Grandpa's Move From Florida to Arizona 
February and March, 2004
Grandpa's Move From Florida to Arizona
My decision to move to Arizona did not come quickly/easily. I made one vacation trip to the
Laughlin/Bullhead City area before my retirement from Honeywell, and three more since my retirement. Each time, I checked out the area 55+ retirement communities. On the last vacation trip in September of 2003, I realized that
Arizona/Nevada is where I wanted to live. My bones do not ache so much here, my allergies are almost non-existent, and of course, there is Laughlin right across the Colorado river. 
I discovered Laughlin
while I was living in Vegas in 1983 - 84. I liked it then, and I
like it now. It offers a scaled--down version of the debauchery of Vegas without the madness.
Following my return to Florida from that September '03 trip west, I made a comment one day in the Forest Hills Country Club that "If someone makes me an offer of "X bucks", or more, I will sell out lock, stock, and barrel ". Within two weeks I had several offers to take me up on the deal. One couple told me that they were prepared for a cash deal and that they were ready any time. In other words, they wanted my place and they wanted it BADly. I promised them the first shot when I decided to sell. I asked Kimberly, a friend and Realtor, to do a market survey and then I discounted what it would cost a new owner to bring the place up to like-new condiditon. The carpet and appliances were all original, and needed to be replaced. Then I subtracted what a realtor's fee would be, and that was my sell price. I presented that price to the potential buyers. We agreed on a price, shook hands, and the deal was done. I gave them a little discount because I liked them and decided that they would fit into the neighborhood and would be good neighbors for my long-time friends next door, the Fosters. Buyer and seller were both happy. BTW, I was very surprised at how much my little bungalow had appreciated in the past three years.
I decided that two more trips to Arizona would be required in order to make the move efficiently. One trip to buy a house out here, then back to Florida to close on my place there and to hire movers to pack me up and ship me out.
Because it was the dead of winter(February), AAA advised me against using the northern, I-40 route that I am used to. They sent me along the dreaded I-10(UGH!) Southern route. That meant that I would get to enjoy miles and miles of nothingness in southwest Texas. In a dingy little place called Fort Stockton, I had a room in the worst LaQuinta that I have ever seen. It was very poorly maintained. My room was on the end, in the back, right around the lovely corner in this pic. I don't like being stuck in the back of these places when I am travelling alone:
I went to a local convenience store in Ft Stockton to get some beer. I grabbed a six pack and headed back to the motel. When I opened the first can, I discovered that the Bud folks were playing nasty tricks on us Bud drinkers:
That's right. Beer in 10 ounce cans. I'm betting that they will try to make this the standard, and that the price will be the same as the 12ers. What a rip off.
I arrived safely in Laughlin and checked into the Edgewater hotel. Not in the gamblin' mood this time, but I get a very cheap rate at that hotel. Next day, I started out to find a house in Arizona.
Since The Reserve at Fox Creek is where I have been considering as a place to move for about four years, that is where I centered my attention. There are several "codger parks" (55+ communities) as I have been calling them, out here, and I did look at a couple of others.
There is one called "Arrowhead Park" which I sort of liked because they had a garage option with their homes. But, bottom line is that The Reserve is head and shoulders above the others when it comes to amenities. Of course, The Reserve is the most expensive, but then ya only get what ya pay for.
Here is a 2BR unit in the Arrowhead Park that was for sale for about $60k. Let's be honest, "Manufactured Housing is Manufactured Housing", so it really comes down to the park/community where it is located.
I found a used home in The Reserve that was in good shape, had only been lived in for eight months, and was currently empty. I did a little research on the place, found out how much the owner owed the bank on it and made a bid at that amount. He accepted and signed a contract. Such a deal!!!
With a signed contract in my pocket, I started back for Florida to clean up business there. I'm zooming along I-10 in Mississippi, when the Carvan just quits. No cough. No sputter. No warning lights. Just dead. 
I guess five trips across the country were enough for it. Here it is at 73,601 miles on the odometer. Poor little thing:
So, I'm broke down just West of Bay St. Louis Mississippi. The engine cranks over but does not start. The battery was obviously good, and I had plenty of gasoline. That is about the extent of my knowledge with these new engines. Time to take advantage of my AAA membership. I called them from my cell phone. I got excellent service. They dispatched a wrecker for me, and kept me updated with phone calls on when they would be there. After about an hour, the wrecker showed up. So, here I am, out in the middle of nowhere, on a Sunday, with a dead car. The driver towed me into Bay St. Louis, where there was a Dodge dealer.
He dropped my car at the Dodge house and me at the nearest motel. It was a charming place (ptooey!) called the Economy Inn. It was TERRIBLE! No credit cards were accepted. This was a first for me; a motel that would not take a credit card. So, I paid the guy $60 cash for one night. I'm sure that I was the only "guest" who paid that much. The place looked so scummy that I could barely make myself sit down there. No way was I going to get into the bed, and the clientelle was um,- - - Dubious:
See that funny looking thing on the table? That is a 1945 vintage room heater. The room may not look so bad in this pic, but it was awful. It smelled of booze, cigarettes, vomit, and Old Spice aftershave. I was sitting outside weighing my options and seriously considering walking back to my car and sleeping there when I spotted a billboard that was advertising the Bay St. Louis Casino Magic Hotel and Resort!!! Oh man, a Casino Magic right here. What luck! I called them and found that they had a room available for $35 per night. I would have given them 10 times that to get out of the Economy Inn rat trap. The room at Casino Magic was very nice. The decor was bright and cheery. I needed that:
After unwinding, I made a trip to the casino for a few cold ones and to put a few $$$ in the slots. 
The next morning, Monday, I called Champion Dodge in Bay St. Louis to make sure they had all of the data that they needed to work on my car. They did. It turns out that the crank shaft rotation sensor was kaput on the Caravan. Then came the incredible news that the repair cost would be $115. That's right, just $115!!! Again, I was expecting about ten times that.
They did not finish my car until about 3PM on Monday. That was too late to get back on the road, so I just spent another night at the Casino Magic. To pass the time, I made a couple of trips back to the same bar where my luck had been so good the day before, and played the same quarter poker machines. I hit four of a kind three more times that evening!! That put me about $400 ahead for the visit. Enough to pay for the hotel and the car repairs. Talk about lucky!
The rest of the trip back to Holiday was uneventful.
While I was in Florida, I had several phone conversations with the sales agents and the project general manager in Arizona. The phrases "lawyer" and "divorce settlement" had crept into the converstions. This gave me bad feelings, and I knew that I had to get to Arizona as soon as possible to try to save the deal. I called the Colangelos, my buyers, and asked them if it would be OK to move up the closing date, and they agreed. Then I called my Title company there in Florida, and they moved the closing to 19 Feb. So, we closed on 19 Feb, the movers packed/picked me up on 20 Feb, and I was on the road on 21 Feb. Arizona, here I come!
Here are the movers at my house in Florida, and a goodbye shot of the old neighborhood:
The trip West was pretty smooth. I avoided Fort Stockton. Just beyond Ft.Stockton, there is a wind farm. This was a first for me. I was amazed at the size of those machines. There are hundreds of them in this field. The propellers on those things are HUGE! I noticed one spot where I could see an old fashioned oil rig/pump between me and the wind farm. It was still pumping away. I was still in more of a business mood than a vacation/sight-seeing mood, but once I got out of Texas, I did settle down and enjoy the desert scenery. I'm still fascinated by desert rock formations. I also saw lots of saguaro cactus in one area. These are vigorously protected out here. I guess the landscapers were digging them all up. I think I read somewhwere that it takes about 60 years for a saguaro to develope limbs. Here are a few pics. Notice in the second and third pic that someone has been out there trying to help one of the plants:
I checked into the Edgewater on 24 Feb. The next day, I was at The Reserve ready to close on my new place. As soon as I walked into the office, I was informed that the deal on the house had legal entanglements. The ex-wife of the owner was upset because there would be no equity money to divvy up after the mortgage was paid off and she had hired lawyers to stop our deal and to squeeze more money out of me. With my knowledge and past experience with the courts and how they side with the female in these disputes, I killed the deal. Now, the owner, the sales people, and the General Manager here know that I had them over a barrel since I had a signed contract to purchase that house. Everyone here went out of their way to find a place for me. Remember now, I was homeless, and all of my worldly belongings were on a truck headed this way. The lead time from order to move-in for a new home was 3 months. That would have meant putting all of my stuff in storage and finding a place to stay for 3 months. To avoid all of that added hassle, I needed something that was ready to move into. The dead-deal house is right down the street from me. It is just sitting there empty. No "For Sale" sign. Nothing. It went into foreclosure. The bank tried to auction it from the courthouse, but no bids were made. Their starting bid was $108k. That is a lot more than I paid for this brand new one. What a dumbass move that was for the bank to renege on my deal. They should have backed me up and insisted on the deal that I made with the old owner. I don't know who is making the lot lease payments now, but I hope it costs them a ton of money. I just smile every time I drive by it. There was a brand new house just like the one that I had a contract on right up the street. A lady had ordered it and then the deal fell through. It was set on the lot, but that is about all. No utilities, no carpeting, etc. Certainly not ready to move into or unload a moving truck into. It had upgraded appliances, carpet, fixtures, etc., that the gal had ordered. They said that they could have it ready in "a week or so". They offered it to me at a good price, so I bought it. Here is what it looked like on the day that I bought it, outside and inside: Now I had to beat my drums and growl occasionally to get things rolling and get this place ready for me and my stuff. Most important was the moving van headed this way. I had to have a place for them to unload my stuff. I called the movers and asked them to delay delivery as long as they could. Of course, this cost me money for every day that they had it on the truck. They finally got the carpet installed, so at least I had a place to unload my household goods. Then the cement guys showed up and poured my driveway, porch and the rear patio. This means that all of the entrances were blocked by wet cement. The moving van showed up two days after they poured the driveway. The cement was barely cured. They couldn't park on the new concrete. That is how close we cut this operation. This is how it looked the day that the movers showed up. That is all fresh cement. In back too!: Here is my bright and shiny brand new kitchen. Doncha just love new stuff??:
After about two weeks, I moved out of the Edgewater and into my new home. This is how it looked inside after the movers left, and probably would for a long time to come:
Slowly but surely it came into shape. The car port, the storage shed, the awnings, Arizona room in back, the landscaping, all sloooowly happened. Let me say this: When I first priced the homes here, I thought that they were waaaaaaaay overpriced. Now that I see what goes into setting one up and making it look nice, I have decided that they are simply way overpriced. Hey, it's what I want, so I got it. This bungalow has 2x10s in the ceiling and 2x6s in the walls. It is better insulated than any other home that I have lived in. Here is what the front looks like now: The air conditioning unit is the biggest that I have ever seen on a residence. I guess that tells me what the summer months will be like. Check out the size of this monster. The A/C, not me. It is twice the size of the one that I had in Florida. BTW, I dressed up for this pic. This is also a view of the new Arizona room. I'll probably be doing some cigar smoking out there.....: Fixing up the inside may never be completed. Remember now, I left all of my furniture in Florida. It is a slow process. Here are some general shots of my new community/home as of 30 June 2004. All of the following photos were taken with my digtal camera right here in "The Reserve": Arizona Codger Community:
Arizona Codger Neighborhood:
Arizona Codger House:
Arizona Codger House with new car:
Happy Arizona Codger:
Arizona Sunrise:
Arizona Sunsets:
'Bye!:
The weather was very hazy, but I just had to get that old-vs-new contrast photo:
