Thread: Car friendly retirement area (warm)

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I would love to move to Tenn if the wife would stay here!

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Bob

I would love to move to Tenn if the wife would stay here!

That's easier to arrange than you might think.

Don

If you still want to stay in FL, check out the other coast, we live in Melbourne, and I have had numerous mustangs sitting in my back yard, and at this time I have an original 71 Mustang Funny car body sitting in the back yard, with a 4 foot fence that all can see the body, even with its for sale sign on it (know of anyone looking for one?), and not one person has ever complained.

Now if I could retire somewhere else I would look at the Lake Haveseu area, or Phoenix, as they are in AZ, and within 5 hours of most of the central/southern car shows in CA. You could hit everything from the grand national roadster show, to the Monterey historics, Bakersfield nostalgic drags, and even the Fresno autorama. You are retired, soooo make a 4 day weekend at going to some of these shows. Being in AZ you won't have to deal with CAs taxes, or laws, and still be close enough to enjoy their car events.

Mike

Keep talking guys,you will have me starting to pack a box and move north...if I could talk Lynda into the shift,and get a green card easy...

Yes DJV8GA Phoenix is hot, I have lived outside of Phoenix, dad was stationed at Luke, and I graduated from Agua Fria Union HS (that ought to show my age ) even used to cruise Central in a Black with black interior Javelin with no AC but hey I was a teenager then. That is why I was mentioning the Lake havesu area (a little farther north, and a bit cooler), I have also heard of someplace in that area that is developing a car friendly area with a drag strip, and road course on the same piece of developed property.

Mike

Originally Posted by Evolvo

lamin8r,
Want to trade for a house in Seattle. The wife fell in love with NZ when we went on holiday there, me too! I think I've said this before, Seattle is about the same latitude North as Invercargil is South. Probably a little cooler than where you are, but we could make it work. (I could!!)
Alan

I wish...Its probably easier for you to emigrate to NZ,than for us to get into the US..Some years back,I got to know a guy in the Auckland region,who was married to an American woman,so,they spent several years down here,and several years in Northern California,they are still shifting,back and forth,to the best of my knowledge... In saying that,I would still like to think that we can get up there again,on a holiday,at the very least,but would have to sit down and really look hard,at whether or not we could shift up there..But if you folks want to come down here,feel free,,[live,or holiday,would be good to meet ya]Yeah,I gotta be honest,if there was a way to get up there to live,so long as my wife was agreeable,I would look at the possibilities..
Ohh,yeah,sorry for the little hijack of the thread..
Robin.

I have also lived in lake Havasu Az, did it for two years. Now this was about 15 years ago, and it was still developing. London bridge was already there. amazing. For me I enjoyed it because of the lake. at the time, and it may have changed , and no dought in my mind was fun! A tourist town for sure.The weather was beautiful, hot for sure, but a diffrent kind of hot.

Originally Posted by eticket

Now if I could retire somewhere else I would look at the Lake Haveseu area, or Phoenix, as they are in AZ, and within 5 hours of most of the central/southern car shows in CA. You could hit everything from the grand national roadster show, to the Monterey historics, Bakersfield nostalgic drags, and even the Fresno autorama. You are retired, soooo make a 4 day weekend at going to some of these shows. Being in AZ you won't have to deal with CAs taxes, or laws, and still be close enough to enjoy their car events.

Mike

Just remember...it's not warm here in Phoenix, it's crazy hot.

Prescott AZ, been here 10 years, very car friendly area, lot's to do, close to everything--- Vegas 3 hrs, Palm springs 3 1/2 hrs
Phoenix 1 1/2 hrs
L.A. 5 hrs
San Diego 6 hrs
Has a true 4 seasons.
!st place I've lived that I don't need A/C
Of course I live 5 miles up the hill(6500ft) from downtown (5200ft)

You currently live in Fla., so this might not be a big factor for you, but my experience in much of the eastern south is that humidity in summer months is brutal. I love the south/east in fall, winter and spring, but I could not handle the summer humidity.
The only south/western state I have traveled to is Arizona where I have family and I agree that, in winter it is beautiful. During the summer, however, the temperatures in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area (even though dry) are much to hot for my comfort. I found that traveling to the higher elevations made life much more pleasant for me. I actually loved the area around Sonoma which is not as high as Prescott so it doesn't get the snow, but is much more temperate than the Scottsdale area. I'm sure there are other locations in Arizona and New Mexico that could, at varying elevations, provide you with the micro-climate you could find agreeable.
As a Canadian resident, I realize that my personal preferences might be quite different than yours since I am accustomed to a different climate than you. My advise to you is to take some time to travel to each of the mentioned locations during the different seasons before you make concrete plans.

Rod, lots of great places to move to as everybody here has already mentioned. I just returned from a few months in So. Arizona and boy its a hard place to beat for sure. It was my first extended trip there and I'm already planning for our trip there next year. Ya just can't beat the weather or the critters HOTRODPAINT mentioned,,,,, and aside from the 7.2 earth quake we had April 4th in Yuma, it was great.
Larry M

Wow I can think of many, loved SW Tucson, ITYS said it well, +/- make the best of it, no place is perfect.and T.I. I can remember many an afternoon thunder/ lightning storm with local flooding and loved every second of it! And here is one for the memories, woke up Christmas day SW Tucson with snow so thick I could not get out of my yard..Who would have thought! Beautiful. anyway i'm in Louisiana now and I'm doing the +/-.Best of luck to you, Lucky dog..Two years will seem like yesterday!

you gotta see it to complain about it. our farm borders a railroad and county road . on the other end is a hill i own half of so they only thing that could complain would be the cows. i'll eat'em if they do. i built in the middle of the post oaks and cant see anything but trees. we're at the top of the hill country without the inflated land prices and the tree huggin yuppies . life is good in cow country. i've lived in almost every state but always came back to central texas. but living in town sucks no matter where i went.

In the southwest, Arid-zona is great, for the most part, in the lower elevations; Prescott is about 4000 feet, and does get some winter, and Flagstaff is higher, and so, colder in the wintertime. Personally, I like Tucson or that area; Phoenix is getting too "big city" for my taste - hah; look where I live. . If you like small town, and water play, Lake Havasu City is a pretty good "car" town; there are several clubs active there. Here in Las Vegas, there is a "car culture", but it seems to be sort of "underground" - it's here, but the average visitor doesn't see it; you need to get in and get involved to know it exists. In Clark County, we have smog check, but I don't find it as offensive as California's, for some reason; I haven't had any problems since I've lived here. Maybe if I had run up against the system, I wouldn't say that. That said, Las Vegas is not as wide open a town as it is made out to be; it is a big city with city problems, and a very thin commercial base, so we are going through a really rough patch right now. One advantage to that is that property is cheap as heck, but then will it ever come all the way back? Just some observations from my rocking chair.