"Eric Hunt" wrote in message
...
Hi,

What happened to the quality of life in So. Fl? Most people I know would
love to live in that climate...

Just curious.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

When we moved to Palm Beach County in 1993 our quiet subdivision was
adjacent to a two-lane paved road and the county had about 600,000 people in
it. By 1999 that road had grown to 6 lanes wide and the county had a
million people. The county will reach saturation at 2 million people, and
that's forecast for about 2012.

Driving to work was bumper-to-bumper and I-95 was stop-and-go. Worse, the
southern charm had been overtaken by the New York attitude -- aggresive and
abrasive.

So we looked for a new place, and one of our primary requirements was that
you couldn't reach it from I-95. We settled on Highlands County near
Sebring, about 100 miles south of Orlando. This is cracker country, all
orange groves and cattle. We sold our 2000 sq ft house on 1/4 acre in Palm
Beach County for $200K, and bought near Lake Placid -- 150' of real
lakefront, 1 acre, 6,000 sq ft house, for $200K. I know everyone's houses
have increased in value, but this one has gone up by 2 1/2 times since 1999.
(of course, we put in some major renovations, as well.)

The first evening in the new house, a bald eagle landed on our TV mast.
We've got deer, bear, otters, cranes, egrets, gators, and all kinds of wild
life. We got through the hurricanes without a scratch (lost some tree
limbs). We're 3 minutes from Publix and CVS, but 100 miles in any direction
from an Interstate Highway, 30 miles from Home Depot, 100 miles from
Orlando, Tampa or West Palm, 120 from Miami. This is one of the best things
I've ever done, up there with marrying my wife and a couple of special
military assignments. Regards --