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Haven't been there in years. It used to be one of the places we would go occasionally on weekends for breakfast.
State your case
- Thread starter Patchouli
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My concerns about Arizona is the summer temps and water availability. Even if you live outside of the desert, does the demand for water in the desert impact the water where people may have wells or live on local water systems?
Haven't been there in years, either.
Just this last year, my dear wife and I took on a whole different way of eating that really limits our eating out. We went on a ketogenic / low carb diet. We do still eat out but the menus are more limited. Standard fare fried potatoes, french fries, baked potatoes, pasta of any kind, rice dishes, breads, pancakes, waffles, cornbread, hush puppies, sweets of all kinds, all of the high carb and high sugar stuff, out. Doesn't mean we don't make low carb versions at home, we do. But eating out can be a pain in some places.
I thought about similar things. Exploring the area around Phoenix, which is quite dry, there is some water and there are some good wells. Wells tend to be quite expensive and are often shared with multiple properties. Gardening definitely requires a water supply but it is possible. One good thing, if able to pump water from the well via solar, that gives quite a lot of independence.
I haven't explored how some of the fringe areas out away from Phoenix might be. I have an acquaintance that moved to Prescott, which isn't usually as hot in the summer but gets a little colder in the winter, from what he says, anyway. Not sure if they get a tad more rain or not. I do know that if you get up into the Flagstaff area, really not that far north of Phoenix, you get into snow country. Have been on some of those snow covered roads a few times before dropping down into a 70 degree valley below. It's an interesting place.
I have my own well as do everyone around me. Water here (like in all states) is a big issue. In some areas in AZ you cannot get water no matter how deep you drill. County websites usually have a page about wells in the county. Some list depth of well, static water depth, and even well output. Anyone moving into any area in any state should get well info for the area BEFORE they purchase. Well output and if possible water quality expected. Water is a big deal everywhere. I have seen wells in Minnesota that had plenty of water but it was not drinkable. What good is that? Our water tastes good and is naturally soft, a big plus for us and others in this area. Well water varies greatly in even a very short distance. You might have plenty of water while your neighbors' wells run dry at the same depth. Water is one of the reasons for the saying - "location, location, location."
My new house has no air conditioning and even though last summer was a record breaker for high temps in the state we stayed comfortable in our new home with no air. A big plus in AZ (and many western states) is the dry air that does not hold the heat so the temps drop a lot in the evenings. Usually there is a 30*+ difference between day and night time temps (summer and winter). Yesterday the low here was 6* and the high was 48*, a 42* change from day and night which is not all that uncommon summer or winter.
Here is a sample of well info------
http://gisweb2.azwater.gov/WellReg
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Well Quartzsite is out. They have delusions of grandeur there. $95,000 for 8.3 acres of scrub land. Not going to happen there but worth checking out. Thanks.
Delusions--so true!
We rented an rv space in a park with a fenced in yard and water included for $1000 a year. Not stay the whole year, but still really cheap! Usually stayed 6 or 7 months.
Such an unusual place though! Close to a million people for about 3 months and less than 2000 the rest of the year. During the busy time, they have the largest rock show in the world, supposedly!
I have a friend that has a few rental spaces in Quartzsite, gold hunting is the big thing going on there as the surrounding area has a lot of gold nuggets. He showed me how to set up my Minelab detector and afterword I found about six gold nuggets, still not enough to pay for the dang thing. I've found a few septic tanks for friends though, maybe sometime in the future it'll find the big nugget or something valuable. Actually the best nugget finder I have is a Fisher Gold Bug II, first time I hunted with it I found 88 small nuggets and the next year I got 108 nuggets with one being 1/4 troy oz., that detector can find a flake of gold so small that it's hard to believe.
In many (or even most?) creeks in Arizona you can pan for gold and find a little color. I have taken many people out when they were visiting and let them pan enough to find a couple small flakes. No value other than the fun of finding them. When I first moved to AZ years ago I panned a fair amount. At first I did it because it was exciting to find a little gold and later I panned because I found it very relaxing in a stressful world.
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Quartzsite has a lot of RV activity. They have had a Rubber Stamp Rendezvous annually that has really grown as a destination for many full and part time RVers. I imagine, like Sturgis, locals are going to try to profit from all the incoming visitors.
Never heard of the "rubber stamp rendezvous". I was there for 7 winters and worked at a pizza place "Silly Al's". Great pizza and a hoot to work at! The only places that I saw really sticking it to people were the tiny grocery stores and the mechanic shops as it was was about 18 miles to the closest of either. Most people rent booths or tents in the shows and sell what they have. Antiques, rocks, jewelry, etc. Thank God they have Dollar General so you can buy some food reasonably and a Burke's Outlet for clothes! The place that people most often ask about is the "naked guy bookstore". His name is Paul and he was a professor in California (shocker)! He wears a G-string and that's it except when it is really cold. Rides a bicycle and lives with other nudists in the desert. Nice guy but you don't really want to be behind him in the Dollar General. LOL He is about 70.
Quartzsite, ten or better years ago had a great flea market all winter. But it had gotten worse and worse until I quit going to it many years ago.
I have always wondered about hunting for gold. It would be nice to have a hobby that actually gave me a little something back in cold hard cash! LOL!
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Since I never really answered my own question...
I know I do not want to stay in TX. It is too hot for me. Summers are to be enjoyed, to grow vegetables and fruits, flowers and herbs. I have tried here, on 2 acres, on 1 acre, in town, I'm done.
Eventually I hope to move away even though most of my adult kids will be living here with their growing families. I still don't know where I'm going to go because it seems like most of the places I have my heart set on seem unreasonable in other ways.
I don't guess it will matter to anyone but me!
I know I do not want to stay in TX. It is too hot for me. Summers are to be enjoyed, to grow vegetables and fruits, flowers and herbs. I have tried here, on 2 acres, on 1 acre, in town, I'm done.
Eventually I hope to move away even though most of my adult kids will be living here with their growing families. I still don't know where I'm going to go because it seems like most of the places I have my heart set on seem unreasonable in other ways.
I don't guess it will matter to anyone but me!
What places are you thinking about? What things appeal to you? What are the unreasonable things that you're finding?
I kinda feel like there are pockets of good places to live in lots of places. There are a bunch of places in the state of TN that I absolutely will not go, don't even want to drive through (like Memphis). There are other areas that seem to have an abundance of political leanings that I'm not fond of. There are areas that aren't all that pleasing to me aesthetically, both too flat and too rugged. But there are a few areas that feel just right. And that's just TN.
I suspect there might be some other states that I could fit into well. It would just be a matter of figuring out which ones and exactly where in those states.
Southern Mississippi, I did pretty well in. (Lived just across the border in LA.) Fit in really well. Central Mississippi was a cultural disaster for me despite only being a few hours drive away and in the same state.
It's a little fascinating to me... I've seen a few maps of TN and NC that don't have a line in between them, it's almost as though they're one state going all the way from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. And though we ended up in north-central TN, I think we could have been happy in south-central KY, or western NC, too. This was just the place that seemed to be right at the time. We did poke around these parts for 4 or 5 years, though, and had our RV parked in a local park for several of those years while we explored.
We may not stay here forever. We've joked that when we can't take care of ourselves anymore that we'll end up with our son, who lives in the Phoenix, AZ area. Hoping that will be at least another 20 or 25 years before we'll get to that point but one never knows. Until then, we'll take it one day at a time.
I kinda feel like there are pockets of good places to live in lots of places. There are a bunch of places in the state of TN that I absolutely will not go, don't even want to drive through (like Memphis). There are other areas that seem to have an abundance of political leanings that I'm not fond of. There are areas that aren't all that pleasing to me aesthetically, both too flat and too rugged. But there are a few areas that feel just right. And that's just TN.
I suspect there might be some other states that I could fit into well. It would just be a matter of figuring out which ones and exactly where in those states.
Southern Mississippi, I did pretty well in. (Lived just across the border in LA.) Fit in really well. Central Mississippi was a cultural disaster for me despite only being a few hours drive away and in the same state.
It's a little fascinating to me... I've seen a few maps of TN and NC that don't have a line in between them, it's almost as though they're one state going all the way from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. And though we ended up in north-central TN, I think we could have been happy in south-central KY, or western NC, too. This was just the place that seemed to be right at the time. We did poke around these parts for 4 or 5 years, though, and had our RV parked in a local park for several of those years while we explored.
We may not stay here forever. We've joked that when we can't take care of ourselves anymore that we'll end up with our son, who lives in the Phoenix, AZ area. Hoping that will be at least another 20 or 25 years before we'll get to that point but one never knows. Until then, we'll take it one day at a time.
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Living in TX, high heat for five months. What will I forage in TX? Lizards. Living where people are friendly or not isn't really an issue to me.
Tennessee is a possibility The south, well, like I said, I am done with the heat. And humidity in the southeast is nasty. We were in KY and didn't like it. Pretty place, but it didn't fit us.
Tennessee is a possibility The south, well, like I said, I am done with the heat. And humidity in the southeast is nasty. We were in KY and didn't like it. Pretty place, but it didn't fit us.
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Elevation can make a difference in temperatures. Here on the Cumberland Plateau, it's often 5 to 10 degrees cooler than down in the valley on either side (Knoxville or Nashville). It's also close to 1,000 feet difference in elevation.
ME seems to be popular among homesteader types, lots of market gardens and such there. I would imagine the climate could be drastically different in different parts of ME, though, how far from the coast, how far north or south, elevation, stuff like that, so locations that you might like may be quite specific.
For us, TN allows us to be within a day's drive of most of the family, all except a son in AZ. Maybe not the best laws and corruption is not unheard of. But for now...
ME seems to be popular among homesteader types, lots of market gardens and such there. I would imagine the climate could be drastically different in different parts of ME, though, how far from the coast, how far north or south, elevation, stuff like that, so locations that you might like may be quite specific.
For us, TN allows us to be within a day's drive of most of the family, all except a son in AZ. Maybe not the best laws and corruption is not unheard of. But for now...
Everyone likes different areas. We are way south but at our elevation we don't even have air conditioning because we don't need it. Winters can vary a lot from year to year with last winter being very mild with almost no snow. Our little garden is growing quite well this year though it requires watering almost every day. Property taxes are very low but there is no work here unless you can do it over the internet.
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I go where the job is.
Luckily my current location is gun friendly.
My next location however will be very gun unfriendly and will be outside the US..so it will be nigh impossible to be armed.. but I need a job ( am unemployed right now ) and also this new job should be very high dollar. Don't have a start date yet though so hopefully it all works out.
Luckily my current location is gun friendly.
My next location however will be very gun unfriendly and will be outside the US..so it will be nigh impossible to be armed.. but I need a job ( am unemployed right now ) and also this new job should be very high dollar. Don't have a start date yet though so hopefully it all works out.
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Would I be too nosy to ask what kind of work?
I had some friends that spent a few years in Qatar, I think it was. Not a very friendly place for them but like you said, very good money.
I don't know of a lot of people with high dollar jobs around here. It's a pretty poor area. Most here are either living on retirement income or disability or maybe farm, which is hard to do if you didn't have the land given to you to begin with. I would guess someone could do well maybe long haul trucking and still live here but that's not something I want to do anymore.
Just curious...
If your new job doesn't work out you should try the Midwest. Other than Illinois-istan and Minnesota, all the states are pretty gun friendly. And in Iowa, at least, if you're unemployed for a long time it's because you want to be. If you're the least bit handy and You're willing, you can work. Housing is cheap, although it's rising, and the hunting is good. The downside is that the weather generally sucks, either butt cold or stupid hot and humid...
Yes. But you can choose your home spot carefully to negate most of the wildfire danger. That is what we did and while we could get smoked out, it is unlikely that we will be burned out at our location.
BlueZ, good luck with the job situation!
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We are in the south desert right now, but I prefer the Midwest. Friendly, hardworking people there.
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It is related to my (mostly) military derived skillset.
Its usually pretty good money but most the US jobs for this are in Virginia, DC+ Maryland and some in Florida + New Mexico.
However there is sometimes call for it abroad so I keep my fingers crossed.. all signs seem to be "Go" but in this area its never "on" until you actually start.
