Four years sure flew by...

[Capt Steve]

Four years ago today we moved into our "downsize house" in Payson AZ at 5,000' 100 miles north of Phoenix. We left our 2,000 square foot house in an "Active Adult Community"{Saddlebrooke - 20 miles north of Tucson} bidding a firm farewell to ever living under the oppressive thumb of an HOA. Our new home is a comfortable 1,400 square feet, formerly a rental it was the proverbial diamond in the rough.

We spent the next couple of years "polishing" this budding gem and after 4 years have pretty much finished every project from our initial wish list. We paved both driveways - nearly 100 yards with asphalt, remodeled the kitchen and both bathrooms. Added a 500 square foot paver patio in back and two RV parking pads. We were able to do about 70% of the upgrades ourselves keeping costs down but managed to spend $50K but having gotten a smoking good deal on the purchase we are still sitting on nearly $100K in hard earned sweat equity.

At just over half an acre with nearly a hundred trees ranging from 90' Ponderosa Pines {8 of them} Oaks, Junipers and a variety of assorted other pines along with dozens of Manzanita's maintaining our heavily treed lot is a constant challenge... like having a free gym membership.

According to the neighbors it was never trimmed much less firesafed for ten years. The entire back yard was 18" deep in Pine needles and Oak leaves, last week I made our 78th trip to the land fill's brush pile. The last couple of years we have gotten the landscaping down to just a once a month maintenance run but the first 6 months were quite a challenge often making 3 trips a week... having a truck and a 10' cargo trailer made a huge difference.

We see lots of wildlife as Payson is Elk city and we have them in our yard more nights than we don't. Deer, the occasional coyote and javelina along with raccoons and squirrels round out our menagerie. At 5,000' the weather is active, we have seen triple digits a few times and it gets down into the low teens, torrential Monsoon thunderstorms and even had 2.5' of heavy wet snow in 72 hours.

Payson is a friendly little town/city with 15,000 residents and we are lucky to have great neighbors. Unlimited access to camping, Rzr riding and cruising motorcycles {replaced by our 87 Vette} starts at the end of our driveways. With no HOA, RV storage bills and property taxes/utilities that are a fraction of the old place we save nearly thousand a month. We have not regretted this move for even a moment and look forward to many more years here.

Almost forgot, the VA clinicis one mile from home... life is good!

 

[mckenney99]

In about 1985 my now ex and I spent a week in Payson visiting her aunt. We both really liked the area and I was at that point in my career where I needed to make a decision whether to stay or move on. We even looked at a few houses while there. Ultimately the ex was not willing to move that far away from the rest of her family in eastern KY so the decision was made. At that time it was a real oasis between Phoenix in the south and the colder more touristy north.

 

[Oldengineer]

Hello Capt. Steve,
We moved out of the valley in favor of Prescott about 11 years ago. Besides the oppressive heat and outrageous traffic, we also escaped from the dreaded HOA. BTW, I was the President and rapidly became very sour. We now enjoy a very nice climate, plentiful wildlife, and so many outdoor spaces to explore. The only downside is that the growth is becoming a bit of a daytime traffic concern. I serve on the Planning and Zoning Commission with a mild predisposition to slow things down. I’m pleased that you made the move and are enjoying life. Please be well.

Tom H.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I understand your feeling of contentment at finding your forever home.

We found ours 14 months ago. It is in a semi-rural Norman Rockwellesque neighborhood where HOA is a four letter word.

 

[03hemi]

Life is good.
Life is great!

 

[madmikeb]

We moved to St David this spring, the end result of a 20 year plan. We have 2 acres, a 6 year old house, a private well and no HOA. I had to be in southern AZ as after 63 years in Maine I couldn't do snow any more. The annual average in St David is about 1.5 inches. Not to mention our oil bill during Maine winters ran about $500 monthly and we still froze.

We made it through our first AZ summer and only turned the a/c on 4-5 afternoons for a couple hours each time. Our power bill and gas bill run less then just our power bill was in Maine.

If i was still in Maine I would be deep into winter preparations right now, putting bikes and convertibles away, winterizing the house and getting my plow truck ready to go. Here I'm thinking I may have to dig out long sleeve shirt for an outdoor Godsmack concert we're going to Saturday night in Tucson.

We're 15 minutes to Tombstone, 50 minutes to Tucson, and about 40 minutes to Sierra Vista. I've put about 2300 miles on my Kawasaki cruiser this summer and once it cools down a little more I'm sure I'll rack up a bunch more! We've been triple digits the last few days. A bit hot with all my riding gear.

All in all we are very happy with our choice.

 

[Capt Steve]

Gotta love living here...

Thanks one and all...

One of the many nice things about living where we do is the proximity of some of the finest mountain country just waiting to be explored. Here is a report of our latest adventure:



Our Colorado Hot Springs tour...
Just returned from a great 10 day trip up to Colorado to visit 3 of the hot mineral spring locations. We left Payson AZ {100 miles north of Phoenix} in our 2012 Nexus 24' Class C. Drove up to Blanding UT {350 miles} for the first day and continued on to Glenwood Springs CO {another 272 miles} on day 2.

Had a great site at Glenwood Canyon Resort right on the Colorado Rive {I'm talking 15' from the roaring river} for 3 nights. We went in to Glenwood Springs and doubled up doing the Iron Mountain Spa {32 pools, again right on the Colorado River} and enjoyed the gondola ride to the amusement park at the top of Iron mountain {7,200'}. A package deal obtained on line got us both venues for a full day for $233.

After 3 days in Glenwood Springs we took a very scenic route down 82 and then 133 on our way to Ouray. Colorado in early October is unbelievable, all of the Aspens have gone gold and "Breathtaking" damns with faint praise.

Did two nights at the Ouray Riverside RV Park just half a mile from town and enjoyed the public hot springs pools for a very reasonable $36. We left Ouray and drove through Telluride and then headed south down to and through Cortez. Lizard Head pass was north of 10,200' and once again Colorado in October was off the charts gorgeous with relatively little traffic and mild temps.

After a brief stop in Durango we went back to our favorite spot, Pagosa Riverside RV Park/cg right on the San Juan River for another two night stay. The next day we soaked at The Springs in the center of Pagosa Springs. A day use pass was $124 for the 2 of us.

Friday we headed home stopping in Gallup at the USA RV Park {another favorite} to break up the 400+ mile return from Pagosa Springs. Saturday morning we only had an easy 3 hours return trip back to Payson.

We've owned our Nexus for 11+ years and the odometer rolled over 79,000 {trouble free} miles on this trip. We logged just over 1,500 miles and got a consistent 9.5 mpg cruising 65 on the interstates {mostly 70 and 40} and 55-65 on the rural 2 lane twisties.

This trip was an interesting mix of sightseeing and soaking and we ate about half of our meals in the coach treating ourselves to a nice meal out once a
day. Gas, food, fun and full hook up RV parks came to about $300 per day as we never hesitated to indulge ourselves. I have Cochlear Implant surgery coming up on 11/6 so the next few months will fairly low key and it was great to get out for an awesome trip and enjoy the spectacular fall weather.