Moving south....best place to go, FL, AZ, TX, LA?

Im 22 years old, from ohio, and I am looking at several different cities to move to. My goal here is to pick the one with the most lake access and with the climate that will let me ride year round. Anybody from these areas... please give me your insight!!!

Here are my choices (and i am limited to these) Phoenix Arizona, Rio Grande Valley in Texas, Jacksonville Florida, New Orleans Louisiana, Atlanta Georgia, or Miami-Dade Florida

move to jax fl

Miami is awesome but $$$$$

Phoenix is cool but the lakes are 15+ min drive and get REEEEEAL cold in the winter, you can ride them but it isn't nice

if you can afford it I would go miami

it gets chilly here in the winter but a wetsuit will keep you warm. there are a nice amount of places to ride here in north fl. with black creek being the best especially during the week, there are miles of smooth water. on the weekend there are a lot of wallies out that mess up the nice water but that is the same anywhere. here in jax we arent that far from keystone or melrose where there are a handful of lakes most of which are public access.

i can afford all places equally.... i am moving there to teach for an orgainized program and the pay is based on local cost of living. So within the limites of what i listed, they are all equally affordable. Im just looing for a year round season and nice water

florida.... i have only been to a few places there, but it seems that when you drive down a road, you will see more lakes than speed limit signs....

If I were to move to FL for riding, and had to pick between Jax and Miami, I'd go Jax all the way for sure. Miami sucks except for about a 20 block stretch in South Beach. I live about 1.5 hours north of Miami, and avoid it like the plague.

I wanna move to AZ sooooo bad

If you're from OHIO I would NOT move to Miami! Miami Sucks ass compared to the rest of the world. Move to Jax or ATL. Stay away from Miami! Unless you carry a gun and know how to use it. I moved from Cali to Fort Lauderdale and like Tim just said I avoided it like the plague! You would make a huge mistake to move there!

(Message edited by steezyshots on October 23, 2008)

jacksonville or atl would be my 2 choices.

AZ you will be close to powell!!

Florida, wake capital of the world, but remember hurricanes hit from time to time (personally never been there)

Don't know what to say of the other two

I'm from PA and moved to LA - tons of great riding spots and I ride 9-10 months with no wetsuit. There are also affordable waterfront houses and condos here too. My second choice would def be jacksonville.

atl season is about like here... end of Feb to beginning of Nov if you're tough... middle of Mar to middle of Oct if you're not... i hear they got a decent scene but lakes are about 40-hr away from city... people drive it all the time but whatever you're down for... don't live in atl just thought i'd throw down a little insight

Oh and on another non wake related note, Phoenix has some of the hottest chicks around, and there are lots of them!

Miami is going to be your only comfortable year round riding spot, but you can see there is not much love for that city. New Orleans and JAX are mild compared to Ohio, but temps get below freezing a fair amount and there will probably be more non-riding days as there are riding days Dec-Feb. Atl is not really a riding spot between Thanksgiving and March and I lived in GA for 15 years and wouldn't want to live in that city. Too much congestion - no downtown but it has a pretty strong wake scene (wakeboardatlanta.com).

Phoenix is nice if you want to hit mountain slopes in winter. Don't really know much about Rio valley. I grew up in Ohio and any of the places you are thinking about will be a step up in terms of more riding time.

I spent a summer in Miami and loved it. One of my favorite places in the world. It is really to each his own. If you like diversity and can tolerate a little of what a bigger city brings to the table, Miami has alot to offer in terms of restaurants, nightlife, events, and wakeboarding.

AZ the water is mid 50s to mid 60s in the winter, My son wears a top suit. If you get that rare day that is in the upper 40s or low 50s[air temp] just stay out of the water otherwise air temp hi 50s to low 70s,I would think jax would be good Don't they have a new cable park?

(Message edited by wakeparent on October 23, 2008)

Miami can be a lot of fun but if you get caught up in the scene there it can get expensive real qick. there's a lot of expensive things to lure your money.

it is a lot of fun tho. it would be third on my list of places.

wow thanks everybody.... this is helpful! From what im picking up i want either Miami or Jacksonville. It sounds like Jacksonville is a better city but Miami is a longer season. Are lakes pretty common in both?.... hard to tell by looking at maps which ones are rideable. With a wet suit is year round in Jacksonville a problem?

Why not or Orlando?!?!?!

AZ is cool and all but the closest lake to the city is atleast 30 min away and they are busy during the summer. I would say go to cali and ride the delta not too familiar with it but money no option i know i would move to cali.

gordie there isnt a new cable park here in jax yet. I am trying to pull some strings and get one underway so hopefully in a year there will be a new cable here in jax

year round in jax with a full suit is no problem for sure. i have lived here all my life and my season never really ends. there are some days where i wont ride but it is definitely bearable with a full suit.

stay away from the valley in Texas.

^^^ why

Phoenix Arizona or Jacksonville Florida. remove Miami, Florida from your list, seriously!

There's good riding here in AR but I consider myself to be a Big Pu$$y when it comes to being cold I only ride from the beginning of April to the end of October usually

(Message edited by lovin_the_wake on October 24, 2008)

New Orleans. end of discussion. i live in monroe which is the top half of the state and it may go below freezing for 2 nights out of the year. at the max. we ride year long here. there are tons of waterways all over south louisiana. cost of living is some of the cheapest in the country. Its a great atmosphere. We are startin to get a fairly good wakeboard scene around here too. It mainly revolves around LSU and Lafayette though. but both are within a hour of New Orleans. North shore of the lake is where i would be. like mandeville. it puts you in the middle of everything.

Chris,

I say stay away from the valley, b/c it's basically northern Mexico, you get alot of illegal immigration thru their ( equals higher crime), the landscape is horrible, the riding scence is not that good or established. the valley is good for hunting, that's about it.

Nick, I see your 20..you must not get out of La. that much to other parts of the country? aside from a few places around town New Orleans is cesspool. Sure LSU is fun, but what college is really broing??? Lafayette has a small town mentality.

Out of the places listed, there are alot better choices.

Nick - Your max days below freezing of 2 is way off.

Check out this link to see what the real data is for LA and other locations. LA and JAX are pretty similar which are a good bit cooler than Miami.

http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/min32temp.html

but miami is ridiculous it is super expensive in the nice areas and super trashy in the not so nice areas. it is very dangerous and there arent that many fresh water riding spots in miami. Jax or pheonix is your best choice.

dude oklahoma city is the place to be. there building another cable park, and cowc is allready open now owned by boat and rv world... great lakes and spots all over

Sam... I dont know what you are talkin about. yeah, New Orleans itself is bad for riding. But around it aint. I can think of at least 10 places that i have been to between Baton Rouge and Slidell. I was referring to the fact that the wakeboard scene revolves around LSU and Lafayette. And I get out alot. Been to Cali.. nice but wasnt blown away. Expected a little more i guess. I like texas better than cali. too many people for me. They got just under 4 million in the LA metro area of cali. Louisiana has a little over 4 million total. Florida is nice but it seems like everyone was on the water. and everythin was about the beach. Orlando was all about the theme parks. never been to jax though.

I have never been uncomfortable ridin on the ouachita river in december usin just a wet suit. Yeah, once about every 3 or 4 years, we get a good freeze in late january. but besides that, its never a problem. I wear can wear shorts almost year round here. but people also call me nuts cause i am still trunkin it. while they are already in wet suits. so i guess im just real warm blooded.

Nick, I'm sure the riding scene is fine, and I know they are a ton of rivers/lakes. I was referring to New Orleans in general...as far as living...it's a cesspool, for the most part.

i'm pretty sure AZ isn't that bad. Heck I just moved from Hawaii to AZ about 3 years ago and love it here. I ride all year round just like I did in Hawaii. Yes, the water gets cold (57-65 winter), but when you are wearing a sweatshirt and jeans underneath a dry suite, what's the difference (at least your riding when others are not). Plus, if you can put up with a dry suite, then usually you get good water in the winter. I'm actually sweating sometimes in my dry suite because the weather is pretty nice in the winter for the most part. Yes, the lakes are crowded in the summer if you are lazy and wake up late. Wake up early and get the butter, or drive a little longer than an hour to Lake Roosevelt and get good water all day long. We hit lake roosevelt pretty hard in the summer because we have a big crew and sometimes that's hard to coordinate everyone to get up early and everyone still get a ride in on the butter.