The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: blackwolfe on May 08, 2011, 09:40:51 PM
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Anybody here from Yuma AZ or nearby area? What's it like and what do you think of it? Thank you.
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There's an old story that a cavalryman stationed at Yuma (Now a MCAS ) died and went to Hell.
His friends saw his ghost a few days later and asked why h'd come back.
He said it was to cool where he was now, he needed his blanket.
That should tell you something about Yuma.
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I was down there in Dec and March to visit my mother, sister and BIL. They have wintered there for 20 yrs or so and we visit quite often. When I was trucking in the 90's I used to haul a lot of produce out of Yuma so I spent quite a bit of time there.
It really isn't a place I would want to live, but its nice to visit. I don't like paying 9.4% sales tax for one thing. Winter temps are nice but the place is crawling with snowbirds. Summers are hot, but not as hot as some places.
There are too many people for available medical facilities. Getting into Walgreen's Drug store parking lot is a nightmare with so many "old" people there.
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On a more positive note, you can get some really good Mexican food in Yuma. Even the really lousy Mexican restaurants there are better than anything we have in Florida.
It does get serriously hot there in August. I think they hit 119 F last year. But, they have only about 2% humidity, so all your wooden furniture cracks, your skin dries out and flakes off, and it's impossible to wear contact lenses. A loaf of bread will dry out within 20 minutes after opening it. There are no such things as "sweat stains" on anybody's shirts. And you really have to like dust.
Back to the positive for a moment... Somebody told me once that the overall climate in Yuma is so conducive to good health that people have to leave the area just to die.
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When we moved to Arizona in 1991 Yuma was on our short list of places we were considering. We ended up moving to Lake Havasu City instead, but have made several trips there. The problem today is it's closeness to the Mexican border, along with all of the problems that type of geographic location brings with it. San Luis is just 25 miles away.
If you are considering moving there, or anywhere else along the Colorado River Valley, be sure you enjoy hot weather, and plenty of it. Summertime temperatures can reach 120 degrees in June and July. The one teens are all but normal. When we lived in Lake Havasu in June 1994, the temperature reached an all time high of 128 degrees.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001416.html
It was unbelievable to experience that kind of heat. Even with that high of a temperature evaporative cooling kept the house at 78 degrees. The relative humidity was all but unmeasurable at that temp. Desert living is something most people either love or hate. There doesn't seem to be an in between. For my wife and I it was a welcome relief from the horrible weather of the Midwest. But for many they don't adapt so well. If you are considering it, be sure to visit in the hottest months. When we were unpacking it was 120 outside in June. Bill T.
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And you really have to like dust.
That's pretty much the same for everything East of Yumama too.
The only place that dust isn't a constant in AZ is up in the mountains....and thats not guaranteed. :P
It's not as bad in the city but now I live next to a large undeveloped (so far) section of desert. The dust is thick enough to chew on.
Billt nailed it with the "be sure you enjoy hot weather" understatement. The summers can be an ass kicker.
You choose parking spaces based on shade, not proximity to the store's front door. Work on something outside and you will quickly learn that leaving a tool in the sun for a couple of minutes is a BAD thing.
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I love warm weather, but I have to say that the only places I would consider in Arizona are Flagstaff and Tuscon. Flag is pretty temperate and in Tuscon you can lose 30 degrees by driving an hour out of town to Mt. Lemon. Last I was there (in May) it was a hundred in Tuscon and there was still snow pack in the mountains. Also dittoes to the rabbit on the food. The Tex-mex stuff you get most places is crap. In Arizona and New Mexico you get Sonoran food which is a whole different animal. I can't walk down 4th in Tuscon without gaining ten pounds. ;D
FQ13
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I'm hoping for a little heat in AZ this week. I'm freeeeezzzzzzzing my butt off here tonight at the top of the Grapevine.
Will be in AZ the rest of the week.
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From what I remember of Yuma is it is hot and it looked like a place time kind of forgot. I remember the contrast when going over the mountain into CA how the climate was completely different. I'm with FQ, I think would like to live in the northern part too.
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I had an old girlfriend move to AZ after high school. I saw her again after 20 years at a reunion. She'd gone from a absolutely stunning young girl to an aged, dried out woman, who at 38 looked about 60.....the sun can do some really nasty things to a humans skin.....
Lizards and snakes live in the desert.....stay in Michigan!
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I had an old girlfriend move to AZ after high school. I saw her again after 20 years at a reunion. She'd gone from a absolutely stunning young girl to an aged, dried out woman, who at 38 looked about 60.....the sun can do some really nasty things to a humans skin.....
Lizards and snakes live in the desert.....stay in Michigan!
And really friendly scorpions.
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the sun can do some really nasty things to a humans skin.....
If you listen carefully, you can hear the sizzle.......drowning out the noise of traffic!