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I'm wondering if you ended up taking the job you referred to. I ask because my husband and I are in exactly the same boat....I saw a job in Grants that would be a great opportunity and am thinking of applying. We'd be coming from the East Coast and would want to rent first. We'd need to rent a home rather than an apartment because we have several pets. I can find nothing at all for rent. If you did end up relocating, I'm wondering if you can point me in the right direction to find a house rental. Thanks for the info.
El Malpais is very beautiful but very very remote even if ABQ appears close on a map. It is desert out there. Have you have lived in a small (tiny, even) town before? I live in a relatively diverse town of 20K an hour from SF and from what I can tell a significant number of people move away because they just can't deal with the lack of culture, restaurants and "real" shopping aka Sam's Club, Target, Albertsons, Whole Foods. Or they stick it out and whine for the next 20 years.
If you visit El Malpais it is so worth it to stop at El Morro! The entire history of the west is there on one huge rock with a hidden spring. Amazing!
I moved out here a month ago for a job also. Not from here, or even NM. From a big Midwest city.
I LOVE it out here. The weather, the people, the possibilities. But......
Here's the big things to "get used to."
1) convenience to stores, shopping, pizza, or even an emergency run to the hospital or a drug store is gone. Not saying you'll be sucking rattlesnake venom out of your leg with an "X" cut into your leg but yeah, it's kinda like that.
2) Living arrangements could get dicey. Nasty trailers on cinder blocks, fancier homes in a couple of developments with no one moving any time soon, and nothing in the way of rentals, except in Gallup or Grants. If you're an NPS employee though, probably provided for you so should be ok. But you'll be working and living with other staff, not sure if you're used to that proximity 24/7. gets kinda like the Peace Corps.
3) Wife got here 3 days ago, and she has no job prospects (and she's incredibly hireable). But it's early in the game. But she probably won't be doing what she was doing in the big city.
4) The people out here are WONDERFUL, but you gotta work the room. Go everywhere, shake hands, kiss babies, exchange emails and phone numbers. All of that work got me into a great rental house, where someone I met knew someone who knew someone who knew someone was leaving. But I was VERY lucky. You'll need some of that, too.
People out here are a real mix. Mormons, Navajos, Zunis, hippies (old and young), transplants from the Midwest (like me), professionals, ranchers, recently unemployed, permanently unemployed....the list goes on. But all are terrific.
6) Please PM me anytime with specific questions or concerns. Everyone helped me, so glad to do the same.
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