Her sister-in-law had bought rural property near Tonganoxie, and Grimstead came to visit and take a look around.

“It’s a small town, the people there were very, very, very friendly, it just kind of piqued my curiosity,” Grimstead said.

The result is that Grimstead, who operates a home-based daycare in Lawrence, plans to move to Tonganoxie in May. She plans to bring her daycare business, Rechelle’s Daycare, with her.

Grimstead, who has operated her Lawrence daycare for 10 years, said she found the perfect home for her business in Tonganoxie.

It’s a house at 714 River St., complete with a separate kitchen, laundry, room and full bath on the lower level.

“If somebody said, ‘How would you like your house built to run a daycare out of?’ This is how you would want it done,” Grimstead said.

Grimstead, who plans to license her facility for a maximum of 10 children, has two children of her own who will be moving to Tonganoxie with her — a son in junior high and a daughter in high school.

This, too, played into her decision to move to Tonganoxie.

“I talked to a couple of young people out here that had graduated (from Tonganoxie High School) in the past few years and they really liked the school system,” Grimstead said.

And, she said, the cost of Tonganoxie’s real estate further enticed her to make the move. She had looked into adding on to her Lawrence home, or buying another home in Lawrence. It made more sense financially, to buy a house in Tonganoxie.

“I compared the price of real estate,” Grimstead said, noting her Tonganoxie house would have cost about twice as much if it were in Lawrence.

She’s looking forward to making the move in late May.

“I’m really excited,” Grimstead said. “Every once in a while we just have to jump in the car and drive past it (the house in Tonganoxie) again.”