Lake Okeechobee is 750 square miles, it's 14' at its deepest point and is the second largest lake in the U.S. You'd think a lake this magnificent wouldn't be hard to find, right? Well, think again! We arrived at this campground in early afternoon yesterday, set up camp, ate lunch and immediately took off to see this giant, amazing lake. We headed south on Hwy 27 which sort of circles the southern edge of the lake according to the map. We took a turn at the first sign that said Okeechobee and several miles later found ourselves heading to the town of Okeechobee on a highway that was not very near to the lake....so we turned around. The next sign we followed said "Lake Okeechobee" with an arrow pointing to a left turn. It led to a marina that was on a canal that boats take to travel to the lake...and so on with the next two signs. There's an approx. 50 ft high berm that seems to encircle the lake so we stopped at a park next to the berm, grabbed Dude out of the truck and climbed to the top of the berm. We got a great view of the canal that encircles the lake! Off far in the distance we thought we saw a line of blue but couldn't be sure. There was no one near of whom to ask, "Where is the lake?". With evening coming on, we decided to return to the campground in time to have dinner before the jamming started in the clubhouse. On the return trip we passed again through Clewiston which labels itself "America's Sweetest Town". This label probably stems from the sugar cane fields and processing plants surrounding the town.
After dinner we moseyed over to the clubhouse where a jam session had started at 7pm. There were 12 people at the front playing all sorts of instruments. I saw two saxes, a violin, two banjos,
a harmonica, two guitars, bass guitar, a tambourine and two people playing spoons (yep, of the kitchen variety!). It was pretty good music too, you know, oldies but goodies with a Southern twang but toe-tapping and we even sang along to "You Are My Sunshine"! Ed and I rarely have time to join in the activities at the clubhouses but we spent an enjoyable evening listening to the talented folks last night!
The Fort Meyers, FL Staples store was our destination first thing this morning. Ft. Meyers is over on the west coast of Florida. We had two Staples coupons totalling nearly $20 that expire on Mar 31 and we were determined not to let those coupons expire before using them! After making our purchases at Staples we headed the truck towards Manatee Park which was about 5 miles away. The manatees spent cold winters in canals where the water is warmer. This particular canal was near a power plant and water from the plant keeps the water warmer. The park has a walkway that wanders along the canal where the manatees can be viewed and we spent a good hour just watching those huge lumbering beasts. Mostly they just hovered around in the water but occasionally one would roll over or come up for air. Interesting fact: The manatee's closest living relative is the elephant. Both species feed on large amounts of plants, a manatee's snout is like an elephant's trunk, both have toenails and the calves of both species remain with the mothers for a longer time.
Also in Ft. Meyers were the winter estates of both Thomas A. Edison and Henry Ford. Turns out they were good friends and so they lived near each other here in Florida. We drove by the estates but didn't stop in as it was already awfully crowded. Interesting fact: Ford was the world's first billionaire!
Drove out to Pine Island which is on Pine Island Sound just off the Gulf of Mexico. On the way back off the island we stopped at Bert's Bar (quaint little place on the water) and had lunch. We started with smelt (Ed says these fish are mostly used for bait) as an appetizer, prepared whole, breaded and fried. The first one I just popped in my mouth and discovered they also had bones in so I chomped it bones and all! Next one I gently pulled with my teeth and the meat of the smelt came right off the bones. Yum! We shared a grouper melt (like a patty melt only with fish) on flat bread with homemade chips. Oh, this was good! Oh, and a coupla beers too!