiful. The town itself is generally flatland. It does have fairly good public schools, and the town is focused on expanding civic offerings of interest to families. Sheridan College is located on the south side of the town, and sometimes brings in events; its students are very inobtrusive generally. It's a safe town with a pleasant downtown area. Near at hand are Ranchester, Dayton, Bighorn and Story, all within easy commuting distance and all quite small and nice for families. There isn't much to rent in any of these places, though. Good luck with your decision.

[JimC]

There might be one thing worth considering and this is coming from a railroader. Is your husband in a position where he's on call 24/7? If so I would want to be as close to his on call spot as possible and still get the type of place you want. A 45 minute drive in the summer can be a whole lot more in the winter.

[sixofone]

Check out Torrington (pop 5800). we have a lot of railroaders here, and are 30 minutes from Scottsbluf NE (pop 15,000+) and 80 miles north of Cheyenne.

Real estate prices are fairly reasonable, but there's a medium security prison being built outside of town, due to open in late 2009, This has brought in some speculators and bumped prices a bit.

The only private school I'm familiar with is tiny (but academically outstanding) Valley Christian, Grades K-6, but the public schools are small and excellent. Lincoln Elementary is brand new and there's a new middle school on the way.

"Liberal attitudes" will absolutely not be a problem here.

[racechick73]

Originally Posted by JimC

There might be one thing worth considering and this is coming from a railroader. Is your husband in a position where he's on call 24/7? If so I would want to be as close to his on call spot as possible and still get the type of place you want. A 45 minute drive in the summer can be a whole lot more in the winter.

Good thinking. He works for BNSF as a foreman, and yes, he's on call 24/7. But as a foreman, he starts getting paid the second his phone rings, so at least that's not an issue. Who do you work for? Thanks, by the way!!

[racechick73]

sixofone- Where's the nearest WalMart?! Will check into Torrington- small is good!

[JimC]

I started out with the Santa Fe, Left before the merger. I'm with a commuter railroad in So Cal now. A Foremans job in any department shouldn't be that bad commute time wise. If it were an engineers or conductors job I'd sure be as close as possible, at least if they run them like they used to.

[jazzlover]

Lots of BNSF folks live in Douglas. I believe one of their maintenance bases for the Powder River Basin is there. Douglas is a nice community. Casper is about 50 miles from Douglas and is where most shopping is located. Sheridan, as mentioned earlier is a nice town, also. Close to the Big Horn Mountains. I like Torrington, as well. Torrington is a nice quiet farming community--in some ways geographically more akin to western Nebraska, which is just a few miles east. A lot of BNSF railroaders who work out of Guernsey, WY live in Torrington. (By the way, closest Wal-mart to Torrington is Scottsbluff, Nebraska--about 30 miles; or Cheyenne--about 80, Sam's Club in Cheyenne, too.)

Cheyenne is a very nice community (albeit darned windy), too. A few BNSF people live in Cheyenne, and a whole lot of UP folks.