Cedar Rapids?

[KBOlsen]

Okay, you Iowegians... I'm one step closer to fulfilling my destiny of being a 'cat lady' in an old farmhouse, with a barn that I can eventually fill with motorcycles and the fragments of the old dreams of my misspent youth.

They've offered me a position in Cedar Rapids... I'd be moving out there in 6 months when my lease is up.

So tell me... aside from being that much closer to MAM, what's it REALLY like out there?

[stk0308]

I grew up in Iowa City, just alittle south of CR.  The south side of CR smells of the Quaker Oats plant.  The 5 Season Center used to be a decent place to see a nationally touring band back in the late 80's early 90's.  And, uh, well, it's Iowa ;D  It won't get quite as cold as Chicago, but almost.  It can be 80% humidity at near freezing temps.  You'll probably see about 1/3 less snow there.  The summers can be just as hot as anywhere in the south.  The rolling hills of eastern Iowa do contain some decent roads, you just have to go looking for them.  Avoid eating at the Amish Colony unless you want to get really fat, but it's good eatin'.  Um, the city water in IC tastes like spic-n-span most of the time(Bloom County joke, the artist used to live in IC)  CR is one of the more urban cities in Iowa, with all that entails.

Helpful, no?  ;D

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

You'd have Lonny and Hitchthingy to visit!

[KBOlsen]

Silly Don - You'd see me just as much as you see me now! :-*

I'd be workin' right across from the Five Seasons... I've smelled the 'Oats and eaten in Amana (you're very very right about the food!)  Can handle the heat, and it's good to know I'll be leavin' all that "lake-effect" crap behind 8)  I even found a Starbucks tucked inside the Target last time I was out there!

Lonny, Hitchthingy, Vic, the Lithium crew... yeah, Iowa could be cool!

[Suzy]

We won't see you this season?  :( ???

[Protein Filled]

When I got to the part that says "cat lady in an old farmhouse", I thought you were offered a job being a Madam in a wh0rehouse!!!

Oh, and Iowa is not cool!. The place smells like pig crap! Do you know why the crows fly around in circles there? They are using one wing to cover their nose. Also, like you mentioned, look at the kind of people who live there: Lonny, Hitchthingy, Lithium!!!


 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Thingy]

Kim-

I live in Cedar Rapids.  Lonnie lives about an hour north.  (There are some local laws that won't let him live in Cedar.)  He comes by to visit every once in a while any way.  Vic Hymen lives in town.  Al Fedderson lives in town (NESBA control rider).  Brad (ducatirider944) is here as well.  What company will you be working for, sounds like it might be downtown?

If you want, shoot me an e-mail at bhitchc o c k@aegonusa.com if you need advice on where to look for a place, etc.

Oh, and to answer your question with a question.  How big is the town that you are coming from?  Cedar is 150,00-200,000 people I think.  It is a pretty decent place except that it is in Iowa... and has winter... and Lonnie.

[dylanfan53]

Silly Don - You'd see me just as much as you see me now! :-*

So silly I cut the post! Okay then, you can go.  But only because I know you'll be back.  :-* :)

[KBOlsen]

Suzy, I'm not contemplating moving AWAY... just away from Chicago.  I've been here my whole life and am ready for some 'greener pastures'.  

Edgar, I'd come to Minnesota but I just can't get into that whole 'ketchup is a spice' thing combined with your two seasons (winter and mosquitoes).

[Burt Munro]

OK Edgar .... now you've gone and done it!  Dis'ng Iowa!  I grew up in Cedar Rapids - would move back there if I could.

Did you realize that the northern tier of counties in Iowa was threatening to succede to Minnesota?

Actually, people in both states were in favor of the move - it would raise the average IQ in BOTH states!

Kim you might find life in C.R. to be quite a change. Local business economy was once claimed to be one of the most recession proof in the country.  Definitely not as ethnically diverse as Chicago.  Large Czech population although almost all are now 3rd and 4th generation.  State of Iowa annually ranks as one of the 5 most literate states in the country.

City slogan is "the City of 5 Seasons" - the typical 4 seasons plus a 5th one - time enough to enjoy the other 4 seasons.  Robin Williams did a concert there several years ago and suggested changing it to the "City of 5 Smells."  Quaker Oats on the north side of downtown, Penick & Ford (producing Corn Sweetners) on the south side, a Wilson's Pork processing plant on the south side and a sewage treatment plant on the south side that even though they put domes over the sewage pits still managed to produce an "aroma".  Never did quite figure out what the 5th smell was!

C.R. tends to have a good number of large, fun celebrations - centered around the major holidays.  Nice Art Museum - C.R. was home to artist Grant Wood - who painted America Gothic.  City tries to offer a number of cultural activities.  Iowa City (25 miles south) makes up for what C.R. lacks.  Home of the University of Iowa it attracts a good number of entertaining shows and productions.  U of Iowa is home to a summer program called the Iowa Writers Workshop which has had a number of prominent national authors pass through. (Don't think K3 has made it there yet!) ;D

Cost of living will be cheaper than Chicago.  Insurance, housing and gas for sure will be cheaper. I noticed a big difference in grocery store prices when I moved from Iowa to STL.

Funny story....  they built a new airport teminal in C.R. about 15 years ago.  I worked there when they had the old terminal.  No loading bridges connecting the planes to the terminal - when you got off the plane you walked down the steps of the plane, across the ramp area and into the terminal.  I can't tell you how many times I stood at the bottom of steps of the plane on a hot summer night with the wind blowing out of the south.  Blowing directly across the pig farm that was on the south side of the airport straight toward the terminal.  And as the passengers deplaned how times I heard the first words of people arriving in Iowa for first time, EWWW, what's that smell?!?  All I could do was smile and say, 'Welcome to Iowa!'

[dicatirider944]

Hey if you move over just be ready for the same question over and over when you travel and someone finds out your from Iowa, "That's where they grow all them potatoes?"  And we are the hillbilly's? :o

[Super Dave]

http://www.iowacitymotorsports.com/

Well, we gotta start there, right?

Rod, Kurt, and the gang are good people.  Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati, Aprilia.  

There's a good contingent of the "Sons of Silence" down the road on 80 a little east of Iowa City.  

Edgar...You ever notice the wind in Iowa?  It's cause Minnesota blows...
 :P