Ajo, AZ (Tucson, Chandler: RV parks, for sale, rental)

[missylyn]

We will be relocating with in the year, in or near Ajo, AZ.

my husband accepted a job offer in Ajo, AZ.

We hear that the town is not very family oriented and extremely small.

Can any one post pictures?

Offer advice on housing? Rents vs cost?

Are there any Rv Camp sites? rates?

any and all information would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Gandalara]

I just googled images for Ajo, AZ and got over 500,000 pictures.

Ajo Copper News Weekly Newspaper, which has a Community Links page - with links to a couple RV parks and an RV club, the Chamber of Commerce, schools, etc.

[Kimballette]

And the Advanced Search feature here on the C-D forums yielded these threads:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/arizo...ng-ajo-az.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/arizo...o-anybody.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/arizo...state-ajo.html

[Salpointe59]

I raised my kids there and left when the mines closed. But, I go back often. The town is very kid friendly and the town fathers do everything they can to give them something to do.
Rocky Point is only an hour and a half from there and you can frolic safely on one of the nicest beaches in the world. We go there at least 5 times a year.
Facebook has a nice Ajo site.

[paleo99]

Do people still go to Rocky Point from Arizona fairly often despite the Drug Wars? I think a great trip would be to check out Ajo and Organ Pipe Cactus NM, for a day or two, go down to Rocky Point, and check out the Volcanoes --it's a Biosphere reserve--in Mexico. Wonder if anybody actually goes there or just straight to the beach.

[mao]

Oh, believe me, people go through Ajo to Rocky Point. Sometimes, on the weekend, I have to wait for a whole 3 cars to pass before I can get out on to the highway. :-)

I'm retired, a homebody, and am neither married nor have kids. Ajo, during the winter, has something going on almost every day of the week for both adults and kids. The library shows movies, the International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA) has art shows, there are craft fairs occasionally, there's a Fiddler's get-together every year that has been going on for over 20 years here, and there's a golf course you can use. There's an Elks organization, multiple church organizations, artist organizations, etc. We have a local community theatre group, ISDA often sponsors trips into the desert, and you can join groups that do yoga or walk together or whatever. During the summer it gets much quieter, though I believe there are some sports groups that the kids get involved in and of course they have the swimming pool open during the summer as well as the golf course, library, and skateboard park.

I think there are three RV rental sites, though I believe only one or two stay open year round. There are several houses for sale and you could probably find some for rent fairly easily. (Disclaimer: my house is not for sale yet. But if you're interested, let me know. I hope to put it on the market early next year. My father back in Missouri is getting older and needing more help and, as I have no real ties to Arizona, it seems time for me to go back and join the family again.)

I find Ajo to be a rather transient town. You have a small percentage of people who have lived here since before the mine closed (in 1985, or thereabouts.) You have some people who were born here, mostly those too young yet to leave. There is a significant number of retirees, probably about half (or more) who leave during the summer. And whose numbers go down yearly due to death or illness, requiring them to move. I'm not sure of the percentages, but there are a fair number of Border Patrol agents; many single but many with young families. Again, these people are not usually expecting to stay too long in the town.

I moved here from Chandler in order to save money, and from that perspective I find the move to have been very successful. Ajo is an unincorporated town, meaning that there are no city taxes, government, or services. There is a county Sheriff's department here, and the presence of a *lot* of Border Patrol agents, as there is a permanent checkpoint set up on the highway about 20 miles north of town that's staffed 24/7. There is one grocery store (an IGA) and two dollar stores, which also carry some groceries. There is a library that is part of the county system, and a U.S. post office. As mentioned, there is a golf course about 10 miles out of town with a restaurant that is open during the winter season. There are also, depending on your definition of "restaurant" -- in this case, I'm including places like Dairy Queen which might normally fall under "fast food" -- usually 4-6 restaurants to eat at. You have a couple of choices for television, though if you don't get cable or Dish, you will literally have no over-the-air access to TV. The local telephone company offers DSL service.

Small rant: Many people, including current retiree residents, talk about how there are so many "Mexicans" roaming around, by which they mean "illegal immigrants." I, personally, have never seen such a person and no one can tell me how they recognize these individuals. I must have missed out on the training to tell if someone is an American citizen or not; I certainly am not blind, but have never seen any flashing neon signs or tattoos or particular physical indicators indicating someone is a citizen of any particular country. Ajo does, itself, have problems with drugs -- I think any small, rural town would. Actually, I think any town or city larger than maybe 5 people would end up with some portion of the citizenry having issues dealing with life, but a small town seems to amplify the concerns (possibly because of a lack of other issues, such as city politics, school rivalries, etc.) To my knowledge, the problems seem to be marijauna and meth, but the neighborhood I'm in seems to be fairly clean on at least the latter. The "drug wars" of Mexico that are reported in the paper all seem to be more prevalent over by Tucson; to get to Rocky Point from here you go pretty much directly from Ajo through the Organ Pipe National Monument (well worth visiting) and, I believe, you're pretty much at the Mexican border. I don't think Rocky Point is much more than a few minutes away by that point. (I've never been; besides being a true homebody, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of deliberately putting myself in a situation where I don't speak at least some semblance of the language.)

I'm beginning to think that I've started to ramble. If you want more information, please ask. Since I own my own home, I really don't pay too much attention to what's for rent or the RV situation.

[azdr0710]

efficient and excellent summary of Ajo by mao....

[Jkgourmet]

Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) is about 1 hour from the Mexican border. MANY people still go there with zero problems. Do not drive at night, don't bring a firearm and don't drive your brand new black SUV with the tinted windows. And get Mexican car insurance - your US insurance is invalid once you cross the border.

[mao]

Sorry, as I typed that Rocky Point was so close to the border, I myself was wondering. I think I must have been thinking of some town that people go to for dental work. (I can't remember the name of it right now.) Ajo does have a dental clinic, but they don't have the specialists for things like root canals. Plus, many people (many, many) people here are on fixed incomes and/or monetary assistance from the government and find that Mexico is cheaper for many things including dental work.

There is a clinic here in town that has been sufficient for my needs, but I'm not pregnant nor have I had any emergencies. I'm pretty sure I've seen signs that the clinic does not handle prenatal care and it definitely does not have any facilities for birth. Nor can it deal with emergencies; there is a local ambulance that can transport you to a hospital, about an hour away. They do take bloodwork in the clinic, and I'm pretty sure they have an x-ray machine.

There are also currently two pharmacies in town.

And (hopefully not related to medical concerns,) there is a True Value hardware store, a few thrift stores, a NAPA auto care place, multiple Mexican insurance options, four or five places to get gas, a trash company currently offering twice weekly pickup, and a county dump you can go to for free if you wish to take your own trash.

[Salpointe59]

One of the most beautiful town squares in the world.