July in Florida…You don’t stray far from air conditioning or the pool.
If you want to do something outdoors…and your not at the beach… Its at the crack of dawn or right before sunset.
If you get alittle stir crazy… jump in the car… air blasting… and drive!
6:30 Saturday morning found us on the road…
Our goal: Lake Okeechobee.
The largest lake in Florida.
The 8th largest lake in the US.
We live in Central Florida near the Gulf of Mexico and a stones throw from a beautiful chain of lakes.
For amateur photographers these areas of water provide a plethora of photo ops.
They are always teeming with human, animal and avian activity.
So…camera batteries charged…memory cards empty…lenses packed… Anticipation is high.
A 4 hour drive… on small roads… thru small towns in South Central Florida. Stuckey, Mascotte, and Dundee…taking pics along the way…
Interesting Artwork…
Good eats and treats …
Architecture
We saw many interesting signs…
As we went South…. things began to change… From hills in Clearmont….to Flatlands. You could see for miles.
From Cities… to Cattle Country…
To vast Orange Groves…
To Sugar Cane fields as far as the eyes could see.
The soil went from tan… to orange… to white… to black.
Arriving in Clewiston close to the banks of the Great Okeechobee…
The plan was to drive along the bottom and one side of the lake… ending at the town of Okeechobee.
The map showed that SR27 and 441 runs right along the edge of the lake
Should be plenty of great camera shots… Right?
WRONG!
How could we not have known that Lake Okeechobee is Diked….
ALL THE WAY AROUND.
Pulling into a Marina gave us our 1st glimpse.
AMAZING!
Water as far as the eye could see…
But wait…
What’s missing?
It’s a Saturday… 730 Square Miles of water…
No Humans… No Boats… No Jet Skis… No Swimming…
No birds on the pilings…. No birds in the sky….
Just a still…. Empty….. Vastness of Water….
No wait … I see an alligator!
and look! There’s another one.
Fiddlers Choice(http://fiddlerschoicefarm.com)