Arizona living

[sandwash]

Kingman,what a wonderful place

[azcagiva]

Dolan Springs is full of tweakers and old folks on ss. If you like remoteness and not being able to leave your property for fear of being burglarized then it is the place for you. There are some nice places there but few and far between. Meadview is better but not by much. KIngman is getting better as well. As for the comment about Hutch KS I have been there and the Kingman area is worse.

There are much better places in AZ. I moved from that area to the Verde Valley and am glad I did.

Prescott is nice you might like the Pinetop area as well.

-John

[swimmer]

Originally Posted by baybueller

Thanks for the replies. 3 yrs till the move and who knows what the country will look like then. Doing due dilligence on Az.so I dont look like another A-hole from Ca.

Since most of your posts have a political overtone to them I will say that you don't have to live in a tiny town or off the grid to be amongst those with a similar mindset to yours as you might in CA.

If I were retiring to AZ I'd strongly consider the Prescott area. Personally I plan on leaving the state in a year or two and moving further north.

[baybueller]

Ya I got ya on the tweaker thing. Desolate and inexpensive areas would be magnets for sure. I might have to rethink remote for a few reasons. After living in a state with megamillion population I wanted to "get away" but most towns seem small enough to work with.

[baybueller]

Originally Posted by ned37

sorry, but the verde valley proper is closed to californians, however, they are still accepted in sedona as long as they stay there

I am still sticking to my story that I am an Oregonian that got sucked into Ca. for the weather.

[rockydrxrvr]

So, will be snowbirding and looking around AZ from Oregon-----. what would be the top ten areas to avoid, listed in order to avoid, as in getting your SUV broken into while trucken off or riding my DR650 off in the hills or desert all day?

For instance, we have a rip off area in Grants Pass Oregon, or ------ bad area in Colo. is Colorado Springs.

[layzrider]

I have been visiting AZ for the last couple of winters. I would agree with the riding comments and Desert versus the high country. Don't necessarily agree with the comments about people. I would be more worried about parking in town than out in the desert. Lots of people leave their gas cans, ramps and stuff in their truck. Doesn't look like they are worried. I would not park too close to the main highway. It is easy to go out a ways on a dirt road and park.

[NAZDirt]

Most of Arizona is safe to leave your gear and ride. Most of us have the same idea that we need our gear to survive and taking that is like giving a death sentence.

I avoid remote Verde Valley areas since there is a lot of meth in that area that make people do stupid things. Just look over Craigslist for all the items they will sell for supporting their habits.

The area is the Rez. Even if you have the appropriate paperwork some of them don't care. They will happily smash your windows and take your tires. I avoid that place unless I am traveling with a Native. It may be a small percentage of hooligans but returning to a destroyed car in a remote place is a bummer.

[BadgerAZ]

I second the recommendation for Verde Valley, up into the Mogollon Rim country. Year-round riding, lots of forest roads, meth problem has declined far in recent years (according to local law enforcement), property values slowly rising out of the bottoms. Little industry besides tourism and healthcare. Towns: Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Jerome, Camp Verde (lots of rural land), Pine, Strawberry, Payson.
Close enough to Phoenix for a day trip, easy drive to Vegas for a weekend. Beware of shoddily built houses from the real estate boom time. Tap water drinkable. Possible arsenic danger from well water. Right up next to Sedona Red Rock Country.

[baybueller]

Great stuff. If any of you FFs are doing the DV noob rally in March let me know as I will have an RV for camping and beer to exchange for local stories.

[Bird Honey]

Being new to this forum, I hope I'm not repeating any information here. I just wanted to save any other new(er) riders some of the frustrations I encountered in my early days of motorcycling. It would have been nice if I knew then what I know now, but in all my internet research, I never came across any info specific to my locale. I've read some wonderful ride reports about cross country travel on older and smaller displacement motorcycles without windshields and/or fairings and the light bulb just recently went on that I find myself in a somewhat unique situation, geographically. I live in the desert Southwest and am here to let new riders know that most of the motorcycles that are recommended for a newbie will not cut it out here if you intend to get on the highway, let alone the intersate. I wanted a motorcycle to commute to work on and with posted speed limits of 65mph around town and a cautious estimate of traffic speed of around 80mph, I shudder to think of a 250cc trying to haul me safely in the flow of traffic. Of course, my svelte 6 foot 240 pound frame may be a factor, but it still brings to light something I couldn't find posted anywhere else. While those starter bike may be able to attain those speeds and maybe even sustain them, I don't think they have much left over for anything else. To be fair, I have only ridden the MSF 250s, but my own experiences with a 500cc twin and a 650cc single lead me to believe anything less (smaller) would be foolhardy at best. I used to wonder why I only saw gigantic tourers, Harleys, and sport bikes on the freeways. Where were the dual-sports, the vintage standards, or anything with "character?" Now I know those bikes are not suited to maintain the speeds of our southwest highways. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to impugn those bikes here, I'm just trying to let others learn from my mistakes. If someone had flat out told me that a big thumper can keep up with traffic, but it'll buzz your fillings out, burn some oil, and get gas mileage a little worse than a Hyundai, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I guess the moral to the story is buy a motorcycle based on how and WHERE you will use it.

[seabee1]

Originally Posted by Bird Honey

Being new to this forum, I hope I'm not repeating any information here. I just wanted to save any other new(er) riders some of the frustrations I encountered in my early days of motorcycling. It would have been nice if I knew then what I know now, but in all my internet research, I never came across any info specific to my locale. I've read some wonderful ride reports about cross country travel on older and smaller displacement motorcycles without windshields and/or fairings and the light bulb just recently went on that I find myself in a somewhat unique situation, geographically. I live in the desert Southwest and am here to let new riders know that most of the motorcycles that are recommended for a newbie will not cut it out here if you intend to get on the highway, let alone the intersate. I wanted a motorcycle to commute to work on and with posted speed limits of 65mph around town and a cautious estimate of traffic speed of around 80mph, I shudder to think of a 250cc trying to haul me safely in the flow of traffic. Of course, my svelte 6 foot 240 pound frame may be a factor, but it still brings to light something I couldn't find posted anywhere else. While those starter bike may be able to attain those speeds and maybe even sustain them, I don't think they have much left over for anything else. To be fair, I have only ridden the MSF 250s, but my own experiences with a 500cc twin and a 650cc single lead me to believe anything less (smaller) would be foolhardy at best. I used to wonder why I only saw gigantic tourers, Harleys, and sport bikes on the freeways. Where were the dual-sports, the vintage standards, or anything with "character?" Now I know those bikes are not suited to maintain the speeds of our southwest highways. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to impugn those bikes here, I'm just trying to let others learn from my mistakes. If someone had flat out told me that a big thumper can keep up with traffic, but it'll buzz your fillings out, burn some oil, and get gas mileage a little worse than a Hyundai, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I guess the moral to the story is buy a motorcycle based on how and WHERE you will use it.

very true statement. what did you buy?

[Bird Honey]

Originally Posted by seabee1

very true statement. what did you buy?

I had an XR650L; wonderful bike. If I ever leave this region, I'm getting another one or a KLR650.

[rockydrxrvr]

Originally Posted by Bird Honey

Being new to this forum, I hope I'm not repeating any information here. I just wanted to save any other new(er) riders some of the frustrations I encountered in my early days of motorcycling. It would have been nice if I knew then what I know now, but in all my internet research, I never came across any info specific to my locale. I've read some wonderful ride reports about cross country travel on older and smaller displacement motorcycles without windshields and/or fairings and the light bulb just recently went on that I find myself in a somewhat unique situation, geographically. I live in the desert Southwest and am here to let new riders know that most of the motorcycles that are recommended for a newbie will not cut it out here if you intend to get on the highway, let alone the intersate. I wanted a motorcycle to commute to work on and with posted speed limits of 65mph around town and a cautious estimate of traffic speed of around 80mph, I shudder to think of a 250cc trying to haul me safely in the flow of traffic. Of course, my svelte 6 foot 240 pound frame may be a factor, but it still brings to light something I couldn't find posted anywhere else. While those starter bike may be able to attain those speeds and maybe even sustain them, I don't think they have much left over for anything else. To be fair, I have only ridden the MSF 250s, but my own experiences with a 500cc twin and a 650cc single lead me to believe anything less (smaller) would be foolhardy at best. I used to wonder why I only saw gigantic tourers, Harleys, and sport bikes on the freeways. Where were the dual-sports, the vintage standards, or anything with "character?" Now I know those bikes are not suited to maintain the speeds of our southwest highways. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to impugn those bikes here, I'm just trying to let others learn from my mistakes. If someone had flat out told me that a big thumper can keep up with traffic, but it'll buzz your fillings out, burn some oil, and get gas mileage a little worse than a Hyundai, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I guess the moral to the story is buy a motorcycle based on how and WHERE you will use it.

Well put points, as I dropped to a 14 toofth sprocket from the stock 15T on my DR650 it made 60 mph buzzy on the long 70 mile return loop back to the trailer in Furnace Creek. Not terrrible mind you, but wishing for my now gone V-strom 650 twin, which is a handfull in sand and gravel. The only happy campers were the contingent next door with the 950 KTM superenduros, what an elite bunch of lucky 3 or 4 owners that was. And rare bikes to obtain I now hear.

[Bigbugberg]

If you are liking the small towns, what about Young? Small, no meth, just south of the Rim, east of Roosevelt Lake, north of Glob (not a misspelling).

Fishing, mild weather, small town, close to bigger towns, PLENTY of trails...