Speaking of batteries…
I need some advice from guys looking at my car, scratching heads, and talking batteries, direct current, and…
Seriously, WHEN are you guys dropping by for a coffee overlooking the 16th fairway or a bicycle ride to the beach or swimming, tennis, golf, whatever, and then coffee?
I have cold beer and wine, too! The good wine (in the 5 liter cardboard box!)
While you’re visiting you can learn about the area and we will share our knowledge concerning Florida and real estate. I had a rather steep, quick learning curve, but I think I get it. No buyer’s remorse ever entered into this move! This condo doesn’t cost, it pays (based on my own research rationality)!
P.S. My wife thinks old CSA has lost his ever loving mind, but she’s loving the new improved CSA! CSA
Good fortune to all you old guys living in Florida, My son retired and moved there 6 years ago at the bottom of the condo market. Found out he didn’t have to do his every 18 month brake job due to rust. Did his brakes as soon as he moved there and haas not had to touch them since.
He keeps asking me when I am moving down. I tell him when I get old like him and can stand eating dinner at 4:30:)
Florida has a pretty hot housing market, for sure. Got slammed 10 years ago - not as bad as Vegas - but 50% was not uncommon. Something like 2000 a day moving to the state pumps up the value of homes each year as we can’t build new ones fast enough. And the prices are still far lower than either coast.
California has an exodus in process, but so does New York, New Jersey and Illinois and those folks are coming to Florida for sun, decent real estate prices, no income tax, low sales tax and reasonable property taxes. Traffic is a bit heavy in-season but no worse than the Dan Ryan year 'round!
I’m still almost two decades from retirement, but I prefer to eat out at off-peak times, whether it’s before or after the dinner rush.
On a car related note, there are a few unexpected hazards new Florida drivers should be aware of.
Snowbirds tend to be terrible drivers who don’t observe lane protocol, especially French Canadians, so keep an eye out for Canadian license plates. However, once the snowbirds migrate north in the spring, the roads get a lot less crowded when the weather heats up.
If you drive in the middle of the day, between morning rush hour and afternoon rush hour, watch out for elderly drivers who shouldn’t be driving anymore. That’s when they tend to venture out. In fact, my local Walmart’s parking lot is more crowded during the middle of weekdays than it is on weekends. I’ve never seen that outside of Florida.
You might notice a lot of people who live and drive on Florida’s west coast have screens covering their radiators and bug shields on their cars. That’s because Lovebug season happens twice a year, usually in May and September. They are attracted to heat and car exhaust, so they swarm the highways. Their bodies tend to be acidic (which is why you don’t want them getting on your radiator and why you’re going to want to clean them off the car ASAP). I don’t know how bad it gets over on Florida’s west coast these days, but the last time I was caught by surprise by Lovebug season, it was not a pleasant experience. My body was covered by them (because I was riding a motorcycle without a windshield) and my mother’s motor home was coated with their guts from top to bottom. Therefore, I suggest one of the first things you do is get your vehicles outfitted with bug screens and bug shields, because Lovebug infestation can happen when you don’t expect it.
Lastly, what makes driving in Florida such a hazard is that very few people are from here. Most of the population moves here form somewhere else, so you get a mix of driving styles that makes things dangerous. The crazy New Yorkers who weave in and out of traffic driving 20 MPH above the speed limit without using their turn signals are often quite skilled, and if the roads were full of them, there would be fewer collisions, but when you put someone like that on the road with midwesterners who drive at a leisurely pace and slow down when being tailgated, things get volatile. Add to that scenario an elderly driver who can barely see over the steering wheel (where all you can see is a blue wig and white knuckles sticking up over the dashboard), and the redneck driving aggressively in his lifted pickup truck, and things get crazy and extremely dangerous.
Fortunately, most of the communities on Florida’s west coast outside of Tampa are retirement communities with working class people there to service the retirees, so they’re not as bad as the scenarios I describe.
Compared to prices in NYC, Boston, Chicago, or LA, even with a hot housing market, homes are still much cheaper per square foot than any of these markets.
Hot market meaning strong demand and appreciating prices.
Morning, all. This Florida talk is making me a little jealous as I write to you from a snowbank today. This topic has been skirting the margins for a bit now, but thanks to those who are trying to redirect the conversation to car topics.
I had to replace my Cx-7 battery after about 4 years of Ohio weather.
Had a day where my car wouldn’t start recently, but it checked fine when I made it to the Advanced Auto store near me. Just leaving it sit and taking only a short trip didn’t fully recharge the battery.
OK back to car bug screens. I didn’t know they still made them. I remember we had one on our 54 Ford but can’t remember any after that. I wonder how you attach them now with plastic bumpers.
The last one I bought had straps on both sides that I tied down in the wheel wells, but some bug shields have snaps on them. The screens snap to the shield on top and tie down on the bottom.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them too now that you mention it.
I recently encountered some rather interesting straps, but on batteries , not bug screens
As I’ve mentioned before, our fleet stocks AC Delco professional batteries. Anyways, I was changing out a group 65 battery. The old one didn’t have straps. No problem, I got it out, and cleaned the cables, ready to get the new one. But the new one HAD straps. I thought “Okay, so this’ll be easier to pick up.” When I got to a certain point, I had to angle the battery, and one of the straps dislocated itself. Fortunately, I was able to recover and get the battery back on the ground with no damage. Upon further inspection, I noticed that they were apparently designed to be removable at a certain spot. I suppose the designers hadn’t thought it out enough. I REMOVED the straps on the ground and installed the new battery with no further incidents.
Next time I see a battery with straps, I’m taking a real good look. And if I don’t like what I see, they’re coming off. So far, none of the vehicles I’ve encountered in the fleet have batteries which sit in a hole and possibly require straps, so it should be okay.
Some of the Benzes I’m thinking of had batteries in very inaccessible locations, such as “under the floorboards” and in the trunk, where you had to remove them at an extremely steep angle. And they never had any straps, not that it would have made much of a difference.
As far as I’m concerned, the batteries should either have those nylon ropes or those plastic straps which can’t easily be removed without cutting . . . or none at all
, not bug screens