Does anyone live in Western Nebraska? (Omaha, Kearney: homes, to live in, to move)

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by deeptrance

ROFLMAO!!!

I nominate that as one of the 10 best posts on this forum. If anyone ever asks you to define "dry sense of humor" or "dry wit", point them to this thread and mrkool's post.

Thanks, deeptrance. I do what I can.

[wallstreet1986]

Western Nebraska sounds pretty and great but are there any jobs.

How about law or finance?

I would be all ears if I could get a decent salary and live in a wonderful place like out there.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by wallstreet1986

Western Nebraska sounds pretty and great but are there any jobs.

How about law or finance?

There might be a few crickets and a herd of cattle interested in your services, but I'm not sure they'd be able to afford your usual fees.

But seriously, everyone everywhere needs such services, you'd just have to locate the concentrations of humans. Scottsbluff, North Platte, Chadron/Caldwell, there's not a whole lot in those small towns but if "you da man" with the skills then you really don't need to make a whole lot to afford a very nice house cuz things are CHEAP there!

[AngelikaV]

wallstreet1986,

First, let me start by saying that I’m a 10-year resident of Nebraska, currently live in Lincoln, grew up living in a rural community in Illinois (pop. 2400), and lived in the city of Chicago for many years before moving here. I’ve experienced farm life, small town life, medium-sized city life and big city life. I think I have a pretty good experiential basis to pose a few questions you should consider.

First, have you looked into Nebraska’s demographics? Here’s a link you need to check out:

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In land area Nebraska is as large as Germany but has a population density of only 22 people per square mile, and that’s when you include the populations of Omaha and Lincoln. Take a map and draw 30-mile rings around Omaha and Lincoln. Out of a total statewide population of 1.77 million, over 1.2 million live within those 30-mile rings. That’s over 67% of the entire population of the state living in 7.3% of the total land area. Now look at the rest of the state. It has a population density of 7 people per square mile, and that includes the populations of Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, North Platte, McCook, Chadron, Valentine and Scottsbluff.

What’s the population of the smallest town you’ve lived in? What’s the furthest distance you’ve had to travel to get to a major medical center or a 24-hour supermarket or a cineplex? Have you ever lived anywhere without a fast food restaurant -- no McDonalds, no Burger King, no KFC, no Dominos, no Pizza Hut? Could you survive living somewhere where there was no such thing as take-out? Could you handle buying your apparel at the local Farm & Fleet or WalMart, assuming there is one within 50 miles of your community, or else ordering you clothes, shoes and outerwear over the internet? How would you like having to order your office supplies, kitchen equipment, furniture, electronics, and just about everything else over the internet? Now imagine trying to do so without a high speed internet connection. Huge areas of Nebraska have no DSL or cable, so your only option will be satellite. Better look into how reliable satellite service is and what it’s going to cost you.

Sure, you’re gonna be a really big fish in a small pond. Only problem is, what are you gonna feed on? What kind of law do you practice? If you move to western Nebraska you’re going to need to be a jack-of-all-trades. There’ll be a little domestic law, a little real estate, a little bankruptcy, a little personal injury, a little contract law, a little criminal law, but not enough of any one thing to make a real living at it. Remember, there are only 7 people per square mile. How many of them in any given week are going to need a lawyer? It doesn’t matter how cheap housing costs are if you can’t earn enough to pay for food and fuel. You’d better be prepared to do more than practice law or you’re gonna starve.

Sure, rural Nebraska sounds idyllic, but unless you know what you’re getting into the reality might prove to be a whole lot less charming. Imagine living in a community where you will be it’s most highly educated person. Imagine building friendships with your neighbors. What will you have in common with them? What will there be to talk about? Are you OK with being alone? That’s the reality of rural life. It suits some people, but not that many. In fact, the entire western part of the state is depopulating for the very reasons posed. Lincoln and Omaha continue to grow at the expense of the rest of the state, and even those cities don’t offer enough to stanch the state’s “brain drain” of college educated young people voting for their futures with their feet. Many newspaper articles have been written on the topic. Try Googling it. You might be surprised by what you’ll learn.

Good luck on you're decision, whatever it may be.

[hoosierpete]

Drove from Lake McConnaughy in W. Neb. to Angostura Res. in S. Dakota once in late September, went through Chadron, stayed there a couple days in Chadron State Park which has interesting hiking through a kinda terrain they call 'keyholes." Also hiked thru the national forest there. Went into town, the Main Street Inn I think it was, played pool with a long-haired bartender named George. Out of the kitchen came that old talk show dude named Cavett holding a piece of cherry-cheesecake. Apparently he's a Neb. native and motorcyles thru there occasionally, staying at the Inn which serves as a restaurant, bar and hotel. Nice town, remote, high-plains drifter country. Had Angostura Res. all to myself, great swimming on a pure sand beach.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by AngelikaV

Sure, rural Nebraska sounds idyllic, but unless you know what you’re getting into the reality might prove to be a whole lot less charming.

Your entire post was a perfect summary of what to think about. Many people who move to rural "idyllic" places end up regretting it because they have no clue what they're getting themselves into. And you didn't even mention the weather, which is another thing that scares the bleep out of me about living in Chadron. It's a beautiful town, and I'd like to spend some time there enjoying it, but I'd need to hang on to a place in a city in a warmer climate. Otherwise I'd probably go crazy and become just another nutcase with an AK-47 mowing down people in a shopping mall for no apparent reason. (just kidding, my insanity is always taken out on myself, so it would just be an ordinary suicide with no collateral casualties )

[AngelikaV]

Muchas gracias, Deeptrance, for the feedback. I’m flattered, especially after reading some of your very insightful and informative posts.

As for the weather in Chadron, it should scare the *bleep* out of you because it can get pretty darn scary there: -20F with wind chill factor of -40F and blizzard conditions. Chadron and Valentine vie for the title of coldest place in Nebraska. That arctic airflow that comes down from Manitoba and through the Dakotas manages to nail Valentine and Chadron before making a U-turn with a slight right hook into Minnesota. It can be 40 degrees warmer in Lincoln -- in the winter that is.

In the summer it can be 100F in Lincoln and 114F in Chadron. They can get hit with those down slope winds that come scorching out of the Rockies and across the high plaines one day, then get a blast of cooler air out of Canada the next, and then one of those beastly blasts of Texas gulf heat the day after that. And of course, that means plenty of thunder and lightning, hail and the occasional tornado or two.

Down in the southeast corner of the state we’re pretty much subject to a lot of the same, except we never seem to get that refreshing Canadian air when we can really use it. I’m not kidding when I say Lincoln gets 90 days of 90F or more annually with high humidity, plenty of mosquitos, and NO rain. Weeks and weeks on end of sickening, sticky, scorching heat and NO RAIN. Lawns suffering simultaneously from drought and fungus. Black spot and mildew on everything though it hasn't rained in 50 days. God, how I hate summer here!

I know you like hot weather, but I find it miserably oppressive and long for the gorgeous summer days I knew in Chicago. Ah, those lovely days in the upper 70’s or maybe lower 80’s with nights that cool down to the upper 60’s and, if you live near the lake, no need to turn on the air conditioner except for a couple of weeks in August. Along the lakefront Chicago might get a total of 10 to 12 days over 90F in a whole year. If they get 3 days in a row of 90+ weather they post a heat emergency and everyone starts checking on old Mrs. Buczynski next door. Chicago in summer -- how I long for it! If only it had clean air. (sigh)

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by AngelikaV

I know you like hot weather, but I find it miserably oppressive...

Austin is probably nicer during most of the summer than Lincoln is. Strange but true. You get more stagnant air masses, less wind, more humidity from the corn and soy fields --- many of the highest heat index readings in any given year will come from the Omaha area! I was really surprised to learn all that. But then 2 summers ago I drove east through Nebraska, Ill., In., Ohio, Ontario --- it was absolutely miserable even in Ottawa, didn't get to any nice weather until I reached my destination in northern Vermont. Meanwhile, my friends in Austin were saying that they were having a very nice summer, lots of breezes and beautiful clouds in the afternoons, it's very hot but the air moves on most summer days which helps immensely and the humidity is a bit lower than places to the east.

A couple of days when it got up near 90 in Vermont, it felt much worse than 100 feels in Austin. Reason, I think, is that we were surrounded by trees. The official humidity (dewpoint) readings are taken at airports, so they're always much lower than the dewpoints you'd see in a broad-leaf forest that's pumping moisture out of its leaves, plus there's no wind when you're deep in the woods. Ugh. Very oppressive! So I can understand what you're saying about summers in Lincoln. And I do imagine it would be a bit nicer in Chadron because its drier, gets more variety of air flow from different directions, and is higher in elevation.

[dusesean1986]

What's the heat in Western Nebraska, Humid or Dry?

[Gretchen B]

Originally Posted by dusesean1986

What's the heat in Western Nebraska, Humid or Dry?

The humidity is pretty low from North Platte west and north through the sandhills. Once you go east of North Platte, though, the humidity really jumps. I used to live in Ogallala and thought it was very comfortable. About the only time it would get humid is if there was alot of irrigation going on in the summer. The pivots really add to the humidty level. Now I live in Arizona, where it's a dry heat, ya know.