by Tom Blair
Columnist
I must admit, being in Arizona for the winter is awesome. If you’re retired, why don’t you get down here for a while and try it? The groceries seem cheaper, gas is about the same, but the housing is super cheapo!
In our resort you can get a nicely furnished 12 or 14 foot wide by 60’ to 65’ long mobile home for $3,000 to $5,000 and a nice furnished double-wide for $12,000. And, they are in nice shape. Lot rent is around $300 a month.
The nice thing is the weather and the people. Gotta love those mid 80’s in the daytime and 65’s at night, and no bugs, rain or humidity. It’s true what they say about dry heat, it feels nicer. Plus, there’s usually a nice breeze in the daytime.
Seems like no one is from here. Everyone’s from Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa and or other North Central states. Quite a few Canadians are here for the winter too. The retirees down here seem to have a great attitude, “let’s have fun till we croak.”
We even laugh and call this place, “God’s little waiting room.”
There is plenty to do while you’re here. Shuffle board ain’t as boring as it looks and it takes skill. Bunches of golf courses all over the place and just around the Mesa/Apache Junction area there at least a half-dozen free jam sessions a day, seven days a week. Some pretty good musicians and a variety too, even a “Big band” jam, polka jams, country and bluegrass. There are a couple jams where there will be over 40 musicians and a few hundred watcher’s and listeners.
Casinos? Holy smokes, nice ones! Four or so right around town and several on the outskirts. The Confederate Air Force Museum, a huge zoo, tons of great eatin places and a giant flea market indoors in Mesa is a great pastime and full of good deals. This thing is probably as big as Wall-Mart, Sam’s and Costco combined. Live entertainment, ATM’s and hundreds of parking places.
There are many, many garage and community sales going on all the time and the 2nd hand stores like Goodwill, ARC and Boys Ranch type places have awesome deals. The reason is, there are so many come-and-go people that just donate stuff year round down here.
There are hundreds of miles of hiking, jeep, horse and ATV trails around here and some as close as 2 or 3 miles from Mesa or Apache junction and they’re free for the using.
The scenery is totally awesome! Rattlesnakes? Never see one in the winter, and rarely in the spring or fall. Remember, they don’t like you as much as you don’t like them so they get going when they hear ya coming. Most people that get bit are the ones foolin around with the critters. (It can cost $100,000 to treat a rattlesnake bite, remember that).
You can spend months exploring the mountains, desert, old gold mines, trails in search of beautiful rocks, picture taking, gold hunting or just companionship and a basket lunch while you watch for wild animals in the hills and desert.
We’ve seen wild mustangs, a bobcat, coyotes, eagles, lizards, big horn sheep, deer, wild pigs, (Javelina) squirrels, rabbits and hundreds of interesting birds as we sit in the jeep or on rocks looking through our field glasses. It is cheap fun. We usually go out a couple times a week with friends, sandwiches and a jug-a-Boone’s Farm.
Fisherman…there are thousands of square mile of great water to fish on, and a 2 ½ lb. Crappie isn’t unusual and catfish as long as your leg.
Send me an e-mail if yer a hankering fer some fun.
Road742@aol.com
Tom “Road” Blair
Website: www.tomroadblair.com