Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee is the third largest freshwater lake in the US and covers 730 square miles.   Its source is the Kissimmee River and it flows out into the Caloosahatchee River, five different Florida counties meet near its centre.  The lake is the headwaters for the Everglades and when it’s full holds 1 trillion gallons of water.

 

After a massive hurricane in 1928 when over 2,500 people died the Army Corps of Engineers built a 30ft high levee around the lake so it can’t be seen from the road.     The levee around the lake is part of the Florida trail and can be used for hiking or biking.

 

On our way cross country we’d decided to hike part of the trail, well that was the plan.   We drove through the rolling green fields in lovely sunshine but once we hit Okeechobee a storm rolled in and rain absolutely lashed down, so our plan vanished.   Luckily for us a little further on the sun came out again and we were able to drive up as near to the edge of the lake as we could get.

 

By this time it was hot and humid so we decided against the hike and continued on our way being bombard by ‘kissing bugs’ as we drove, BT has been covered with bugs many times, but I’ve never seen anything like the bugs on our hire car, they must’ve been at least an inch thick.   I should’ve taken a photograph but didn’t think of it at the time.

 

Have fun, we are!