Quote:
Originally Posted by John_W
Isn't that the normal reaction. People move in, and then they want all construction to stop and then no one else to move in after them.
My parents moved to Florida in 1959. When I got my first driver's license in 1966 they didn't even have interstate highways in Florida. When I was in college in 1969 Disney employees came to our school looking to hire new graduates for the soon to open amusement park in Orlando.
I use to have to drive to Savannah, Ga few times a year. In Georgia I would have to get off Hwy 301 and onto Hwy 17 near Brunswick. That was a single 2 lane road that you had to share with every tractor trailer, bus and every other car headed north and south along the coast. Can you imagine I-95 didn't even open in Georgia until 1973. I'm sure someone probably said, let's not build anymore in Florida, the roads are just too congested.
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I identify with your post. My family moved here in 1953. My travel from Tampa to DeLand, where I went to Stetson U., was on 301 and then back roads through towns like Groveland, Howie-in-the-Hills and Eustis.
Orlando was "The City Beautiful" and Walt Disney World wasn't even a gleam in Walt's eye.
Over on U.S. 1 north of Daytona Beach there was a big water tank with trained dolphins in it called "Marineland" and Ocala's Silver Springs was Ross Allen's Reptile Institute where they milked rattlesnakes and let you touch small alligators. (Marineland Dolphin Adventure still exists in St. Augustine.)
The other big attractions were Cypress Gardens, where you could see "Water Ski Shows Daily" and Weeki Wachee Springs, the "Home of Live Mermaids."
And they actually had a major automobile race, The Daytona 500,
right on the beach.
Yep, we were pretty well built out when it came to attractions and amusements. At least we thought so. Look at it today. We would never have believed it.
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Congestion here in The Villages? Yes, it builds up a little in the Summer. But I put it out of my mind by recalling my 20 mile drive from my home in Northern Virginia to The White House that sometimes took an hour, particularly on a snowy day.
When we moved back to Florida from Virginia, my wife and I agreed when we crossed the Florida State line that it was time to shut the door and not let anyone else in.
Didn't work that way.