[redwitch]

Chuck asked me this in another thread, so thought it would be fun to hear the stories.

I decided I needed a break and knew it was time to move from California (Pleasant Hill to be exact, Chuck). I decided it was time to meet some online friends with whom I play bridge in Yahell. Flew to Homestead, FL, rented a car, drove all over the South. One of my stops was to meet my friend, Nancy, in TV. Decided I really liked what I had seen here. After driving 30 days and 5K miles, I flew back home, told my daughter I was moving to a retirement community in Florida and she was welcome to come with me or not. So, here we be. ;D

[chuckinca]

I drive past Pleasant Hill on 680 every work day on my drive home from work in Vallejo at the Kaiser Hosp expansion (I'm a construction project mgr). Sometimes stop at the Shell across from Target for gas. When you say "here we be" does that include your daughter?

[redwitch]

Aye, it does. She's 20, so TV legal. Know your Target and Shell station so well. If you need to get gas around there, go up to Alhambra and the Arco station -- way, way, WAY cheaper. (Go up to Morello, turn left at Hidden Lake Park, wave hi to the gray townhomes on the left for me; turn R at the stop sign; L at the next light by Safeway; L at the Arco station.)

Before you move, I'm putting in a food order for ya. ;-)

[punkpup]

Wow Chuckinca & Redwitch! My family moved when I was 16 to Danville, CA. That was 1968 when what was then called the "680 extension" was new and extended from Walnut Creek through to Dublin. Our house was at the base of Mount Diablo and the back yard backed up to grazing land of the Black Hawk Ranch which was still a very prosperous working ranch.

I learned about TV in 1998 when I got DishTV and the only premium channel I added to our programming was The Golf Channel. It intrigued me the very first time I saw the ad and I called for the portfolio which in those days included a VHS tape instead of a DVD. (I think I still have that tape somewhere. lol) I've wanted to move there ever since. We actually decided to move there while talking to a friend on Superbowl Sunday 2007. She had moved there in June 2006 and was having a marvelous time!!! We fell in love with TV when we visited her in March and are shooting for spring/early summer 2009 to become residents of TV. :hot:

[chuckinca]

I would guess that Blackhawk Ranch is now the town of Blackhawk - a gated exclusive golfing development. The developer owns the Seattle Seahawks.

I did some construction work in there in the mid 80's. Most houses had Mercedes' and Beamers in the drive except one very large place on a bluff above a green that had an old pickup and a VW bug in the drive - John Madden's house.

[Peggy D]

We discovered TV in spring 2006.

We were down here for the weekend (Ocean View at that time was just our beach house)
Saturday night heard Mike Harvey broadcasting from this place called THE VILLAGES.
From the way he discribed it, it sounded like just the place I wanted to be. We have l :arrow: :arrowoked at many retirement places, but all were the same. Went on the website and KNEW it was where I wanted to be

When hubby retired that Oct we came down to TV on the preview...need I say more?

[villager99]

tv was listed in a book on "fabulous" retirement communities i used when trying to narrow my search back in 1998.
price, locale and golf cart accessibility got it to the top of my short list. a brief visit got me to sign on the dotted line.

[jadebox]

We lived in Northwest Florida and would go down 441 when we were headed south. We like to get off the highways. Several times we remarked on how we liked the Spanish theme along the highway. One day in 2001 Roger says lets go to check out Main Street. There were more offices then stores on Main Street but we still loved the look and feel. We were sure there was no way we could afford to live in TV. A couple months later we came down and stayed in Leesburg for the weekend. We visited Katie Belles that was open to the public and interviewed people to see what they said about TV. No one had a bad word for it. We were still so sure we could not afford to live here. We figured amenities would be $500 or more a month. Shoot we paid $65 a month for social membership at our Country club. At the time amenities were $109 here. Yeah
!!! After one more visit we were sure we could live here and started looking. My husband was going to work a few more years but the trip here was less then 6 hours so we could come down for long weekends. We bought a courtyard villa that TV had been renting out to visitors. Roger made it 6 months and gave notice that he was retiring in 6 months so here we are and loving every minute of it. ;D

[another Linda]

We have relatives in Melborne, Florida and had heard about TV many years ago but had not visited. Then another couple we knew came for a visit -- he loved it, she hated it (but she hates a lot of things; if she hates it, can it be all bad?). We were curious and we visited on a 6 day thing 2 years ago -- we loved it! Rented last year for 1 month (March) and bought. That was so unlike us. We are so careful with our money, very deliberate, slow to make life-altering decisions. But after returning to Syracuse in a snow storm, we knew it wasn't a mistake. This past summer we were there twice and once again this fall, and it was still wonderful. Despite our concerns about fitting in (we're real lefties), we're glad we made the decision to buy and are looking forward to spending more time. Don't get me wrong -- we love Syracuse, NY, but ...

[jjdees]

Linda, Syracuse was one of the best places we lived buttttttttttttt

[another Linda]

Yeah, where else could you find a dog that would go in the toilet? Where did you live in Manlius?

[jjdees]

We were on Stonecrest Drive. Behind us was the Stonecrest Club, and then country. If you were on your way to Cazenovia out of Manlius, the sub was tucked away on the right across from the military academy. How about you?

[punkpup]

Chuckinca, yes the town of Blackhawk is the former Black Hawk Ranch it was sold to a developer by the owner after her husband died. :'(

Yep John Madden's house was one of the earliest homes built there. He and several other owners actually sued the developer for shoddy workmanship on the houses. They all had many problems with their houses like doors that wouldn't close, stay closed or wouldn't open. Floors and walls that cracked and garage doors that were out of alignment and wouldn't close/open etc, etc, etc.

I've always felt sad about that... the ranch was so beautiful. The owners also sold a parcel of land to the founder of The Athenian School; that is where I lived. http://www.athenian.org/

[Barefoot]

Barb1191, nice story, thanks for sharing.

I am from the boonies in Ontario, Canada. I was told about the Villages by a friend in Prince Edward Island (that little island that grows a lot of potatoes) who had visited friends in TV. I was looking for a retirement community that allowed large dogs and she assured me TV was very pet friendly.

One three-day visit in March 2007 and we were hooked! We fell in love with TV, there is no other way to describe it! Love the concept, the amenities, the friendliness, and especially golf cart access to everything!! We returned home and bought a Courtyard Villa sight unseen. Now I am living in TV (sadly for only six months a year) and loving every second of it. :bigthumbsup:

[another Linda]

Originally Posted by jjdees

We were on Stonecrest Drive. Behind us was the Stonecrest Club, and then country. If you were on your way to Cazenovia out of Manlius, the sub was tucked away on the right across from the military academy. How about you?

Now this is really off topic. We are in the city up in the area in back of Nottingham HS.