Hello everyone...I have been here just a few days and have already read so many interesting views and voices. I am happy I found you all I grew up in northern Louisiana and then moved to and lived in California for over 50 years. A few years ago we moved to Florida to be with our daughter. It was certainly a drastic change! My avatar is how I think of myself and perhaps many others .....as children of God we are scruffy angels learning and evolving as we try to understand what this life and beyond is all about
Well, first........welcome! What part of Florida do you live in? Before returning to Colorado, we lived in northeastern Florida (Jacksonville) for 10 1/2 years. We came back to Colorado last year and are glad to be back. For us, Colorado is much, much better.........even with the winters. Wife and I did spent numerous years, before meeting/marrying, in So. California. I started out there in the Navy in San Diego and Long Beach in 1968. Wife followed her immediate family to So California from southeastern Michigan (Lincoln Park). I grew up in northeastern Indiana, farming. My avatar tells about us. I'm a former horse/rodeo person, but now wife and I are just big/major fans of it.
Thank you Von..Ohio is very special to me because I know terrific people who live there....... my brother and his wife live in Cincinnati and 2 of my nephews and their families live in your state and now I know you
Thank you Coty....I live in Lakeland. As you probably know, it is in the middle of the state and about halfway between Tampa and Orlando. Hurricanes instead of earthquakes are something I kind of think about now. Still I think my ideal would be a condo on the beach......Gulf or Atlantic side My husband was in the Navy in San Diego and Long beach before we were married...late 50's I think...We did live in San Diego for about a year in early 70's but mostly were in in LA county. I have only been to one rodeo in my life...that was in Louisiana
Welcome to the forum, @Joan Kuper. I'm glad you like it here and hope you'll be with us for a long time. I live in Maine, by the way, but I was born in Wisconsin, grew up in the UP of Michigan, and have lived in Iowa, California, Texas, and North Carolina.
Patsy...Thank you again....I am comfortable here and wishing I had more time..which I will eventually...You are a very welcoming and friendly group
Hi Ken...Thank you for the welcome. I hope to be here a long time too...I don't belong to many online groups though I have tired a few and left ...but this one looks like a keeper... I have never been to Maine...photos look inviting...I have been 'in the area' visits to NY, Mass, PA NJ...would love to visit Maine someday We have some states in common ...I lived in Lansing, Dallas, and Sioux City
BTW, Joan, my name is Cody ("d", not "t"). Not nearly as common of a name in Florida as it is here in the Rocky Mountain Region. We know where Lakeland is. While living in Jacksonville, we drove to Orlando (Disney World, Sea World, Aquatica Waterpark) and to Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. We found out that we just aren't a "beach couple", since we only went on the beach in Jacksonville 3 times in 10 1/2 years. We did go thru some tropical storms, plenty of heavy rain-lightning and two hurricanes. The outer bands of Mathew hit us, but Hurricane Irma went right over us. We were in a "no evacuation" zone, because of where we lived, so didn't leave our apartment. I enlisted in the Navy in 1968, right before high school graduation (May 1968) and was called up the next month. Got my Draft Notice when I was at Navy Basic Training in Great Lakes, IL.. Made my first WestPac (Vietnam) Cruise in Dec. 1968, out of 32nd St. Naval Station, San Diego. After meeting my wife in 2000, took her to some 35 rodeos in 3 months. She learned a whole lot and quickly became part of the rodeo family.
I took a trip to Florida a year or so ago,, when my daughter had to go there for work. We only went as far as Orlando, but it was a beautiful trip, and I enjoyed the drive very much. Coming home we went over to the west coast of Florida and drove up along that edge of the state until we got to ( if I remember right) Pensacola, and then drove up through Alabama and home to Huntsville. We both loved the little seaside towns along the trip, and thought it would be awesome to live that close to the ocean.
Welcome from Virginia, Joan. I was born & lived in Indiana until I was 9. Then my family moved to Virginia, just outside of DC. Except for a couple of years, I lived in that same town until 2010, when I moved to the middle of the state in a rural area. So I've not been as far afield as you, that's for certain.