Starting with Arizona

Tony Shelton

BS Detector, Esquire
Ladies and Gentlemen, Over the past two summers we, as a family, have driven 15,000 miles training, investigating, interviewing, studying and preparing for the direction we want to go with our business. You don't learn much about people flying over them, but when you stop and spend a few days in their area, you start to get a feel for what it's like to live there.

We've spent time in 27 of the top 40 metropolitan areas in the US representing a total of well over 110 million city dwellers, not counting the hundreds of smaller towns we either went through or stayed in. This includes 35 states.

Driving and spending this much time interacting one can learn a lot about people. Keep in mind these are mostly metro areas which are going to be a skewed perspective even though they account for 1/3 of the population of the US.

ARIZONA

Arizona is a pretty big state. The top of the state has the Grand Canyon and some trees. Go there the wrong time of year and your will freeze your butt off. But the summer is not too bad.

1) The people in the Flagstaff area seem conservative, but pretty laid back. It was really easy to make friends everywhere from the gas station to the pizza joint. They charge you money to drive on a STATE ROAD because it offers a view of the grand canyon. You can imagine the crap I gave them till they reminded me that it was a "state" road and I was not a "state" resident. So I paid and shut up.

2) As you go further south the trees become more sparse and the people more "nevada-like" in that they are friendly, but a little stand-offish till they get to know you.

3) The restaurants are all Clean thanks to Ron.

4) The bus stops are all clean thanks to Scott.

5) Other stuff is clean thanks to Ty.

6) Hoods are clean thanks to Lou.

We like to stay at a little Resort in Scottsdale that Ron told us about that looks like little cottages and offer SUPER deals.

Overall the Phoenix Metro area is very diverse from downtown crack addicts (where Scott works) to upscale neighborhoods (where Scott and Ron lives).

Phoenix is very cultured. It is full of artists. As a matter of fact, Alice Cooper has a restaurant there. lol.

From there you move southeast to Tucson. Oops. Missed it. lol

Seriously Tucson is a college town. Tom is the only conservative there. lol. Really, I don't know that. I've heard there is at least a couple more. Sidewalks are pretty clean. Tom's accounts will blind you in the right light.

South of there there is Tombstone and Bisbee. Tombstone is a great place to see some of our western history and pay money watch some lame guys shoot at each other with cap guns. Bisbee is a good place to score some shrooms and admire the paintings and artwork of the last guy who scored shrooms. lol.

As far as our business (HVAC cleaning) goes, Arizona is ours for the taking and we are taking it.

As far as commercial pressure washing goes it is a HUGE market that is pretty well covered. The reason for this is because guys like Ron and his competitors have PREPPED the area and taught them that CONCRETE NEEDS TO BE CLEANED!!!!! It is a clean state. Everyone should come out here to visit to see what a trained customer base can look like.

It is a beautiful state for me and my family. We love wide open spaces and we love the desert. To us it represents freedom and we are able to look out and see a huge sky framed by God's mountains that look majestic behind the best efforts of man to create something comparable in a skyline. We prefer Las Vegas only because it is surrounded by mountains and we don't have any of those invasive traffic cameras!

I can't add any pictures till we get home, but Arizona is a beautiful state that we visit on a regular basis.

New Mexico is next.
 
Ahh, but you don't have mountains in the center of town like Phoenix. Pretty fair assessment, except Flagstaff is relatively liberal. You forgot it is more a college town then Tucson.
 
You gotta love AZ:

-Motorcyclists without helmets
-Guns without permits/legal to conceal
-Medical marijuana (not a user but not against those that do)
-BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
-Beautiful weather (8 months of the year)
-Great mountains, lakes, and sunsets
-Tons of power washing business
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST GREAT PEOPLE...

I would never leave Arizona.
 
I didn't spend much time in Flagstaff. The time we spent in a sports bar there left us with a fairly conservative stance. But one of those guys had an AR-15 in a holster (I didn't know they made holsters for AR-15's) lol. (That's an exaggeration BTW)

Our mountain in the center is the Stratosphere. But then again, we don't have "Revenge of the Mummy" style dust storms like you guys do either. :)

My real assessment of PHX is that we like it a lot. There are places where you can't see any mountains and you feel like it goes on forever and leaves us with a sense of being lost, unlike Vegas which is a lot more stark (vegetationwise) but has prominent points of reference in all four directions.

The people seem pretty much the same except for the fact that you have so many looney Californians that want to control everything ergo the traffic cameras.

On the bright side, your cops don't shoot everything that moves. lol.
 
You gotta love AZ:

-Motorcyclists without helmets
-Guns without permits/legal to conceal
-Medical marijuana (not a user but not against those that do)
-BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
-Beautiful weather (8 months of the year)
-Great mountains, lakes, and sunsets
-Tons of power washing business
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST GREAT PEOPLE...

I would never leave Arizona.

Ty, I've got to agree with everything you said!!! It is becoming our second home.
 
Phoenix - The Big City - Plenty of everything to do there, but I couldn't live there - like any place needs to be hotter than Tucson! And I think I would just lose it completely if I had to drive there daily. Tucson has mountains all around, real ones with trees, not the hills in Phoenix - You can be in a pine forest in 45 minutes - one of few saving graces here. There is, or was, an odd allure to this place, people fall in love with it and many who could afford to live anywhere decide to come here.
 
IMAG0040.jpg Tony, congratulations on your being able to travel the way you have. I am sure that you earned every mile. traveling the way you have has got to be one heck of a learning experience for your daughter. wheres your company going??? wherever it ends up i hope it works for you and your family. I was in Nevada once, like 20 years ago. It was 120 degrees under the tree. IT WAS TO HOT for me. I like it right where i am at. besides the brutal winters of 4 feet of snow I believe i live in a paradise. ( i dont mind the cold, I am a fat guy so it needs to be like a meat locker for me anyways ) I grew up about 5 miles north of boston and worked downtown boston for many years and hated the hustle. ten years ago i moved north and Now I live in the "white mountain national forest region" and it is a completely different way of life. This picture is my neighbor across the street. he just put the cows out front 4 days ago. first time they have been in front of my house. The dog sure doesnt know what to think.
 
I can't imagine what it would be like in Phoenix if the weather was any cooler. It is nuts and nuttier now then it ever was.
BTW, I can be in pine trees in about 65 minutes from my house. I can also be on a lake for water skiing and such in about 20 minutes. Snow skiing is a little further. I think it is about 3 hours to a ski lift.
 
View attachment 21469 Tony, congratulations on your being able to travel the way you have. I am sure that you earned every mile. traveling the way you have has got to be one heck of a learning experience for your daughter. wheres your company going??? wherever it ends up i hope it works for you and your family. I was in Nevada once, like 20 years ago. It was 120 degrees under the tree. IT WAS TO HOT for me. I like it right where i am at. besides the brutal winters of 4 feet of snow I believe i live in a paradise. ( i dont mind the cold, I am a fat guy so it needs to be like a meat locker for me anyways ) I grew up about 5 miles north of boston and worked downtown boston for many years and hated the hustle. ten years ago i moved north and Now I live in the "white mountain national forest region" and it is a completely different way of life. This picture is my neighbor across the street. he just put the cows out front 4 days ago. first time they have been in front of my house. The dog sure doesnt know what to think.

That is beautiful! We have never made it to Maine.

Traveling has been a great learning experience for Fayth. But even more for me. Some areas have algae problems in coils and filters. Some have saltwater damage. Others cottonwood. Some have epa and licensing issues to deal with and the list goes on and on.

These are all things I needed to see first hand. I don't like moving blindly into anything.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
Have not been to Ohio.

Scott, we are 30 minutes from snowskiing, 30 minutes from waterskiing, 30 minutes from 70 degree summer camping/lodges, 3 hrs from LA beaches (or a few minutes away from much cleaner sand beaches at the casino resorts. lol). We've got theme park style attractions for the kids (but the kids have to spend a little money gambling and smoking for the discounts :)

One benefit, if you just want to get away for a weekend with the wife, is that our hotels (and the one's in Reno) are dirt cheap. We just paid $150 or so a night for a drive up Comfort Inn (looked like Comfort MOTEL) in San Diego. For that same $150 a night you could get a three or four room suite in Vegas with awesome views and TV's that show in the bathrooms from behind the mirrors, Leather furniture and free dinners, gym, etc.

I love Vegas, but Phoenix is a great place too.
 
Have not been to Ohio.

Scott, we are 30 minutes from snowskiing, 30 minutes from waterskiing, 30 minutes from 70 degree summer camping/lodges, 3 hrs from LA beaches (or a few minutes away from much cleaner sand beaches at the casino resorts. lol). We've got theme park style attractions for the kids (but the kids have to spend a little money gambling and smoking for the discounts :)

One benefit, if you just want to get away for a weekend with the wife, is that our hotels (and the one's in Reno) are dirt cheap. We just paid $150 or so a night for a drive up Comfort Inn (looked like Comfort MOTEL) in San Diego. For that same $150 a night you could get a three or four room suite in Vegas with awesome views and TV's that show in the bathrooms from behind the mirrors, Leather furniture and free dinners, gym, etc.

I love Vegas, but Phoenix is a great place too.

You're paying too much for your hotels Tony in San Diego. The wife and I got a 4 star hotel for $100 just a few weeks ago at a Hilton. You can save about 50 or 60% if you use Priceline and use the name your own price.

I wish these earthquakes would stop here. We just had at least our 2nd one in about 15 minutes and we have a few last night also.
 
I can't imagine what it would be like in Phoenix if the weather was any cooler. It is nuts and nuttier now then it ever was.
BTW, I can be in pine trees in about 65 minutes from my house. I can also be on a lake for water skiing and such in about 20 minutes. Snow skiing is a little further. I think it is about 3 hours to a ski lift.

But the other end of the vortex in Sedona does come out in the high Tucson desert, and you can be in beautiful Nogales Mexico in 45 min also. When are they going to build a high speed train from Phoenix to Tucson? With our luck it will bypass us and go straight to Mexico!
 
Vince, I don't know how you guys managed it. We needed a room on a Friday night and all the hotel.com app hotels were full. We called about 40 hotels and managed to get a Best Western for $188 only because someone had doublebooked and checked two rooms instead of two occupants.

I need to know your secret!

Tom, Sedona is a strange place. If I ever turn liberal and want to get in touch with my inner Obama I might move there. But if that ever happens and I'm broke, I'll move to Bisbee. lol.

Sedona is beautiful though. Why is it the strange people go to the beautiful places?
 
I've been seeing more and more A/C companies pulling around pressure washing rigs this year. That licensing crap is for the birds! I have good relationships with some PM's that would give me the business in a heartbeat if I had the license. I may have to look into it.
 
Vince, I don't know how you guys managed it. We needed a room on a Friday night and all the hotel.com app hotels were full. We called about 40 hotels and managed to get a Best Western for $188 only because someone had doublebooked and checked two rooms instead of two occupants.

I need to know your secret!

Tom, Sedona is a strange place. If I ever turn liberal and want to get in touch with my inner Obama I might move there. But if that ever happens and I'm broke, I'll move to Bisbee. lol.

Sedona is beautiful though. Why is it the strange people go to the beautiful places?

You have to plan a little ahead Tony. Maybe 24 hours or so. The wife and I went to Hawaii for 6 nights at a 4 star, round trip airfare and rental car for both of us was $1200. We pricelined the whole trip though using the name your own price. The only thing that sucks about the flights is that you don't know what flight you're on or when it leaves or anything until your offer has been accepted. Kinda like gambling a little.
 
We were going by the seat of our pants. Sometimes I didn't get a meeting or get things done in time so it threw everything off schedule.

I do have to say I will never do any loyalty programs with choice hotels again. Every year they change the rules to make it more and more difficult to get bonus points.

Last year you could stay 2 nights in a decent one like comfort suites and get a free night in a Quality Inn or Rodeway. Or stay four nights and get a free night in a really nice Comfort Suites. This year they changed it so that the nights you stay to qualify have to be in different hotels every night. That might work good for a traveling salesman, but there were some places where meeting times got changed or other things happened and we ended up staying 4 to 8 nights. And that counted as ONE Stay!!!!
 
Cottonwood Resort in Scottsdale - an outstanding value for the money. The best deal we got there was a two room full suite for $85 and that included a $50 food and beverage credit per day. How do you beat that? Thanks Ron for turning us on to that.

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Bisbee Arizona wierdness

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Arizona is an awesome state!
 
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