Retirement Home in the Desert

If you are tired of the noise, traffic jams and total confusion of city living, you will love a retirement home in the desert. If you have lived in a city all your life, you've become oblivious of the constant roar of traffic. The desert is so quiet and peaceful that it seems deafening. I lived in a city for most of my life. I've experienced the roar, the clamor, the shouting and, yes, the shooting, that goes with it.

When my wife and I approached retirement age, we started looking for a place to spend the rest of our years. After searching through the wide expanse of northern Arizona, we settled on a remote area of the high Mohave Desert. We learned a lot about desert living while we were searching. Before we purchased our property, we made sure that it had the amenities, such as water and electricity, available. Many areas in the desert have no amenities at all. Property owners in those areas have to haul water and set up solar systems or purchase a generator.

We visited our new property several times before we retired. On each visit, we marveled over the beauty of the surroundings and the peaceful tranquility of the desert. When we retired, we sold our home in the city and ordered a manufactured home for our property. When the house was ready, we packed up our belongings and drove the two hundred miles to our new home. Being the city folks that we were, we had a lot to learn. The grocery store wasn't just a block down the street. It was twenty-two miles away. The nearest gas station was nine miles from home. We couldn't go to the restaurant just around the corner. The nearest eating establishment was twelve miles down the road.

We set up our shopping day to correspond with our monthly retirement checks and bought two freezers to hold a month's worth of groceries. We bought five gas cans, filled them with gas and kept them stored in the back yard for emergency use only. Because our home is total electric, we purchased a generator to run the household if the power was off for two days or more.

With a complete change of lifestyle, we can sit on our deck, after dark and look at the stars. The serene stillness is occasionally interrupted by the howl of a coyote or a gentle breeze. The mountains around our home are nine miles away and are so still that they look like a beautiful mural that someone has hung from the sky. Our stress levels have decreased and my high blood pressure has dropped to an acceptable range.

Living in the desert is a lifestyle unlike any I've ever experienced. The pace of life is much slower and the peace and quiet is unbelievable when compared to living in a city.

I have lived in the desert for eight years now and I have no desire to move back into the hubbub where everyone is squeezed together and piled on top of one another.

Sources: Personal experience