well we have been living here 3 weeks now, starting to feel like home.
We are staying at FD70 River acres airpark in Okeechobee. this place is too cool. we have some really cool aircraft based here. Bell-47, T-28, pitts S-2, volmer sportsman anphib. just to name a few, also we are basicly on an island.

getting use to the crazy weather.

Love all the wild life here, gopher turtles, gators, sand hill cranes, hawks, armadillos that are not inverted on the side of the road...
down side is we are 18 miles from town, so the internet sucks badly here, had to get dishnet, yep it sucks really bad.
yesterday on the drive into town we had to slow down as a 6 foot gator was crossing the road.

here are a few pics, enjoy. we are right at the end of the runway, planes come right over the back yard when they take off and land.

I want an Armadillo for a pet .
Can you send me one ?


WOLVERINES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is as close as I could get to him. lol

Watch out for those. They do carry cholera. Not kidding!!!

Possum on a half-shell.
They also carry leprosy.

Armadillos like to tear up my yard digging for grubs.
I like to blow their shit away with my 1911.

I watched a show on TV with Larry the cable guy and they made him pull one out of the hole the damn thing dug!

possum the other white meat! tastes like shit with a hint of chicken ;)

Just like Mom used to make !


WOLVERINES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Animal, Looks like a good place to live. Try Wildblue internet service if it is availble
where you are.
I have pretty good luck with mine. --------- James

Tim- I am happy for you and Cindi. Beautiful pictures you have been sending.


Stan

Update : Friday the 13th Cindi had a heart attack. thankfully she is ok. but it was a wake up call that River Acres was way to far in the middle of no where for her health. we were 83 miles from the west palm VA hospital. anyway we baled on moving to Okeechobee. we are back in n.c. while we regroup. what did we learn about south Florida? well by 8 a.m. it's to hot to enjoy the day out side and in the so called wet season that just started every day between 2 and 4 you can expect... more like set you watch to fast moving thunder storms that dump and inch of rain in about 30 minutes. can only think how much rain they are probably getting with the Tropical storm right now.

Coming home was an adventure in it's self. we sold 2 of the birds to offset expenses and then about s.c. Cindi's Forester started over heating. yep i got to work on it in a gas station parking lot in 95 degree heat.. but we got it home.
Okeechobee was an adventure for sure, had fun but was disappointed that River Acres is a pretty dead airport, most the people that have planes based there live somewhere else and would only show up on weekends. then they were mostly busy mowing grass and not flying... :(

the highlight of our stay was going to the cook out in zypherhills and going for a flight in the AG-1.

Will Keep everyone posted as things go along, right now Cindi and I are staying at my old house with mom where my shop is in Greensboro while we figure things out..... man I missed my shop.

on a good Note, my A&P finely came and got the Blades for the Hillman Hornet.

Sorry to hear about Cindi. I hope she gets well soon. I hate to say it but I told you!!! South Florida is not for pale folks!!!! It's just not. You guys probably picked the worst possible time to acclimatizing to FL. Being in the middle of nowhere doesn't help either. An airport is only a plus when there is activity there. People make the place and not the other way around. You can have the most beautiful place and the loneliest at the same time. Or have a rinky dinky little place but lively and busy

Tim- Sorry to hear about Cindi and Florida not working out.

So far Cindi is doing ok, they did say her left ventricle is only working at 50%. we where staying at river acres while we looked at other areas to move to. we really liked the Okeechobee area and everyone we met was really nice. loved the scenery and the wild life.

we did look at some places to buy that would have been closer to the VA in west palm,but most the places with land where like auction propertys that would require cash buys. we wanted at least 2 acres so I could have room to play with the helicopter or if one of my Friends wanted to fly in with their helicopter they could. we had found a cool place on the rim canel, but it turned out the owner did not get some things permitted... major fines and major cost to get right so we baled on that idea. with Cindi's heart issue and the fact that my cars tags where due, we decided to come back to N.C. to take care of some stuff here and get her back to the Durham VA to be checked over.

yep you are right Gabor, Okeechobee is a different kind of heat.

there are lots of places for sale in Florida, but with Cindi's health issues, we have to be near a VA hospital. west palm is the #1 rated VA in the nation and they really where on the ball. but 83 miles is just to far away.

We are still looking around Florida to move.

I do want to say that Deigo Ganuza ,the guy that flew the Bell-47 into Bensen days, was a really cool guy to rent from. he let us rent one of his places there by the month and even gave us use of his mower and the hanger. Tony Utset was across the runway from us and he showed us around and introduced us to a lot of the locals. everyone one there was really nice and laid back. one of the ladies there at river Acres even took Cindi to a casino for the day.
do hope someday to go back for a visit.

Thanks Stan, so far Cindi is still doing ok, I think it came on from the stress of house hunting. we are still going to try and get moved to Florida, just won't be Okeechobee or Arcadia, both are just to far away from the VA hospitals.

will keep everyone posted.

man I missed having good internet....

Hello Tim,

best wishes for Cindi. Best of luck for finding a nice place where you want it.

K.

Our thoughts and prayers for Cindi.

Sad that your experience with Florida weather was less than you had hoped for. You went the wrong direction to miss the storm though!! It is heading for NC, Florida only getting a little wind and a little rain!!

When I moved to Florida the first time in 1975, I came in September to Ft Myers so I gradually got used to the heat. July/August are the hottest and that is by design!!! Do you know how many people would want to live here if it wasn't so HOT!!!!! I've lived here in central Florida 28 years plus 6 years in Ft Myers earlier so the weather is just part of a way of life. As long as there is shade, a breeze and something to drink (doesn't even have to be cold) I'm good!! (Although air conditioning works pretty well too, most people set that too cold for me)

Tim...did u ever consider the property next door to me that I mentioned before you and Cindi
came to Florida. When u were at Zephryhills you were only 10 - 15 mins away from it.

It would have been nice if you had checked it out. It's almost 2 acres and 2 nice pole barns and plenty of room for helo's...hell I'll buy it if they come down on the price some more.

I had thought to put a runway on it to fly my gyro out and in to. It's longest run is ~600-800ft

here's a link just in case you want to see it again.

KZPH is my home air port and i believe you met Roberta at the airport that day.

Of course you may not want this ole Marine as a neighbor......I like to fly and hot rod things and ride motorcycles and Luv the Constitution and Freedom and Horses and shoot guns and....well u get the point!!!

http://www.century21.com/property/34703 ... N012516109

Just curious... In the directly above view (with the red lines depicting the property)... Are both boxes part of the 1.5 acres... or only the runway? Just curious.

Nice !


WOLVERINES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!