We Spent The Day In Ripon

The drive isn't difficult, but it's 40 miles from where we are now, that's 80 miles round trip for hubby when he starts work next month. We decided to make a fact-finding mission to check out apartments, the grocery store, etc. 

The downtown area is very walkable and has tons of local businesses. It is charming. It has not fallen into decay like some other cities we have visited, such as Stevens Point and Sheboygan, where the downtown businesses left and the storefronts are filled with tattoo shops and arcades. 

Ripon is charming, friendly and happy. It's easy to drive around in, no crazy expressways. They have hills! That makes me extremely happy. There is a hospital in town, plus every other service we might need. The grocery store is Hy-Vee. It's pretty good. The prices are almost the same as Walmart. There is no Walmart, which I imagine is part of the reason the town is so vibrant. The Walmart and Aldi stores in Fond Du Lac are only about 20 miles to the east, making them an easy once a month stock-up trip.

What we need is an apartment. Our fact-finding mission came up short. There are apartments there, but with a wait list, or nothing available, or just for seniors, or income restricted, or too cheap (dumpy), and one "maybe". We hope to be able to find something by October. We will be paying for two apartments until the end of the year. We could break the lease, but we would still need to pay the rent here until it had a new tenant. Because of the stupid walk-in whirlpool tub in the bathroom, this place stood vacant for a year until we came along. We took it because we couldn't find anything else in January.

This is the only picture I took, maybe because I was too busy taking notes.

Very similar to where we live now. The only available apartment was downstairs, like we have now. It had not been cleaned. There was dust everywhere. The older gentleman who showed us around is also the maintenance man. What I noticed is that the upper apartments have that extra big window in the living room. The apartment we are in now also has the extra window upstairs. 

For some reason only some new apartments have the extra window, many are built with a big storage area there instead. In any case, none of the new apartments have any vacancies. One has a wait list into next year. Another doesn't use a wait list, after applying and getting approved, one must call, text or email and ask if there is a vacancy coming up. It's first come, first serve, and there are over 100 applicants waiting to jump in.

Anyway, back to the apartment above. It has mini blinds (that open upward instead of murder blinds like here.) The area seems quiet, although there is a soccer field across the street. Other than the soccer field, there are just fields and tree-covered hills in the distance. Might be peaceful, except when they have a soccer game. The school year could be a mess of lights, noise and traffic. Below is a screen shot of the street side.

There are a few apartments downtown, upstairs in those ornate, historical buildings. I only found one listing, and all of the apartments are studio or one bedroom, nice but tiny, and no balcony.

We really need to find something by October.