The area where Rick lives sounds like what you are looking at.

Take a look on the map from Cave Creek road North of the 101 up to Buckeye Highway, then West to the I-17 highway. All of this area is pretty close to major roads, shopping and so on, yet close to the desert.

When I bought my place in 2001 I could walk 30 feet out of my property and be in bare desert. Now they developed the area North of my place and its houses but they are 300 yards away.

There are places in this section I mentioned above with 1-10 acres of land and where you can do what you want, yet be in town pretty quickly.

I like being north of the 101 too, but there are some cool houses around Bell and 44th that are not HOA's.

Ruf, you can't use a non-AZ CCW here once you become an AZ resident. UT permits are no longer accepted in NV and AZ permits never have been. Don't worry though. Pretty good chance that AZ is soon to abolish requirement for a CCW to carry. Problem is that the cops have become dependent on the fee revenue from the applications and a lot of local gun stores make good money on the CCW classes. Once they abolish the law, permits will only really matter for out-of-state reciprocity. But you can get the permit and class for about $100 total and it takes less than two weeks for the whole thing. Gun culture here is second to none. Really. I just got made at a Coldstone Creamery an hour ago and no one said anything. The gun buster signs do not have the force of law unless they serve booze there.

thanks Joe! this is sounding better by the minute!

Joe means Carefeee Hwy (SR 74). I live at the intersection of that and I-17. Smoking deals on houses here and a little south in 85050. I would prefer to live somewhere between Pima and Cave Creek Rds., well north of the 101. Probably gonna land a house at Cave Creek and Ashler Hills. Inspection this Sunday. Gargae is three car and can take a lift.

I was gonna say, I don't see Buckeye Hwy on google maps...

thought AZ had reciprocity with UT, at least at the time I took the CCW permit class, but seems like it won't matter soon! Oven or no oven I think I'm gonna love Arizona!

After my wedding, this was the best day of my life, crossing into AZ in my own car, hopefully, never to see the east coast again.
http://fototime.com/D42B080434119FE/standard.jpg

This is riding in Prescott in April, still snow on the ground.
http://fototime.com/D8E6E6CB1D910EF/standard.jpg

Some serious desert here, about 15 miles from any pavement or cell phone signal.
http://fototime.com/FA56B8F58062EB1/standard.jpg

Apache Trail
http://fototime.com/16BF017DDDBA159/standard.jpg

A hard day at the North Rim
http://fototime.com/C5FA3CE0F2310D3/standard.jpg

Bear in mind, the vast majority of AZ's amazing scenery is only accessible by offroad vehicle or horseback. If it's paved, you can be sure it's mediocre scenery at best. You can really get lost out here and it's just endless beauty.

um..WOW. thanks for sharing, Rick

Sorry about that, did mean Carefree Highway.

Rick, were you talking about 44th Ave? Correct that there are some nice places out West but still inside the 101 loop. Even some places with acreage but they aint cheap!

Joe

Here's a photo of "Ahwatukee" that Don mentioned. On a map it's the area that's on the south side of South Mountain park, west of I-10. bordered by Elliot to the north and Pecos Rd to the south. Being on the south side of town we do have to drive a little further to go play in the north, but day in and day out the scenary here is amazing. I'm minutes from some great hiking and biking trails. I live fairly deep in Ahwatukee and can make it to Sky Harbor Airport in under 20 minutes.

Yeah, our lot is tiny, but our house backs to a large natural hillside, we're a few houses away from a 45 acres city park, and we're minutes away from South Mountain park which is over 16K acres.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265435146.jpg

That looks like scorpion country there.

Lee,

You forgot to mention, you're a few minutes from Firebird Raceway!

And we have photos to prove it!

Thank God that my area does not have these critters very often...

ooooh....scorpions are bad. are they more prominent in some areas vs others?

Critters tend to be in those areas that have a lot of turned up dirt, back up to mountains or are relatively new developments. I haven't seen any where I live, but they are pretty common in some areas.

Jeff,

You either have them or you do not. For instance Lee's house must be in a hot bed area for them as he goes out at night and finds them with a blacklight.

I have seen them exactly 3 times in the 9 years I have lived here. Found out that its not a good thing to have firewood up near the house so moved it to the exterior wall and never seen one since. That said I do still spray a couple of times a year to keep anything from coming inside anyways. As well I have gone out at night looking for them around here with a blacklight and cannot find them, so I am not in an area where they frequent.

Same with snakes. This is the desert dammit. We are in THEIR land, not the other way around. You either have them or do not. I have seen two snakes in the last 9 years here and they were dead after being run over on a highway not far from here.

Now, if you go walking out in the desert you are going to find critters. If you do not carry a walking stick, wear boots and hopefully have a hog-leg (pistol) with you, you are silly. A friend of mine lives out in the real desert and he has a .357 with snake-shot loads in it and uses it often.

Do not let the possibility of critters scare you. They are everywhere. Back in the mid-west where I used to live they had them, just different flavours. Texas the same. Just take precautions and keep your eyes open until you are there for a while and know what to look for.

thanks for the clarification Joe. I think the rest of us will be fine, but it's the dog (4 1/2 year old german shepherd mix) that I'm a bit concerned about...

is firebird the track right next to I-10? i just drove past it a few weeks ago. a 911 was testing, and doing laps.

you guys have me ready to pack up and move? what is the job market like..for a civil engineer, and a nurse? california is pissing me off. be nicer closer to my mom and brother too...and further from the in-laws...shhhhh.

seems a bit easier for her than you, at least in phoenix

Civil / Structural Engineer
phoenix all jobs classifieds "nurse" - craigslist

we're getting ready...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265502804.jpg

Firebird is right next to I-10. We have two tracks in Phoenix, Firebird and Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). They are both okay tracks but pretty small. As an instructor told me once, we are lucky to have any tracks at all. They are not "real" road courses like Road America or Road Atlanta. And Cali has some great, famous tracks as well.

Bob Bondurant has his school at Firebird. He used to be at Sears Point many years ago but moved to Phoenix - can't remember why

Jeff,

When you get a place they have disclosure. Ask them about everything (a good realtor will do this for you) and if its in a area where there are scorpions, look elsewhere. Its not everywhere...

thanks Joe. I'm waiting for a reply from Eric...

Hey Jeff,

Sorry for the delayed reply (looong week). Anyhow, good info from all the fellow locals here (and thanks for the kind words). I just replied to your PM with my #, so give me a shout anytime. At the very least, let us all know when you nail down a date/time that you will be in the greater Phoenix area, and we will grab some grub and a brew or two!

SmileWavy

no problem Eric! Will update as soon as a better route/plan is uh..planned.

Do you want the bank account number now or later? :)

Hey, how are things going in the RE side of things? Starting to move a bit more than last fall I hope? They sure are in the aviation side.

the g/f found some houses she likes in Cave Creek...lots of space for car stuff so i'm ok with it. She also for some reason found one in Buckeye...worth looking into or is it an area that should be avoided?

Just be careful with Cave Creek on the land use restrictions and prices.

Buckeye is awful far out West but have not heard anything difficult about it. Just depends on where you guys are going to be working. Personally I would not go out there but thats me. Like the Northern part of town.

Any better idea on when you will be coming in the area?

I was searching the area you had mentioned (west of cave creek before I-17) and couldn't find much for sale in terms of ok prices and acreage...but then again the g/f was searching earlier and by the time I got to it was it was past 1:30am... will search some more today. Will also read into the restrictions on the Cave Creek town website.

We will probably forgo Flagstaff as it gets too cold there, which means we'll check out Prescott first (probably get there just before noon), and be in Phoenix mid to late afternoon. We'll then spend the rest of the day as well as Monday in the Phoenix metropolitan area, then head out to Tucson on Tuesday, then head on back mid afternoon. This will probably depend on if/when Eric can show us a few properties as well, so I'll update as soon as I hear back from him.

Hey, our place will be back up for rent soon. I-17 and Carefree Hwy., three car garage and pretty nice house for $1450 a month.

Am out of town until mid-day on Monday. You talking this next week?

Anyone else up for a PPOT gathering Monday night?

Something like we did last time with Eric, Rick and myself up North?

Rick - when does it become available?

Joe - yes. this coming week. Arrival into AZ before noon this coming Sunday. Am certainly up for a PP gathering Monday night!

Lets start forming it up then!

Monday night. Where?

Yeah, I should be around that night.

I am hoping to be out of here by end of March, certainly end of April at the latest.

Walk into Kolby's corner pocket in Tempe...it would help if you carry a cue. Tell 'em you have $25K in your pocket, and you want to play "The freezer" some one pocket, a race to 25 for the cash. Then you'd get to meet the best pool player in the state...Scott Frost.

Warning...he's the best on the planet in one pocket...he took the cash from the backers of the great Efren Reyes of the Philippines. One pocket is the pool equivalent of chess.

Seriously, Jeff...hope you and your girlfriend do well in Arid-Zona...:)

thanks paul :)

Any recommendations for an asian market? Kinda spoiled in the SF bay area where there are a ton of asians...but if not that's ok. Just means we get to eat mexican more often!

This one of the downsides to Phoenix. The only decent Asian markets are Ranch 99 in the Chinese Cultural Center, almost in Tempe, Lee Lee in Peoria and some more in Gilbert or Chandler. They're all pretty far from where I live. We have just gotten in the car and driven to LA for dinner before and then gotten dim sum the next morning and come back home.

Hate to break it to you but we are NOT driving to SmellyLA for dinner!

There is a pretty good dim sum place but its in S. Phoenix. A lot of us (all of us on this thread) live in the North, but Don and Lee and maybe some others in the rest of the area want to come as well.

BTW, they are rabid on drunk driving around here, so we are very careful of driving after a drink. Thats one reason why we do not want to drive just anywhere for dinner and a toddy.

Joe

Anyplace you guys wanna go is cool with me. I don't drink (allergic to alcohol) so it's not a problem ;)

Ranch 99 in Tempe? I have almost nothing else left to worry about! :p

Oh yeah, just double checking. Since majority of AZ does not do daylight savings, what time is it there compared to PST? Is it one hour difference now, or an hour difference after we "spring forward"?

Also, just wanted to confirm...front license plates are not required in AZ, correct?

No front plates in AZ and we're an hour later than CA until March.

thanks Rick.

As of last night the plan has changed...after going through hundreds of house listings in Prescott (1/2 of which had snow in the pics) and Tucson, the g/f no longer has any interest in seeing those places. We'll be in Phoenix mid morning Sunday. :)