I'm MOVING TO FLORIDA !!!!

Get me some big fat leather sandals, black sox, plaid shirt and snag a few free donuts at GRM World Headquarters! Then I'll sit on the corner of Margie's and bitch about the weather.

OK, mebbe not.

But spending two days chasing slush and frozen crap out of my heating system, squiggling around on my stomach in a crawlspace under the kitchen and soldering up new fittings in a 25 degree cobwebbed coffin 22 inches tall just sucks!

Because I have a coal stove in the basement, the oil fired hot water furnace doesn't come on as often, allowing the water in the pipes to sit for longer periods. This promoted freezing. Trying to defrost a length of pipe in the crawlspace, I adjusted my position and accidently touched the heat gun onto the insulated plastic line going to the ice cube maker, got hosed down with cold water and had to squiggle out the crawlspace entrance which is arm pit high, to turn off the water. Wet, pissed, frustrated; you know now is the time SWMBO comes down to make plumbing suggestions. It took two days, the coal stove kept us alive and gave me a little breathing room, but it wasn't pretty.

The learning experience was to put a fan blowing into the crawlspace, drawing the warm air out of the basement, the difference between freezing and not is only a few degrees.

Mrs. 914 always rolled her eyes when I suggested moving to New Mexico (sorry Margie, FL's out), but I think this experience has swayed her a bit.

If any GRMers want to buy a 3,000 sq. ft. two story four bedroom two bath 120 year old museum with a 1,000 sq. ft. garage, please call.

Dan

This is the kind of post that makes me wonder how much I really miss winter. I think I miss it a lot, but maybe I only miss some of it.

Come on down! Every other New Yorker's here right now

I moved from Michigan to Florida, and found that I missed the seasons too much. Plus, we moved about every 4 years or so, and I want my kids to grow up in one place through high school.

Odds are that I will stay here in OH...so I will have to live vicariously through you and all the others that escape the Great White North.

Growing up in the south, all I heard was "Everything was so much better back up North."

Winter cold builds all the character and endurance it offers by the time we have reached adulthood. After that, every minute we endure it exposes us as stubborn fools.

By that measure I've stayed 29 years too long.

ScreaminE wrote: Growing up in the south, all I heard was "Everything was so much better back up North."

Except employment, which is why all of us are down here. :)

Guy I knew from work before I retired recently retired himself. He was a field service tech for our RI-based company and lived in Saratoga Springs. He had a plan for retirement. Over the last year he sold off his beloved Firebird collection, sold his house, and moved to the Houston area because he and his wife were sick and tired of upstate NY winters. So one day last week when the Northeast was having another snow event, he sent a picture of himself sitting by the pool of his new residence ... short sleeve shirt, beer in hand, and a big smile on his face. It was around 70 degrees there. Bastard!

Quite excited to see what my wife is offered in Orlando. If she can get the vacation time necessary and they dont need her to start for a month or so, we'll probably be headed down there for a few years.

Orlando wouldn't my first choice (I'd much prefer Tallahassee or Tampa), but I've been reading up on the area and talking with some folks involved in the mountain biking scene down there and its quite surprising how progressive Orlando has become on outdoor activities, open space, bike paths and trails and the gradual understanding that high density housing isn't bad.

If the offer does work we'll probably start looking to go out west. Santa Fe, Tucson or Phoenix, Vegas or Reno. Whereever we end up, I need to start working on my tan.

Winter isn't bad when you can enjoy it, like on a sunny weekend, or when you go up in the mountains for skiing or snowboarding, but during the workweek its no fun.

The sooner you move, the awesomer your retirement will be! New York in the rearview.

I'm currently trying to convince my wife to move to Florida. The kicker is we have a free place in brooksville. Much more of this winter and I'll move with or without her.

I may have an offer there soon.

According to an article in National Geographics, much of Florida is going to be covered by the ocean.

I started to get all butt-hurt for a second that you didn't settle on North GA, but realized you'll end up here eventually. They ALL do.

We're going to visit friends in Austin, Texas; that may help.

Talking to people around Prescott, Az, they say they miss green. Everything is brown and sandy.

Not sure I could live somewhere without an ocean within a few hours drive.

Also NM didn't impress me when I visited my Mom and younger Brother (Belen and Albuquerque respectively).

Santa Fe was nice, but expensive and not worth the price compared to the areas in the PNW.

Man, now the New Yorkers are discovering Austin. Uggh....J/K

First it was the Californian, Then the Illinois, now it seems like a wave of New Yorkers.

Oh well. It will just make my house worth more then I finally move to Utah.

In reply to 914Driver:

You and me both then! Oh wait - then I read the rest of your piece The wife, daughter and I are moving from snowy Canada to sunny St Augustine sometime between now and April... Bring on the sunshine!

In reply to bmw88rider:

Sounds like my plan. I'm out of Fort Worth in 2026 and I can't wait to go back to Utah.

Don't forget your new theme song.

Moving to Florida - Butthole Surfers

ScreaminE wrote: Growing up in the south, all I heard was "Everything was so much better back up North."

I hear that all the time here ..(Asheville being such a retirement destination) … my question is … if it was so much better back there, why the hell don't you go back ?

iceracer wrote: According to an article in National Geographics, much of Florida is going to be covered by the ocean.

but not in our lifetime

wbjones wrote:

ScreaminE wrote: Growing up in the south, all I heard was "Everything was so much better back up North."

I hear that all the time here ..(Asheville being such a retirement destination) … my question is … if it was so much better back there, why the hell don't you go back ?

I heard that when I lived in Charlotte and Raleigh. Every. Damn. Day. I think most folks who constantly talk about how much better things were back up north are also the ones who are extremely home sick. They justify feeling that way by bashing every possible thing about their current location.

EDIT: Flurduh. Don't know why, but this is a state I could never see myself living in.

I'm looking at a few places in SC and Georgia myself