Triumphrat

MKB · 11-19-2009, 12:02 PM

Hello to all . Two years and two weeks ago I was returning to my home in upstate NY from a fourteen thousand mile road trip on my ST1300. It was my third trip out to Cali and back, and when I had left NY I thought I might not return but instead relocate to NorCal. While staying there I decided I would go home and maximize my savings potential in order to attend MMI in Phoenix , AZ .
Well the day is drawing closer, I'll be attending in mid January ,and am currently looking into housing/apartments out west. I don't know the phoenix area , nor do my friends, so I'm looking for some advice as to where to live while attending MMI. I'm not a teen and don't want to live like one. I need a nice clean neighborhood setting, where professionals not college kids live, close to some good eats( major foodie/rstaurant biz for twenty/quit drinkin' ten ago ), with a garage for my bikes and gear. Kinda' like a 1/bdr condo with a driveway that leads right up and into your garage. I'm a home owner on five acres in the mountains. It's been trying up here at times over the last seven years and I 'd like to be in a normal living environment for the length of school, sort of get back into normal suburban living again ( My neighbors are true Hillbillies and some are very poor people, coupled with no jobs for sixty miles and feet of snow at a time, it's been real ) .
Because of my remoteness, as I look on the web everything looks so luxurious. Swimming pools, bright colors, movie theaters in your complex......you gotta be kidding me. Then I read the reviews and it doesn't seem for me.
Naturally I gravitate towards Cave Creek but I'm trying to do different if you catch my drift. I commute 130 miles a day here, five days a week. I live in the sticks and there's no one around. Milk is twenty minutes away in town and they close at nine. I'd like to live by some thirty/forty somethings and have no fear of my bike being knocked over or stolen.
I've heard about Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert ( is that too far to commute/traffic jam ?) and opposite direction, Peoria which is close to school. Wickenburg is too far away, cavecreek and carefree might be also. The school is located in Deer Valley just a few blocks NW of the intersection of Highway RT 17 N and the 101 loop.
As far as MMI , I'm not a mechanic, but hope to be Honda and BMW certified when I leave. Something I 've always wanted to learn and finally have the chance to. A dream of mine since I left high school twenty years ago. I don't believe they offer triumph training......them bastards.
Thanks for the read. If you're a recent past resident or currently living in the phoenix area and care to advise me towards some good neighborhoods/areas/towns I would truly appreciate it. It's the only thing that's giving me trouble on the to do list.

PS : I'm convinced I'll need an apartment with a garage. To keep my bike and bicycle in while I'm gone. To keep my Tacoma out of the sun. To work on bikes in the shade and on the level, not out on the street. To keep stuff safe. What do you think?

It was thirty one when I woke up today and I'll be riding my scram in a bit. Got the day off and it's sunny. Get out there!!

AZSprintOwner · 11-19-2009, 01:27 PM

Hi there,

I know exactly where that school is. I don't live too far away from there myself.

You don't want to live in Tempe, Chandler or Gilbert if you're going to MMI. The commute would be pretty bad. I should know, I live in Peoria and commute to Chandler, sometimes on my bike. Commuting on your bike in Phoenix can be scary at times. The freeways with HOV lanes aren't as bad (I-10, I-17,and parts of the 101).

If it was me, I'd look for a place right around the school. There are a lot of subdivisions there, and you can probably get a decent deal on a rental. If you go west a few miles toward Peoria, things are more upscale. I'm not sure about apartments with garages. You might try looking in the Arrowhead area. (Arrowhead mall and north of there). Actually, a friend of mine has a 3-level condo with a garage now that I think about it. It's right next to Arrowhead mall. It's one of the nicer malls in the area, with a ton of dining around it.

Matt

MKB · 11-21-2009, 10:23 AM

Thanks Matt for your thoughts. Hope to see you and your sprint whizzin' by someday. I can't wait to be able to ride year round you lucky dog.

OddballZ23 · 11-21-2009, 10:44 AM

MKB, best wishes to you on your move to AZ. You brought back some pretty similar memories, as many years ago (too many!) I lived in upstate NY myself after college. Mostly in Glens Falls, but also in a Town called Hague up on Lake George. Your comments about the neighborhood and the neighbors rang true!! I left when friends living in Tucson in a bachelor house called and said one of them was getting married and they would have an open room. Did not take long for me to pack my 1974 BMW 2002 (what great car that was) and hit the road.

Sorry can't comment on Phoenix, never really got up there. But if you ever have the chance you should head down to Tucson and check out the Sonora Desert Museum. Great place and if the roads are anything like they used to be, plenty of two lane blacktop to enjoy!

MKB · 11-21-2009, 11:14 AM

Thanks for the good vibes on the move Oddball. The gray cold wet weather today makes me wonder why your back on the east coast.

OddballZ23 · 11-21-2009, 11:33 AM

Hi MKB - easy answer really. My dad was a lot older than my mom. In '84 I was in Tucson, he got sick (age 84), I made it home in time to see him in the hospital. We chatted and he said something like "Gee, I was thinking, I moved in with my mother when I was your age." He did that when his dad passed. Message sent, message received!!

After he was gone I had my mom come out and spend a week with me in AZ. I took her to all the places I took my dad when I had him come out a year or so before that (so glad I did that), museums and restaurants and so on. Took her to Nogales and even got stopped by the Border Patrol!! She thought that was funny! I packed it all up into an older Ford F-150 with a camper shell and drove home to CT and moved in with Mom for a few years. Mom is freakin' 90 years old now!!

pepper · 11-21-2009, 11:24 PM

Hey, MKB, good luck with school, I was there attending in 05, had about 3 1/2 months to go when my job closed down and I was forced to drop out and head back to Illinois....sux here! I am looking to head back to Phoenix very soon, felt like I belonged there. I stayed in Bell Lake Apts while going to school, close to the campus and pretty quiet-no garage but had covered parking. Maybe I'll see you out there soon, if I could just find a job before I make to move-lot less stressful!!

MKB · 11-24-2009, 09:09 AM

Good man Oddball. Good on you for moving back. I too hope to get both of my folks out to AZ while I'm there, as they're getting on in years (80 & 70).
Pepper....That's a tough one. You only had a few months to go??? So if you go back after almost four years do they allow you start where you left off. How was your experience at the school while there? And what manufacturers did you end up taking? Thanks for the heads up on Bell Lake.

pepper · 11-24-2009, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MKB

Good man Oddball. Good on you for moving back. I too hope to get both of my folks out to AZ while I'm there, as they're getting on in years (80 & 70).
Pepper....That's a tough one. You only had a few months to go??? So if you go back after almost four years do they allow you start where you left off. How was your experience at the school while there? And what manufacturers did you end up taking? Thanks for the heads up on Bell Lake.

If I remember right, all I would have to do is take the basic re-admittance test and start back over on my major manufacturer training, which was Harley...I absolutely LOVED the area, the school was pretty good, but overpriced, I thought-took awhile to start getting into things I didn't already know from many years of tinkering and working on my own bikes. BMW is really good to get into, but they only accept the top students for their program, which I was on the path for (Beemer techs make better money!) If you have any questions, shoot me a pm and I'll try to help you with anything I can!!