Life in the Sunshine State: Pros and Cons
G-Fest this year is in Orlando, Florida. Some folks have packed in a trip to Universal Studios, and its nested Russian Doll Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There have been trips to the beach, to museums and to eateries. Ginnie and I have been riding our bikes around Kissimmee and we’ve built our own list of Florida pros and cons.
Our favorite parts
Let’s start with the wildlife. This part of Florida is pockmarked by fractal lakes, ponds and pools. Here’s a sampler.
Even though we’ve just been traipsing around suburbia, the water is surrounded by egrets, cormorants, raptors and other stabby dino-birds. Sometimes they stand with wings outstretched, perhaps cooling down. They’re terribly interesting to watch.
Less interesting to observe, but more visceral, are the slit-eyed gators. We’ve seen small, medium-small, and medium. We’ve been on the lookout for the large.
Next up is the biking trails. We brought our two Lectric XP 2.0 bikes. The area around our suburban sameness is crisscrossed by nice wide sidewalks and by the Shingle Creek Trail. The trails were well cared for and consistently modestly busy.
Like every house on our street, we have our own personal pool. This has been a great deal of fun, especially when Bob gets involved.
Our least favorite parts
We’re in a gated community, surrounded by gated communities. Simple tasks like visiting Target, require going through 2-4 gates on the way there. If you’re on a bike, this typically means waiting for a car to come along to trigger the gate.
Suburban sprawl puts us a long way from anything. The theme parks are 18 miles and 35 minutes. Downtown Orlando is 27 miles and 45 minutes. All those times include lots and lots of time staring at red brake lights stuck in traffic.
Here’s a surprising statistic courtesy of the invaluable CityNerd. Average daily vehicle-miles traveled per capita in urbanized areas in the United States is 25.5 miles per capita. This means every single man, woman and child in a city is generating 25.5 miles of car or truck traffic. Some of this is going to work, shopping or recreation. Some of is miles driven on your behalf by delivery drivers or freight trucks.
This number is lower for cities with good public transport and compact urban areas. It’s higher here in Orlando, which has neither. Orlando’s number is 35.5!
In Rochester, we’re a 15-minute city. It’s actually better, there’s no where we want or need to go that takes longer than 13 minutes.
Ginnie and I are just about done with car culture and even with cars. When we’re back in Rochester we’re planning on kicking off a week or two of car-free living. Bikes get us around in a more relaxing and joyful way.
Finally, the weather is an oppressive foe. The days start with high humidity. It’s pleasant enough when zipping along at 15 mph on a bike, but is just a warning of what’s to come. By mid-day you’ve got mid-90s temperature, UV indices in the low teens and the sun strikes you with physical force.
