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Hello all! My husband is military and we've been living in Tokyo for the past almost 4 years. Well, yesterday we got our new assignment to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
To say the least, I'm feeling very stressed. I've never lived in this area before. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Things to do and see, do's and don'ts, best places to live in the area and things like that. We also have two children who will be 11 and 7, so any school info would be helpful too. Thanks so much for any help!
On the housing concerns ... if your husband is an officer, you may want to investigate the availability of on-base officer's housing; there's usually a waiting list. FEWarren AFB was originally an Army Base, and the "officer country" has some of the finest housing in Cheyenne, even for junior officers.
I toured the base once with a friend who was a retired AF O-6, who spent most of his career stationed in places like Hawaii ... where base housing was not very nice and the off-base allowance wasn't enough money to get into a nice place. He was giving me a commentary about a spectacular large officer's housing two-story house on the base, and commenting "oh, this must be the base commander's house" with the large lawn and beautiful wrap-around porch and detached two-car garage ... and, as we drove past the signboard was "Captain & Mrs -----". My friend was speechless .... and we proceeded to tour further into the area, passing similar large and yet even larger victorian houses. We never saw a posted rank higher than a Colonel ... and we know there are higher ranking officers posted there, so we didn't even see the higher ranking officer's housing.
Now, OTOH, if you choose (or must) live off-base, I think you'll find that an officer's housing allowance is more than adequate for some very fine housing in Cheyenne. Larger homes on horse properties in the vicinity are readily available.
There's also a fair number of on-base new houses (less than a 3 years old), or a fair number of very nice houses at the price points that a higher ranking enlisted could afford with off-base housing allowance.
So, I think you'll find acceptable housing in Cheyenne pretty easily.
I'll put this in some perspective; Cheyenne is a very popular retirement town for military retirees. It's got a good BX, a Veteran's Admin hospital, low tax levels, access to reasonable local shopping and access to more major shopping in Ft Collins or Denver, and moderately priced housing. If you want acreage, horses, and "room to move", it's affordable. If you like the outdoors ... camping, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, ATV'ing, hunting, etc etc etc ... then this place may work for you.
The major drawbacks to Cheyenne would be the windy climate, long/cold winters, and a need to be somewhat independent in your activity needs. If you are used to big city amenities, and must have "entertainment" (theaters, first-run movies, concerts, recreation centers, touring concert acts, live music scene, etc) and fancy restaurants and shopping at your fingertips ... this is not going to be your place. If you don't like driving some miles to do things ... this won't be your place.
The public schools here are well funded and well regarded, and the pay scales attract and retain some very good teachers. There's a limit on teacher-student ratios, and class sizes are fairly small. Your children should have very good opportunites in the schools here.
On a basic level ... you can do and be what you want to do here. Be the neighbor you'd want your neighbor to be and you'll do fine.
Cheyenne is so big that you can travel from one end of town to the other in less than 10 minutes.
Two caveats: (1) Don't come here and expect to be well received by telling the locals how "we used to do ____ back home". We do it the way we do because we like it that way. We rely upon common sense and good judgement with a sense of self-responsibility ... more than a lot of laws and ordinances and government action and government spending. By law, the state budget is balanced, and we don't have a deficit spending approach to services. Yes, that means we have to limit government/services, and that's the intent of the law. (2) The prejudices you'll encounter here are the ones you brought with you.
I hope you'll find Cheyenne a good posting for your husband and a great place to live and raise your children. I'd suggest that you investigate programs such as 4-H, equine clubs, and other outdoor club activities for your children ... it's all part of the local "culture" and a great way to meet people and for your children to make friends.
Hello all! My husband is military and we've been living in Tokyo for the past almost 4 years. Well, yesterday we got our new assignment to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
To say the least, I'm feeling very stressed. I've never lived in this area before. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Things to do and see, do's and don'ts, best places to live in the area and things like that. We also have two children who will be 11 and 7, so any school info would be helpful too. Thanks so much for any help!
Sunsprit is giving you some sound advice. I arrived at FEW as a brand new 2Lt many years ago, and it's still my all-time favorite assignment. The historic officers' housing is referred to as "the bricks" and date back well over 100 years to the time when the base was a cavalry fort. Blackjack Pershing and Billy Mitchell were among the former occupants. They are filled by a "longest time on the waiting list" basis, which means that junior officers, many of whom are missileers on a 4-year+ controlled tour, can rise to the top of the list and get a house that only senior officers might get elsewhere. There is similar historic brick housing for NCOs located near the main gate. There is also Wherry style housing and "contractor owned and operated" housing available.
As Sunsprit points out, there is also housing for sale or rent in the local area, There's no real "slums" in the city, but there are some areas that are nicer, newer and costlier than others, while other areas are poorer and more run-down..
Schools are generally considered to be pretty good, and since Cheyenne is the state capitol ad the largest (or possibly 2nd largest) city in the state (approx 50-60,000 people) there is shopping and dining. The annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo is one of the largest events of its kind and the city will swell to 2-3 times its' size that week.
Nice Commissary, medium size BX, large new hospital.
If you get tired of Cheyenne, Ft Collins and Denver Colorado are right down Interstate 25.
Wyoming has no state income tax. Many GI's therefore adopt the state as their "official residence" while they're here, and as long as they stay active duty they can avoid state taxes wherever they go on subsequent assignments. Will save you many thousands of dollars in the course of a career!
Sunsprit's giving you great advice on not telling the locals about how they did things "back home". We'll quickly invite you to go "back home" where things are better.
Wyoming currently has the lowest unemployment in the nation, so a spouse who wants to work has an easier time finding a job than they would in other states.
Welcome and good luck. Like all military tours, FEW will be whatever you make of it.
I was never stationed at FE Warren, but having been in the Air Force years ago, I know where most of the stateside bases are. I can't think of many I'd prefer over Cheyenne. Consider yourself lucky.
Thank you everyone for your replies! And thank you to sunsprit for the school link.....
After doing a little researching on rental housing in the area, I'm a little concerned and would like to ask if getting a 3 bd 2 ba single home for under $1000 a month is going to be difficult?
Most everything I've seen so far seems to be too expensive or it's an apartment/townhome...and I've seen many more listings with only 2 bedrooms.....trying to decide if we can find decent housing off post or if base housing would be a better option.....
3bd/2ba single home under $1,000/mo is not going to be very likely in the current marketplace anywhere close to FEW.
It would be more likely to find such a property heading East of town, perhaps out to the Archer area (15 miles East), or perhaps even further out to Burns or Pine Bluffs. Most likely an older farm house or an older house in town, or a modular on a little bit of acreage.
I know of one place out here in the county that's a 40 acre parcel of flat featureless land (old dryland wheat field) with a 4-year old 3/2 modular on it that's a distress situation ... and $1K per month would buy the place with a minimum downpayment. There's a slightly larger house in the same area, factory built house, also for sale, on a similar 40 acre parcel (same wheat field).
You can find single family houses for sale in places like Burns and Pine Bluffs for under $100,000, as well as out in the county areas. Right now, these houses aren't selling very well, so they're out there. While you may not be in the market to buy, some of these owners might be willing to do an owner carry contract to deed or lease to own contract, just to maintain some cash flow rather and occupancy rather than have a total out of pocket monthly loss. With a little bit of creativity and a willing owner, you might be able to structure a deal that works for you ... and leaves you with a monthly payment that is affordable for you.
You can then deal with the "option" at the end of your time to stay there ... walk away from the contract to deed sale, and all you're out is your monthly cash outlay. If you entered the contract with the intent to move on at the time when your husband gets a new posting, then that's OK if the price point worked for your needs. Same thing with a "lease to own" situation, you can choose to not excercise the option at the end of the term. As long as you've had housing at an affordable price point, it's a good deal for you and the seller. Even at that, you may find that exercising your option to buy makes financial sense and gives you equity in the property.
Where I'm going with this is to suggest that if you're willing to be a little creative in your approach to housing and your dollars, you may be able to find something that works well for your needs as opposed to strictly looking for a lease/rental property at a given price point. Then again, the property management companies in Cheyenne may have just the right place for you at the right price when you need it .... you just have to keep looking and stay in the marketplace. IMO, $1,000 mo for a house is possible but not common.
Well based on what you've stated and everything else I've read, we've decided we will just live on the base. At least initially, until we get more used to the area and know what's available out there.
Another question though, we are thinking about buying a truck before coming up there, (at our leave location), we have an SUV in government storage right now, but it's not a 4x4. Since we must buy something anyway, in order to have a second vehicle, would you recommend having a 4x4 for the winters? I'm know not everyone in the area has one of course, but I'm just wondering if we should try to go ahead and get that, if it's really a good thing to have, or will a dependable front wheel drive suffice?
A dependable front wheel drive vehicle will suffice for 98% of your local driving needs here in Cheyenne.
The common driving challenge around here is not deep deep snow on the roads, but more commonly ... the "black ice", which is formed from melted snow (either by bright sunshine, or by driving on it, or a combination of the two) that re-freezes into a very slick polished surface. Most front-wheel drive cars handle this road condition better than a 4x4 truck designed for off-road work, and will handle the snow/packed snow pretty well. For example, a lot of the county area mail carriers have used Subaru station wagons ... some, the dedicated "mail delivery" vehicle they built which was a right-hand drive Outback model, some used the regular US version. In my experience in the county, my Dodge 2500Diesel 4x4 has very little advantage on snowy roads, if any, over my Subaru station wagons ... and one of them is a Legacy model with smaller diameter wheels than our Outback wagon. There's only about 1" more of ground clearance with the stock wheels/tire size on the pick-up truck over the Outback ... not enough to be any significant advantage. I've "rescued" neighbors out here in the county roads who have high-centered their full-size 4x4's with my Outback .... one family got stuck with a big Toyota SUV, and Dad went out with his 4x4 Crew Cab pick-up to rescue them, couldn't pull them out with a chain and also got high centered. I drove up to his 4x4 with the Outback and brought everybody home a few miles ... then Dad and I went back with my JD4020 and a longer chain to get both of his vehicles back onto the better road. Not an uncommon situation here after serious snow-drifts form in the blustery winter winds, even with only 3-4-5" of total snowfall in a storm.
Basically, if you can't get through with an Outback (or similar AWD vehicle ... Volvo, Audi, BMW, etc), then the conditions are such that you shouldn't be going anywhere. The more extreme conditions will occur from time to time during storms, and possibly for a day or two afterward ... and there will be road closures, or "no unnecessary travel" warnings posted. These are times when you stay put, you'll see the truck stops filled up with idled trucks and the local motels will be filled with stranded travelers. Sometimes, the road closures are due to exceptionally low visibility in the blowing snow, and again ... it doesn't matter what you've got for a vehicle, you cannot overcome this problem with a 4x4 or whatever.
A truck-based 4x4 is needed only if you're hauling "stuff" around, either in the pick-up bed or a trailer, so it's not my first choice for transportation. I've got my 3/4 ton pick-ups because I need them to pull stock trailers or utility trailers for the farm & ranch. Even at that, I use my Dodge 4x4 during adverse conditions with care and for farm/ranch utility project work, and my Ford Powerstroke F-250 4x2 for hauling trailers in nice weather. The rear-wheel drive only truck gets better fuel economy and rides better than a 4x4, and pulls a gooseneck stock trailer with a load just fine. Otherwise, we'll drive our AWD wagons in adverse conditions ... and during the nicer months, our BMW's, MB's, and AlfaRomeo. The fuel economy of the trucks doesn't compare when all you need is transportation.
If you're thinking about "off-roading", recreational use for your 4x4 truck, then that may be a "need" for you. However, with the advent of the ATV's developing into MUV's ... such as the Polaris Ranger or other similar side-by-side seating 500-800cc powered vehicles ... you can spend less money, have better fuel economy, haul quite a load of equipment and people, and go places that a 4x4 truck cannot. They're even "street legal" now, and can be insured/licensed ... so can go on surface streets to a lot of places. If you've got a highway trip to access your recreation area, then they don't take much of a trailer to haul them behind your other vehicle.
Unless there's a big cost difference in your leave location for a 4x4 truck over the local Cheyenne (and down through the Front Range of Colorado) car dealerships, I don't see an advantage to buying one there ... and then having to transport it to Cheyenne. And that still doesn't address the issue of whether or not you "need" to have one in Cheyenne. If you've got a front-wheel drive SUV car-based platform already, your transportation needs are already met.
Last edited by sunsprit; 05-09-2009 at 07:21 AM..
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