Pick Your State     

   Which of these two states would you rather call home? 

   State No. 1 is swampy, hot and sickly. Pioneers named some of its places after Hell. This is the least populated state in its region of the country.

   Houses were built to take advantage of the breeze, with high ceilings and large windows to let air flow through. The only summertime relief is to sit or swing on a shady porch, and even at night, the best sleep is found on a porch or balcony. 

   No laws require fences around cattle pastures, so cows roam the roads and frequently get hit. 

   People fight off mosquitoes with smoke from smudge pots. Inhale the smoke or get bit - those are your options. 

   State No. 2 is one of the most populous, at 21 million. Traffic snarls within five miles of either coast and around a major entertainment destination. Chemical sprays control mosquitoes. 

   Subdivisions sprawl everywhere, replacing forests, groves and swamps, while displacing wildlife for which these communities are named. Most homes don't have porches. 

   Time's up! What's your choice? 

   State No. 1 was described in the present tense - above - as recently as post-WWII years. Seventy years later, air conditioning has transformed No. 1 into No. 2.

   It's all Florida. 

   During the holidays, 1949/1950, my sister and I visited Florida No. 1 with Mom and Dad - from freezing Pennsylvania to sunny Key West in a 1940 Chevy, average speed
 < 45 mph. What a memory. 

   The old and new Floridas do have something in common - alligators. They're ugly, but they don't drive up electricity demand. 

      Jimmy