Ken,

My parents live on the south side of Charlotte Harbor, in Punta Gorda (about 15 minutes from Port Charlotte).  I can vouch for Beth's statement that the west coast is warmer--it's also an incredible investment if you buy now.  My folks built their house for $250K in '99 and they were just offered $1.3 million in January.  When the 'boomers start retiring in force, there's no telling how high the price of real estate might get.

Port Charlotte is right at the northern edge of the tropical zone.  A few miles north and you're in semi-tropical country.  Average daytime highs this time of year are high '70s / low '80s, with lows in the '50s.  It does get hot in the summer, but the Gulf breeze is pleasant (you need to be within about five miles of shore, though).

As with most of Florida, the schools are rife with drug issues.  How long will it be before Ben graduates?

It's definitely an all-day drive from Atlanta at around 12-14 hours.

Cost of living is better in some respects, worse in others.  Medical care is marginal.  The joke in my folks' 'hood is that all of the docs in Florida practice there because they got kicked out of some other state.  With a large part of the population using Medicare, I would have to agree that their experience has been far worse than the care they had in Ohio.

Kyle

----- Original Message -----
From: ken barber <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 12:56 pm
Subject: Re: and what happened to texas?

> judy said she knew we would both do better with less
> fronts, (she has tendonitis from all the lifting she
> does) and that we'd do better finacially, but she'd
> cry and say i took us farther from the grand babies.
> she wants to put in at my feet. women!!!???
>
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
> > "the hell you say, you
> > are not going to put that whole decision on me, you
> > are going to be part of this."
> >    so what was once a choice we made is now just an
> > option. bobby, i don't know if i'll get to be a
> > texan
> > or not.
> >
> > Ken,
> >
> >     The only reason we are in Austin is because of
> > the grand kids!
> > Also, I am a bit closer to my mom. I have never seen
> > the hotel you
> > speak of because Dallas is my least favorite city in
> > the US. I hope I am never
> > there, again. Austin and San Antonio are great, but
> > nothing beats the lobby
> > of the Peabody in Memphis.
> >
> > Bobby
>
>
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