We hated to leave the Vitambi Resort but on Monday morning we finished packing up after a very restful 5 days and headed toward the West Coast and Punta Gorda. We met my friends Elaine and Bill Cosgrove who both retired over a year ago (Billy as Fire Marshal in Bridgeport and Elaine had owned CopyBreak copy center in Bridgeport) and headed South to live the life of leisure in the Florida Sunshine. We decided to go to their home and park the RV and the car in front of their house.
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| Bill Cosgrove and Elaine |
We all hopped in Billy’s big comfy SUV and headed to Fisherman’s Village (www.fishville.com). It is a cute little waterfront location that offers restaurants with a view along with boutiques, a resort and a Marina on Charlotte Harbor. We picked Harpoon Harry’s (www.harpoonharrys.com) as Bill and Elaine had been there before and they said that the food was good. We grabbed an empty booth right on the rail overlooking the water but it soon turned a little to breezy and cold for these land lubbers and we moved closer inside where it was more comfortable.
We enjoyed a great lunch. I have no idea what everyone else had but I had their version of an oyster Po-Boy. It was delish – very fresh! On the way back to the house Billy gave us a mini-tour of the complex where they live. Lots of palm trees, ponds and of course – alligators! They have a charming 4 bedroom home and if we weren’t on a mission that day – we would have stayed around a little longer. Elaine had mentioned that she hated her profile picture and had wanted to have a few headshots taken. Well, Daniel offered and soon they were in the back yard in the midst of a photo shoot. The shots came out well and he even got Billy in a few pics!
We wrapped that up and headed out. Afterall, we were excited about getting to Bushnell and Sumter County to take care of business. We hopped back on RT 75 for a 2½ hour drive which took us to the Sumter Oaks RV Park. This is where we were going to establish our residency or what the government calls a Domicile. We pulled in after dark – and our reservation was waiting for us. We found site #6 and quickly set up “camp”.
We were going to be here for 3 nights and after the 7 hours or so of driving we were asleep in no time– especially since our TV antenna could not pick up any of the “local” broadcast channels. The next day was spent changing Insurance policies from CT to FL. And going over all of the paperwork that we needed to re-register the two vehicles in FL and to get my very first non - Connecticut Driver’s License along with filing our new address with the County Clerk.
It literally took more than a whole day to get this stuff together and on Wednesday called the Local Sheriff who, as a courtesy, came out to the RV park to verify the VIN number on the RV. I guess it’s easier than having a bunch a big rigs hanging outside the Tax collector’s office. A very nice Sheriff came and verified the VIN and making sure that both vehicles were not stolen!
He was even nice enough to verify the VIN on the car also, which saved the tax collector from having to do it at the office. This was the last document that we needed. It was still only 2pm and so we headed into Bushnell, to the Sumter County Tax Collector’s office (www.sumtertaxcollector.com).
At 3pm we walked through the door and we were immediately greeted by a nice woman who asked how she could help. Now, being from CT or possibly anywhere in a Northeast big city, we all know that most of us would rather get a root canal than to make a trip to the DMV. Well here, the motor vehicle stuff is handled by the County Tax Collector.
It was actually a pleasant process – well not the paying part but everything else! After they checked to make sure that we had all of the necessary items to do everything that we had to do we filled out a couple of forms and they gave us a number.
We waited less than 10 minutes for one of the 3 women to finish with the person that she was helping and we were called to sit down across from her desk. She asked us what we need to do and we started with my Florida Drivers License. That was a painless process and in no time, I had my new license in my hand. The first time in my life that I had a Driver’s license from somewhere other than CT! She did the car and then the RV.
We saw some specialty plates on the wall while waiting. Daniel said “do you think that we could get some specialty plated for the car and RV? I said are you kidding – they won’t have them here – we would have to order them and pay about $75 dollars for each of them and then have them mailed to us. Of course, I was thinking about the process in CT.
We saw a specialty plate with a Bear and another one with a thoroughbred horse – we asked if they were available to get today – and they were!!! They were each an extra $25 which was a long stretch from the $75 or more that it would have cost us in CT.
We were there less than 90 minutes, got all that done and we were on our way. We were SO excited and in total disbelief that we forgot to go across the parking lot to visit the County Clerk to file our domicile paperwork. It bothered me all night. I felt that something was missing.
We were only at the RV park until 11AM and were hitting the road to try and get as close to New Orleans as possible. When we got up on Thursday morning, I called one of the women at the Tax Office who was so helpful, Miss Annie, and asked her if we had filed the domicile paperwork during our visit. She told me no, that has to be done at the County Clerk. So, I looked through the papers that we had with us the day before and sure enough it was there.
We couldn’t leave Bushnell on Thursday as planned until this was taken care of! Both of our signatures had to be notarized and I just assumed that there would be a Notary somewhere in the Court House.
Well there was not but thankfully across the parking lot, next to the Tax Collector was the Planning and Zoning office where on of the nice employees was a Notary and she took care of that for us. So, it was back to the Courthouse where I registered the domicile paperwork which made us legal residents of Sumter County, Florida! We gassed up, got a coffee, called a RV park in NOLA – 6 miles from the French Quarter and hit the road for New Orleans!
By Mike Farkas
Photos: Daniel Marques
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