Living in Arizona questions
The following users liked this post:
joemessman (03-12-2019)
The following users liked this post:
SixAddict (03-12-2019)
03-12-2019, 06:28 PM
#63
Melting Slicks
Phoenix Joke....It's so hot in Phoenix, that it's like baking cookies, 'cept you open the oven and there's no cookies.
UnkaHal
UnkaHal
03-12-2019, 08:09 PM
#64
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Feb 2017
Location: Phoenix Arizona
Posts: 3,031
Received 1,119 Likes
on
764 Posts
C6 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
The way this winter has been going this could change.......love the heat though, the quicker the triple digits get here the less snowbirds also.
03-13-2019, 01:07 PM
#65
Zombie thread, but that's not stopping anyone from reading it.
People think of Arizona as desert. Phoenix is in the desert. The rest is more mountains than desert. Flagstaff, Payson, Show-Low, you've even got snow skiing at some of those locations.
To go north or east out of Phoenix you're going to go through some serious mountains on some truly spectacular roads. "Arizona Highways" isn't a joke. There are some well engineered roads you can really wring out with a good sports car, like the Beeline Highway from Scottsdale to Payson, or even I-17 itself from Flag to Phoenix through "Bumblebee" . 191 from Clifton to Eager is the "twistiest road" in America. I've done it --- on a motorcycle! Wahooo!
Phoenix is the biggest piece of urban sprawl you've ever seen. Fly in in a plane and you can be over Phoenix for more than 15 minutes before they even begin to descend. It's criss-crossed and looped with freeways, and outside of rush hour you can really haul ***. Luke AFB used to be 20 miles out of town. Now it's surrounded by suburbia.
That big international airport (Sky Harbor) gets you cheap airfares to everywhere. Phoenix is a great JUMPING OFF place to San Diego, L.A., Mexico, ... a whole lotta places you can drive to in six hours or less.... Rocky Point Mexico, SW Colorado...
As for the weather...from about May 1 to October 1 it can be misery. Picture yourself stuck in traffic in triple digit weather. People basically live indoors in the summer here. There's no escape from the heat, and when the water in the swimming pool gets up to 90, it's no fun either.
The winters, however, are spectacular. Snowbirding in Phoenix is the way to go.
Anything you want you can get in Phoenix, from delicious ethnic foods, cheap, to having a differential rebuilt.
I live in "America's original retirement community" Sun City. Because there's no school district, our taxes are incredibly low. Golf, rec centers. And lots and lots of car buffs.
It's a little oasis, clean, relatively free of crime, litter, and other bad behavior. Tight HOA's. A real step back in time. I happen to like it.
I went to school @ ASU in 1980 and left for San Diego after two brutal summers. Now I'm back, but just for the winters.
Typically retired folks come down to VISIT someone living in a place like Sun City, see how easy the winter is here and how cheap a house can be had, and the next year they buy a 2nd home here. Lots of Canadians, Minnesotans, ...
Traffic would be my one complaint.
People think of Arizona as desert. Phoenix is in the desert. The rest is more mountains than desert. Flagstaff, Payson, Show-Low, you've even got snow skiing at some of those locations.
To go north or east out of Phoenix you're going to go through some serious mountains on some truly spectacular roads. "Arizona Highways" isn't a joke. There are some well engineered roads you can really wring out with a good sports car, like the Beeline Highway from Scottsdale to Payson, or even I-17 itself from Flag to Phoenix through "Bumblebee" . 191 from Clifton to Eager is the "twistiest road" in America. I've done it --- on a motorcycle! Wahooo!
Phoenix is the biggest piece of urban sprawl you've ever seen. Fly in in a plane and you can be over Phoenix for more than 15 minutes before they even begin to descend. It's criss-crossed and looped with freeways, and outside of rush hour you can really haul ***. Luke AFB used to be 20 miles out of town. Now it's surrounded by suburbia.
That big international airport (Sky Harbor) gets you cheap airfares to everywhere. Phoenix is a great JUMPING OFF place to San Diego, L.A., Mexico, ... a whole lotta places you can drive to in six hours or less.... Rocky Point Mexico, SW Colorado...
As for the weather...from about May 1 to October 1 it can be misery. Picture yourself stuck in traffic in triple digit weather. People basically live indoors in the summer here. There's no escape from the heat, and when the water in the swimming pool gets up to 90, it's no fun either.
The winters, however, are spectacular. Snowbirding in Phoenix is the way to go.
Anything you want you can get in Phoenix, from delicious ethnic foods, cheap, to having a differential rebuilt.
I live in "America's original retirement community" Sun City. Because there's no school district, our taxes are incredibly low. Golf, rec centers. And lots and lots of car buffs.
It's a little oasis, clean, relatively free of crime, litter, and other bad behavior. Tight HOA's. A real step back in time. I happen to like it.
I went to school @ ASU in 1980 and left for San Diego after two brutal summers. Now I'm back, but just for the winters.
Typically retired folks come down to VISIT someone living in a place like Sun City, see how easy the winter is here and how cheap a house can be had, and the next year they buy a 2nd home here. Lots of Canadians, Minnesotans, ...
Traffic would be my one complaint.
Last edited by wadenelson; 03-13-2019 at 06:27 PM.
03-13-2019, 01:48 PM
#66
Le Mans Master
To go north or east out of Phoenix you're going to go through some serious mountains on some truly spectacular roads. "Arizona Highways" isn't a joke. There are some well engineered roads you can really wring out with a good sports car, like the Beeline Highway from Scottsdale to Payson, or even I-17 itself from Flag to Phoenix. 191 from Clifton to Eager is the "twistiest road in America.
Traffic would be my one complaint.
03-13-2019, 03:02 PM
#67
Don't forget your radar detector for that one!
Try sometime to drive 64 from Tierra Amarilla to Tres Piedras (outside Taos) New Mexico. It's the last of the great fast roads in America. Often it's closed in winter; they don't plow it.
Last edited by wadenelson; 03-14-2019 at 11:11 AM.
03-13-2019, 03:28 PM
#68
Le Mans Master
Yes, I'm equipped with a K40 KA band plus laser jammer. It's been years, but lived in NM and had property in Angel Fire. Yep, I know the road.
03-14-2019, 10:45 AM
#70
Car or motorcycle, that road is like a 2 1/2-hour tune-up for your riding/driving skills. We stopped repeatedly to take a break from ALL THOSE CURVES!!!
03-14-2019, 11:19 AM
#71
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Nov 2015
Location: Lake Havasu City Arizona
Posts: 7,326
Received 3,439 Likes
on
2,059 Posts
I'll be driving that Clifton to Eagar route early May. Got tickets to the Yankee Diamondback games in early May and will go on from there. Great way to start the Month of May. 
03-14-2019, 12:16 PM
#72
The following users liked this post:
joemessman (03-14-2019)
03-22-2019, 08:27 AM
#73
Racer
Wow. A lot of differing opinions here. I just moved back to AZ in January. Finally got out of CA. We moved south of PHX to a Tucson superb of Marana. I still have 1.5 years of working in northern CA so will be a commuter for a while. Still better and cheaper than living there even with the commute. And PHX traffic is nothing compared to LA or Bay Area traffic in CA
03-22-2019, 12:11 PM
#74
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Nov 2015
Location: Lake Havasu City Arizona
Posts: 7,326
Received 3,439 Likes
on
2,059 Posts
Wow. A lot of differing opinions here. I just moved back to AZ in January. Finally got out of CA. We moved south of PHX to a Tucson superb of Marana. I still have 1.5 years of working in northern CA so will be a commuter for a while. Still better and cheaper than living there even with the commute. And PHX traffic is nothing compared to LA or Bay Area traffic in CA
03-22-2019, 05:52 PM
#75
Team Owner
Member Since: Sep 2000
Location: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
Posts: 23,937
Received 2,051 Likes
on
1,362 Posts
St. Jude Donor '13
For the third year, we are spending February and March in Chandler (close suburb of Phoenix). Even allowing that some freeway maintenance and construction is underway, the traffic has gotten seriously heavier from two years ago. And at least in the east valley, construction is going wild. Looking ahead, I suspect that the Phoenix area may become a victim of its own success and urban sprawl. As the old saying goes,
"It's so crowded that nobody goes there anymore."
We have tentatively decided not to move here, though the overcrowding was only one of several factors for us.
"It's so crowded that nobody goes there anymore."
We have tentatively decided not to move here, though the overcrowding was only one of several factors for us.
03-22-2019, 05:54 PM
#76
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Nov 2015
Location: Lake Havasu City Arizona
Posts: 7,326
Received 3,439 Likes
on
2,059 Posts
For the third year, we are spending February and March in Chandler (close suburb of Phoenix). Even allowing that some freeway maintenance and construction is underway, the traffic has gotten seriously heavier from two years ago. And at least in the east valley, construction is going wild. Looking ahead, I suspect that the Phoenix area may become a victim of its own success and urban sprawl. As the old saying goes,
"It's so crowded that nobody goes there anymore."
We have tentatively decided not to move here, though the overcrowding was only one of several factors for us.
"It's so crowded that nobody goes there anymore."
We have tentatively decided not to move here, though the overcrowding was only one of several factors for us.
03-22-2019, 07:28 PM
#77
Team Owner
Member Since: Sep 2000
Location: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
Posts: 23,937
Received 2,051 Likes
on
1,362 Posts
St. Jude Donor '13
That's inviting. Unfortunately, we need to be near a major United Airlines airport.
Back in the late 1960's I used to fly for a now-defunct commuter called Cable Commuter Airlines, we went to Havasu and it was pretty out there.
Back in the late 1960's I used to fly for a now-defunct commuter called Cable Commuter Airlines, we went to Havasu and it was pretty out there.
04-17-2019, 11:00 AM
#79
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Oct 2005
Location: Apache Junction, Arizona
Posts: 2,505
Received 89 Likes
on
64 Posts
St. Jude Donor '12-'13-'14-'15-'16
i moved to Apache Junction from Chicago in December 2018 and the traffic here is a mere bag of shells compared to Chicago. The interstate are so well laid out it is easy to commute.