I Don't Have a Sense of Yuma
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2/13/2006
Yuma is America's hottest city. From my perspective, it's only a place to fill up the tank on the drive between San Diego and Phoenix. Then, just keep on driving. Sales taxes exceed 10% and unemployment is frequently more than 30%. The city extends to the horizon with large empty areas and takes 20 minutes to escape from (at 65 mph!). Because of only 3" of annual rainfall, there are few places to find shade and everything is not just dusty, it's dirty. Yards (if you can call them that) consist of dead-looking desert vegetation and people's junk, exposed to the sun 350 days a year. Sounds like heaven, doesn't it! Expect to be sunburned, lonely, and unemployed. If you're a retiree (and there are many here), you might find a nice home in which to spend your final years in a fake neighborhood of identical ranch homes. But ask yourself "Why Yuma?" before you commit. If you've never visited, think of the most desolate place you can imagine and then populate it with older white folks and desperate Mexicans. It's true, I have no sense of humor--er, Yuma.
Michael | Phoenix, AZ