Florida Trip Notes
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:32:55 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:00:57 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Anyway, I'm thinking about going at least 20 miles inland from the
gulf, probably north of Tampa, but not really sure.
The housing price/insurance difference by staying away from the salt
will buy a nice boat and years of marina space.


Up there in the Keystone area norh of Tampa you can get on a lake but
that can get pricy. I bet you can shop right now tho. I have a good
friend up there. My daughter and SIL bounced around Florida a lot when
he was a park ranger. I agree it can be nice up in the pan handle but
you do get "seasons" and they seem to get more storms.
They were in Pensacola, Port St Joe (Mexico Beach) and down the road
in Naples. Then he wen off to Ft Lauderdale to "undevelop property for
the city and now he is wih water management in West Palm Beach.
Okeechobee may be their next stop. That is a step back in time but
there is a huge lake to boat on also plenty of water to manage.
Alas, much like the lake at the top of this thread, not as much water
as there was a while ago. Again "mis" management of the water was the
biggest problem and again they blame the COE. COE paniced after the
2005 storm season and drained the lake. It never filled back up.

I really haven't had any interest in FW fishing since I first tried
salt, and have no interest in lake living. I'm pretty set on living
away from water and using the house/insurance price difference for the
boat and berthing it. But I almost never say never.
I saw a 3 BR house - maybe condo- for rent in Cape Coral, with davited
dock, on a canal edging the Caloosahatchee, at jaw-dropping cheap
yearly rate.
Can't remember exactly, but it was about 1200 a month.
Seems silly to me, but they're even renting brand new homes off the
water for 850 or so. Don't know how long that'll last, but the
speculators are sucking it up right now.
The Crystal River area I visited was nice though, inexpensive for my
needs, and Kings Bay is a short drive. It's a ways to the gulf on the
river, but doable enough if you aren't in a hurry. I'm not.
Might even find the river satisfies me without getting to the gulf if
the fishing helps it along.
Still have to look north, and maybe even on the east coast.
I'm planning a trip soon to look around. There's just too much I
don't know about Florida.

--Vic

Florida Trip Notes
 

On Oct 25, 9:27 am, Vic Smith wrote:
On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:32:55 -0400, wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:00:57 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Anyway, I'm thinking about going at least 20 miles inland from the
gulf, probably north of Tampa, but not really sure.
The housing price/insurance difference by staying away from the salt
will buy a nice boat and years of marina space.

Up there in the Keystone area norh of Tampa you can get on a lake but
that can get pricy. I bet you can shop right now tho. I have a good
friend up there. My daughter and SIL bounced around Florida a lot when
he was a park ranger. I agree it can be nice up in the pan handle but
you do get "seasons" and they seem to get more storms.
They were in Pensacola, Port St Joe (Mexico Beach) and down the road
in Naples. Then he wen off to Ft Lauderdale to "undevelop property for
the city and now he is wih water management in West Palm Beach.
Okeechobee may be their next stop. That is a step back in time but
there is a huge lake to boat on also plenty of water to manage.
Alas, much like the lake at the top of this thread, not as much water
as there was a while ago. Again "mis" management of the water was the
biggest problem and again they blame the COE. COE paniced after the
2005 storm season and drained the lake. It never filled back up.

I really haven't had any interest in FW fishing since I first tried
salt, and have no interest in lake living. I'm pretty set on living
away from water and using the house/insurance price difference for the
boat and berthing it. But I almost never say never.
I saw a 3 BR house - maybe condo- for rent in Cape Coral, with davited
dock, on a canal edging the Caloosahatchee, at jaw-dropping cheap
yearly rate.
Can't remember exactly, but it was about 1200 a month.
Seems silly to me, but they're even renting brand new homes off the
water for 850 or so. Don't know how long that'll last, but the
speculators are sucking it up right now.
The Crystal River area I visited was nice though, inexpensive for my
needs, and Kings Bay is a short drive. It's a ways to the gulf on the
river, but doable enough if you aren't in a hurry. I'm not.
Might even find the river satisfies me without getting to the gulf if
the fishing helps it along.
Still have to look north, and maybe even on the east coast.
I'm planning a trip soon to look around. There's just too much I
don't know about Florida.

--Vic- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Buddy of mine just got a little chunk of land just off the
intersection of 10 and 75. They just put a Hilton and a Walmart in so
something is coming down the line. Got it real cheap too and is
building a house. A couple of decades from now, his back lot will be
worth a mint for building lots...

Florida Trip Notes
 

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:22:00 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:00:57 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

BTW, 1200 sq ft here is different than in Florida, because there's
another 1200 sq ft of basement.


The difference is I also have 2200 sq/ft screen cage that I can use
for living space 11 months a year, 12 if you are willing to wear
clothes. ;-)
I only have 1315 sq/ft "under air" and another 356 in a "Florida
room", 448 sq/ft of my screen cage is open under a roof, according to
the tax collector and they have better pictures of my house than I do.

I pay $1489 but without the "homestead" it would be $3777

I agree on the garage (aka detached shop), I couldn't live without it.
I also have a 12x16 masonry shed

Yeah, I would need a shed if my wife won't change her storage habits.
Here it's common for people to have a portion of the basement loaded
with various junk. Mine is walled as 2/3 rec room and 1/3
shop/storage.
Two 8' workbenches I built back there and the other wall stacked with
cardboard boxes full of "stuff." Now being converted to plastic
containers of "stuff" because I demanded we do that. Must have 300
bucks in plastic containers by now.
Christmas stuff, Halloween stuff, kid's old school stuff, kid's old
toys stuff, wife's extra clothes and linens stuff.
Since I don't care for wood work any more, and built a work bench in
the garage, I don't really need that part of the basement, but I know
I'll need a shed because my wife will want a place for some "stuff."
I've noted, and so has she, that we'll have much more open living
space in a Florida home, but not as much storage area for "stuff"
in the house.

--Vic

Hee hee...it doesn't get any better...besides my stuff...I'm storing my
mom's possessions as she is now in a nursing home ward (waiting for a
private room), my oldest son's stuff..he's out in Vancouver, and my youngest
son's stuff, who moved in temporarily 15 months ago.
I may have to build another wing onto the house as a storage warehouse.

Florida Trip Notes
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:34:34 -0000,
wrote:



Buddy of mine just got a little chunk of land just off the
intersection of 10 and 75. They just put a Hilton and a Walmart in so
something is coming down the line. Got it real cheap too and is
building a house. A couple of decades from now, his back lot will be
worth a mint for building lots...

Even if RE is falling now, sooner or later it always goes up.
In the meantime you pay taxes on it, and maybe maintain it.
I drove back up north through Alabama last year, so dorve on
10 through part of the panhandle.
Looked like Weyerhauser owned miles and miles of forest
through one part.
Man, 10 was a nicer drive than through GA on 75, but it got
a bit slow and tedious going through AL on the state road.
This year we got caught for a couple hours stop-and-go on
75 south of Atlanta because the jokers closed 2 of the 3 lanes
to resurface blacktop. Middle of Saturday.
Torture, worst tie-up I've ever been in.
We might revisit Alabama next time down.

--Vic

Florida Trip Notes
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:44:33 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:

Hee hee...it doesn't get any better...besides my stuff...I'm storing my
mom's possessions as she is now in a nursing home ward (waiting for a
private room), my oldest son's stuff..he's out in Vancouver, and my youngest
son's stuff, who moved in temporarily 15 months ago.
I may have to build another wing onto the house as a storage warehouse.

Why were garage and yard sales invented?
To collect stuff or get rid of it?

--Vic

Florida Trip Notes
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:27:51 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

I saw a 3 BR house - maybe condo- for rent in Cape Coral, with davited
dock, on a canal edging the Caloosahatchee, at jaw-dropping cheap
yearly rate.
Can't remember exactly, but it was about 1200 a month.

There are good water front rental bargains all over SWFL right now.
Many speculators bought houses with the intent of doing a quick buck
flip and got stuck when prices went south. Try to rent with an option
to buy if you can get it. The banks have taken back a lot of these
properties from the speculators and are willing to bargain agressively
to get them off their books.

Florida Trip Notes
 

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:28:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Since then,
Wayne has been a really scared skipper, too afraid to run inlets that
even 16-foot Carolina Skiffs transit.

Insults beget insults Parker boy. What inlets have *you* run lately?
Patuxent River at Solomons? Incredible bravery in a LTP.

Florida Trip Notes
 

Wayne.B wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:28:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Since then,
Wayne has been a really scared skipper, too afraid to run inlets that
even 16-foot Carolina Skiffs transit.

Insults beget insults Parker boy. What inlets have *you* run lately?
Patuxent River at Solomons? Incredible bravery in a LTP.


Unfortunately, we don't have any difficult inlets in these here parts. I
miss them. When they were available, I ran them, in boats a lot smaller
than my current Parker. I doubt you have the balls or skills to run
either of the inlets I mentioned in your RV barge.

Florida Trip Notes
 

JimH wrote:
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:28:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Since then,
Wayne has been a really scared skipper, too afraid to run inlets that
even 16-foot Carolina Skiffs transit.
Insults beget insults Parker boy. What inlets have *you* run lately?
Patuxent River at Solomons? Incredible bravery in a LTP.

You seem to be overly sensitive to Harry just having some "Grand Banks fun".

Eh? ;-)




Indeed he does. :|

Grand Banks...the official boat of the Slowskys...

"When you aren't in a rush, a Grand Banks is way slower than other boats."

Florida Trip Notes
 

JimH wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...
JimH wrote:
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:28:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Since then,
Wayne has been a really scared skipper, too afraid to run inlets that
even 16-foot Carolina Skiffs transit.
Insults beget insults Parker boy. What inlets have *you* run lately?
Patuxent River at Solomons? Incredible bravery in a LTP.
You seem to be overly sensitive to Harry just having some "Grand Banks
fun".

Eh? ;-)

Indeed he does. :|

Grand Banks...the official boat of the Slowskys...

"When you aren't in a rush, a Grand Banks is way slower than other boats."


I wonder why Wayne is in such a hurry to leave his house and home town for
7-8 months to live on a boat? It seems he can't wait to leave it.




It's his neighbors...after a few months, they start holding meetings and
appointing committees to get him to leave.