[pch]

Does anyone have any comments on Arcadia Village in Arcadia, FL? We are considering moving there and need some input.

[mikey2]

I don't live in Arcadia but I do work there....unfortunately I'm not familiar with Arcadia Village, but I could ask coworkers about it.


Arcadia is like walking into a time machine and being teleported back to the 1950's or something. That can be charming in some ways, but you need to check the area out for yourself to see if you can actually live there.

I love driving around and stopping at fruit stands where everything is $1.00.

However it would be too much of a culture shock for me to live there.

Mikey

[rivasr]

I vist there alot kinda not familiar with arcadia village but it is a nice place

[pch]

We found Arcadia to be really small town. I don't know how we will like having to drive 25 miles or more to shop at the box stores. We didn't get a chance to check out downtown Arcadia. I guess we should take a look and see what kind of stores are there. I also didn't see many restaurants. We like to eat out.

[mikey2]

Arcadia has the typical chain restaurants like Chili's, etc.

I'm told they have a few very good Mexican restaurants. One is called El Charro. I did taste some of the food from there and it was excellent.

There's also a Chinese buffet that's not bad.

Downtown Arcadia reminds me of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith show...if that tells you anything.

Mikey

P.S. My coworkers tell me that you still can be hanged in Arcadia if you're convicted of cattle rustling....just in case you were thinking of doing that.

[th3vault]

haha... yeah Arcadia and DeSoto County is definitley like going back in time.

I drive through there every other weekend between Ft. Myers and Orlando, and it is definitley a country county seat type town. Not tiny like Wachula or other ones, but they definitley don't have everything in Arcadia.

[pch]

I don't think I will be doing any cattle rustling. That is a great one I will have to tell my husband. I am getting the impression that Arcadia is a nice place to visit but not to live. We are looking for a 55+ community with shopping and restaurants nearby. The trouble is the closer you get to the coast the more wall to wall people it is. Any suggestions?

[mikey2]

Well, everyone has their own opinion, but I live in a 55 community in North Port and really love it.

It's close enough to the malls and beaches. Yesterday my wife and I spent most of the day at Siesta Key beach and it was great.

I drive to work in Arcadia which takes about 35 minutes so it's not too bad.

I suggest looking around to find what fits for you.

Mikey

[mikey2]

Now I'm on a roll with Arcadia stories:

1). There is a small airport but no one has ever seen a plan take off or land.

2). There is a hospital but people who live there joke: "If I've got a life threatening injury tell the rescue workers that if they can't get me to Port Charlotte or Sarasota...just let me die".

3). I was at a popular fruit stand and the guy who runs it carries a gun (don't all fruit stand workers do that?). He has a lady with a thick southern accent working there. I asked her about a large plate full of money just sitting there in the open. "Aren't you afraid someone is gonna just grab that money when you're not looking?"
She just gave me this dead-pan look and said: "Where y'all gonna run to?"

4). I've been warned to never, ever get arrested by the Desoto county police. Florida has 67 counties...66 have one set of laws... Desoto has another.

Mikey

[pch]

Mikey

I love your Arcadia stories. I found North Port on the map. Without getting into numbers, how is the insurance there? I was always told that the closer to the coast the higher the insurance. Which community do you live in. I think we have checked out just about every community that is on the internet. We have not visited them all, but sometimes you can get a sense of what the community is like by reading their hype. How is the traffic in North Port? We did drive through Port Charlotte and found way too many cars on the road. I guess you can get use to anything but the older we get the less we like all the hustle. We live in a small northern town now and it takes about 10 - 15 minutes to get from one side to the other in rush hour. I might be off a bit on the timing. When it snows it might take 20 minutes.