Okeechobee to Clewiston

February 13, 2016

A beautiful morning . . . and perfect riding temperatures. So short-sleeved shirts all day! Our only mistake as we started off was to choose McDonald's, located immediately next door, for "breakfast." Our hotel also offered a continental breakfast, but Happy gave it a thumbs down. We should have biked into town (three miles round trip) but succumbed to laziness. Next time I will bike the three extra miles! Enough said.

The good news is we were able to jump on the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail almost immediately, only one mile south on (yes, all three apply) US 98/US 441/FL 700. That mile was not as bad as it sounds and was certainly better than breakfast.

Once on the trail, we saw lots of activity. Of course, being a Saturday, this was to be expected. Most important to us was the status of the trail closures ahead of us (since the Corps' info line was so unreliable, why bother calling?). So I stopped someone and asked! It turned out to be this very cute, French-speaking (but fluent in English) mother who was visiting from Canada. I wish I had her picture but unfortunately do not. But she confirmed what we expected: that we would need to exit the trail after about four miles.

Well, we really enjoyed those four miles!

Our entry point to the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (otherwise known as LOST . . . they need to fix that!).

I really enjoyed the west side of the lake. It was very different than the east side. More rural and country. Floribama, as Happy would say. And interesting terrain like this:

A view looking west, away from the lake.

One of several "communities" along the canal behind the levee.

It was made super nice by the morning sun and the tailwind out of the north and northwest. So we breezed along, pun intended.

We exited to FL 76 and crossed the Kissimmee River . . .

And then there was FL 76 . . . under construction for nine miles. Nothing too serious, but enough to require attention.

After a while, we learned how to ride on the paved portion. It took attention, but it worked!

This clump of trees almost looked like an oasis . . .

But eventually, we got trail!

An unexpected development. But a welcome respite from the shoulder riding.

This is likely part of the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, and we followed it up to a point where it revisited the levee. There were innocuous and unclear signs about what lay ahead (thank you, Corps of Engineers), but we could see construction cranes ahead and took the safe approach and returned to the FL 76 shoulder. Good thing we did! Not only was it closed, but we got another alligator sighting!

A five-, maybe six-, foot alligator sunning him(her)self.

That was pretty exciting. Remember, we're not from here, so an alligator in the wild is a wild thing! After that, it was pretty much just a push through to Moore Haven, where we "recaptured" our East Coast tour and recrossed the Caloosahatchee.

From there, it was pretty much straightforward to Clewiston. We continued to have some tailwind, but the wind direction seemed to be shifting a bit as the day progressed. So when we turned east on US 27/FL 80, we took it a bit hard after having it easy most, if not all, of the day. This stretch of road was very rural . . . well, what part wasn't! But I grabbed this pic as a good representation of the environs.

After showering up and hitting the local tiki bar, we got some great tacos and tamales:

Today's ride

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Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 1,755 miles (2,824 km)

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