An Honest View of Moving to Gillette Wyoming (Sheridan, Rawlins: rental, credit)

[ambular59501]

Wyonuk: I heard that the oil work will be in the Powder River Basin. Hopefully it will happen. Thanks for the information

[georgiainwyo]

We moved to Gillette in August. We were fortunate to find a very nice, updated 2br 1 ba home w/2 car gar. & yard for $1000. That is really cheap for Gillette. If you want a larger, nicer home you are looking at at least $1500, so it's much more economical to buy than to rent. In our instance (we also came from Montana!) we still have our house in Laurel for sale so can't buy anything here until that sells. But at least it's giving us time to decide which part of Gillette we want to live in, whether we want to buy an older home, new construction, or go with modular. Besides the News Record, another place to look for rentals is on craigslist. There aren't many for Gillette, but they do pop up once in awhile. Also check with the ERA real estate office as they have rentals. Other real estate office may as well. There are still new apartment complexes being built and filling up in Gillette. There may not be a new boom coming, but things are still thriving here. We heard both good and bad about Gillette before moving, but we found that we love it here! People are amazingly friendly, the amenities are okay and if you can't find it here then Rapid isn't that far away and it's a beautiful drive. If you have children, the school system is tremendous. I am a special ed case manager and have never worked in a better district. Any more questions please ask & I'm sure those of us who live here will be happy to answer. I'm a "newbie" to town so can give you the perspective of someone who hasn't lived here long, and others (like good ol WyoNewk!) can give you the perspective from someone who has been here a long time. If you come this way, welcome!!!!

[ruggedindividual]

Originally Posted by ambular59501

Wyonuk: I heard that the oil work will be in the Powder River Basin. Hopefully it will happen. Thanks for the information

I work in the PRB, and my company has a very large share of the leases there. I haven't heard of any oil work headed this way. Most of the existing oil wells that are there don't produce much. Most of the action is happening in northern Natrona county where they're injecting CO2 and produced water into the old Salt Creek fields to recover as much remaining oil down there as possible.

Be that as it may, there's still plenty of work here, oil boom or otherwise.

[celticrose42touch]

Please forward any information you find about renting that at least sounds like our first roadblock..thanks brenda.

[Ready2Move14]

My husband and I have finished school at BYU here in Provo and are likely moving to Gillette (still waiting on the job confirmation for my husband.) I appreciate your post. I am excited to be leaving the Provo area and get out of "the bubble" but honestly the idea of Gillette made me nervous. We are having our first baby in September, so I need to be able to get settled pretty quickly and it scares me a little to be moving to what seems like "the middle of nowhere" so close to giving birth! I'm being a baby because I grew up in Teton Valley, Idaho, an area that is probably not all that different from Gillette, but I perfer being a little closer to larger cities. I've been to Rapid City, not exactly my idea of a "larger" city, haha. But your honest description really calmed me down. I will probably try and post something again if we find out for sure that we are moving to Gillette, we could really use some practical moving and settling advice. As you probably guessed from the BYU education, we are Mormon and your description of some challenges you have run into there are nothing new to us (we both served missions in Europe!) Anyways, just wanted to shout out at some one I feel like I can identify with, haha, kinda feel like I have a friend out there in the middle of the plains. If you have any other comments that may be helpful I would love to hear them!! Thanks!!

[eric#1]

People tend to think positively of where they live. Seems natural. Opinions are subjective. I would never ask someone that has lived in New York City there whole life if they think it is a good place to live, then based on the words of someone I have never met pack my stuff and go there. If they didn't like it they most likely would have moved away at some point. Honestly sounds like you are fortunate. Your husband has a job where he makes as much as he ever has made. Also if you don't want to dwindle your savings so much you should quit going out to eat, especially at crappy restaurants. My wife and I only go to Rapid like 3-4 times a year to shop for clothes and school stuff, its a waste going that far to buy stuff all the time especially if your running out of money.

[septocaine_queen]

Originally Posted by Ready2Move14

My husband and I have finished school at BYU here in Provo and are likely moving to Gillette (still waiting on the job confirmation for my husband.) I appreciate your post. I am excited to be leaving the Provo area and get out of "the bubble" but honestly the idea of Gillette made me nervous. We are having our first baby in September, so I need to be able to get settled pretty quickly and it scares me a little to be moving to what seems like "the middle of nowhere" so close to giving birth! I'm being a baby because I grew up in Teton Valley, Idaho, an area that is probably not all that different from Gillette, but I perfer being a little closer to larger cities. I've been to Rapid City, not exactly my idea of a "larger" city, haha. But your honest description really calmed me down. I will probably try and post something again if we find out for sure that we are moving to Gillette, we could really use some practical moving and settling advice. As you probably guessed from the BYU education, we are Mormon and your description of some challenges you have run into there are nothing new to us (we both served missions in Europe!) Anyways, just wanted to shout out at some one I feel like I can identify with, haha, kinda feel like I have a friend out there in the middle of the plains. If you have any other comments that may be helpful I would love to hear them!! Thanks!!

I understand your fears about moving to the "middle of nowhere". Before we moved, we had a place about 3 miles to the sand in North San Diego County and another place in the Las Vegas but to tell you the truth I don't miss the hustle and bustle ( I do miss the produce in CA though). The people here are really nice and there is lots to do with the community. My husband has joined a softball team and there art classes available at AVA, which I want to have time to do. Rapid City will seem like the big city after you move here and you will also realized that Gillette is a pretty big city in Wyoming standards (4th largest). We just got back from spending a week back in CA and I can tell you I could not wait to get back and just breathe. This is a good place.

[georgiainwyo]

First of all, if you do move here, WELCOME!!! Sometimes I feel like I'm the official Gillette "welcome wagon" even though I've only been here just under a year myself! Billings is the largest "city" I've lived in (just over 100K people) and it was getting too big for me. I can't imagine being in a bigger place. We love Gillette. The people are genuine, good people. That may seem odd being there are a lot of "transplants" here from other places! However, the people who have been here for years are wonderful and I believe that this rubs off on those who move here. I'm a teacher and can tell you that the school district here is outstanding. Before you know it, your "baby" will be going to kindergarten, time sure flies. I am happy that you can come to this site to relate with folks in Gillette. I have made a lot of new friends this way although I've only met a couple in person so far! I think you will find a great group of people to associate with here. I don't know any Mormons here myself, but I do know that the people of the Mormon faith tend to be a close knit group. My daughter & her husband are a young L.D.S. couple and they have made great friends through the church everywhere they've been. They were in Powell for his first 2 years of college, then Laramie the last two. Now they just moved to Cody as he graduated and got a good job there. They miss their Powell & Laramie friends but are already making new friends in Cody. You guys will do fine! Gillette really doesn't seem "out in the middle of no where" to me, but then I grew up in small town Wyoming. You know, how things turn out for you wherever you go have a lot to do with your attitude. If you come here (or anywhere else) with the attitude that you will like it and you'll look for the positives, then you will most likely love it. It's that "self fulfilling prophecy" thing! Anyway, let us know when you know whether you are headed our way! Best wishes to you!
Georgia

[Ready2Move14]

Thanks to Georgia and septocaine. The fact that two people responded so warmly and quickly to my little nervous post makes me already feel pretty great about the type of people that will be waiting for us there if we get the job. The company is supposed to get back to us sometime next week and then we could be headed out there in the next couple of weeks! Thank you for your kindness and as soon as I know what's happening I will let you know. Now I feel very good about Gillette, so many things about it just seem right. Thanks for giving me a good impression to build my "self fulfilling prophecy" on!

[WyoNewk]

One of the bad things about Gillette is that it has a very mobile population. Natives are in the minority. I've been here a long time, but I don't know most people and most don't know me (even though at one time most did).

One of the good things about Gillette is that it has a very mobile population. Transplants are in the majority. You don't have to have name recognition to get things done. Seniority means squat in Gillette.

When I moved here at the ripe old age of 25 (in 1971), my family and I were warmly welcomed. There was an absence of any cronyism. I wanted to be part of the community, and within a few years I found myself on more boards than I could handle. I think it's still that way. If you want to "belong," all you need to do is jump in and go to work. It's also a fairly young population with an average age of about 35. Your young age will not hold you back from anything.

A couple years after I moved here the New York Times did a story on "Boomtown USA." The reporter interviewed the mayor, the Chamber manager, the city planner, the county attorney, the manager of our largest hotel complexes, a couple city councilmen, the public relations manager for the largest of the new coal mines, the managing editor of the local newspaper and myself, the editor/co-publisher of the same newspaper. We all shared a couple things in common besides being community leaders: 1. We were all recent transplants to Gillette; 2. We were all in our 20s.

Gillette has grown and matured significantly since I moved here, but it's still the same in that anyone who wants to contribute to the community is welcomed and encouraged to do so. The one constant in Gillette has been constant change. If you don't like something about the town, get on a committee or board and change it. Your help will be more than welcome.