but it's god-awful hot in the summer. Stuck right in the center of the state. It's also the home of some of the craziest right-wing bastards in the world. Just south of the city there's a John Birch Society billboard. The first one I've ever witnessed in my life. I knew it was the wrong place for me the instant I saw it, but the mother thing........ 
I joined the Highlands County Democratic association and was immediately made President of same. There were only 8-10 active members at any given time, and I guess they needed some "new blood". It was the loneliest office in the country. I think there were only a little over 300 registered Democrats in the entire country, and most of them didn't announce the fact. Go figure. It was a very inactive and lonely job, and this was during the Bush campaign for his second term. Trying to get anyone to put a Kerry sign in their yard was next to impossible. After the election Mom died and I moved to St. Pete. I absolutely love the beach there, and I took many charter fishing trips (another of my passions) out of Tarpon Springs, and did a fair amount of Pompano (and the occasional Bonefish) fishing in the flats around the Tampa area.
I do love Florida, despite the love bugs, mosquitoes, other bugs as big as the birds up north, lizards, snakes, the terrible tourists......but the heat was actually killing me. It made me physically ill. I lost over 40 pounds and was absolutely skeletal. The Doctors couldn't figure it out (all they would say was that it was something 'environmental') so I moved back north. I put the weight back on and felt great again. Who knows what it really was, but I blame it on the heat. A wonderful place to visit for me, but I could never live there again.
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