Ron,
If you and the wife expand the Florida areas you want to look into consider the Northwest and the Panhandle. Beautiful beaches for miles and miles, a lot of kayaking and canoeing on the rivers and cold water creeks/streams. Cost of housing and living in general is lower than in Central and South Florida. Whether you want a home on the beach front, a condominium inland or on the water, suburban living or wooded home site we have it here. We live in a rural area about 3 miles from the Alabama border (they call the area L.A. here, Lower Alabama) and it is quiet and miles of rural roads to ride. If you do consider anything from Tallahassee westward let me know and I will get any information you might want. Regardless casa Barnard is always open to all BF members.

Bill

Ron... if you don't mind being in the middle of the state, take a look at 'On Top of the World' communities in Ocala. Its a gated over 55 community - similar to the Villages but smaller. Home prices very reasonable. I bought my villa of 1450 sq ft for $60K. Nice homes are going for 100-200k. Lots of activities, three golf courses, three swimming pools., tennis, a RC Airplane airport/field. You know the area fairly well already and you'd be close to your grandson in Chiefland.

We decided to wait until the house sells to make a decision. The villas/condos in Inverness were ok, nothing spectacular.
Sue -- we've seen the signs for On Top of the World many times. My wife didn't like all the traffic along 200 so I guess that's out. :o
My wife's best friend lives in a rural area south of Atlanta and suggested that we look down that way. I don't make the rules, I just live here. :rolleyes: I looked online and found zero small homes or condos down that way. Her friend doesn't realize it's time to slow down, and maybe downsize, even though she's 66. She has a 3 bdrm, 2 story house and has several acres and 3 horses. She's out there every day(?) cleaning the barn and tossing hay to the horses. She also has a tractor to cut all that grass. I can't see myself doing any of those things. We want a "small" house or condo (2bdrm/2bath/1story ~1500 sq ft max).
We'll keep looking.

If you are still thinking about moving to Florida - a lot of people like Mt. Dora. It's a pretty area.

We've had lots of lookers but no offers on the house -- until Sunday (9/30). They offered $14k less than we're asking. :eek: Did some negotiating and they increased their offer by $5k. Not sure what to do. We're doing the math (all the money we've spend remodelling the house and replacing appliances, furnace, AC, etc.) but my wife keeps saying lets just take the money and get outta Dodge.
We have to reply to their latest offer by tomorrow evening.
If we do move we're thinking of renting the house in *****assa for 3-6 months while we look around at houses/condos.
Decisions, decisions. :o

Wow.... good luck on your decision!!!

Well, we went back and forth with offers and counteroffers but finally came to an agreement. If all goes well (are they approved for the loan amount?) we'll close on Nov 14. We'll be renting the *****assa house for 3-6 months while we look for a condo or small house closer to the Withlacoochee Trail.
I'll keep everyone posted.


On another happy note, the archery shop got my new bow today. When I ordered it I was told it would probably be here by the second week of October so I'm happy. :D

Congratulations on coming to an agreement on the sale of your house. I'm not sure how many condos you will find near the Withlacoochee Trail. Small houses are probably much more likely. I saw one just South of Floral City for sale, but it looked like it needed a ton of work. OTOH, it was right on the trail. Good Luck. I think renting the house while you look is a wise idea. Also, if you wait until the end of the six months, there are often people trying to sell their winter homes at the end of the season.

Thanks. That's good to know.

What the heck possesses you to want to leave Georgia and move to Florida? If I had the option I'd be moving north in a heartbeat, to nicer scenery and a more temperate climate, with 4 seasons and more options to go to different places. North West Georgia is beautiful compared to this vast area of stagnant, barren wilderness.

Coming at this from a bit of a different angle, im thinking of moving to florida as well. Im a fg/ss rider, and love to get in a lot of riding, i generally do 30 miles of brooklyn riding. Im going to move to sarasota. How are the roads. Bike lanes? Are people jerks to urban riders, like ive heard

I guess you've never ridden in Atlanta traffic.

Certainly have and plenty of times, but I wasn't thinking of moving to Atlanta, that's why I didn't mention it. ;)
And I'd definitely prefer Northern Georgia over this area of Florida, any day.

Not sure if I'll have time to ride before we leave town and the current cool spell is not helping my desire to ride anyway. :o
The more I look around the house, the more stuff I see that I forget to add to the packing list. Right now the living room is full of piles of winter clothes to be sorted out (look out Goodwill, here we come) and the "den" is full of flattened boxes and assembled boxes waiting to be filled. Gotta move them because its supposed to get cold Sunday night thru whenever. Probably have our last couple of fires in the wood burning stove. :(

Anyone want to come by and help?

We sign all the papers to sell the Decatur house around 10AM on Nov 14 and I'm guessing we'll get to the house in *****assa between 6PM-8PM on Nov 14 and the moving truck will be there Nov 15 (I hope). We'll have sandwiches, pizza, beer and Pepsi for anyone who wants to help us unpack. :rolleyes:

Did you say beer? I'm not sure if I'll be able to help or not, but there is a slight possibility that I could help on the 16th and the 15th if the moving truck got there in time - provided I still don't have employment and both of my boys are healthy and in school. If the boys aren't in school, they cause too much havoc.

Sorry to hear about your employment situation. :( I hope it improves SOON.

Back to your original question... you are in prime paddling territory. If you aren't sure if you (and/or your wife) will enjoy it, start out with a mid-sized canoe. That way you can use it solo or with your wife.

Congratulations on your upcoming adventure!!!

Help. We're surrounded by boxes and can't get out. :eek:
The movers will be here Tuesday. We've been at it for 3 weeks. Hope we're finished packing in time. :twitchy:
Seems everyone (friends and family) have wanted to take out out for lunch or supper almost every day for the last 2 weeks. I've managed to put on 6 unwanted pounds. :notamused:
Can't wait to get to the house and unpack and assemble the bikes. I hope my cycling clothes still fit. :innocent:

We should be there on Wednesday night. Not sure if the movers will deliver our stuff on Thursday (15th) or Friday (16th). Looks like the weather will be good. :)

Thanks for the offer. If you're not busy -- although I hope you're employed -- we can use the help.

The offer of free food and cold drinks still stands for anyone with some free time on Thursday or Friday or Saturday. Or you can just drop by and meet and greet and chat.

The address is 11523 W. Timberlane Dr. *****assa 34448.

You can contact me on my cell phone, either voice or text, 404-788-2327.

I'll try to give you a call Wednesday or Thursday. Both my youngest son and my husband injured themselves today. They are both going to be okay but if the boy is still acting like he was today I may have to go have him checked out. I have been a stay at home mom for the last few years so since the youngest started school I'm supposed to (and need to) look for employment. Had an interview recently but won't know for a while.

Congrats, Ron!!! Moving to my new neck of the woods, eh? Good luck with the move. We're doing the Bike Florida tour if you want a week of fun to see some of the riding - we did it last year up on the "Forgotten Coast" and this year it's through the orange groves in central FL - bikeflorida.org. Fun stuff! WELCOME!!!!!

Hi PW.
Yeah we're taking the plunge. We spend 2 months in Inverness last winter. The riding was awesome.
Once we get settled I'll be looking into all the rides.

Once you get settled? Shoot - I'm still living out of boxes. Too much time spent riding, I guess. :) Good luck with the rest of the move. You're gonna love it down south! If we head up your way, I'll shoot you a message.

We're here. :) Got to the house last night about 7:30. Brighthouse hooked up the cable and internet this morning. Been running around all day getting FL car insurance, getting info about car tags and DL.
The movers bring our furniture (and bikes) tomorrow. Then the fun begins. :rolleyes:
What happened to the warm sunny welcome? ;) j/k

My youngest hurt his toe and wouldn't walk for three days - ughh. We also did x-rays etc last week, got caught up in that - he missed school all week too and I totally forgot about helping. I'm so sorry.