New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 22) - Ft. Pierce, FL

It felt good to sleep last night with the windows open and we awoke to a warm and partly cloudy day. The forecast last night was for isolated showers, but we didn't get any although the sky looked like it could rain anytime.

We relaxed in the morning and did some laundry in preparation for departing on the cruise on Friday. After lunch in the RV, we set out on our trip to Lake Okeechobee, about 30 miles southwest of Ft. Pierce. The land between here and there is essentially ranchland, flat wth a few trees, and a fair amount of cows and junky looking houses. The major town on the north side of the lake is Okeechobee. It was actually a lot bigger than we expected and had all the major fast food restaurants, and even a Wal Mart. We took a short jog south from town to the lake and stopped at the first lake access point.

The lake is ringed with a levy maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is a fresh water lake that covers about 730 square miles (450,000 acres) and has an average depth of 9 feet. It also holds about 1.05 trillion gallons of water. It is the principal source of water for lakeside towns and a back-up source of drinking water for the 6 million residents of Florida's lower east coast. The lake has a lot of ecological issues and active resoration and protection projects are underway by various federal, state, and other organizations. The lake is also no longer connected to the Everglades water management system and is now a sepatate watershed for regulation and operation.








There is also a hike/bike/walking path on top of the levy that goes around the entire 110 miles of the lake. We saw a lot of birds from the vantage point where we stopped and a baby alligator near the shore of the lake, waiting for an afternoon snack.






The area around the lake also appears to be a haven for retirees living in mobile homes, RVs , and trailers. We saw a lot of them. It is mostly a low-end environment and looks like an inexpensive place to live with lots of fishing and boating access.

After returning to the RV park and a pretty sunset, Judy cooked dinner and we prepared to head for Marathon Key in the morning. We will spend two nights there, take a day trip down to Key West on Wednesday, then head north to Ft. Lauderdale for our cruise departure on Friday.