Will you be on base housing at Ft. Riley, or will you be living in Junction City? And who would actually need to be at Ft. Riley? (it's your hubby, IIRC, that's in the military, isn't it?...apologies if I got it wrong).
I'm afraid I don't know much about housing/utilities in JC, but I do know that if housing is tight there, you might be able to find somewhere to stay in a nearby city. Larger nearby towns include Manhattan, which you mentioned, Abilene or Salina to the west, Topeka to the east, etc. There are also quite a few smaller towns even closer, though finding housing in those might be a hit-or-miss type of thing...great if you can get it, but maybe there's nothing there. Salina is about an 45 minutes away. Abilene is about 20-25. Topeka is closer to an hour. All of that is I-70 driving time.
I've never lived in Junction City, though I went to high school in Salina, spent a year at college in Manhattan, lived quite a few years (and quite a few different times) in Wichita, and now live on the Kansas side of the KC area.
What I "heard" about JC is that it's a fairly typical small-town army base, which is to say that it would be a regular small town, but because of the influx/outflux of so many military folks, it tends to have somewhat of a higher crime rate that what you might otherwise expect to find in a Kansas community of its size. I don't think that it really means too much, though. What I heard as a high school kid from a nearby town isn't the same as what you'd hear from a city resident. Like I said, it's an ordinary army-base town.
JC/Ft. Riley's location makes it a little awkward to get to Wichita directly. The major southbound interstates head south from either Topeka or Salina. There are, of course, non-interstate highways that'll get you there, but they're a little slower. Situated on I-70 as it is, Topeka's the largest city near JC. Salina would be the next-largest. The Kansas City metro are about two hour away. Wichita would be about the same distance.
Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, fire away! |
