Tug484

[quote=Seth]My final retirement location is going to be someplace those people aren't likely to be interested in. Right now I'm thinking Yuma, where the bulk of such traffic is apparently snowbirds who leave again in the spring, or someplace thereabouts.[/quote
Don't go anywhere close to Phoenix.
I thought my sister was exaggerating about how bad it was.
She wasn't.
We literally saw little kids dumped at Wal
Mart.
Unsupervised, playing, with toys scattered all over the store.
They were everywhere.
The news always showed 95 busted living in one house.
That was on the news more than once.

Seth

[quote=Tug484][quote=Seth]My final retirement location is going to be someplace those people aren't likely to be interested in. Right now I'm thinking Yuma, where the bulk of such traffic is apparently snowbirds who leave again in the spring, or someplace thereabouts.[/quote
Don't go anywhere close to Phoenix.
I thought my sister was exaggerating about how bad it was.
She wasn't.
We literally saw little kids dumped at Wal
Mart.
Unsupervised, playing, with toys scattered all over the store.
They were everywhere.
The news always showed 95 busted living in one house.
That was on the news more than once.[/quote]

I've heard the Phoenix area was bad. I've been there, not recently, and wasn't thrilled with the place then.

I'm more into someplace smaller and less known as a "place to visit." I also understand that Yuma has a working border wall of sorts or at least better border security. Still doing research on that.

The intense dry summer heat is a plus.

Tug484

That's good to hear.
I was there in November, but was at the tennis center everyday and didn't see much else.
My sister teaches tennis, so it was a daily thing.
I want to go back this summer, but my cab ride from the airport was $50.00.
They always take me all over the place.
Ubered back for $17.50.

Seth

That explains why in back NY the regular cab companies are bribing the politicians to be hostile to Uber.

Tug484

The uber guy didn't drive me out of the way.
Every time I'm there and take a taxi they go way out of their way before taking me to where I'm going.

Seth

I had a yellow cab driver in NY try that on me once, and I told him I wanted to change my destination to the nearest police precinct. When he asked why, I explained that I needed to report him for s**mming me like I was some out of town rube (NY's my home town, I know the place -- he mistook my valise and computer bag for a tourist's, or something).

He ended up turning off the meter and driving me the rest of the way -- all the way to Queens, where I lived then -- with what was on the meter, at his loss. Hope the rip-off learned his lesson.

Tug484

That was a miracle and I hope he learned his lesson.
I would feel like I'm suffocating in New York.
High rise buildings have that effect on me.
I'm used to Texas wide open spaces.

Seth

N.Y. streets, in some areas, are like deep canyons where you only see the sun for the few minutes it takes to pass overhead, bldgs wherein people live 50, 60+ stories up and during the day Manhattan, a relatively small island, can have ten or eleven million people in it.

Tug484

In downtown Midland the buildings aren't that high, but I feel like I can't breathe when we're driving down the street.

Seth

I think everyone should visit N.Y. at least once, just to take it in, explore a bit, maybe for 3 or 4 days. Friends and colleagues from smaller cities and towns who've visited were more awestruck than anything, all were glad they'd gone and most thought it a great place to visit, as the saying goes.

I lived in New Orleans for 9 years, in my opinion another must-see city, and know it well. It's the exact opposite of N.Y. where big cities are concerned and probably my overall favorite as such.

Still in all, I'm done with big cities, all for the quiet life now, a peaceful, hassle free retirement, though an occasional visit to NOLA isn't out of the question.

I've seen enough of California, the politicians in this state are falling all over themselves in a mad rush to the left and no matter how far they go it's never enough, like they don't want California to even remotely resemble anything American.

They ought to move our military bases from San Diego and give the entire state to Mexico -- it would make little difference in the demographic make-up here anyway.

Tug484

I've been to New Orleans several times.
That's where we got on our cruise ships.
Did Bourbon Street.
We always drove to see the country.
The worst part was a 40 mile long bridge over black water.
BTW, my grandsons name is Seth.
A really sweet boy.

Seth

I imagine there are more southern Seths than there are us "damnyankee" (one word) ones.

Tug484

I have never met anyone named Seth..
Heard of him in the bible and that's it.
Middle name Wyatt from Wyatt Earp.
What a heck of a last name.

Seth

I knew one once, in junior high in N.Y., but it seems there are Seths in films, novels and so forth set in the south and the west.

Then there was Seth Rich, the Hillary murder victim.

Tug484

Forgot about him.
That's awful, him getting murdered.
Looked like a fun guy.