Gotta be there by end of month. Work paying for the move. Got a house in Ruskin for the first 12 months.

What do I need to know about the area?

Update: So we made the trip this weekend. Tampa is badass in all aspects. A few pics of West Tampa Sandwich Shop, Angelica’s Bakery for Cuban coffee, Davidoff Cigar bar and Little Havana for some locally rolled smokes as well. Threw in a pic of our new backyard too.

Can’t wait to make it permanent.

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pepper your angus from Aug to Nov....

The real Cuban is from Miami

This is how Florida Man starts.

Simple move to the state.

Find a nice home in Ruskin.

Go to a Bucs game.

Next thing you know, you are wearing jorts at a .38 Special concert in Cocoa Beach then getting arrested at the reservation rest stop on Alligator Alley trying to steal a gator head.

That was wonderful

It’s hot and humid.

But, you might be used to that.

You should read my Wapito Man de-evolution story...

...or is that Mattawa Man?

It happens to all of us within 3-5 years. Start saving your bail money now;)

In before face-eating

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Oh, and Bern’s.

Congratulations!   Best big city in Florida!  Great weather, sports, fishing, etc!

Traffic sucks great big donkey balls and only getting worse. Do not make the mistake of being anywhere around(within 5 miles) of the Bucs stadium a few hour before or after on a game day. Yes, I am getting to be an old guy yelling at clouds. The Tampa Bay area has gotten to "built up" for my liking. It is also one of the blue zones as far as voting goes.

Avoid 4
Just don’t take it.
If you do, have a full tank of gas and a good book.

Ft. DeSoto Park, Honeymoon Island and the Upper Tampa Bay Bike Trail.  

Ding, Ding, Ding...

Hit that right on the head. I'm guessing he's already growing out his mullet.

Be prepared to spend half of your life in traffic.  Welcome to the brake light State.

Hope you like hot and meth

Im ten miles north in Riverview … the main drag through Ruskin , Highway 41 has not changed much in 50 years but the surrounding areas have built up  recently.

Find Marions Subs for a great sandwich , Beanies for a beer and Little Harbor at Bahia Beach for a look at Tampa Bay . It is a 20 minute drive up to downtown Tampa … When you get used to the heat you will like it there.

Florida/Tampa in general, is a humid, insect infested shit hole...

You literally have mansions on one side of the street and the ghetto on the other side.   Kinda strange.

Glad I left.

When I was there a long time ago, you stay away from Dale Mabry if it was raining.
That road turned into a river.
Maybe they fixed it?

I’m not a big fan of Mons. Songs are the same price, but dances aren’t private and the songs are only around two minutes where they can be as long as five minutes at other clubs. Berns’ steaks shoot right through me, but the place is a serious enterprise. I prefer Charley’s or J Alexander’s. If I’m not mistaken, one of the best chefs in the area left the place where he was and opened Caffe Italia, which may be the best place close to Ruskin.

Said no one ever

Ruskin is the taint of Tampa Bay.

Tampa is the cigar city, home of the Cuban sandwich, best titty bars, shitty sports teams, Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, MacDill AFB and that's about it.

Give this place a visit.  https://www.columbiarestaurant.com/

Also, go visit the alligators on the Hillsboro river.  They love tickles and petting.

Aye.

this guy knows what's up

I lived in Dunedin for 10 years now and for some reason have never made a trip to Honeymoon Island

also, Phillipe Park in Safety Harbor

it is HOT here.  You might be used to that from Texas, but be warned:  The calendar in FL only has three months: January, A U G U S T, and December.

They are called Palmetto bugs, and don't worry they won't eat you.

What you need to know is that Ruskin, in general terms, isn't where you want to be. I spent 11 years in Apollo beach, right up the road, and it went from bucolic horse pastures in the early 2000's to a suburban nightmare starting with the boom and picking back up in about 2013.  It hasn't slowed down and the infrastructure is 30 years behind.

- Schools are some of the worst in the nation if that matters to you. Don't believe the rating system. FL lies about their schools.

- Ruskin has a migrant population, many of which are illegals. The schools receive influxes of migrant children, based on the crops and the disruption is palpable. If you have kids, and I'm assuming you do because you're moving into the nightmare of suburbia, hopefully they're in the honors program. As I was told by a school principal, 95% of resources go against 5% of the students. The rest are in what could be seen as juvenile detention center.

- Traffic is a nightmare. See my comment ref infrastructure.  Amazon is now in Ruskin and the roads can't keep up.  Additionally and more salient is the development known as Waterset, in Apollo beach, is extending to Ruskin through all those tomato fields you see on 41. Right now I think it's at about 15K homes and the plan is double that. That development is one of a dozen going up in the area. What you see is most definitely not what you'll get in 3-5 years.

- MS-13 has a good foothold in Ruskin according to cop buddies.  Drive around some of the neighborhoods off of 674 and you'll see lots of tags.

- If you're buying get ready for the CDD concept. It's where you get to pay, yearly in your "taxes" for the infrastructure and your property taxes are still stupid high for what you get. Also, prepare yourself for corrupt HOAs.

- There used to be a phenomenal range in Ruskin, GunCraft. The owner, Ben Jones, died a few years ago and it's now being run by his grandchild. It's no longer a range that I care to shoot at.

- If you're retired and living on the water Ruskin it's wonderful. If you're still grinding at life it will be "interesting".

- If you're working in Tampa, depending on commute times, in can take 1.5 hours to go those 20 miles.  Same for MacDill.

- And finally, Ruskin is the Blue Hair capitol of the world. You'll abut with Sun city and experience driving styles like you've never seen before. Watch your back. It was funny in 2007 and '08 when I used to shop at the   Home Depot there and it was staffed by mean and angry 80 year olds whose IRA must have taken a dive and now they were back to work.  I stopped shopping there once they built one in Riverview.

Sorry to be the wet blanket.  You're doing the right thing with the 12 month area fam.  Get to know other areas such as Dunedin and up that way. Depending on where you need to work there are much nicer areas than Ruskin, especially if you're raising kids.

La Terracita.

If you don't already know about fire ants and pygmy rattlers then learn now.  If into the arts, Tampa and Sarasota are nearby.

Just get ready for yearly panics regarding hurricanes.

You will feel that you need to spend thousands on supplies bc everyone is buying up everything at every store!

If wanting to purchase a generator, there are normally hundreds of new in box ones sold right after hurricane season.

This is more of just Florida advice.

If you play golf, there is plenty to offer in the area.

When you need a realtor, PM me

Nice thing about Tampa though is it's been 99 years since a hurricane actually touched down there.

Ruskin use to be a nice rural place in Florida to live.  It ain't that any more.

A lot of people have moved into the area.  Mostly Hispanic.  Unfortunately not the good Hispanics.

Traffic in that area is getting to be a nightmare.  Traffic in all of Central Florida is getting to be a nightmare.

A lot of obnoxious NE Snowbirds come down to Sarasota and Brandenton during the winter.  Traffic will be even worse then.

On the good side the weather is nice most of the time.  The Tampa/St Pete metroplex has a lot of stuff going on.  Great restaurants, good doctors, great shopping and many things to do.  Fishing is great.  The beaches and the Gulf are nice.  Get a boat.  Go to Bern's Steakhouse.

Nearby is the Manatee rifle range.  Nice range, reasonable fees and they have 1,000 yds.

Nice weather, beaches (although crowded), great boating and fishing.

bad part is traffic is bad and all the old farts from the northeast make a bad thing almost impossible.  There is no left lane rule in the Tampa area.

also, Ruskin isn't exactly on my list of areas to pick, but to late now.

Where will you commute to for work?  That can really make a difference

Fixed

I lived in Tampa for a couple years. beautiful area. Clearwater beach is close and neat to see. Some of the best seafood in the world.

Daily you will have the internal dilemma of "Do I look at the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life? or do I look at the craziest person I have ever seen in my life?" sometimes its both in 1 person.

WTF that sucks

Hahahahahahahaha.

No.

Ybor is the birthplace.

Tampa traffic is a bitch, get a sunpass and look for ways around 75-275 during the rush.
I live in st pete, so my traffic isn't quite as bad but tampa is... busy.

Middle grounds and elbow have some of the best fishing I have ever participated in. Fast boats are popular because the best stuff is pretty far out.
They have been good about building artificial reefs near shore, so lots of sharky choices from the beach to like 40 miles maybe.
Gas pipeline is popular too. I spearfish, so it is a bit different but the fish are here.

The freshwater springs are all over the place and a must visit.

I shoot USPSA at the Wyoming antelope club across the bridge from tampa.
Tues and friday nights mostly, lots of saturdays they have stuff going on too.
Long range down at manatee gun club. Out to 1000. EDIT- apparently gone. Hopefully 600 is still there.  
I have heard good things about guncraft, looks like a cool place and is on my list of places to visit.
If plinking is your thing, there are lots of places for that.

Welcome to town, I have traveled all over the continent and wouldn't trade this place for any other.

OP; looks like you’ve already got a house. Where is work? Family? I personally think Tampa Bay is one of the best places in the country to live right now. It is hot, but there is a lot of culture here.

My favorite area of the bay is downtown st pete

Come on vacation, leave on probation, return on violation...... Welcome

Maybe it's because I'm happily married but I've been there a few times and it wasn't that fun.  The alcohol law is dumb AF and one of the employees gave me shit for not tipping her enough for handing me a five dollar can of redbull.

Living in Ruskin and working in Tampa will be a nightmare commute.  I almost bought a house in Riverview and thank God I didn't when I see the traffic on I-75 at rush hour.

Other than that I like the area.

My parents are relators in the area, if you PM me I can give you their info.

if not, that's fine too.