Obtaining Florida Residency and Choosing a Mail Forwarding Service 

While there are more logistics to think about now, I can't imagine what an adventure it must have been and trying to do it without the internet or Google maps! That is so awesome that you were able to experience so much. I bet you have some amazing stories.

@@GeorgiaandDavid I suppose I do, at least Ruby (La Karencita) says she wishes she could have seen the Mexico I saw. Have you visited Sayulita? The last time I was there there were no hotels or restaurants, tourists camped in a coconut grove on the beach, the primary occupation seemed to be fishing (I frequently helped pull the big ponga boats into the surf or out of it), and the "road" from the highway into the town crossed a stream five times. There was absolutely nothing at Punta Mita, except for about a dozen naked hippies. Up the coast at the north end of Nayarit was the little village of Cuautla, located a few miles south of Playa Novillero (reached by a small ferry that crossed the estero separating a great 60 mile long flat beach from the mainland). Cuautla used to be a wonderful little south seas village where people decorated the wattle and daub mud facades of their thatch roof houses with sea shells. Not anymore. South of Puerto Vallarta the pavement ended, and a gravel road crossed a number of rivers. I forded several successfully (I had a 1965 Chevelle with coil stabilizers and air shocks, which provided a higher than normal center), but eventually my car fell into a deep spot and was stuck. After finding a road grader to pull my car across the river I spent a couple of hours filling up the hollows in the river with rocks so I could return to Sayulita. Originally I had planned to spend three to four days in Sayulita, but it was closer to a month when I finally left. The coastal highway was some years in the future (the differences between my 1967 Mexican road map and a map of today is amazing - so many highways have replaced foot or horse trails). There was a road between Manzanillo and Barra de Navidad, a paved road north of Acapulco, finally paved as far as Zihuatanejo by 1974, and south to Puerto Escondido. Puerto Escondido was still a tiny town, a small two car ferry crossed the deep, fast flowing Rio Verde north of the town. South of Puerto Escondido another deep river meant that travelers had to make the 10-15 mph trip over a dirt road to Oaxaca, then take another road (part dirt) to Puerto Angel, which was even smaller than Puerto Escondido. North of the Rio Verde the land was still fairly devoid of tourists. At some point south of Pinotepa Nacional a jaguar darted out of a sugar cane field in front of my car and I was unable to stop before I hit it, breaking its back. Around Pinotepa Nacional older women still went bare-breasted, wearing only a purpura dyed wraparound skirt. In the area of Ometepec, which has a sizable Black population, I encountered four Black teenage boys who were driving a small herd of Brahma cattle. It is a hot, humid country, and the boys wore no more than the cattle. I could have been in Africa. The Yucatan peninsula has amazing ruins. I wanted to see Sayil, but the map I had showed the trail there was for 4-wheel drive in the dry season. It was raining a bit, so of course I had to try. I got three-fourths of the way before getting stuck in the mud, so after cutting brush with my machete and getting my car turned around and off the trail I hiked in the last mile or two. Worth it. Plan on spending at least a couple of months in the peninsula. There are many more ruins that have been restored since I was there, and there are a lot of churches of interest. Most of the sites no longer allow visitors to climb on the ruins, or go inside, but at least you can get a photo of a pyramid that won't remind everyone of a cake at a picnic being swarmed over by ants. I'm glad I had a chance to go inside the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque and descend down to see the tomb of Pacal. Other benefits included getting up close to view the interiors of the ruins at Tulum and seeing the Red Jaguar Throne inside the El Castillo pyramid as well as climbing inside the El Caracol observatory at Chichen Itza. Here's a useful hint. At major sites, such as Chichen Itza, get a room at or near the ruins. Get up early, eat breakfast and be at the site when it opens (parking should still be available). Focus on El Castillo, the ball court, the Temple of the Warriors, the Temple of the Jaguar, the Group of a Thousand Columns, etc. When the tour buses from Cancun arrive around 10 AM move across the highway to the south side of the site and visit El Castillo, Las Monjas, La Iglesia, Akab-Dzib, etc. A bit past this area is "Old Chichen". I don't know how much of this area has been restored, but the Temple of the Three Lintles is restored and considered to be a gem. When the bus tourists leave you can go back to the north side for more photography in case you didn't like the morning light. The relatively new hands-off policy is the result of too many tourists compared to 50 years ago. I recall standing atop the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan on a summer afternoon in 1967, the blackened sky creating a gentle rain, and staring towards the Pyramid of the Sun and not seeing another tourist anywhere. And of course there are a few beaches on the Yucatan coast. Back then Cancun had seven hotels in operation (more were under construction). Playa del Carmen and Tulum were villages with no hotels or restaurants. To transport a car to Isla Cozumel stout wooden planks were placed crosswise on the bow of the small ferry and the car or pickup truck driven off the dock and onto the ferry, which was barely wide enough to hold a car. I camped a lot, most of the time, in fact. Trailer parks were cheap ($1-2 per night) and the most I ever spent for a hotel was $6 a night at the fairly new and very nice Hotel Jena in Mexico City. The cheapest room was in San Miguel de Allende, shared bath, 25cents USD after the peso was devalued. It did have a sink. In Metztitlan, Hgo, (the site of a very important convento) I got a room in the town's only hotel. After leaving my backpack in the room the employee who had led me to my room asked me to come back in an hour or two. He then proceeded to get out a sprayer for DDT and kill off all the lurking mosquitos. Fun. I loved the Indian markets in Zimapan, Ixmiquilpan and Tulancingo, Hgo, Huauchinango and Ajalpan, Pue, Tlaxiaco, Putla de Guerrero and Tlacolula in Oaxaca, and especially San Cristobal de las Casas, Chamula, San Andress and Tenejapa, Chiapas. Chiapas is probably my favorite state, although there are several others that are my favorite when I am there. My three to four day stay in the highlands in Chiapas lasted about a month. I wanted to stay longer. One Saturday I drove over a bad dirt road most thought impassable for a passenger car to the village of San Andres Larrainzar. There I met Walter F Morris Jr (you can google him - he authored several outstanding books on Mayan textiles before he died recently, and he played a key role in revitalizing the weaving tradition in the highlands - he helped found Sna Jolobil in San Cristobal). I spent the night with Walter, in his no-frills house on the edge of the village (no kitchen or bath as you would recognize them, but there was a spring on the property with potable water). $2 USD per month, and on the "road" to Magdalenas, so he had access to the areas best weavers. I stayed with him for a few days. The market was great. Walter and I were the only people who weren't Tzotzils. Walter spoke Tzotzil, by the way. Another Saturday I took a second (third class?) bus to Tenejapa. There a young man approached me and asked why I was there. Tourists were a real rarity (when I visited Chiautla, Pue a man approached me and asked why I was there. I mentioned wanting to see the convento and to see if there were any cuexcomates in the town. He welcomed me and said that he saw everyone who visited the town and that I was the first gringo to visit in five years). Anyway, I told the young man that I wanted to buy a huipil or bolsa and he said he thought his mother had one of each to sell. Three and a half hours and three mountains later (the first mountain was about 1000 feet up via a switchback trail, and at one point a heavily laden horse lost his footing and did a double somersault on the steep trail descending the other side of the mountain before righting itself ) we arrived at his parents house. To say the least they were very surprised to see me. Their house was the traditional wood plank wall, steep thatched roof with a door, no windows and a cooking fire in the middle of the dirt floor. I spent the night in the store house (it had the family's only bed - wooden boards with a petate as a mattress. I didn't have enough money to buy the huipil and bolsa (the banks had closed early that Saturday and couldn't cash a travelers check), but i somehow convinced them that my $10 travelers check was worth 125 pesos. We made the sale. I met the young man later in San Cristobal and the bank had cashed the check for him.

Wow you definitely did have some adventures! I bet many people wish they could see the México you did. We are currently in Acapulco and then plan on heading down to Puerto Escondido and Huatulco before heading back up to Oaxaca and México city. Maybe Tequila and Manzanillo after that.

@@GeorgiaandDavid In a recent video you asked for suggestions re what to see or do in Puerto Escondido and Huatulco. 50 years ago Huatulco was largely unknown and best reached by boat or horseback. Puerto Escondido was accessible via road but the trip was still a bit of an adventure. There were at most four or five small hotels and a few simple restaurants. The tourist industry was nascent at best. There was a dirt airstrip at the north end of town that served small twin-prop airplanes that occasionally flew down from Oaxaca City. Several of Puerto Escondido's most famous beaches were not readily accessible or developed. Ruby at La Karencita would be a better reference than I am. That said, since you are in Acapulco and I presume driving south I can suggest a couple of stops on the way. The first would be a visit to Ometepec, a few miles inland from the highway. The area is home to one of two places in Mexico with a Black population. The source was probably slave ships destined for Acapulco in an attempt to avoid the duty charged in Veracruz. Storms, deteriorating ships or bad navigation deposited some of the Africans on the beaches south of Acapulco, and an African culture flourished in the area for many generations. I don't know how much of that culture is left. Paved roads tend to dilute Indian as well as Black culture, so the most striking examples are probably to be found along the dirt roads in the area. I'm sure Ometepec has grown in the past 50 years. It may still be picturesque. If I remember correctly the panteon overlooked a valley. Some books suggest the Black population extends primarily south of Ometepec, towards Cuajinicuilopa and San Nicolas, but I think I saw more to the north of the town, towards Copala. Somewhere around Ometepec is where I saw the four nude Black teenage boys driving the Brahma cattle. In past decades the houses were African in style and many of the customs were African rather than Mexican. The hotels and restaurants may not be up to your usual standards. Another stop that might be interesting is Pinotepa Nacional. Some of the women probably still wear the purpura dyed wraparound skirt, but they are increasingly expensive and rare. Synthetic dyes are probably more the norm out of necessity. Authentic purpura dye leaves a slightly fishy smell to the thread and skirt. I doubt bare breasts are seen in public anymore. Market day might be interesting. I imagine the women from Amuzgos (located about 35 miles inland on the road to Putla and Tlaxiaco) would be in attendance. They weave a very fine brocaded cotton huipil. Watch out for jaguars on the road south of Pinotepa Nacional (or north for that matter). Hotels and restaurants are probably better here. Lastly, when you approach the Rio Verde, appreciate that the only way to cross it 50 years ago was on a tiny ferry. It is the dry season now, so it probably won't be running as deep or as fast as when I used the ferry. The ferry barely held two cars or one truck or bus. The ferry was pulled up to the river bank and two I-beams were lined-up with the vehicle's tires. The vehicle was guided aboard. The ferry was attached to a cable upstream. The ferry cast-off from shore and the aft end was allowed to drift off at a 45 degree angle to the upstream cable. The rushing water helped to push the ferry across the Rio Verde, along with a dugout canoe that had a small outboard motor attached. Reversing the process was used when disembarking. A young man named Mario worked on the ferry (no charge by the way - it probably didn't run at night - potentially too dangerous). Mario knew two English words - "I want". He pointed to everything in my car and said "I want". He wanted my Spanish-English dictionary. I gave him a smaller one that I had, in the hopes he would learn to say "How can I help you?". Anyway, I hope this information is helpful.

We might just check out Ometepec. Looks like it might be a good place to stop between Acapulco and Puerto Escondido.its amazing how fast things change here. We visited Huatulco back in 2012 it will be interesting to see how much it has changed since then.

We've now received mail and had them scan contents, we are very happy with the service.

Legally you can only use a mail forwarding service for residency in Florida if you have a registered boat or RV.

​@@GeorgiaandDavid I found in my searching last night a Secretary of State letter responding to questions from the county that includes the St. Brendans service. That letter had a lot to say that's negative to the idea of a full time traveler registering in Florida. There's also a blog post titled "Urgent Advisory: Right to Vote in Jeopardy for RVers and Cruisers (St. Brendan’s Isle, Clay County, Florida)" which goes over that, and specifically refers to that letter. What I'm not clear on is whether the Opinion in that letter only applies to Clay County or to all of Florida. But, I also found another document - from the Florida Division of Elections - titled Voter Residency - that lays out several classes of people, and rights to vote. The bottom line there is for someone who's never lived in Florida it's impossible to register to vote in Florida. So far all I've found is information about the right to vote - residency is a different issue, as are is the ability to pay taxes or get health insurance.

As we said in the video we felt that the best and easiest solution was to buy a cheap piece of real estate. We didn't want to break Florida laws and we weren't going to continue to pay state taxes in a state we didn't live in anymore. Also when it comes to the patriot act most banks and investment firms can close your account if you fail to provide a valid physical address. The expense was worth it in the end for us. We do use SBI for our mail forwarding but we have our own physical address.

@@GeorgiaandDavid I've been running questions around in my mind for a few years. One of them are people like traveling nurses, truck drivers, traveling salespeople, who travel every day of the year. Why should they be forced to buy a property they never live in nor visit? Why can't the system accommodate such people? But solving that problem is beyond either of our pay grades.

@@DavidHerron it is a ridiculous rule and a huge hassle for many. I am a member of a couple of nomad Facebook groups and some people have had accounts shut down or had to travel halfway across the world for Jury duty. As of now there isn't a perfect solution.

That is still the rule due to the Patriot act.

I just searched Zillow to find the cheapest property I could that had a street address. Be careful because if it is vacant land it often doesn't have an address; ex. it will just be 00 Maple St.

We scanned it all and keep it in the cloud.

@@GeorgiaandDavid wow that is a lot of scanning of receipts for me!

@@roundpaws David spent about three months scanning/ shredding documents in his spare time. We killed a shredder 🤣

@@GeorgiaandDavid 🥴