Anything I should know about driving out West?

[rruff]

I've always dreaded the idea of being a waiter, but it would be a new experience.

Just be friendly and nice to everyone... (even the angry people who give you crap). Try to help them have a good time. They are on vacation so it usually isn't hard.
Write everything down!

My prior work experience was aerospace engineer. Not a lot of skill crossover there... or charisma . I started as a dining room host, and they let me try waiting when there was an opening. It would be difficult to get hired as waiter with no experience. Bussing would be easier to get, and they get tips too (at the waiter's discretion), plus they get MW. From there if you make a good impression, they should let you try as a waiter if a spot opens up.

 

[Freelander]

If you plan on driving across Texas better pan to take a day or 2 to get across. It is a LONG way across, and when you get out west there are few towns, so make sure you have enough gas to make it.

 

[thebarefootbadger]

I'm planning on, eventually, traveling from Memphis, TN to Tucson, AZ, by way of Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico, with possible stops in Texas and/or New Mexico if I can find work there or if I like it enough. I really want to check out South Texas but it's a little bit out of the way, but then again, it is my journey, and I can set the course and the pace.

Is there anything I should know in advance for this trip?

Like, am I going to need an SUV or truck? Am I going to need something that can handle snow? How is the job market there? How livable are these places for a beginner living out of a car?

I'm actually just leaving Tucson. Sorry, I can't speak to the job market. One thing that will be important for you is the summer climate here. It's beastly hot and dry in late May and June, beastly hot in July and August when it also rains a whole lot, and beastly hot with no rain again in September and early October. (Beastly hot = not uncommon to hit 110 and quite likely over 100 degrees, sometimes for a month or two on end.) Mt. Lemmon is a comfortable place to hang out in the summer, but it's at least a 40 minute drive back down to the city.

We don't have trees here. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but part of the thing with the summer heat is that finding vehicle shade is an activity, not an assumption.

I was basically comfortable hanging out inside my van during the day with no shade or cooling from mid November to late February. During which time it often gets close to or slightly below freezing at night. Snow is not an issue, we usually don't see more than maybe a few flakes or maybe an inch once a season.

If you're liberal / artsy you might want to check out Bisbee, about 1.5 hours south of Tucson. Funky little town, about a mile high so at least 10 degrees cooler than Tucson.

 

[Anon]

I'm actually just leaving Tucson. Sorry, I can't speak to the job market. One thing that will be important for you is the summer climate here. It's beastly hot and dry in late May and June, beastly hot in July and August when it also rains a whole lot, and beastly hot with no rain again in September and early October. (Beastly hot = not uncommon to hit 110 and quite likely over 100 degrees, sometimes for a month or two on end.) Mt. Lemmon is a comfortable place to hang out in the summer, but it's at least a 40 minute drive back down to the city.

We don't have trees here. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but part of the thing with the summer heat is that finding vehicle shade is an activity, not an assumption.

I was basically comfortable hanging out inside my van during the day with no shade or cooling from mid November to late February. During which time it often gets close to or slightly below freezing at night. Snow is not an issue, we usually don't see more than maybe a few flakes or maybe an inch once a season.

If you're liberal / artsy you might want to check out Bisbee, about 1.5 hours south of Tucson. Funky little town, about a mile high so at least 10 degrees cooler than Tucson.

It sounds like then it almost doesn't even matter when I go there, considering it's only not, BEASTLY hot for roughly four months out of the year, months of which are almost over with already.

Still don't know what's worse, 110 degrees of dry heat or 80-100 degrees of humid heat. Everyone talks about how bad the summer heat is in Arizona, but in the Southeast, you can easily have a heatstroke just trying to walk around during the summer from how hot and suffocating it is.

 

[JDub]

It sounds like then it almost doesn't even matter when I go there, considering it's only not, BEASTLY hot for roughly four months out of the year, months of which are almost over with already.

Still don't know what's worse, 110 degrees of dry heat or 80-100 degrees of humid heat. Everyone talks about how bad the summer heat is in Arizona, but in the Southeast, you can easily have a heatstroke just trying to walk around during the summer from how hot and suffocating it is.

Then there's L.A. - Lower Alabama. Miasmic is the only way to describe summers here...

Cheers

 

[AmargosaWayne]

"Still don't know what's worse, 110 degrees of dry heat or 80-100 degrees of humid heat."

I'll take dry heat up to 100F with sufficient drinking water.

 

[thebarefootbadger]

Some of this trip depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Maybe I misunderstood, I thought you were talking about a trip in which you wound up permanently in Tucson. When it's nice here, it's really, really nice. The last six weeks have been amazing for winter, and the shoulders in March, April, October and November are usually even better. But I have gotten first degree burns from touching my car in August.

I'd suggest looking at topo maps in the southwest - the higher, the cooler, obviously. There are high desert regions in Arizona and New Mexico with very pleasant summer temps and quite a bit of BLM land that's free to camp.

 

[user 423]

^I'm in the Sierra Vista area which is about 2000' higher in elevation and a bit cooler than Tucson. But I still head for the hills in May or June and return in late Sept. or October.

 

[thebarefootbadger]

^I'm in the Sierra Vista area which is about 2000' higher in elevation and a bit cooler than Tucson. But I still head for the hills in May or June and return in late Sept. or October.

Yep. I used to live in Bisbee, even better re elevation. If I'd had AC the summers would have been acceptable except for the very hottest days. Living in Tucson, I really, really get the "snowbird" thing. I'll never spend another summer here.

 

[rruff]

I'd suggest looking at topo maps in the southwest - the higher, the cooler, obviously. There are high desert regions in Arizona and New Mexico with very pleasant summer temps and quite a bit of BLM land that's free to camp.

The higher elevation parts of southern NM and AZ have the mildest and nicest year round climate outside of the southern California coast. But... I wouldn't choose either state for summer if I was mobile, and could go to the UT, WY, ID, OR, or WA mountains instead... where it will be sunny and dry (but green!) all summer.

I lived in Phoenix for a couple years back in the 80s. The heat is crushing and relentless in summer, and it isn't that dry. Summer is "monsoon" season... not actually rainy by non-desert standards, but they get some moisture and humid air circulating up from the gulf.

 

[user 423]

^ Yeah, that's true about the rainy summers but this summer and last I was pretty lucky and it wasn't so bad. N.AZ and W.NM camping, also CO around Cortez and Durango. I'm a transplant from the Midwest so pretty used to summer storms. This past summer I did get a little first-hand experience with the threat of flash floods comnon in the SW. I was camping north of Silver City and was blocked in for 2 days by this raging creek (I have a video but it's wrong type):

 

[metaglypto]

As long as you keep the North Pole on your right side, you should get there. (Sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[bagabum]

For a little more scenery, take highway 90 from San Antonio to Van Horn. It a wonderful drive. Could visit Big Bend while you at it.

 

[CobbtownAcres]

I'm planning on, eventually, traveling from Memphis, TN to Tucson, AZ, by way of Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico, with possible stops in Texas and/or New Mexico if I can find work there or if I like it enough. I really want to check out South Texas but it's a little bit out of the way, but then again, it is my journey, and I can set the course and the pace.

Is there anything I should know in advance for this trip?

Like, am I going to need an SUV or truck? Am I going to need something that can handle snow? How is the job market there? How livable are these places for a beginner living out of a car?

Use Gas Buddy and iOverlander apps - they help

 

[CosmickGold]

Be aware there's a lot of hot dry desert out west, no water, no gas station, no internet, no phone, no people. Please don't wander off into something like that.

 

[Celtical]

I'm planning on, eventually, traveling from Memphis, TN to Tucson, AZ, by way of Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico, with possible stops in Texas and/or New Mexico if I can find work there or if I like it enough. I really want to check out South Texas but it's a little bit out of the way, but then again, it is my journey, and I can set the course and the pace.

Is there anything I should know in advance for this trip?

Like, am I going to need an SUV or truck? Am I going to need something that can handle snow? How is the job market there? How livable are these places for a beginner living out of a car?

A compass

 

[maki2]

The OP of this thread has not logged into this forum since April.

 

[peteg59]

/\...Hopefully they've now found bliss in their travels???