Going LOST

We are parked at Whisper Creek RV Resort near LaBelle. We had never heard of Whisper Creek until we stumbled into their booth at the Florida RV Supershow in January. They gave us a three-night coupon, and it is conveniently located between Naples and Wauchula, two of our planned stops, so here we are. Whisper Creek is an established park, primarily consisting of permanent residences, but they are currently marketing some modestly priced (<$50K) deeded lots in a new section. I figured that since they were giving out coupons they wanted to show off their deeded lots, and that we would be parked in that section. But no ..... we were parked in a tiny strip of soft sand between two manufactured homes. After we parked we talked to a permanent resident who had previously rented this site. He helped us find the power outlet, which was conspicuously absent, and told us it was the smallest site in the park. Besides that, they had recently used a tractor to clear some brush at the rear of the site and the ground was rutted and the grass torn up. It was a mess. But we were there on a complimentary stay, so I didn't want to complain. When we saw the new deeded sites, they looked quite nice and that area was practically deserted. I can't understand why they put us on such a terrible site. It was not necessary and certainly did give us a poor impression of the park.

Since buying my trike I have been much more excited about cycling, so we have been on the lookout for good cycling trails. LaBelle is very close to Lake Okeechobee and the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (LOST). The LOST is a 110-mile trail that circles Lake Okeechobee, reportedly the second largest freshwater lake in the lower 48 (I assume Lake Michigan is the largest, and Lakes Superior, Huron, Ontario and Erie don't count, since they are bordered by Canada???) Today we drove to Moore Haven which is the closest trail head to our camp. Our research had indicated the trail was unpaved. We discovered that the section north from Moore Haven was indeed grass/gravel, but the section south was paved. Cool! We headed south. As we headed counter-clockwise towards Clewiston we enjoyed a brisk tail wind.

The trail is located on top of the Herbert Hoover Dike, the impoundment structure built by the US Army Corps of Engineers that circles the lake. The dike is an impressive structure about 30 feet tall and provides good views of the lake and neighboring farmland. Well, in truth we never actually saw Lake Okeechobee. All we saw inside the dike was the borrow canal created during the construction of the dike and an endless sea of grass. I guess there is a big lake out there somewhere, it's on the map, but during the dry season it's hard to find. We biked 10 miles south almost to Clewiston before we turned around. That's when we remembered that brisk former tail wind. The 10 miles back to Moore Haven must have been at least 20 miles. I'm sure Dorcas' odometer must have malfunctioned.

We finally arrived back at the trail head and loaded up the trikes. From there we visited the Ortona Lock and Dam, located about 15 miles west of Lake Okeechobee on the Caloosahatchee River. We watched a few large recreational vessels lock through. The Corps of Engineers also operates a campground here that I have wanted to check out. The campground was very nice and clean with large level sites. From the campsites you could watch boats lock through up and down the river. As is often the case, we ran into some friends camped there (small world again!). I expect that we may spend some time in this park next year.