After participating in a few real estate investment workshops in Cape Coral, Florida, we couldn’t wait to return to Canada—not because we were homesick—on the contrary, we couldn’t wait to find a tenant for our condo so we could return to Florida to live there!
That’s exactly what we did! Put furniture in storage, and drove thousands of kilometers from northern Alberta, with the first 2 days of the drive attempting to either out-run or by-pass a snowstorm that had closed portions of the Trans-Canada highway. But, hey, we were relocating to Florida, and altered our route to avoid delay by (hopefully) the last snowstorm we would experience in a long while!
Many kilometers later, a Fairmount hotel in Fort Myers was temporarily home while we searched for inexpensive housing. An ad for a slightly (hurricane) damaged mobile home was answered, and it became our next venture—purchasing it, moving in, and effecting repairs.
see traveltoon ‘Florida – Citrus’
Our new home was located across the Caloosahatchee River in North Ft Myers, and was permanently situated within a Seniors’ mobile home park! After pre-authorization scrutiny, we were permitted residency in the community. It was ‘resort life’ for us! 2 swimming pools, small gym, recreation center with heaps of activities, fabulous weather, quiet surroundings yet 1/2 mile to big stores, restaurants, etc. Most of the almost 1,000 homes within that park were occupied by American or Canadian snowbirds (6-month residency). Knowing from the start that we wished to stay year-round, we applied for a visa which took much time, energy and expense, but our efforts were successful. Our new status was ‘non-resident aliens’—but no worries, we were legal and delighted with it!
see traveltoon ‘Florida – Handyman’
Our mobile home was actually not mobile at all—it was quite stationary, having been put in place, and having remained since 1979! When a plumbing repair was needed, my dear husband crawled under the home, but hadn’t counted on critters that had come and gone in the darkness underneath! He persevered and got the job done—my hero!
He crawled in here...
…and discovered bones!
see traveltoon ‘Florida – Bones’
During our 3 years there, I became a volunteer T.E.F.L. tutor; Bill became an accomplished horseshoe player (tosser?). His team participated in tournaments in the area and in Sarasota. I switched from vegetarian to vegan after attending a cooking course sponsored by the Cancer Project www.CancerProject.org.
see traveltoon ‘Florida – Speaking’
We formed a company to invest in real estate, explored the Gulf coast, made great friends in our community and beyond, and even got married in Fort Myers—after our 15-year engagement, I finally said ‘yes’! To sum it up, living in Florida was a wonderful experience.