Chattanooga

[FL_TN_Nana]

Nana, where are you going for your trip out west? One of the places we don't like going through is Kansas City. Pretty crowded and pretty fast traffic there. Wow, I had no idea that you live in Lake County. It looks like such a nice place to live, but if we'd have to constantly be working just to live there, it wouldn't be worth it. Does it seem rushed and crowded and expensive like a lot of areas down there have become? It looks like it'd still be easy to visit family in Fla. because it's not that far away from Chattanooga. I also noticed that you have an airline that we have up here and the flights are super cheap going to Sanford/Orlando. Who knows~maybe some day your husband will decide that he wants to move back home to Tn.

Lake County is nice -- we even still have a few hills left! Clermont is growing a lot but building has slowed by probably 75% from the past couple of years. Traffic can get bad between here and Orlando during rush hours, but it's not unsurmountable -- we use the toll roads when we go to Orlando. We got a flyer in the mail yesterday and I couldn't believe the prices: new homes from the $180's, including homesite. Haven't seen that price in probably 3 years, but the new development is what was "out in the country" a couple of years ago! But even in the real estate ads, the prices are coming down. Lake County is not nearly as fast-paced as Orange and Seminole counties. But I think you'd also like the Chattanooga area -- especially the mountains and the people. I dunno....people in TN just seem nicer.

We're planning to go all the way to the Pacific Coast (southern Oregon). So I'm beginning now to kinda plan our routes. Thanks for the clue about Kansas City!

[Jammie]

Hi Kim, I'm sorry that things turned out that way for you. My bro and his wife don't live too far from Punta Gorda and Arcadia and I remember it well when those two towns were hit. We had snuck down to Fla. in Sept. of 2004 and luckily just made it between hurricanes. And since you remember that year well, you know I mean we actually "snuck" down there and were just lucky enough to be back home a couple days before another cane hit again. I believe my bro had to have his rental house reshingled THREE times that year and he lives inland. Luckily, that was the most damage they had to endure except for downed pool fence and a lawn full of water, etc. Actually trivial things for what a lot of people had to go through. They were fortunate enough to have bought a generator after the first storm of the season so they could still have a few things. They were pretty bummed with no air conditioning though while they were working to clean up their yard. I'm glad you suggested that I do quite a bit of research before moving. Like you, we just love vacationing in Florida, but it does appear that you need to be fairly wealthy to live there now and we aren't wealthy. I hope that things work out and you can move to Tn. and have a better life there.

Hik, I understand exactly what you're saying. I also remember the lady who didn't have as flattering things to say about Fla. after she once got her house sold. She was a sweetie and I'm so glad she did get it sold cause she seemed to feel trapped there. I remember the pics of her house and it was absolutely beautiful. It is more of a house then we'd ever be able to afford down there. (I don't mean to whine. We are very thankful for what we have because we've always survived) I agree that some people are just so determined to move to one spot that they refuse to look elsewhere and that is kind of sad. But to each his own, I guess. Tn. would be the perfect spot for us because like I said, we think we could be happy there and it's still not a far distance to be able to get together with family oftener. AND it's WARMER then So. Dak.

I really wish I knew when we'd be able to come down there. We just haven't had much luck with vacation plans lately. We had planned on going to Florida for Christmas, but my husband wasn't able to get off work. Then we had planned on going there during spring break, but at first we had problems finding a flight. Then we realized that it was Divine Intervention because one of our pets has gotten extremely ill and she really needs us to be with her now. We've found our best trips have been a spur of the moment thing. But I'll definitely be so excited when we're heading that way that I'll surely have to post about it.

Nana, I think we were posting about the same time. It sounds like you have a very nice trip planned. That's totally from one end of the country south to north and east to west. That would be fun. But I get a bit car sick so the airplanes work much better for me.