Anyone ever been out there before? What's the nightlife like? How many tornadoes did you survive?

2/26/2009 6:10:38 PM

my ex-wife is from there........white trash as hell

2/26/2009 6:11:43 PM

I wore out a chick from Kansas one time. She made animal noises when she had an orgasm. Other then that, it was standard busyness.

2/26/2009 6:12:31 PM

goodluck mang! its kansas middle of nowhere

my sister studied at wsu a while ago...no i never visited her...and yes she did survive quite a few snow storms and tornadoes

2/26/2009 6:13:05 PM

when i went out there, it was a bunch of trailor parks, low-income houses, tattoo parlors, porn shops, and bars that looked ROUGH

2/26/2009 6:15:52 PM

i know there arent many hills

ps: just say NO to crystal meth

2/26/2009 6:19:47 PM

(1) the Sedgwick County Jail is full of junkies and nutters. do not go there.

(2) your nightlife will consist of doing the "boot scootin boogie" at one of a number of honkytonks.

(3) thunderstorms are off the hook. you can see them coming for days. the sheer magnitude of thunderheads extending from about 500 feet off the ground to 50,000 feet, will damn near make you piss your pants



[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 6:23 PM. Reason : ]

2/26/2009 6:20:14 PM

if it is in kansas, it sucks

that is the worst fucking state in the country

everything about it sucks

except the whiskey

2/26/2009 6:25:38 PM

Charles Koch owns Wichita

2/26/2009 6:28:13 PM

Don't listen to these people who've never been there or don't know what they're talking about. There's a downtown section with some good bars and stuff. It's not too unlike the Glenwood scene in Raleigh. I went out a couple of nights when I was there, and it was a good time.

Another cool thing about Kansas is that the state is largely covered by a grid of dirt roads. They all run north/south or east/west, and you can pretty much go wherever you want on them. They're mostly straight for miles (like every other road in the state). I drove on them for a couple of hours once when I was out there--you can go 50, 60, 70 mph on most of them. There are even nice houses out there that can't be accessed without driving on miles of dirt road. You can even get on the interstate from these dirt roads. There are a few that would require 4wd, or at least a truck, but they are marked as such. The rest of them would be fine for any regular car.
Do be careful at intersections and stuff, though--there is no requirement to stop in any direction (or really any other traffic regulations on the dirt roads), but you obviously want to take a look in each direction (which sometimes at least requires slowing down).

2/26/2009 6:34:33 PM

i've been to Wichita. a number of times.

i don't recommend it, but there are worse places.

2/26/2009 6:36:01 PM

Well, I mean, it's not Manhattan, but I think everyone already knew that. My experience was that if you go to the right places, you'll be VERY pleasantly surprised.

2/26/2009 6:37:16 PM

Duke, i think you're coming from a different perspective than most.

being in the military can get you sent to some very undesirable shit holes that have absolutely ZERO culture or anythign worthwhile. one strip mall with a convenience store, dry cleaner, pawn shop, and titty bar.

so of course you learn to make do with what's available, but "making do with what's available" does not equal "pleasant" in my book.

so yeah, Wichita is better than some places, but that doesnt make it a desirable place to live.

2/26/2009 6:43:36 PM

i. hate. kansas.

2/26/2009 6:46:35 PM

shitty airport.

that's all i got.

2/26/2009 6:49:31 PM

It's windy.

Since Oklahoma sucks & Nebraska blows.

2/26/2009 6:50:14 PM

it sucks

and jack white is going there

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 6:54 PM. Reason : ]

2/26/2009 6:54:08 PM

i wouldn't really ever want to live there. too far from both the beach and the mountains, and i think everything being straight and flat would get old. i think i'd have a good time for a while, though. I don't know how much cultural stuff there is. I doubt there's a Wichita Symphony, and you might be hard pressed to find a good martini bar or art museum. (I bet there are some good local/regional bands, though). I took a different approach with my visit--we hit up the bars (which were a pleasant surprise), took my friend's Land Cruiser 4-wheeling (and also drove around for hours on the dirt roads I mentioned), and took his 600-hp, E85-fueled Chevelle to the drag strip.

i haven't really been stationed at any of those really piss-poor places you're describing.

1. Quantico: easily my least favorite places I've been stationed, but it's 40 minutes from DC.

2. Pensacola: kinda redneck, but living at the beach is nice. I lived about a half mile from the water, went to at least one beach every weekend, and put many miles on my jet ski. plenty of stuff to do.

3. Whidbey Island--not a lot to do on the island, but 45 minutes from Seattle. Couple hours from some nice ski resorts, and a couple hours from Vancouver. Beautiful area. Good SCUBA diving. Weather sucks, though.

4. Cherry Point: again, Havelock is a military town, but you can live in the beach towns and just drive 20-25 minutes to work. 2-2.5 hours to Raleigh. Buy a boat and take trips out to the OBX.


Don't get me wrong, there are some legitimately suck-ass places to live. I've stopped through a few of them. I've also stopped through a ton of other really cool places. My experience is that there's some appealing stuff about MOST places.


[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 6:57 PM. Reason : i've been a bunch of places, and i enjoy almost all of them]

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 7:02 PM. Reason : OK...I wouldn't want to live in El Centro--but there's fun to be had even there for a few weeks]

2/26/2009 6:56:17 PM

i, too was in the military

i, do not, use tww as my blog

2/26/2009 7:00:12 PM

Hey, joe_schmoe was just saying that I have a different perspective than most due to my being in the military.

That may be true, but I don't think in the way he meant.

2/26/2009 7:03:42 PM

I think miska has family there

2/26/2009 10:02:47 PM

hey Duke,

how about: Adak, Alaska. or, Diego Garcia.



but realistically, im thinking about places like

NAS Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor
NAS El Centro.
MCAS Yuma.
NAS Millington

all of these places suck sweaty balls, but at least major cities with culture and nightlife are a reasonable (1-2 hour) drive away.

the problem with Wichita, is ... that's it. theres nothing else to drive to.

but i do admire your ability to find the best aspects of a less-than-optimal situation. thats probably a trait of successful people.



[Edited on February 27, 2009 at 3:13 AM. Reason : ]

2/27/2009 3:09:15 AM

theres no place like home?

2/27/2009 5:47:36 AM

^^ Whidbey Island isn't terrible all around. There is no nightlife and little in the way of restaurants or much to do on the island, though. It was OK, and like we both said, tons of stuff within an easy drive.

El Centro? Awful, terrible place to live. I've spent about a week there. I think it would be fun to take a dirt bike/ATV/sand rail out to the Dunes, or a dual-sport motorcycle on a ride through parts of the desert. Other than that, it would suck horribly in every conceivable way, and some more that I just haven't thought of.

I've only flown over Yuma. Looks like a whole lot of nothing (although not as bad as El Centro). I'm going there for a month and a half in the fall, though.

Never been to Millington. That's in Memphis, right? It can't be that bad, can it?

Oh, and you forgot Lemoore, CA. That one sucks too.



but there are also bases in San Diego, Hawaii, Key West, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, New Orleans, Las Vegas, San Diego, etc.


Anyway, yeah, like I said...there are only a few places I've been that would just flat-out suck. There's something to like about almost everywhere.

2/27/2009 11:43:45 AM

if your permanant duty station was YAKIMA....your life would suck, probably the worst place ever

2/27/2009 11:52:24 AM

The Wichita Hash House Harriers are pretty good out there. You should definitely hit that up.

2/27/2009 12:00:21 PM

Quote :

"Don't listen to these people who've never been there or don't know what they're talking about. There's a downtown section with some good bars and stuff. It's not too unlike the Glenwood scene in Raleigh. I went out a couple of nights when I was there, and it was a good time."

They have a decent scene if you're into clubbing in Wichita, lots of places techno and rap. Downtown Wichita is ok if you go out on the right nights.

and I've survived 2 tornadoes

2/27/2009 12:02:36 PM

home of the shockers!!!

2/27/2009 12:03:29 PM

I read the whole thread.

Kansensas seems to be that Wichita sucks.

2/27/2009 12:04:26 PM

^^^^^you're talking about in central WA? I've flown over it a bunch...yeah, I would not want to live there. Probably a pretty easy drive to ski in the Cascades, though.

regardless, i wasn't even talking about living in Wichita, so much as commenting on the nightlife being substantially better than people were indicating.

^^^ i'm not into techno or clubbing. the bar scene was decent, too.

[Edited on February 27, 2009 at 12:07 PM. Reason : asdf]

2/27/2009 12:06:12 PM

^^ISWYDT

2/27/2009 12:07:01 PM

2/27/2009 12:10:18 PM

I'm pretty sure Bodi (MrUniverse) used to go there for his old job on the regular. It sucks ass...

but maybe that was Topeka?

2/27/2009 12:11:11 PM

Quote :

"Never been to Millington. That's in Memphis, right? It can't be that bad, can it?"

oh it's fucking horrible. home of NATTC, the Naval Air Testicle Twisting Command.

Millington is the place that has a single strip mall with a combination of

one convenience store
one dry cleaner
one pawnshop
one titty bar

then a non-titty bar across the street, where the skanky dancers go to drink on their off nights.

and if memory serves me, that it.

yeah, Memphis is about 45 minute drive, but hell's bells you're pretty much stuck on base during the week.

2/27/2009 12:12:53 PM

not too much, though I was born there

I remember there being an awesome Vic's Corn Popper in Andover, though

2/27/2009 12:31:37 PM

2/27/2009 12:35:27 PM

it's flat

2/27/2009 1:55:39 PM

You can stand on the arms of the Williamsburg Bridge
Cryin Hey man, well this is Babylon.

2/27/2009 2:07:11 PM

^6

Liston lives there. I stayed with him when I was out there. That might explain my position...he could find a good time and good nightlife in Siberia, I'm pretty sure.

2/27/2009 2:15:02 PM