Tucson, Arizona

[SanadaUjiosan]

My girlfriend and I are thinking quite a bit about moving to Tucson, Arizona. I was wondering if anyone here lives in Tucson, or did at one time, or maybe has an opinion anyways.

We've done a fair bit of research and are pretty excited. We're going to go visit it next weekend (of the 10th) to see what we think. We're mostly looking for a community where we can get jobs and affordable living, and also be able to do outdoorsy stuff when we want.

Being an out-of-work bicycle mechanic, I am excited because Tucson has a crap-ton of bike shops. My girlfriend is less specialized in her work, and is hoping to transfer to a JCPenny there, or of course do other retail work.

Most of the negative we've read is that there is of course a bad part of town, and that being so close to Mexico there is a lot of drug traffic, although I know this is true just about anywhere in the US, even if you're not aware of it.

So does anyone have any input? It would be great, this is obviously a pretty big thing for us and we're trying to get as many opinions as we can

[Das Bruce]

Where are you moving from?

[KaiserJ]

my friend lived in arizona for a few years with his family; he didn't mind it... said it was just super dry all the time, and too hot in the summer (grain of salt, this is coming from a canadian)

i'm sure 95% of the violence and danger related to drug trade is contained south of the border. i'd prefer to be on that border than say... living in south africa on the border of mozambique.

jobs and affordable living

honestly this stuff isn't easy to find these days... if you can get it in arizona, then... wagons ho, off you go!

[smoth]

Too hot there for me, my next goal is Colorado.

Then again I like the cold

[maackey]

Then again I like the cold

you monster.

[SanadaUjiosan]

Where are you moving from?

Bullhead City, Arizona... a little hole in the ground I got half-dragged to. Moved here with my mom due to me not making enough money to live on my own, and I absolutely hate it here. Dead little town whose main source of income are nearby casinos...

Tucson is close enough for us to move to without spending a fortune (that we don't have) and seems to embrace certain values we like, such as an outdoorsy disposition and a heavy biking community.

honestly this stuff isn't easy to find these days... if you can get it in arizona, then... wagons ho, off you go!

Yeah... that is sort of the deciding factor on the whole deal. If we can somehow get some jobs lined up, we're doing it. If not, we'll have to look elsewhere.

[lolzorex]

Ever considered moving to one of the bigger cities?

[smoth]

embrace certain values we like, such as an outdoorsy disposition and a heavy biking community.

[SanadaUjiosan]

Haha, as Smoth pointed out...

What we've read time and time again is that Tucson is a city of decent size, but has a more small-town type feel. Not entirely sure what that means (in terms of just how that is the case) but it sounds promising. Guess we'll know after we visit.

[SanadaUjiosan]

An update for those who may be curious...

Visited Tucson this weekend. My girlfriend and I loved it, very nice town from what we could tell. Lots of stores, lots of bikes, lots going on. We liked what we saw. Not to mention big beautiful mountains constantly within view :)

Also, southernmost ski destination in the US, Smoth

Only major thing I didn't like was the butt load of traffic... but as my girlfriend pointed out, it was a Saturday, so it was bound to be heavy... just something I'll have to accept, as I come from a small town.

Went into a few bike shops asking about employment and got a few leads so I'm really pumped. We are going to be trying to move down there as soon as possible...

[Panda]

Awesome, good luck to you.

[Forboding Angel]

Tuscon is a nice place. Pretty much all of Arizona rocks ass. Phoenix is pretty damn awesome too.

Regardless, lots of really good outdoorsy stuff around. Plus, MOUNTAINS!

You're basically near needles atm, assuming the bullhead city signs on I40 are to be believed. I'm a little surprised you're moving from one corner of the state to another, but yes, Tuscon would be a huge step forward imo.

Arizona truly is a beautiful state. The mountains northeast of phoenix are breathtakingly beautiful. I'd been through them several times, but a year ago when I moved from KC to LA I drove southwest from holbrook to phoenix through he mountains again.

Payson is the best kept secret in all of Arizona. One of the most beautiful cities I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Edit: Move to LA so I can have you work on my Mountain Bike! It's a Genesis Two-Nine 29" with front suspension (no suspension locks ) front disc brakes and shimano tourney 21 ratchet shifters.

Only thing I wish is that it had a suspension lock for the front forks and disc brakes in the rear.

Figured I might add the disc brakes when I feel like throwing some money at it.

[SanadaUjiosan]

Yeah we are pretty close to Needles, had dinner there a few days ago. Just reminds me of a typical little tourist town on Route 66.

I hadn't heard of Payson, but it looks like a nice place from what I saw on Google. We haven't been through those particular mountains yet, but the mountains north of there (around Flagstaff) are really pretty to drive by. Maybe we'll have to visit Payson sometime, haha

Pay for me to move to LA, get me a job and apartment, and we'll talk

The bike sounds nice, locking suspension is good to have. My mountain bike is a Cannondale with a Headshok so I can lock it when I ride on the road. I don't have as much experience with mountain bikes as I do road bikes so any job I get in Tucson is going to be a learning experience, haha. Get to learn how to rebuild shocks and work on disc brakes... woo hoo. Give me linear pull rim brakes any day, one of the best brake systems to work on.

[Senna]

I got a mountain Bike, its all carbon fibre, with proffesional suspension, only the camber its a problem, because its all alluminium, and sometimes 1 or 2 years of use i need to change it, it brakes easy with use and 40 euro gone:(, considering the bike has 5 years and was enought expensive.

if i buy the same esample its still very expensive...

about changing homes, i dunno about tucson and dunno hows USA too:).

My mind is visit USA too and see if i can live here, the proffesion i got is very needed on USA and they pay very well, but its a risk if i waste cash and then i find nothing.

And other hunt, ive talk with people from Florida, they visit this city on summers, i love theyr english:) USA people is very open people, they talk very well with other people and says hi "hi" hows you "fine thx, u mate?" fine too, etc.

In Europe specially where i live, the people its very close....such i dont like that, they are close but when someone needs help they helps, not like other countrys like china if they see a kid being rolled by a truck, nobody helps or advise.. even the driver dont care and continue roll the truck till the kid dies....., im not against china or his culture, but things like that i hate so mutch.

Another thing about my city is theres so few jobs... but the city is very nice and passive, so mutch peace, no need stress, people lives here very relaxed:)

Other people need stress, but i hate working stressed:)

[Forboding Angel]

Well the US is big enough and diverse enough that you can pretty much find exactly the type of place that is perfect for you to live if you look

@sanada, dude payson is a couple's wet dream getaway. It's right smack dab in the center of all those mountains. It's a beautiful town and it's actually surprisingly large enough that you can find just about anything you need. I imagine it's expensive to live there though, otherwise everyone would live there.

On my way through I stopped for gas. Totally didn't want to leave.

On the subject of bikes, my brother has a super nice trek roadbike. Fast as a wet shit too. On my 29" mountain bike I top out at around 32 - 34 mph, and that's with me putting some serious work into it. My brother can do 32mph on his trek barely breaking a sweat. Plus the thing weighs practically nothing.

I'm fairly hardcore about my biking though. There is a 100,000 square acre park about a mile from my house here in LA and I go there often.

Lots of pictures I've taken from there on my G+ page ( http://gplus.to/forbodingangel ) (I think most of them are public iirc).

*back* Ok just marked all the bonelli albums as public Me and my brother sometimes take some of the neighborhood kids riding with us as we have a bunch of extra 26" mountain bikes, so occasionally you'll see pictures of them in there.

[Senna]

the other thing from south of USA, its there twisters, and some people love to see them very close, its exciting thought, USA its tropical, but europe isnt:(

[smoth]

midwest senna.


also much of usa isn't tropical.

[SanadaUjiosan]

So my girlfriend and I just got back from our second trip to Tucson. We each had two interviews, and an apartment tour scheduled...

First interviews for us were actually at the same place, group interviews at REI. We won't know about how that went until April 6.

But, the second interviews for each of us landed us each a job JCPenney for my girlfriend and bike shop mechanic for me. I am once again employed! Hooray! (CT withers... )

And to top it off, we loved the apartments we looked at and signed the beginnings of a lease. This is a huge and wonderful step forward for me, finally being completely independent of a parent.

Downside: I start the 6th, my girlfriend the 9th. We've gotta pack up and move very quickly... do-able, but stressful.

But, very happy!

[Forboding Angel]

Congrats man!

[PicassoCT]

So all one has to do to get CT back on track is to murder a few bike tourists ?

Naw seriously, congrats. :D