Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 10:36:17 -0700
Reply-To: Debra Clark <clark10006@COX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Debra Clark <clark10006@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: The truth about Florida--Love Bugs
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Absolutely right! There is something wonderful in all the places I've
lived - New Jersey, Florida, Manhattan and now California. I know about the
negative but I try to avoid it as much as possible and celebrate the
positive. We must all be optimists here, if we're driving a Vanagon!
Debra Clark
Santee, California
clark10006@cox.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill N" <freeholder@STARBAND.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 9:56 AM
Subject: Re: The truth about Florida--Love Bugs
> I lived in Florida for a year. I spent the first 6 months on the northern
tip on Pine Island
> in an old house (widow's walk and all) right on the ocean, and the next 6
months in Cape Coral.
> There were a lot of insects, so I got a field guide and studied them.
Ditto for the reptiles.
> Very interesting place. I went fishing and crabbing a lot. Picked all
the oranges I could eat
> from the 5 acres of old trees I owned. Did you know that the blossom end
(away from the stem)
> is sweeter? We would cut them in half and throw the stem end away.
>
> Spent a lot of time in the everglades. We once counted 134 alligators in
a 30 mile drive. We
> added an awful lot of birds to our life list.
>
> Yes, there are a lot of snowbirds and upper east coast people there, but
they didn't go to the
> same places we liked. Slog out into the everglades a ways and you won't
see many motorhomes.
> The weather? Hot in the summer, but actually not much worse than Northern
Illinois, where I
> grew up. Washington DC is about identical in the summer.
>
> Yes, you can step on a jellyfish or ray -- if you aren't careful. Where I
live now, there are
> black widows under every other rock (literally), and giant centipedes (up
to 8 inches) that
> have a very painful bite. There are also scorpions, gila monsters, coral
snakes, and 15
> species of rattlesnake. None have ever got me yet. You learn to look
under stuff before you
> pick it up.
>
> I went back a couple of years ago. We put a new AVP engine in our '81
Westy and wanted to take
> it out for a test drive (we put about 800 miles on it first). We took two
weeks and went to
> Key West. I still liked Florida. There are still a lot of wild areas and
beaches with nobody
> else on them. Look around. Rolling across 7 mile bridge with everything
you need right in
> your VW is a great feeling. It doesn't get much better. We camped on Big
Pine Key (in the
> "primitive area" of the campground -- water, but no electric or sewer, so
no motorhomes. Key
> deer were in our camp most of the time. Some great places to hike. All
in all, don't believe
> all the negative stuff too much. Sure, Florida has some lousy places, but
so does everywhere
> else. Not bad overall.
>
> Bill
>
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