Cochise County, AZ. I had a heart attack this past Saturday, ended up in the SAVAHCS (Southern Arizona VA Health Care System) Tucson VA med center via the Pearce/Sunsites Fire Department and the Wilcox municipal Hospital, and I got home Tuesday. Absolute personal terror, masterfully managed.
The neighbor folk (all kinda snowflakes) were by to root for me and my ticker yesterday afternoon. I don't push the guns in their faces, and they don't try to push Sanders at me, either. We have our agreement about that schtuff.
SAVAHCS is a huge, modern VA medical campus with top notch facilities and skills. You won't fall through the cracks here. Phoenix VA, not so much, and the city is Liberal, they all are. Flagstaff is quaint, and virulently Liberal. Tucson, same. Here in tiny Sunsites, perched on the Western edge of the Wilcox Dry Lake and Bombing Range, we got all kinds, but we make it work, and Conservative is the flavor of the epoch. Everybody packs heat, except sometimes, me. Still getting used to the place, won't be long before I'm settled in with my EDC...
I shoot 100yd five minutes from my house at a public site. I have to bring my own folding bench and some target frames. We made an overnight to Phoenix in early Feb and my Granddaughter and I competed in the Berger SW LR Nationals. It just doesn't get any better than that. Permitless carry, no registration, face to face transfer. etc., etc., etc.
Can see the weather coming 60 miles away, live at 4800 ft ASL in a high desert valley, am surrounded by 7000-8000ft "Sky Islands" mountain ranges, and am embedded in the midst of Southwestern history. Cochise's Stronghold is looming over my shoulder, Tombstone is a local outing. The Chiracahua National Monument is just across the valley. Douglas is 50 miles South with a retired 300 meter National Guard Range converted to the municipal shooting park, and Mexico is a literal spitting distance further South. The CBP and ICE train/shoot on their own range 50yd North, right alongside our public range. Sierra Vista (and Fort Huachuca) is an hour and a half West and South, and has a VA satellite Clinic where I get my primary. Malls and Movies, Box stores and lots of gun shops, etc. Get used to 100 mile each way days trips, it is the norm here in Southern Arizona. Meticulous and religious car maintenance is a way of life here.
I walk to the local VFW, where I am the new Service Officer. We got bikers there, and we mix.
Heck, I even found religion again.I go to church in jeans, cowboy boots, and a straw Stetson-like hat (Justin). The place changes you before your very eyes. And it's for the better. I'll probably live an extra ten years here. Good grief, just listen to me. Heart attack Saturday, and already I'm taking about living an extra ten years. Something about this place...
I just never knew it existed, and I wasted the last 20 years in Upstate NY. Sorta like the song says, Please come to Cochise in the Spring....
Just drop what you're doing. Run, don't walk. No place is perfect, but I wouldn't even leave here at gunpoint. Besides, I can even shoot back if I really need to.
We have our Libbies; we just smile and nod.
Greg