Like some others, I've bounced around the US a bit too. I was born in Montana, lived in Chicago, Virginia, etc. I've been in Arizona for 17 years and I really can't think of another place I would rather live. Don't get me wrong, Arizona isn't utopia -it has it's own problems. It takes a year or two, but you will eventually get used to the temps here. I commute to work on my bicycle during the summer when daytime temps get to the 110's. I don't even turn on the air in my truck until the temp hits three digits. The temps right now are in the 50's... I have to use a heater in the garage to work on the car. Normal winter for most people means 3 months of the year you are going to run from your heated car to your heated house and not spend a lot of time outside. That is the Arizona summer = you run from the air conditioned car to the air conditioned house. It's really no big deal. The automotive hobby is pretty big here. There's almost always something going on. I don't have kids, but I know you have to be carefull where you buy a house so you can get into a good school district. But that is pretty much true anywhere. I lived in Montana for about 5 years before I moved to Arizona. I can tell you this: No more scraping ice off of your windshield. No more snow on roads, no more gravel or salted roads, no more jackets that are three inches thick, gloves... it's nice. If you want snow, it's just a few hours away.
Fl, Ga, Al. doesn't stay cold for long, usually just a few days @ a time. No State income tax in Fla.
Mohawk! My buddy lives in South Range, you guys do get more then your fair share of snow, thats for sure. Ive been there in both summer and winter, its some beautiful country.
Stitchn says that Oregon is 'nice' but too much rain...that only true if you settle West of the Cascade Mtn Range. Portland gets about 70-80 inches of precip and its 99% rain, going sideways... The coast is even worse... On the East side of the 'pass' you get treated to High Desert climate. You get four real seasons. Here in Bend (3900 ft el) Summertime highs are around 100 and Winter lows around 20, BUT we average only 12 inches of precip anually. You get some world class skiing, snowboarding, and the fishing is awesome. Like alot of places, the real estate market is in the tank so this is an excellent time to buy and in the Bend area there are plenty of 10A and 20A parcels available. Certainly not as cheap as some of the Southern states but a whole lot less than Calif....and if you need the CA 'scene' it is a 10 hour drive to LaLa land. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend,_Oregon .
Not much in the way of heavy industry here in AZ....and I think the latest jobless numbers show things are not quite so rosy, but probably nowhere near as bad as it is up there. The big citys Phoenix (metro area) and Tucson are getting to be big cities, so there's plenty of bad stuff for kids to get into. Phoenix gets really hot (and surprisingly humid) in the summer, Tucson gets kind of hot but it's dry until the rains come in July. I live down in Sierra Vista, seems that employment is pretty good here, although most good jobs have to do with Ft Huachuca, either in communications, intelligence, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Getting a job might be a challenge, but if you can get on Civil Service the bennies and job security is great. Because we're up around 4500 ft elevation, it never gets hot here (AZ definition of "hot" is over 100), it only snows a couple times a year and hardly ever sticks around more than a day. Population is somewhere around 50k or so in the immediate area. There are other small towns in AZ and NM that have similarities...the big thing will be to find somewhere that has job openings where you have skills, and frankly AZ is not the industrial center that the Great Lakes region is.
Here's another vote for Texas, Dallas / Fort Worth area, to be specific. The jobs are plenty, houses are cheap, interest rates are very low, people are friendly, and the roads are unsalted so there's plenty of solid project cars to pick from. My daily is a 1996 Ford F150 with 236K miles and no rust. When the drive train finally dies, I'll replace it from the junk yard and drive it another 100K because the body is still good. I'm spending the money I would have spent on new utilitarian transportation on hot rod parts instead. It's like getting a free hot rod, if you're humble enough to drive an older used car in the mean time. With Northrop Grumman, Bell Helicopter, the Chevy plant and much more that I can't remember right now, you should have no problem finding a job. There's no state income tax but property tax is high. Dallas is more expensive than Fort Worth due to taxes and toll roads. Dallas public schools are horrible and ineffective. They just laid off a very large number of teachers because of an "accounting mistake." I don't own a parka, only a couple of light, hoodless jackets. Sometimes I have to use them both at once but only for a few days at a time. It gets hot in the summer, but not like Arizona. Don't move to Houston, it's too humid there. D/FW is not humidity free like Arizona, but it's dry enough that the hottest part of the summer is bearable. I used to work outdoors and was able to withstand it for several hours at a time, if I had plenty of water and sun block. (I'm light complected.) I'm sure it has it's problems, like anywhere. But I've lived in both Michigan City and North Arkansas, and it beats both of those hands down. The culture is not like it's portrayed on TV. No one wears cowboy hats or drives convertible white Cadillacs with horns on the hood. The barbeque is truly stereotypically good if it's made with the native mesquite wood. You should learn the following words: Y'all (yall) - You all. "Y'all's car is cool." Fixen (ficks-sen) - Preparing. About to. Thinking about doing something. "I'm fixen to go here in a minute." Mayonnaise (mey-uh-neyz, mey-uh-neyz) - Mayonnaise some good looking legs. Aggie (ah-gee) - A person who has attended Texas A&M University. Remember all those Pollock jokes? Insert the word Aggie in place of Pollock. Here's a joke they tell on the A&M campus: Aggie #1 says,"How many Long Horns does it take to screw in a light bulb?" (A Long Horn is the mascot of the University of Texas at Austin.) Aggie #2, "I don't know. How many?" Aggie #1, "ONE!!!!!!" And then they all laugh and laugh and laugh... Good luck on your search for a new home.
livin in southern michigan right now for 10 years..moved here from southern most ohio, wes of cincy...i've lived in texas, 35 miles north of Austin off I-35...very nice weather there, lots of freezing rain and fog on overpasses...lived in Tucson in 75..was nice small town back then..still have family there but it has lost it's small town charm..great weather though..when it's 90 there it feels like a good mich 80..very dry....i worked at a golf course back in 75 there..they freaked out over people who knew about trees and grass..these are hard to grow there..Fla, we almost moved there in 72, and i have family there still also..but the work there is not too great...if i move it'll be back down to cincy..good town, winters are not as hard as mich, great area for schools and jobs....don't let the media hype fool ya..figure i'll retire in the next 3 years and won't care where i call home..i'll be too busy driving the Lil Beast all over this country...i still have a small cheap to heat house in cincy..figure it'll do for when i need a rooted place after i retire...but i don't think i'll need it, but it's there..paid for ...
Man, move to Texas.... San Antonio, has not been affected by the economy, 20,000 construction jobs are needed at combined (Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy) military Medical Center that will be started as I type, Caterpillar has agreed to move to Seguin (right outside of SA) that's 1400 new jobs. The Aeorospace industry is huge here, with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and tons of private companies. Toyato Tundras are built here... Dude San Antonio is getting bigger, we have tons of hot rod enthusiast, Austin is about and hour away, Dallas 6, Houston 4 hours.... The Texas Hill Country is beautiful, the rivers, the beer, the music, the food, the people, Texas is it. I've lived in Phoenix 4years, San Diego a little over a year (paid 1800 a month on renth for 650 sq ft, now I'm in North Carolina. Texas is home and I miss it.. The Austin scene is getting better, but the SA scene has been doing it longer.. Either way a lot of Love for Texas. Dallas has a bunch of crazy mother fuckers out there (coolest guys I've ever met)... Just get down here... Oh yeah my buddy just sold his house 350 G's in less than a month. That's how strong the economy is here...
Upstate New York ! We're a regular f'ng Garden of Eden, or at least we wil be, when global warming is fully kicked in.............
on the beach, watching 'burgs floating by! Hey algore! Workin' any new frightning revelations for us little people?
It's almost 63 now and should be 65-67 by late afternoon and I am taking the coupe out today to a car show. Arizona is great and have lived here my whole life. Only other place I would move is So Cal just for the beach and lower temps in the summer but you can get used to 110 but 115 is hard, I won't lie to you.
Now that's thirteen kinds of funny! Southern OK, or pretty much anywhere in TX is good. Nice weather year-round, but the only problems here are tornadoes and winter ice storms. Austin is the Texas version of Boulder, CO, or Berkeley, CA - whacko far-Left Socialist enclaves - avoid at all costs! Other than that, there is work here and the economy sure as hell is NOT Michigan!
Ditto! I came to Arizona in the winter of 76 on my way to California.All I had was my clothes and tools,I checked out Phoenix and didn't leave.The city has grown a lot from under a mill. to over 2mill.BUT You can still get out and enjoy the dessert. I know this happens in most towns but as Christmas and the New Year approaches you see Hot rods,Lowriders,Monster trucks,Rat Rods and all on the street.It's like a Christmas present to me when your sitting at a lite and you hear a rumble getting closer and closer and then it pulls up beside you and you can just imagine what you see and hear.This is the best time of year for awsome machines,Makes me want to go cruising right now!
I'm with ya buddy! I am here sitting because I am "WAITING" for the wood stove to heat the damn garage up enough to do ANYTHING!!! Ken
billj I forgot when I came to Arizona I was leaving all the snow and winter stuff in Michigan.If I want winter I just drive towards Flafstaff and it's just like good ol Michigan.My oldest son is at the Snow Bowl skiing right now.Then when you've had enough winter you drive home where it's nice.
Bakersfield is about 2 hours from the sand or the snow. Billet Proof is prolly the furthest show from here its prolly 3 or so hour drive. March Meets and Hotrod Reunion are here in town. With the market the way it is, Bakersfield is not to expensive.
lived 10 yrs in the UP and enjoyed the time spent there, but middle ga is home. Our town was voted best place to raise a kid, good schools, And the American Little League has decided to headquarter here. there are several acft shop in the area, Bluebird, is opening up a huge new plant.then there is always the base.17k people there. 2 dragstrips within 30 miles, and 76 degrees today.
We'll make room for anyone but Californians, so you're more than welcome. It was in the 80's , the next day in the 20's & 30's , then into the 50's, 60's, 70's, and back up to the 80's yesterday. I hate the cold weather with a passion. Anything under 65-degrees pisses me off and I'm in a bad mood. Texas winters are short, the the temperatures are constantly changing.
It was 73 here in Charlotte, NC yesterday and I was driving my roadster this week. Pretty decent weather and if you want snow the mountains are only 1-2 hours away!
You will love it in Texas. I'm originally from Sioux City, Iowa. I've been in the DFW area for 20 years now. I can't imagine ever living north of the Red River. There are alot of jobs here. Look on Monster. The living is reasonably cheap. There is a very healthy Hot Rod community. I was out in the garage today, in shirt-sleeves, working on the "new" motor for my Model A Coupe project. Come on down for a visit. Daniel
I grew up vacationing on the white sand beaches of FL. After two years of college, I looked at the fact older people don't relocate for two main reasons, family and jobs. I was just a server, and not married, so I packed up my bags and headed down here.
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