November 13, 2020

Enjoying Lake Okeechobee

South Bay RV Campground South Bay, Florida Day 2

I was still tired from yesterday’s 16 mile bike ride, but I got up and began my morning walk. I walked the perimeter of Shiner Lake here in the Campground. I saw lots of little gators in the water.

As I began my second lap, I saw a sheriff’s car at the park next door. I still had not been able to resolve the issue of the “found” debit card. I had tried calling the debit card company, I had tried calling the local police, I had tried looking up the name on google and then Facebook. I had also sent an email to customer support but I had NO results. When I saw the Palm County Sheriff Department car, I went to file a report. I was able to give the debit card to the officer who was going to try to locate the owner…shew…sometimes it is a lot of work to do the right thing…but it’s not my problem anymore!

We took our bikes to the Paul Rardin Park and began our bike ride on the levee from there.

So many buzzards…

At the town of Pahokee, the trail was blocked for construction on the levee. Lake Okeechobee is the second largest fresh water lake in the contiguous United States. It has an average depth of 9 feet. Right now the water level is at 13 feet because of recent rain. The levee is important to the towns surrounding the lake. Miles of levee are currently being reengineered. In any event, our ride was over. We did only about 8 miles today and that was enough!

We drove to the Pahokee Marina and took a walk.

A long time ago, the pioneer families in this area of Florida discovered that sugar cane grows well in the soppy, muddy, muck. There is a Domino’s Sugar plant not far from here and other processing facilities as well. It is the wrong time of year, but after the sugar cane is harvested, they burn the fields. The whole world smell like caramel and burnt sugar.

This afternoon I drove about 15 miles to the town of Clewiston to get supplies. Beginning tomorrow, we will be in Big Cypress National Park at Monument Lake for 4 nights. We have clean clothes, empty tanks, and plenty of water and groceries.

This evening, we got Mexican carryout from Dos Amigos. We took our food to John Stretch Park.

As we were returning to the campground, Tim saw what he thought was a vapor trail from a rocket. I looked it up on the Cape Canaveral site and there was a launch just moments before. We drove to the top of the levee but by the time we got there, much of the trail had dissipated…but oh so cool!

I absolutely love this life we are living. I feel happy, content, and alive. I am so very grateful.