Ranger,
tough choices. Had we not settled here in the NE corner of our wonderful State, I'd have liked to ended up in the Pinetop-Lakeside, Show-Low, Springerville area and was hoping (and pushing a bit) for my wife to obtain her last job there instead of here.
Heber might be a good option too, as I recall +/- 1/2 way between Payson and Show-Low. Seemed like a nice little town.
Wagonwheel I sorta liked as it was county and not in the cities of either Show-Low or Pinetop-Lakeside. And sat right between them. Of course, there was a bit of rif-raf there.
We looked at a property out to the north of Vernon, very reasonably priced at the time. A little remote and some water issues of course. PJ terrain, a bit barren as you know.
AZ is turning a bit blue nowadays as you likely know. Older bro retired to the Flagstaff area a few years back from SoCal and is already thinking a move might be in order to a more conservative and slower growing area of AZ.
We lived in Boulder City NV too, nice place, NO GAMBLING. cops moved the lowlifes right out of town, never saw a homeless person there (2005-2007). Limited growth, great rifle and pistol club when I was there. But HOT in the summer. Loads of public land though and fishing in Mead and Mojave can be great. NV taxes likely less than where you are now. AF (?) base there in LV. Close to all the "fun" but you don't have to live in it.
Good luck when you do get out of Cali.
Geno
PS, Not for you Ranger, but for all the commenters. All this cold and hot stuff is relative, no? Saw -11F in Pinetop, been down to -25F here since we moved in. Hot as in 128F in the place we lived in AZ? Or hot like here when it gets to 100F? You want a nice climate move to friggen SoCal with 20 million other folks.
