Up early to walk the dogs. Yesterday we stayed close to the coach and enjoyed a very relaxing day (we needed some down time to recharge our batteries).
Since we were only about 110 miles from Kennedy Space Center (as the crow flies) we finnished dinner early and prepared to watch the shuttle launch. We had the TV on the NASA station to see the countdown. After we saw the launch on TV we went outside to see if we could spot the Shuttle going up. Sure enough, there was a brilliant light from the rocket engines along with a huge contrail glowing red and gold in the sun. It was really spectacular and lots of our neighbors were gathered by the edge of the golf course to watch it.That was our excitement for the day. Tomorrow we plan to explore the area.
Monday the 16th
The KOA we're staying at is located about a quarter mile north of the Lake, which makes it easy to get to by bike. Since Lake Okeechobee is like a big inland sea, when hit by hurricanes large walls of water can be pushed onto the land. To prevent more severe damage, there is a huge levee or dike built all around the lake.
Constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, much of the material was pulled up from the outside perimeter leaving a long perimeter canal. In many places small communities have sprung up along the canal, but most of the land surrounding the lake is agricultural. The 100 foot (30 m) wide dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee has a well maintained paved pathway along the majority of the perimeter and is a part of the 1,400 mile long Florida Trail.We rode to the lake and got up to the top of the levee around 10:00 AM. When you look out towards the lake you actually only see a small part of it. Lots of wetlands and eventually a line of clear water off in the distance. This is due to the ongoing drought and water levels are down over five or six feet. The average depth of the lake when full is around eleven feet.
Deciding to ride westward, the lake is on our left and down the steep embankment to our right is the canal. About a mile along we encountered a large sandhill crane right at the side of the trail. Apparently somewhat tame, he didn't seem too excited as Tina walked up to him taking pictures. Pretty surprising just how big this bird was - I estimated he stood four feet tall when he was standing looking at us.Further along we say many alligators sunning themselves in the vegetation along the canal. At one point we saw a big one, maybe 12 to 14 feet long, just gliding along in the middle of the canal. Lots of snowy and cattle egrets everywhere you look, along with great white egrets, great blue herons, white pelicans, coots, gulls and other wading birds. And lots of lacy wing dragonflies!
We rode past numerous small RV communities and chatted with lots of people as we rode along. Eventually we came to MP62E and decided to turn around and head back. We had about a six mile ride by the time we got home. Since it was lunch time but we wanted to take a dip in the pool, we changed into our swimsuits, grabbed our towels, books and a couple of cool drinks and headed for the pool. We grabbed a couple of loungers and got set up. Meanwhile a band was setting up in the poolside gazebo for a one o'clock concert. After a quick dip I went and ordered a couple of cheeseburgers with fries and brought them back to a table just behind us.
We had a nice lunch (these are real home cooked burgers - delicious) and with occasional dips in the pool, read our books, sunbathed and listened to the band. We finally decided to get out of the sun so we went back home and took the dogs for a walk and sat out under the awning. Later in the afternoon Tina gave the dogs a bath. About 4:30 we drove uptown to Okeechobee to return a couple of items to Bealls then drove around exploring. This is largely a rural area with agriculture the primary industry followed by tourism heavily supported by snowbirds.To see all our photos, click on the following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment