Highway 27 Walmarts

Every year we go to the Walmart on Highway 27 in Clermont.  It is easy to get to: just go to the end of 192, then turn right. 

Walmart has the best prices - much better than Publix or any others. But this particular Walmart is a tourist Mecca. I call it the Babylon Zoo. When you visit this Walmart you will find people from every corner of the globe speaking every language you can imagine. It is a bit of a crazy mad house as tourists pile carts full and locals want to just get a few items quickly. The place is packed every time I go. Employees can't keep the shelves restocked fast enough. When you are ready to checkout? Pack your patients because there are never enough open registers and the lines back into the clothes section. 

We went to this Walmart on Tuesday to Grocery Shop and Wednesday to pick up some odds and ends that we were missing. On Thursday, we needed to go to Walmart to get my son a new bathing suit and we all said "No more Babylon zoo!"

We drove the extra 20 minutes south down highway 20 to Haines city. Haines city has an excellent Walmart that is nearly the same size. I call this Walmart the LoveMart. In one part of the store, we came across a couple that were feeling each other below the belt - awkward! In another part of the store, a young lady came up to a guy and started making out with him. He finally pushed her to the aside and said "That is enough". At that point the young lady slapped the guy really hard! The guy then turns to me and says "See the kind of abuse I have to put up with?" This Walmart is appropriately named: the LoveMart. 

Instead of going south on Highway 27, we could have went north on Highway 27. Babylon Zoo is in Clermont, but, that is really the outskirts of Clermont. Going 25 minutes north takes you into Clermont where another Walmart can be found. We visited that Walmart in 2016 and found it to be nice and free of tourists.

There are other Walmarts in Kissimmee, but I would fear those would be even more filled with tourists. 

Bugs in the villa

I have written about Florida bugs in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and tips to avoid taking bugs home.

When we select a villa we always ask about the owner's pest control procedures. We have stayed in too many bug infested houses and have learned the importance of regular professional services and quick responses to problems.

We have never stayed in a Florida villa that didn't have some bug infestation. Those villas that lack professional services will tell us "It is Florida, this is normal". That is a lie. You may see an occasional roach or ant, but it is not normal to see an infestation or to see these creatures regularly.

This year's villa was no exception. The dinning room had a severe ant infestation. The ants were entering near the dinning room window and were expanding throughout the house.

We immediately contacted the owner. The owner called Terminix who came out the next day and sprayed.

We have learned important lessons over the years and we were prepared to deal with this problem. We always bring at least four totes and keep them off the ground. Our groceries are sealed into large ziplocks and space bags put into the totes. We do not allow anything that a bug could get into to sit on the floor (bags, suitcases, etc).

Terminix arrived and sprayed. The great part of having an exterminator spray is to not only kill the bugs you see, but to kill the bugs you don't see as well.

Yes, that picture is of a roach. When you contact an owner who doesn't do good pest control and report these creatures, they will say "Oh, that is just a Palmetto bug".  Palmetto or not, it is a roach and it doesn't belong in the home, so, don't accept that answer. This roach is belly up and dead as a result of the exterminator.

In houses where we do not trust the pest control practices, we'll put a piece of double-faced tape across walk ways and then check in the morning to see what it caught. We are also not afraid to buy ant traps and spray our own bug spray around the house.

Arrive to your villa with the expectation you'll find bugs and will need to deal with it. Demand immediate response from a professional pest control company, and call them back to repeat as often as you need. Follow the precautions I have outlined in previous posts.  And don't accept living with pests.

Villa Check-in Inspection 2017

It has been a long journey and you have finally arrived at your villa. All you want to do is get inside and jump in the pool. But wait! Before you bring any of your belongings into the villa, you must do a check-in inspection. You must go through the villa top to bottom and look for problems and damage. Those issues need to be immediately reported to the management company and/or villa owner. Failure to do so could leave you liable for those damages!

Read the Five Must Do Tasks when you arrive at your villa. You can also read about our 2015 inspection and our 2016 inspection.

You can watch us perform our 2017 inspection by watching this video here.

Arrived in Florida

We arrived in Florida today! As traditional, we stopped off at the Welcome Center on i95 for some orange juice, pamphlets, and pictures.

We arrived at the house (villa) we are renting out near Champion's Gate. We are going to get settled in and enjoy a few days before hitting Disney this weekend.

Snack Mix for the Drive

when considering all the stops along the way, it takes us 26 hours to drive to Orlando. No stops? 21 hours. But... there is gas, meals, bathroom breaks, getting lost, etc.

I have done the trip in two days (staying at a hotel half way) and it isn't fun. I get tired after ten hours, I don't like driving 75mph-80+ at night, and we arrive to our deatination too late to do anything.

I find it much better to break the trip into three days and arrive in Orlando in the early afternoon.

It can be difficult to stay alert during all those hours of driving. I am driving faster than the laws of men permit, usually feet away from the bumper in front of me - staying alert can be the difference between life and death.

Eating helps me to stay alert. I used to snack on cold french froes during the trip, but, those are a billion calories. I started looking for something better...

Trail mix has too many colories. Popcorn gets boring.

I now ise a healthy mix of popcorn, puff wheat, cheerios, trail mix, and dried fruit (without added sugar). That seems to do the trick!

Packed and ready to go!

I have developed a certain expertise for packing the van for a long Florida trip. Somehow I am able to get everything loaded with room to spare. The van has to hold my office, all the video games, food, clothes, and everything imaginable to support a family for seven and a half weeks.

Cable Bag

when you travel with kids, you travel with a lot of electroics. I come prepared by packing a cable back. The cable bad includes USB cables, mini-USB, AV cords, battery packs, iphone cords, USB chargers, and more!

June Party

We seem to have a party every June: anniversary, graduation, reubiob, or large birthday. Planning for these large parties is a lot of work and competes with getting ready for Florida.

The 2017 party is finished! It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now I can focus most my efforts towards getting ready for Disney!

Leaving in 16 hours

There are many things that must get done when going on a 7.5 week trip to Florda. Our large master project list is getting right down to the final tasks. The task list gets written and rewritten daily as we make decisions about what will and what will not get done before we leave. Fix the leaky shower? Yes! Weed the flower garden? Maybe.

There is a massive amount of work to do in only 16 hours. It doesnt seem possible we will be ready to leave in time. Most of the time has been spent gathering items, but not packing them yet. Most of our remaining time will be spent packing.

The house security system has been updated. The security cameras repositioned. The house sitters (who will be living there) have been trained and prepped. The pet sitters (who will visit daily) havebeen trained.

Keep following this blog to watch our 2017 adventures!