leaving michigan (Phoenix, Mesa, Florence: mobile home, place to live, restaurants)

[michman]

Leaving michigan for employment. Looking for a small town to live in. Found a small town called top of the world,arizona. Like to know more about it. If wal-mart is an hour away that is fine.

[aj661]

WalMart is less than an hour away in Globe. It's a small community (you knew that) that is predominantly trailers/mobile homes. The trees hide some of them pretty well though. A few days in the winter will make you feel like you're back in MI; It does snow some, but it doesn't stick for too long. There is zero industry: no gas stations, restaurants, stop and robs, nothing. The proverbial "wide spot in the road". Elevation, 4600 feet.

If you have to drive into the valley for work, you're looking at 45 minutes to get to east Mesa, more if you get stuck behind an end dump headed down the hill. It's a little over 60 miles to the far east border of Phoenix (roughly US60 and I-10).There isn't much in Superior to the west, but Globe has pretty much everything, including a small hospital. Both are copper mining towns. If you can find work in Globe or Superior, it might not be a bad move.

[Ponderosa]

Everytime I go through there I think, "this would be a neat place to live". But then all the ugly reality that aj661 tells so well hits. Good luck in your decision.

[aj661]

It is a beautiful area though! One of the best 'middle of nowhere yet not too far away' places in the state. The worst thing about the commute doesn't happen often, but when it does, your day is shot...If there's a bad wreck, or a wild fire on US60 east of Florence Junction, the highway can be shut down for hours. There are very few options for getting anywhere from there. The highway has been shut down at least four times since 2001 due to snow and ice. This is Top of the World on 1/27/01:

(No, it's not open)

This the road between Top of the World and Superior on 2/8/01:
Personally, I think it's cosmic payback. It's all the fault of Algore, the inventor of the internet, talking about global warming.

[midwestgirl]

Have you been to Arizona before? I grew up in Michigan and then moved to AZ then on to CA and I am back in AZ. We were thinking of going back to Michigan, but snow in October changed our minds. I love AZ and the heat as long as I have AC in the summer.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by midwestgirl

Have you been to Arizona before? I grew up in Michigan and then moved to AZ then on to CA and I am back in AZ. We were thinking of going back to Michigan, but snow in October changed our minds. I love AZ and the heat as long as I have AC in the summer.

That's a lot of back and forth. That would be a full circle of you moved back to Michigan. Why were you thinking about moving from AZ? Two different worlds.