36 hours before arriving home, while in Florida, I gave my surroundings a good
look. Green grass, blue skies, warm weather, palm trees, flowers - it was
beautiful. During the trip home, we traded paradise for crappy New York in
February where everything is brown and gray and covered with dirty looking snow.
As we came out of the Allegany Mountains in Pennsylvania, we could see heavy
gray clouds so I said "It looks like we are heading back into New York!" In fact
Our town ranks in the list of cities with the most cloudy days.
My
journey has raised questions. I have seen life in other states. I listened to
their local talk shows, looked at their local papers, shopped their grocery
stores and have returned with many questions.
Why is gasoline $.40 more
expensive in NY than other states? Why are property taxes ten times more
expensive? Why do NY public schools cost twice the amount as other states? Why
aren't our roads as well maintained? Why is the speed limit 70mph in other
states, but New York doesn't trust me to go faster than 65mph? Why is our sales
tax higher (sometimes dramatically higher)? Why are most common everyday things
cheaper in the south? Why is there construction occurring in the south and not
in New York? Why do I see factories in the south, and crumbling empty buildings
in New York? And, perhaps the biggest question: why do we put up with 8 months
of crappy weather in addition to all of these issues? New York should be paying
us to live here, not nice versa!
On another topic: the van. Was it the
right decision to repair the van instead of purchasing the Kia? Hindsight is
20/20. Twice during the trip, I suggested we find a Kia dealership and dump the
van. I stand by that suggestion and believe it was a terrible mistake to take
our old van on this vacation. We were just lucky we found a garage in North
Carolina who didn’t rip us off, and that we made it back home. For our
next vacation, we will be taking a different vehicle!
Overall, the trip
was good. If I had a better van, I would do it all over again!
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