HikeArizona.COM

Well, I guess I'll have to change my screen name soon. My wife and I are going to be moving to Casa Grande before the end of the year. Listing the house for sale up in Page. No job yet, kinda scary, but my wife needs to go back to school full time. Even commuting to and from UofA, with the house prices in CG we'll save money over moving to El Pueblo. Big change - this will be my first time living off The Plateau since '99. Eeek!

Feral cat wrangler and part time grammar teacher?

Fossil wrangler. (Now, does she mean actual fossils, or is she talking about elderly tourists? Or both?)

El Tovar handicapped services?

SuperstitionGuy wrote:El Tovar handicapped services?

Haha! This is fun!

I start my training tomorrow, and will be at the Canyon for it.

Sales clerk at the Grand Canyon Village selling Fossil Sunglasses? ;)

SuperstitionGuy wrote:Sales clerk at the Grand Canyon Village selling Fossil Sunglasses? ;)

Nah. Good thing is about this job offer, I wouldn't have to live in GC Village in some crappy shared housing with a 20-year-old roommate with a drinking problem, and mice with Hanta virus...

I can live in either Flagstaff or Williams. I have a cheap RV space lined up for myself in Doney Park, for after I am done with the training. I am not officially hired yet, haven't passed the training phase yet, haven't signed on the dotted line yet, so I am keeping it under my hat.

Meanwhile I can enjoy this super RV park I'm in. I'll stay here for a couple of weeks. It has an indoor heated pool, so I can swim laps. It has a trail right outside the back of my RV that goes into the forest, and a big hill I could climb across the street. Yesterday I rode my bike to Safeway, which is 2.5 miles away, so that was a good bike ride for me right now, since not only am I out of shape, but I am really not completely over that horrible cough I had. I also swam laps for a short time yesterday. I would consider staying here all summer, but it is $650 a month, as opposed to $250 a month parking on private property (includes utilities and wifi). $650 is a lot to pay just to have a swimming pool.

azbackpackr wrote:Meanwhile I can enjoy this super RV park I'm in. I'll stay here for a couple of weeks.

Do hope you plan to post some pics of the RV Park and surrounding area in Williams.

You're back at altitude, too, Liz, after > 6 months at sea level, so that makes a 2.5 miles ride harder. I remember back in 2006 after I moved to Flagstaff an hiked Elden. It was really hard that first time. For some reason not as hard a few weeks early when visiting. Strange.

Does your CDL let you fly helicopter tours!?

Since I don't have an RV, I'll be heading over that way soon to check out places to live in. From Orange Grove and La Cholla, it seems like everything to the east is very expensive, which limits selection a bit. Is commuting bad in any particular direction, or should I be willing to drive miles and miles? I've enjoyed my 12 minute commute. I expect, that it simply makes no sense to go deep into older Tucson.

Jim_H wrote:Since I don't have an RV, I'll be heading over that way soon to check out places to live in. From Orange Grove and La Cholla, it seems like everything to the east is very expensive, which limits selection a bit. Is commuting bad in any particular direction, or should I be willing to drive miles and miles? I've enjoyed my 12 minute commute. I expect, that it simply makes no sense to go deep into older Tucson.

Don't drive miles and miles. Too much traffic, unless your shift changes are at odd hours.

Jim_H wrote:You're back at altitude, too, Liz, after > 6 months at sea level, so that makes a 2.5 miles ride harder. I remember back in 2006 after I moved to Flagstaff an hiked Elden. It was really hard that first time. For some reason not as hard a few weeks early when visiting. Strange.

5 miles. 2.5 times two. It's 2.5 to the Safeway. Actually a little less, but I took a roundabout way to get there the first time.

Nice to be back in Arizona.

Looks like I'll be staying in Williams and not moving to Flag. I have an offer of a super deal on an RV space out east of Flag off Townsend-Winona Rd. but my employer says that is too far. He said they'd really like to have at least one of their guides living in Williams. My boss wants to help me get settled here instead. Some of you already have guessed, I'll be working with "hippiepunkpirate" (Jake) at a private tour company, driving a van, (NOT a bus!!), to Grand Canyon with guests. I'll be showing them the Canyon and talking about geology, plants, animals, Native Americans, and history. So far the training has gone very well, so I feel pretty confident I won't embarrass myself (some of the trainees flunk the training, unfortunately.) If you want to take a tour with either Jake or me, send a pm to one of us for the info.

Looks like I'll be moving to NW Tucson, well unincorporated Pima County, really, and living on the down low at 2325'. This will be the lowest I will have lived since the middle of August of 2006 when I moved to 6880' in Flagstaff, though I was in a 3rd floor apartment so I was really at 6900'. I know people are intensely interested, so I'll say that in Kayenta I was at 5750', and here in Alamogordo, NM, I have been living at 4405'. I mention this, because I wonder how living lower will affect me when I go up above 10,000', 12,000', or 14,000'.

Jim_H wrote:living on the down low...the lowest I will have lived.

Jeez, Jim, what can we do? Can we help? Have you tried Prozac?

On the other hand, The Beast and I will be residing in Williams for a while, not in Flagstaff as I had originally thought. My employer has asked me to try to stay here. Since I live in a motorhome (aka The Beast) I can live anywhere, until it gets too cold. Then I'm outta here! I may have to rent a room toward the end of the tour season (in October), and I am willing to do that, then I will head for the desert and SoCal for the winter.

Have fun!

Well I'll be on the (temporary) move again. I'll be living in Fruita, Colorado this summer working for the Museum of Western Colorado.

I understand there is good fruit up there; peaches, apples, maybe others? The stretch of the upper Colorado is one of the most attractive areas of western Colorado.

Right now I'm on a train! Took Amtrak from Flagstaff to LA overnight. Had breakfast in the dining car with several British tourists. In LA I changed trains and now I'm on the Surfliner heading to Oceanside. I'm going to pick up my car in Valley Center. There is WiFi on the Surfliner but not on the overnight train. We just stopped at Irvine.