Ocala and Villages of Citrus Hills
Our plan for the next two days was to check out the Ocala area, where homes were cheaper and a little closer to Walt Disney World. We found a breakfast place near our first appointment. The service was slow and the food was just average, including Log Cabin syrup at the table instead of warmed syrup at most other places. Our first visit today was the Villages of Citrus Hills which was in the Crystal River area, fairly far from Orlando or Tampa. We drove around the area towards the lakes but were disappointed by the area, which was pretty slummy. The Villages community was nice but the distance and lack of any restaurants or shopping in the area struck it off our list. We also felt the community skewed old and there were many areas of homes that were very old.
On Top of the World
Following Citrus Hills, we drove to Ocala. We stopped at a Wendy's for lunch because we were pressed for time. The dining room wasn't open so we ate in the car. We drove across the street to On Top of the World, which was a sprawling complex. The houses were quite nice with large rooms and large showers. This probably would have been a winner for us, but after we were all done touring, the agent told us we couldn't build until we are 55. This would have been nice to have known earlier so we didn't waste time there.
Del Webb Stone Creek
J. R. had made an appointment the day before at Del Webb Stone Creek, which we had originally just planned to drive near, but after seeing Bexley, we decided we wanted to see more of Del Webb. This was a beautiful community with golf courses that you didn't have to be a member to play. We saw the same house model (The Mystique) we liked at the other sites and Stone Creek made our short list. The major con was the distance to Orlando airport and Disney World as well as the general Ocala area.
Braised Onion
Dinner was a the Braised Onion. Janie liked her food, but J. R. thought his stroganoff was bland. We stopped by the mall area, which raised our thoughts of Ocala since there were some good options around there for shopping and then drove to our hotel for the night.