Do I have any friends/people I can trust in Arizona?

We got a nice lil' dragstrip here in Tucson. And I need a motor built. Your heading in the right direction.

 

RIDE-ON curbspeed, yes I know of the track, never raced there myself { yet } but very familiar. thank you. Arizona has my name on it, just need to decide exactly where, TR

 

Steve, thanks and yes I noticed your verse of scripture, awesome. HE has something incredible planned for me, just have to get thru this valley I'm currently stuck in. Faith will prevale, always does for the believer. Yes, Ive lived in Surprise and for a short time in Glendale, big beautiful home with a 30,000 gallon diving pool and surrounded by palm trees. I love the south west. TR

 

Love to see those pugs sometime!!

Thanks brother will keep in touch, TR

OCF, LOL I'm afraid to ask what LBFM is, thanks for your service in the Navy!! my step-father is one of the original ever See-Bees, he's 88 this year. TR

Chris Rock, my new HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

When I was living in Springerville it was real nice, until winter and it was freezing. I used to run down to Phoenix to escape on the weekends. You could check out other areas closer to Phoenix like Show Low, etc. It may be worth it for you to go to the mountains for at least 3 seasons. Scottsdale is nice if you have any $ left after leaving wedded-bliss.

 

Your troubles will soon pass and you'll be soaking up some sunshine in no time. I'll keep a couple cold ones on stand-by here on the westside.

 

Flag has some great summer weather for cruising and what not....I dont think the winters are too bad either. Although the weather is bi-polar because one day it will be sunny and nice and the next it'll be snowing!! So when you get tired of that Tucson heat come up for a weekend!

 

my family is from Tucson south-side its a little ruff in certain areas but the county doesn't bother you if you have cars in your back yard or non permitted shit. i know my brother just finished building him a garage never got bothered. every time i go down and buy a car from some one on the north side there selling cause the city is on there ass over them. i wish i could move back but i don't think that will never happen. as for the drag strip its pretty cool my brother took me there once while i was visiting. first time to the drags and the announcer says now its time for the big wheel racers and i ask him what the hell is that and he tells oh that the guys with really big tires to race. next thing you know these little kids are racing each other on big wheels. he says what the fuck is this shit. i just started LOL and called him a dumb ass and told him oh yeah guys with really big tires.
check hamber enfo, hes a funny fucker and cool to talk to. i make it a point to go see him every time i come down.

 

Not trying to sound like a total idiot here ("again" my wife would comment at this point) but I know some folks in Scottsdale ... they send pics of desert/rocks/creepy crawlies/"jumping Hoya" (sic) bushes etc. They just sent us some pics from a trip north (around 3 1/2 hrs north of Phoenix ... Christmas Village or something like that) and there was loads of snow and terrible driving conditions. Being from Canada and never having been to Arizona, I was amazed/stunned that Arizona even got snow anywhere.

Based on the temps (I hear about) in the Scottsdale area ... I totally agree that you need to "pick the right area" ... you might as well live in an Igloo here in Canada if you end up in the "frigid" spot in Arizona.

Best of luck with your move and the next chapter of your life ...

 

Locally we just have a roundy round 3/8 mile dirt circle track (Cocopah Speedway http://www.cocopahspeedway.com/). I believe the closest (somebody correct me if I'm wrong) drag strips are Barona in Lakeside and Firebird in Chandler. Then there is a ton of off road desert racing around here and then the Glamis dunes are 15 miles away.

 

Lattitude has little to do with it, just altitude. Consider this, the Andes mountains are pretty close to the equator and you will freeze your huevos off there.

 

After my divorce I moved to Scottsdale from NH. I live in North Scottsdale, close to The Boulders and Cave Creek (85266 zip code). It is a little remote but the roads are fantastic for cruising. I wake up to the sun rising over the Mcdowell Mountain Range and at night the skies are clear and full of stars. In the meantime I met a beautiful young local woman and we got married and started a new life together. At night we sit outside around our fire pit and talk while our beagle howls back at the coyotes from the safety of our enclosed acre property. I wouldnt go back to NH for anything.

 

I am moving to Arizonas high country because I love the winters. We have excellent ski areas and winter sports.
My new place is on 12+ acres with hiway frontage and I have permits to build my car museum and race car/restoration shop plus a yard to store over 400 old cars, it has great views too. Taxes are much lower. My new area does get cold in the winter but, not like the midwest and not much snow. However, 40 minutes away there is a lot of snow in the mountains. Also, there are no traffic signals, no left turn arrows, phot radar, etc, etc.
In the last few years now even host 2 more cars shows up here, one with a wild burnout contest right on the city streets with the cops blessings. pretty cool stuff.

I plan to head up there this week for a couple of fun days snowboarding!
I look at snow as something to have fun in, not having to shovel it or drive to work in it.
After living through a half a hundred summers in the valley, Phoenix is just too hot for me in the summer and I know people with $600 a month power bills in the summer. That is nuts on my budget.

I just got tired of perspiring for 7 months of the year and it is nice to wear a sweatshirt and jacket once in awhile. Plus, I like the 4 seasons, not just 2.
Still Phoenix and Tucson has a lot to offer and I will still spend considerable time in the valley as that is where most of my friends are and am very attached to Speedworld Dragstrip having hosting events there every year since 1998.
If you are into boating as I am, esp high performance boating, we have nice lakes plus the Colorado river to race and party on.
You can literally go skiing/snowboarding one day in great snow and then hit the lakes or river the next day in shorts- all in Arizona!

There is so much going on here year around with such varied climates.

 

Another vote for Tucson. Mt. Lemon is minutes away if you want to play in the snow. Small enough to relax, big enough to shop. Fords on 4th is a nice show and Cops and Rodders is another. If you miss the big city, Phoenix is an hour and a half up the road. Nearly 80 today, just beautiful! Snow fall in Tucson last year...0 inches, I think I saw snowflakes for about 5 minutes, but they didn't stick, so no proof! Hang in there, it will get better once the divorce is finalized. Bring them dogs back home!

 

" Marriage is grand.........divorce a hundred grand "

And that my brothers, brings us to my signature.........

 

Yup.............




Don

 

Sorry to hear about your situation TR Im in the boonies in Socal but you have my support,if theres anything I can do let me know.
Good luck.

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Just found out the snowy area I mentioned earlier was apparently Prescott Arizona (and some resort set up like Santas Village or something like that). I realize elevation can bring cold temps (skydiving in the summer from 11,000 ft teaches you that) and I do realize that I sound like an idiot, it's just interesting that the only pictures I ever see (or at least picture in my head) of Arizona are of the desert area ... never realized you had anything but .

It's not like I didn't finish highschool ... I put in my four years ... was kinda hoping to see what grade ten was all about though .... but as I see it, four years of grade 9 is still four years of highschool .

 

Arizona has the largest wilderness area of Ponderosa pine in the US. Not sure of the max elevation, probably around 11,000+.

The reason why most think of Az as desert and Sagauros is because that is where most of the population is- Phoenix area and Tucson. Tucson is a bit higher and thus, a bit cooler. True, Mt Lemon ski area is near Tucson but, it cannot compate to the 3 mountains of Sunrise ski area, its huge.
Az Snowbowl outside of Flag is the main place most in Phx go because it is closer. They have great verticle but, is smaller and much more crowded than Sunrise is.
Still Arizona offers much and is quite varied to all perferences.

Prescott and Payson areas have exploded in population recently. Still nice areas but, not so rural anymore. That last great remote, clean and uncrowded area in azs high country is along the central eastern border where I bought. St Johns, Springerville, Nutrioso, Alpine. You go up there and you swear you are not in Az. It is very different. Yet, there are still plenty of gear heads, car show, a few old yards that you do not see in the Phx areas, etc.
It's all a matter of what you like.

 

Phoenix is only really really hot two or three months a year...Trade that for nine or ten months of pure predictability of sun and great temps...My vote is downtown phoenix. Not a very large city but has something to do everynight. www.cruisinarizona.com Plus what other city can you drive a roadster all year round?

 

Yuma is a decent place to live. I'm happy here. I live out in the foothills. It's very quiet, clean etc. Housing is pretty cheap IMO. Winters are perfect and summers are not bad if you don't mind a little heat. 76 and sunny here today. Also a lot of boating stuff since the colorado runs through here.

 

c'mon now. I guess it may depend on what you call hot. It can get into the 100s by late April and stay over 100 well into the 2nd or 3rd week of October. That is 6 months of average over 100 temps. the middle 2-3 months average over 110 and peak around 115.
Which 2 months are you talking about? we normally have over 2 months of 110+ temps
It didn't cool down this year until just before halloween.
Maybe you guys work inside and do not feel it as much. I am outside everyday and you feel it more. Many people work inside a/c buildings so they do not feel it.
In July and August the LOW rarely goes under 85 except after a rain ( then it is humid ). That means to stay comfy, a/c has to be on 24 hours a day.
For decades to compensate as best I can, I normally sleep in the day time and stay up all night when I can in the summer.
I'll definately agree with you though about there being plenty to do in Phoenix year around.

It is nice to have choices so we can all, potentially, be happy with the climate we choose to live in in Arizona.
The other facotr about the Phoenix area and Tucson are jobs. If you need to work a 9-5 then the populated areas have more options.
I haven't had to work a regular job now since my mid 40s and love being on my own time table each day.
Still there are jobs and business so run in the rural areas and there are pleny of car related things to do in the high country as well. If you do not like winter sports, that would not matter either. I love them and am heading up there in a few hours with my old GTO to do some snowboarding. Lots of fun

 

Yuma is hot and dry and dusty ( just like Maricopa ) but, like you said, you have the Colorado river and hot boating right there. Plus rocky point and San Diego is not far.

Know a guy down there who owns a Hot Rod shop and he loves it.

The worst time of year in the high country is not the winters, it is ion the spring when it can get quite windy. All of upper Az can get quite windy from mid March into about mid May. Still, it is funny, it can be blowing like crazy up there at my new place but, the air is still clean and dry. You could almost build a motor in that wind as the air is still clean.
In the lower parts of the state it also gets windy in the spring but, not as much some some reason. The counter their ligher winds though, you have to put up with all the dust.

Dust is everywhere and all the time in the desert. Very hard to keep anything clean. If you have black interior, lots of luck keeping it reasonbly clean if you live in the rural desert areas of Az .

 

Geez. This thread makes me want to move to Arizona now.

Butch

 

Applekrate ... thanks for all the info regarding Arizona. Very interesting. The guy we know from Scottsdale works in the golf business. I thought "why would you move from our area (Canada ... limited golf season) to Scottsdale and have to work 12 months of the year" ... turns out (as I'm sure you know) they shut the clubs down during the summer due to the extreme heat. The wife is bugging me to go visit them soon ... would feel really odd packing my snowboard for that trip.

 

gassersteve, people should the TRUTHE know about YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I'm experiencing a terrible time in my life, like many other members here have and posted thier sadness too, yet YOU send me a UNSOLICITED info about your so called business, like you give a rats ass about someone. 95% of my posts are helping people, and you send me info on your business, GET LOST!!! You wont take a friend request though, but I guess you would take my money huh. THINK AGAIN! I wouldnt hire you to build a house for a dead dog! People respect my opinion on many subjects, WAIT TIL THEY ASK ME IF I KNOW ANY CONTRACTERS IN ARIZONA!!!, or better yet, WHO THEY SHOULD NOT TO CALL. Wake up, your selfish and ignorant poor excuse of solicitation, this is exactly what the HAMB is NOT about.

 

Uh,^^^^^,,,,,I have an acre in Vail, just east of Tucson and youre welcome to store stuff there, and I have a BBQ we can put something on.
I've been divorced too and know what its about.
Its not the divorce thats the bad part. Its what pushes you to it.
I've never had a bad divorce, I HAVE had to endure the pre divorce BS.
39 in the morning, 68 right now.

 

Thank you , I genuinely appreciate that. GASSERSTEVE, sends me this, " I am a licensed contracter in Glendale if you need a shop built, I'm your man ".
When a HAMB member has a loved one that passes, does he send this PM, " I can build you a coffin, I'm a licensed contracter in Glendale, I'm your man " TR

 

He probably meant well, I dunno...........

Anyway, best of luck on your next stage of life here, let me know if I can help somehow.
John