US-warmer climate to enjoy our hobby?

Been right here all my life. Yea its friggin cold right now,but for the most part it aint that bad. In a couple of months i'll be bitchen about the heat.

 

Ahhh,the grass is always greener.........Lived here my whole life and it would be hard to replace all the connections you make through your life.

 

BINGO!!!
Home is where your heart is....

 

I am moving the family to Phoenix Arizona this summer for a couple of reasons. Weather is one of them. I am in Louisville Kentucky now and have been here for 9 years. I can’t count the number of days I wanted to get stuff done where it was either too cold or too wet to do so. Here is some history and why we are moving:

I moved to Louisville to take care of my father after a heart attack. He has since passed – cancer got him – so the reason for being here has gone. We moved to Louisville from Clearwater Florida. Now that it’s time to make a change, my bride wants (wanted) to go back to Florida. Her motivation is weather and “it’s tropical”. Me, I hate the freakin’ humidity – it’s very oppressive. I suggested the west coast because that’s where I am from. Born in Northern California and raised in Southern California. During a Thanksgiving visit this past year to my Moms house in Ventura County California, my wife and I decided we were going to move from Kentucky. After looking into California, we decided that is not the state for us for a number of reasons. That’s when Phoenix came up. It’s a large enough metropolitan area for us to make a living, and my family (Mother and brothers) is split between California and Nevada, so Arizona makes sense for us location-wise And the costs there are far better for our situation. The decision has been made and we’ll be putting our home on the market in the spring.

I have been in Phoenix in the summer and know what that kind of heat is all about. Hell, I spent many months in the deserts of Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia – I can handle the heat.

We have done a sh!tload of research on the Web and we’ll be traveling to Phoenix for a look-see in February.

So – there is no point in trying to talk us out of it – what can those of you in the area share? What are the goods and the bads of the area? How is the hobby there? What areas should we stay away from? Any info you have to share would be appreciated.

We are in the middle of planning our look-see trip, and based on our web research, we are looking to end up somewhere around (West Valley) Avondale, Maryvale, Estrella, Litchfield Park, Laveen or maybe (East Valley) Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa. Is there anything we should know? What do those of you “on the ground” in the area know or suggest?

Also, while in town, are there any must do’s or must see’s? We’ll be there for four days in February and again would appreciate any info, good, bad or indifferent that you can share. Thanks in advance!

 

A MEN, brother. Upstate Carolinas is great, 2 hrs to mountains to see all the snow you care to see. 3-4 hrs to the beach, depending where you go. Feb and august suck....cold and hot respectively, otherwise pretty nice. Carshows attract rain here, but otherwise you can drive them year round, unless you are too slack to install the side windows.....right, Ron?

But you nawthuners wouldn't like it.....back home is always better and the people are stupid here(even though it is mostly your people), or so y'all like to tell us.

 

Be very careful of the West Valley, you can end up in some real crap neighborhoods very easily (Maryvale is crap anymore) But the newer buildups are nice, just small lots. I have always been partial to the East Valley. Currently live in Southwest Chandler, good schools and reasonably clean area of town.

Join the social group! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=25

 

stay away from tennessee - weather is drastic - women go half naked - lots of mountains - lots of things to do - jobs are sketchy - you wouldn't like it

 

My wife and I left OH in '84, and spent most of our years since then in CO (18 yrs) and now AZ. It was 73 today. I'll never go back to the midwest.

 

Dad's well froze up in mid florida 2 days ago . I'll just stay in good ole ohio

 

GEEZ, I couldn't afford to move your cars. LOL. Joe

 

I want to go someplace warm for the winter and come back home for the other 3 seasons. I think if I buy or build a ROD for that yet to be determined location, I could get to like it just nicely.

 

i was in boston over the weekend.it was warmer there ,than back here in tulsa.

 

If you have kids stay away from arizona, we came here from new hampshire, my kids were 1 1/2 years ahead of the kids here, that was almost 15 years ago, its worse now!

 

I'm also moving to Phoenix in a few months with my wife and pets and cars and motorcycles. She's from Phoenix (Casa Grande) and misses her family and the heat. I'm looking forward to the more reasonable cost of living and I love the desert. I've visited many times and can't wait to be a desert rat. We're pretty sick of always being cold and paying outageous living costs.

I've lived all over Ohio, New York state, Bay area California, and Austin TX. Phoenix area has been my favorite spot other than the farm I grew up in in Ohio. I don't even mind these guys

 

I thought I was moving to a warmer climate when I left Upstate NY for Texas 30 years ago. Not so sure this winter.

 

Its pretty boring here in oregon... doesnt get too cold- doesnt get too hot. no natural disasters.... just humid in the summer and dry cold in the winter.

 

I moved to Florida 18 years ago from Michigan and would never go back. Very few days you could not enjoy a roadster. After you are here a while you wonder why you put up with all that cold and cloudy winter weather. Give it a try, you can always go back. Good Luck.

 

I came down here from Chicago..had friends come out too. The ones that stayed..usually came out in summer. If you can handle the summer..or actually like many of us ENJOY it..the rest of the year is paradise..

Phoenix is hotter than Tucson..but there are more jobs..but both have a large Hot Rod community..

You and family do well this summer..and you join us desert rats..

Winter
PS..70-75* days..but sweater nights..if you can deal with that..

 

You answered your own question.
I Moved from MN to TX - first 25 years a Damn Yankee, last 25 years Johnny Reb.

I miss my family, friends, and 'culture' (for lack of a better word). I miss the four seasons.
They basically have two seasons here - Summer and Ultra-Summer. During the Ultra-Summer take a Siesta. Do all your outside work early morning/late evening and it's doable. The most valuable commodity is shade.

The benefits to wrenching cannot be exaggerated. Life as a bodyman in MN was a nightmare. Everything was frozen, salty, rusted, shot, cracked, seized, worn out, missing, and over budget. After moving I bought a Jeepster out of the Austin newspaper with only 8,995 miles on it. The first time I climbed under it to work on it, I put my ratchet on a leaf spring bolt, cracked it loose, spun the the nut off with my fingers and then pushed the bolt out through with just a finger. It brought tears to my eyes.

Do I regret it? Tough call. No -25 jumping the battery, chipping the doors open, fighting with the snowblower, wrenching my back shoveling snow, swearing at the city snowplow for plugging my just cleared driveway, skidding across the icy street into my neighbors truck, getting stuck in a snowbank and being late for work, etc. By comparison life here is a breeze. Imagine, every morning for the last 25 years I have merely gotten in my car, it has started, and I back down the driveway and just drive to work. No drama. While it seems everything was a struggle up north, winning the daily battles brought an intense satisfaction. Life up north was life to the extreme. And believe it or not I still wake from dreams stuck in a good howling blizzard.

 

I have the deed to my little tract house we bought back in 1972. I ain't going anywhere...besides, where else could I find 360-days-a-year rodding weather?

...just ask Kiwi Kev...I bet he agrees with me.

 

Well i can say one thing moved from Green Bay,Wis to Calf in the 80's and it was fun and had a hotrod shop for 25 years and sold it. The last 5 years was going down hill . Gang crap was getting to me and all the regulations going on ! The people getting rude and not all but most! And my wife was tired of putting young kids in body bags ! So we moved to a better more layed back area and the values of life are back ! It ain't Mayberry but it close!

 

when I was trucking I just wouldn't go home for a couple months and I never had to deal with the snow

back to construction now and home everyday it's a different deal but it isn't going to last... 8-12 weeks and it's gone, you can do it standing on your head... If I wasn't in financial straights I'd have the furnace fired up in the garage working on something. bad weather is the construction companies best excuse for time off.

 

I am amazed at all of the great replies that have been shared here. Thank you very much.

It seems that my wife is leaning towards Florida as her parents live in Naples. I just need to be somewhat close to a metropolitan area.

Thanks again.

Tristen
(my Hot Rod buddies call me Honkey, among other things...)

 

I moved from Long Island to Florida 23 years ago & I love it. This cold snap we're having is unusual.
I'd rather have the heat than the cold.
I've worked on my projects after work in august, but I haven't done anything since new years due to the cold. Glad it'll warm up in the next couple of days.

 

I could never part with them so I might have to become a trucker and buy a semi to get them all down there! Actually I have another 3000 sq. ft. building (the old fire station in a nearby town) I own that I am moving to (it has an apartment in it too). So the move will involve a lot of trips back and forth the next year after I build my new house/shop in Prescott.

 

Moved to Lake Havasu 5 years ago. Couldn't be happier. Most people here moved from somewhere else so friends seem to be closer because we don't have families here. I'm looking out my slider right now. Severe clear, no wind and around 65 degrees. Will be mid-70s by afternoon. As far as cars and support for them is concerned, this is Heaven.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA
try -7 for a few days. Not wind chill. Actually cold.

 

I moved to Fla 35 yrs ago and I really hate being able to work outside 300+ days a year.Please,nobody else move here and put up with beautiful beaches and some of the best fishing I've ever seen. I fully intend to move back to N.H. soon,but maybe not real soon,I think I'll stay just a little longer.

 

Arizona has been a very, very cool place for us. The summers can be excruciating at the end, but you always fall back in love with it as soon as it cools down. Living out in the desert southwest is an entirely different world. Even when it's 108, we can drive two hours north and be in the mountains- a little farther and it's pine forests, lakes, and 75 degree summer days- no kidding. It's just very different- and cool.

Hot rodding is different out west, too. In the NE and midwest, it seems like a real competitive thing and there isn't much appreciation immediately outside of what you see in magazines. Out west, you'll see lowriders, lowered mini-trucks, street rods, musclecars, 4x4's, and some old guy driving a VW- and it's all cool. People just don't seem as cliquish or judgemental.(this excludes all the LA/Scottsdale dung, of course)...

 

I've lived in the northeast my entire life. The only thing that really bothers me about the winter is that I can't drive my Coronet. You grow accustomed to weather. With that said, I think I could deal with So Cal or Hawaii.