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Old 07-29-2010, 08:22 PM
 
Location: Arizona!
675 posts, read 1,417,245 times
Reputation: 1090

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeckyfromIL View Post
So, we arrived in Gilbert on July 1st after a 3 day drive from Chicago. 4 weeks later we feel like this is home...and we absolutely love it!


#1 thing I like about AZ - Nice people!

Shortly after arriving on our first day we realized that we didn't have any water. I had called the Town of Gilbert about 3 weeks prior to get service set up in our name and to start on July 1st. So I called and spoke to a very nice girl who had me check a couple of things, and then said someone would be out to turn it on within 2 hours. I was thrilled! Coming from Chicago (or the Chicago suburbs anyway), things just never work like that. An hour later we had water and a friendly "Welcome to Arizona" from the water guy. In fact everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) that I've met, whether it be a stranger in the grocery store, a server at a restaurant, a clerk at a retail store, the women handling registration at the schools, the ups driver, the guy who serviced our misters, the furniture delivery guys, and everyone we encountered at the MVD....have been soooo nice! I really just can't believe it. Everyone has stopped what they're doing just to talk! People in Chicago are in general, just kind of crabby. I was probably even kind of crabby there. Who wouldn't be....it's a miserable place to live. Anyway, that's one of the things I love about Arizona so far.

Second great thing...no traffic (at least for me!)

Now I've read a lot of complaints from people in various threads about traffic. Now granted, we work from home so we don't have a daily commute across town...or across many towns during rush hours, BUT, I have done a lot of driving since we've been here. This week I've been taking my son to skate camp every morning at 8:15 and then I pick him up at 4pm. I have not had to deal with any sort of traffic (or at least the kind of traffic I'm used to). Yesterday I did see some traffic though...heading north on Greenfield I came up to 60 and I could see that it looked pretty bad up there. In four weeks though, that's the only bad traffic I saw. During rush hour in the Chicago area there is no good road to take. Every road is congested....every stop light it takes you at least 2 lights to make it through. I have never sat through more than one light here. When I encounter construction, everyone moves right through it. In Chicago construction creates parking lots! You can easily sit through 6 or 7 lights when construction is involved. Again, I don't drive into Phoenix during rush hour or anything, but I am thrilled at the whole traffic flow situation around here.


Third thing I love (actually this should have been #1) - THE WEATHER!!!

I had lived in Chicago my whole 38 years, and I always knew I was meant to be somewhere warm. Boy is this the place for me! Seeing as how we arrived on July 1st and it's been crazy hot ever since (except for a couple of kind of cloudy days) and I have no complaints. People will say to me "it's not usually this humid" and I'm like "what humidity?" This is nothin compared to Chicago. I admit...it's tough when you have to work outside in the sun, but I'll take that over 7 ft of snow and sub-zero temps anyday. I've learned to look for shady parking spots as climbing into a scalding hot car is probably one of my less favorite things. I do look forward to coming outside from a freezing cold grocery store or restaurant and feeling this "whoosh" of hot air hit my skin. Pure heaven! I do enjoy the cloudy days too, or watching a storm roll in (which has been happening a lot lately, although they never seem to really hit us where we are).

There are so many other things I love but this post is starting to resemble a book. Just to balance it out though, here's a couple things I don't like (or just don't understand).

-Why people don't put carts in the cart returns?!? I don't get it...it's not that hot outside.

-Scorpions. I wish I could walk around barefoot more. We've encountered 6 I think since moving in. We had the whole yard and house sprayed now.

-Our car insurance costs going up.

The pro's definitely outweigh the cons...and I didn't even list all the pros.

Well, to sum it up, we're here to stay!

Your post nails it. We arrived only a week before you and feel the same way about our new home. The people we've met have been very friendly. Welcome home!
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Old 07-29-2010, 11:44 PM
 
117 posts, read 251,430 times
Reputation: 116
We moved here from Mi late June and loooooove it!!! Also, my car insurance went from 193 in Mi to 73 bucks here!! Maybe you should shop around. We have progressive and that is for two cars and one is a lease that makes you keep too much insurance!
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Old 07-30-2010, 01:08 AM
 
Location: Gilbert Arizona
860 posts, read 2,718,951 times
Reputation: 1082
We moved from Indiana in late May to Gilbert and I love it as well. I ma just starting to feel the "humidity" there last few weeks and yeah, its a drop in the bucket compared to the Midwest and our summer vacations in N Carolina. I do miss the dry heat!

I have noticed there are less cart corrals here than the town I lived in. ?

We have yet to see a scorpion! I kind of want to see ONE, but not as many as the OP!!I hear that they either like your home or not, so when we look for a permanent home to buy, I am going to try to figure that out! Its nice to hear from other people from the Midwest who made the leap and are happy with their new life. Its a nice balance to all the people who unhappy and vocal about it.
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Old 07-30-2010, 03:26 PM
 
Location: Verona, WI
1,201 posts, read 2,419,218 times
Reputation: 830
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mares84 View Post
We moved here from Mi late June and loooooove it!!! Also, my car insurance went from 193 in Mi to 73 bucks here!! Maybe you should shop around. We have progressive and that is for two cars and one is a lease that makes you keep too much insurance!
Is that monthly, every six months or annual? What size deductable? Just curious.
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Old 07-30-2010, 04:47 PM
 
41 posts, read 120,828 times
Reputation: 18
Good post. We are moving to Gilbert in 3 weeks from Alaska and I am looking forward to it! I hate bugs- great! Can't wait to get down there. My husband and I both have a horrendous commute- not looking forward to that.
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Old 07-30-2010, 06:05 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,987 times
Reputation: 13
We came to the San Tan Valley in February from the suburbs of Chicago. There is nothing that would deter me from leaving this state. The people are great, the view unbelieveable, the weather is hot right now but still nothing to the heat and humidity in Illinois. Fresh produce and selection is wonderful. Absolutely the traffic is nothing for me compared to the congestion we left. It is wonderful to breathe. There are so many things to do that it is unbelieveable....as long as you can get there. For all those that can AZ is a place to discover and enjoy.
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Old 07-30-2010, 07:19 PM
 
117 posts, read 251,430 times
Reputation: 116
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnar View Post
Is that monthly, every six months or annual? What size deductable? Just curious.
Monthly 73 dollars. They are both 1000 buck deductible.
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Old 07-30-2010, 09:58 PM
 
Location: Tucson for awhile longer
8,869 posts, read 16,339,899 times
Reputation: 29241
Quote:
Originally Posted by WelcomingChange View Post
What a great post for me to wake up to this morning! My husband was offered a position in Chandler this week so we are heading to AZ, August 5th to check out the area before accepting. Gilbert is one of the cities we've been focusing on.
If your husband is working Chandler, give serious thought to living there. I'd choose Chandler over Gilbert any day. If you're looking for an older home with some character and established landscaping, you might want to check out Tempe. There are some nice family neighborhoods in Tempe would give an Ohioan less culture shock, said the girl from Western Pennsylvania.
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Old 07-31-2010, 06:52 AM
 
3 posts, read 20,368 times
Reputation: 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl View Post
If your husband is working Chandler, give serious thought to living there. I'd choose Chandler over Gilbert any day. If you're looking for an older home with some character and established landscaping, you might want to check out Tempe. There are some nice family neighborhoods in Tempe would give an Ohioan less culture shock, said the girl from Western Pennsylvania.
It's funny you say that Jukesgrrl. I swore that my next home would be a 100-150 year old farmhouse, even though I've never been a farm girl. I will definitely miss the history and character of the midwest, along with the changing leaves in the Fall, but am looking forward to seeing what Arizona has to offer. Thanks for the tip about Tempe! Hope you like it in AZ.
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Old 07-31-2010, 07:49 AM
 
27 posts, read 101,932 times
Reputation: 41
So, one more little thing that I'm not thrilled about here in AZ is the cost of car registration. Just registered our two cars yesterday for two years and it cost $1800! That's a big difference from the $78-$100 per year in Illinois. But then again, it didn't cost anything to register my three kids for public school here and last year in Illinois is cost $700. I guess it all balances out in the end.

Still love it though! Glad to hear so many other former Mid-westerners are loving AZ as much as me!
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