My adventures in Tucson

[swaq]

So my fiancee is going to start grad school at the University of Arizona next week, so last week/weekend I took [paid] time off work to help her move.

We left Beaverton early on Thursday (August 9th) morning in two vehicles, my fiancee's parents driving the second one. We stopped in Stockton, CA, the first night, and then Blythe, CA the second night.

During the third day of driving my fiancee gets a message on her phone. The house she was going to move into had not passed final inspection (it was newly built) and she couldn't move in until Wednesday. So after two and a half days of driving we ended up in Tucson with no place to move her into. The rental management company found one of the cheapest motels (EconoLodge) in the city and got one room for the four of us...

We decided to drive over to the house first just to check it out. The house looked fine, however just one street over was a row of very run down houses with bars over their windows... This got my fiancee's parents very worried, of course.

We showed up at the EconoLodge and promptly decided it was pathetic. While my fiancee and I got an Arizona title for the Subaru and rented a storage unit her parents got a room at the Marriott. The manager at the U-Store-It was really nice and gave us a unit for free (provided we buy a lock from her) since it was for such a short time and they usually charge by the month.

On Sunday we met up with a couple my fiancee's parents knew who lived in Tucson for dinner. They told us that the area where the house my fiancee was supposed to move into had drug dealer activity, gun shots at night, etc. :aigo:

After I flew out of Tucson Monday morning my fiancee found an apartment and got out of her contract to the house. They threatened to take her to small claims court for the full value of the lease term ($12k), despite that they did not deliver their end of the bargain satisfactorily. However the builder/owner of the house allowed her to get out of it provided she pay for the room at the Econolodge (which we didn't even use).

Way more stressful of a weekend than it should have been.




CLIFFS: Drove to Tucson with fiancee, house wasn't ready and was in a dangerous part of town, got out of lease and rented apartment instead

 

[iwannadie]

Theres Alot of homeless people in tucson for some reason. Im in the phoenix are and been done there a few times. Everytime I go down there Im amazed at all the homeless everywhere. Its not as bad as like LA or san fran but its bad for sure.

 

[drunk_medic]

I'm in Yuma. Apparently there is a LOT of meth activity here, but I have not seen it. I live in a nice neighborhood, but sometimes people drive around suspiciously at night, almost like they are scoping places to rob.

I'll be in Tucson for a few minutes tomorrow to drop someone off at the airport and GTFO.

 

[iwannadie]

I'm in Yuma. Apparently there is a LOT of meth activity here, but I have not seen it. I live in a nice neighborhood, but sometimes people drive around suspiciously at night, almost like they are scoping places to rob.

I'll be in Tucson for a few minutes tomorrow to drop someone off at the airport and GTFO.

I been to yuma years ago, my brother inlaws mom lived in a trailer there lol. It was just some 1 room trailer parked next to a canal along with tons of others setup just like it. I didnt get to see much of yuma besides the canal people, basically 1up over homeless.

 

[swaq]

I'm in Yuma. Apparently there is a LOT of meth activity here, but I have not seen it. I live in a nice neighborhood, but sometimes people drive around suspiciously at night, almost like they are scoping places to rob.

I'll be in Tucson for a few minutes tomorrow to drop someone off at the airport and GTFO.

Yeah, I thought of you when I saw signs for Yuma on I-10.

The apartment she'll be moving into is near the Catalina Hills, a much better part of town.

 

[ToyoHabu]

have a friend that lives in North Tucson near intersection of E Camp Lowell and Swan drive, seems to be nice part of town, just before the really nice part of the town in the foot hills. HIs Brother went to School there, Eller business college. Nice Campus. He and his frineds made regular trips to Nogales and across the border. Apparently great drinking. :drink1: I think you will love the place. great outdoor opportunities hiking, biking etc. I have lived just down the road in Albuquerque and El Paso. You will be in for some culture and weather shock though, you have just moved to Tucson at the start of thier "Monsoon Season":icon_razz


How far from Tigard, beaverton are you from have family that way.


Now I live in Meth Central(Northern Alabama), seems that every trailer park has at least one.:aigo: :3d_frown:

 

[gtsfirefighter]

20 years ago my sister lived in Tucson cause her future ex husband was stationed at Davis Monthan. She was a body shop manager at Quebedeaux Pontiac on Speedway or Broadway...and she drove an 82 Supra L Type:love: Anyway after graduation from high school, I went back there with them and stayed a month. I spent my 18th birthday stuck half way up on Mount Lemmon cause the Supra broke down (alternator). Personally I loved it, hell I love Arizona and would live there if I could. I love the Southern Arizona desert and Northern Arizona is prettier than Colorado, I think anyway.

I drove through Yuma last year on the way to San Diego. 120 degrees. It was fucking hot.

 

[swaq]

I think you will love the place. great outdoor opportunities hiking, biking etc. I have lived just down the road in Albuquerque and El Paso. You will be in for some culture and weather shock though, you have just moved to Tucson at the start of thier "Monsoon Season":icon_razz

I'm looking forward to it. I've gotten a bit sick of the dreary winters here in Oregon.

To clarify, my fiancee is living there on her own while I finish my degree at Oregon State. She is studying Atmospheric Sciences and is a weather geek, so she couldn't be happier being dropped in during the monsoon season.

How far from Tigard, beaverton are you from have family that way.

I'm originally from Eugene, been going to college in Corvallis (where I met my fiancee). I was in Beaverton for six months last year on an internship. This year I'm on an internship in Salem until September.

My fiancee is from Beaverton, where her parents still live.

 

[drunk_medic]

Man, oh man.. Tucson is better and worse than Yuma in different aspects. After we dropped someone off at the airport, we decided to drive around and look at the Mall. The mall is pretty big - much bigger than the one here. That is a plus. Driving around town though, I get the impression that there is a bit of crime and a drug problem. We are no strangers to meth here in Yuma, and I'd be willing to bet that plenty is smuggled to Tucson/Phoenix through Nogales. I also saw a daytime hooker walking around near a men's shelter. Tucson seems a place for blatant crime, but the worst thing that I have seen here in Yuma so far was graffiti near my mailbox [If I ever catch this "Hawk" that chose to spraypaint his name on the wall, I'm gonna beat him like I'm his daddy].

I was pretty pissed when trying to find my way out of the city - it's like "Escape from L.A." when I finally found the Interstate, I also find that it is being worked on, and had to further detour in order to make my way towards home. In getting lost we DID have a chance to drive around and find that the city has many GOOD things to offer however - almost anything that you would want to find in a big city is there, and Phoenix is not far at all. There are some beautiful houses and apartments there in the hills, and of course, rat-traps as well. It's like Yuma, but "big city". We have a decent mall but will drive 50~ miles to El Centro for serious shopping. Overall, I would think about trying to find a job out there in Tucson, so long as they pay me well enough. It was the first place that I thought about job market-wise. I'm sure that 9 years in the Air Force working mixed avionics could have a good chance at landing me a job as a contractor at Davis Monthan. C-130s comprised most of my career, and I worked LANTIRN pods [older and similar to the A-10s LITENING pod]. Might have to update and set my resume out there...

 

[swaq]

I'll be needing to find a job too. Perhaps Raytheon. Currently I'm writing drivers and such for avionics at Garmin.