Well, y'all have about three weeks (Sarasota: appointed, hotel, buying a house)

[03bluecoupe]

until we blow into town. Now THAT otta reduce property values!

Not looking forward to two long, full days in the car with da putty cat though. Driving with earplugs is probably illegal, huh?

Edit: I s'pose I really should have put this in the PG/PC forum.... oh well.

[gkygrl]

Welcome to Sarasota (soon enough anyway). We did the trip a year ago with 5 cats (yes, you read it right) from Saratoga Springs. We had a driver and did it straight through with a rented minivan. Our dedicated driver (drove limos on the side) was able to do the entire drive except for 2 hours.

Cats did fine with the drive straight through and in their carriers. Cats and Moms could not be happier we made that trip. We love it here.

Good luck!

[03bluecoupe]

Thanks, that's why I said I should have posted it in the other forum. We'll be staying in Placida which is a fair piece from Sarasota. We'll be there for June and July checking out the summer weather before committing to jumping.

We've only got one kitty but she's just slightly spoiled and having the run of the house but, she'll get over it.

Spent many days in Saratoga between SPAC and the track. Especially when we had our camp over in Stratford.

Edit: here's a picture of her highness surveying her territory that she's gracious enough to share with us.

[gkygrl]

Look at that sweet kitty. She definitely runs the house at those heights!

It's already pretty hot here BUT you will find after a couple of weeks, you will get used to it. The main difference I found between here and NYS is that in NYS when we would get a heatwave the humidity would go through the roof and it would hit hard in spurts. I would find that AC was in some places but not others. In Florida, we kind of know it's hot at certain times and every place has AC so you can go from your car to AC. You wouldn't be playing a game of golf in the heat of Summer ... but we get afternoon storms almost every day through the rainy season and that eases things up a little bit. Here at least the heat is consistent and the swings are not like the ones in New York. The humidity seems to be greatest in the dawn hours here too. It is weird to walk outside and feel that mugginess. The upside is ... your skin will love you and not have the dryness to it like up North.

I found our first Summer here totally manageable. My energy bills are less than 1/2 of what I paid in New York too and the house sizes only differ by 400 ft or so. Definitely cheaper living here overall and a much happier place. I think the sunshine definitely helps.

[RoadVettes]

Take the Vette...the ride will be a lot more fun. Have a safe trip.

[03bluecoupe]

Yeah, we USED to have decorative china plates up on that cornice until my wife decided Cali needed a freekin' floor to ceiling hotel. In fairness, she didn't know how big it was when she ordered it.

As for the heat and humidity, I find it hard to believe it's worse than the heat and humidity we get in August with absolutely zero breeze. And everyone's said that you can go out in the morning until around 10:00 and then again after 4:00. If that's the case, it's certainly better than winter hours up here! We just know we have to get out of the tax and spend mentality and away from that white crap.

[03bluecoupe]

Originally Posted by RoadVettes

Take the Vette...the ride will be a lot more fun. Have a safe trip.

Not with the cat. But if we do jump, I'm going to drive it down and take the Skyline Drive/Tail of the Dragon roads. I already upgraded to the C6 Z06 shocks but will need to add the C6 Z51 antisways before that trip!

[RoadVettes]

Originally Posted by 03bluecoupe

Not with the cat. But if we do jump, I'm going to drive it down and take the Skyline Drive/Tail of the Dragon roads. I already upgraded to the C6 Z06 shocks but will need to add the C6 Z51 antisways before that trip!

Skyline Drive and T.O.D. are great road trips with the Vette. Florida roads and weather are great for year round driving the Vettes. I drive mine so much more down here then I did back in NY.

[jean_ji]

We have a Siamese that sings straight through to Virginia, coming and going.

It went straight to summer and the heat and humidity returned together. It is like hitting a wall outside when you go out but then it's fine. We keep our AC at 80; a well insulated house, vaulted ceilings and ceiling fans make it comfortable. Coming back inside it feels cold until I adjust again.

I walk the dog in the early morning and evening and it's good. Yardwork is until 10 in the sun, in the shade I can work a bit longer. We have a large live oak in the front yard and I will admit I was disappointed and wanted a palm tree at first. I love this native oak now and the shade is fantastic, it feels 10 degrees cooler with a breeze. It does drop leaves in the spring being semi deciduous so I'm destined to clean leaves it seems.

Storms rolled through last night and they are quite impressive down here, you'll see.

Two months will give you a good feel for the area and the summer weather, you are going about this in a very smart way, enjoy!

[03bluecoupe]

Thanks jean, we're staying at our friends house on a canal in Placida. Unfortunately, no boat but a nice saltwater inground pool and central air of course so we should be good to go. As I've predicted before; if I know my wife, we're buying a house while we're there.

Driving down in a Ford Escape and got a cat cage that takes about half of the back of the freekin' thing up! Gonna have to put the hitch carrier on for our stuff.