Totally cool Ontario license plate, “4U IWILL”. Laugh, that was the high point of the day. It was warm enough to chase around so that’s what I had to do. Ray-B called, he is doing Mr. Laff’s tomorrow and I may just show up. Of all the guitar players I know in this town, he's the one least set in his ways. But he still has not gone through the drawn out lesson that the day of the single guitar player making big is long over. I've seen others cling to that outdated dream for a lifetime.
Time for a motor scooter report, as I passed the 500 mile mark today. This is for those who like cold, hard facts. I predicted six times as much use of the scooter as the bicycle, which I consistently rode 100 miles per month. So by New Year’s, that estimate will be close. The cost in gasoline was $24.67 to travel 514 miles using 7.342 gallons. Average mpg was 70.008 and cost per mile was 4.8 cents. There are some interesting revelations along the way.The mileage varied greatly from as little as 57 to as high as 110. The lower mileage figure is attributable to using lower octane gas in that one fill up. The power also suffered greatly and I switched back to high test. The initial reading of 88 mpg was lowered by careful thinking, such as follows. First, there must have been some residual gas in the tank when purchased. When I test drove, I was naturally cautious and accelerated slowly. I know head winds make big difference and a corresponding tail wind on the return leg does not make up for the loss.
As well, during the break-in period, I kept the speed consistent at around 20 mph, where as now, I will jackrabbit start and zip down Pines Blvd at 45 mph. All factors, working together shaved that 18 miles off the average. The good news is that there is no doubt the scooter is far superior to a car for trips up to 100 miles in a day. I tend to put $3 in rather than actually fill up. Gas is $3.599 per gallon and tank up takes less than a minute.
Wallace is on the way. His email sounded argumentative but that is understandable. Yet the premise on which we got this place is as fundamentally sound as when I did the calculations in 2008. There is no way either of us could live in Florida for as little as we pay here and as long as we stick with the plan we’ll be fine.
He has experience with construction, but I’ve got experience in putting together expert working plans and there is no clear reason for any argument. I’ve also been a property manager since I was 22. It boils down to a new deposit on the electricity and the back rent, of which I have my share socked away. There are valid reasons I could refuse to pay it.
Also, the record shows my bills are paid on time and that nobody has ever heard me complain about the amounts. I have paid every penny to which I agreed to pay, but not one penny more since February this year. I can only afford the full rent six months of each year, exactly what was agreed between us prior to the purchase. The real change is that now I don’t need the help I was promised and never got. But I kept my end of the bargain and that means I won’t leave empty-handed.
What Wallace has to do is sit down and calculate what he wants to do. I’ll wager he will conclude this place was the bargain of the century and that he should be staying here year-round and enjoying it. Those offers he gets from the Panera are baseless. Sixty year old homeless men talking about “financing packages” are not to be trusted. It is easy to make big offers before they got the money, that’s all you ever hear them doing when you stop there for coffee. Talk. Talk. Talk.
The idea of renting this place while both of us are away is not feasible. Every shyster in town is onto that game, as Florida law does not enforce absentee landlordism. If they (the tenants) find out you are more than 75 miles away, they just stop paying. There are professional firms that collect the rent, but everybody I’ve talked to who used them regretted it*. Those firms also know you when you are away. The best thing is to sit pretty for now but how to do that depends on Wallace. But he is being a real grouch for reasons unknown at this time.
Last, my research on other mobile homes shows that the lot rents in most areas start at around $475 per month with water extra. It would border on foolishness to give up this place. Worse, there are dozens of mobile homes for sale, the market is glutted right now and the average sale takes 14 months. Yet, that is exactly where this is headed if Wallace continues to mess up.
*[Author's note: the reason the "rent collection" agencies are a rip-off is they insist you sign over to them to do minor repairs while you are away. But you quickly find out that "minor" means something different to them. And that, miraculously, their brother-in-law always has just the tools and materials needed for the job. This is about the same time you begin to notice that the repairs only become necessary whenever you are out of town.]
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