I’m fascinated by this. I hate Florida- always have- and have never had a good time there. It’s utterly foreign to my southwestern sensibilities, and my whole (Midwestern and estranged from me) extended maternal family relocated from Ohio to Ft Myers en masse; it is a joke, apparently, that Cleveland moves to Ft Myers, because that’s where the interstate dumps you out.
Florida is baffling to the rest of the US, too, if that elucidates anything. Carl Hiaasen’s whole career is based on our national confusion about this state.
I understand now why Florida is appealing to white people from the northwest and midwest. The weather is much, much better, and they get to basically live in compounds that look and feel exactly like the white flight suburbs where they came from. I always imagined Florida in my head as some kind of multi-ethnic mishmash that was more Caribbean than American, and it is like that in some neighborhoods in some cities, but these gated communities and the adjacent strip malls have really managed to create islands of uniformity in what could've been (and perhaps once was) a far more interesting state.
This is one of the reasons I dislike Florida, it's just stretches of plaza after plaza and a bunch of gated communities. You need a car, and I never got a license, so I always feel trapped when I visit family. Of course, there are little pockets of more genuine places, with a nice beachy vibe. I'm excited to hear about your trip through the Everglades, hope you don't meet any gators!
I can completely understand how frustrating it must be to live without a car here. Even on a bicycle, the distances between the interesting places are so, so far! It reminds me of when i lived with my ex's parents in an outer suburb of Toronto, the kind of place where the bus only comes once an hour and you can walk 10 miles and still be in the same scenery of single family homes and big box stores. It really feels like being stuck in a maze, or a labyrinth, with no escape.
I have only booked one night in the Everglades, but it will be at a primitive campsite where many previous campers have spotted gators! I'm curious to see what it will be like. If it's surprisingly fun, then i might visit again on my way back from Key West. I've heard that doing an airboat tour is well worth the money.
My dad was really big on camping when we were kids. Through the late 70s and early 80s, we did big long roadtrips. Our last one was in the mid 90s
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I've seen a couple of people camping with rooftop tents and truck tents. They seem like a good idea, especially in places where there might be creepy crawlies on the ground, although to be honest if i had a truck i think just getting a simple camper shell would be less hassle. Although then you can't transport large things in your bed any more
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Something else that may be a big issue with the parks was around the 90s is when they cut the park budgets. Basically, the State Parks in Texas used to be very very cheap (if youw anted electricity) or even free for use (just reserve a spot and go!)
Then the Republicans came into power in the state and decided that only people using the parks needed to pay for them. They reduced the public tax money for it, hiking up the prices at the gate, and the state parks started wanting the Big Money from RV Campers to keep going.
This was also around the time that the State of Texas got rid of all the free picnic areas around the state. Hundreds of little dotted pulloffs where there was a nice table, a BBQ pit, a waste can. Most are gone now, and only a few still exit, mostly at scenic views (https://goo.gl/maps/nZnVTTFNUM6vh3EX7). All in the name of "Less Taxes."
Ugh, this sucks so hard. That's what a fellow tent camper in Oklahoma told me happened there too. It feels so stupid, because what's the point of a (theoretically) government-owned park which isn't accessible to all the people the government represents? I think the same thing happened in Alberta and Ontario in Canada. BC is different - you can just show up at a park, and there are always spots reserved for walk-ins, there are dozens of rec areas around the place, many of them are free... And it's not like there's a lack of land in those other provinces, so it's definitely a political decision. A poor one.
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I’m fascinated by this. I hate Florida- always have- and have never had a good time there. It’s utterly foreign to my southwestern sensibilities, and my whole (Midwestern and estranged from me) extended maternal family relocated from Ohio to Ft Myers en masse; it is a joke, apparently, that Cleveland moves to Ft Myers, because that’s where the interstate dumps you out.
Florida is baffling to the rest of the US, too, if that elucidates anything. Carl Hiaasen’s whole career is based on our national confusion about this state.
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I have only booked one night in the Everglades, but it will be at a primitive campsite where many previous campers have spotted gators! I'm curious to see what it will be like. If it's surprisingly fun, then i might visit again on my way back from Key West. I've heard that doing an airboat tour is well worth the money.
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Then the Republicans came into power in the state and decided that only people using the parks needed to pay for them. They reduced the public tax money for it, hiking up the prices at the gate, and the state parks started wanting the Big Money from RV Campers to keep going.
This was also around the time that the State of Texas got rid of all the free picnic areas around the state. Hundreds of little dotted pulloffs where there was a nice table, a BBQ pit, a waste can. Most are gone now, and only a few still exit, mostly at scenic views (https://goo.gl/maps/nZnVTTFNUM6vh3EX7). All in the name of "Less Taxes."
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