50 States, Day 283

  Florida City to Ft. Pierce, 189 miles

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."

~Sir Winston Churchill

We left this morning a half hour past our intended launch, just because friendly people stopped to wish us well. One even brought us a Moon Pie going away gift. What a nice campground, filled with friendly people. It seems like snowbirds are the most pleasant and engaging of people. Perhaps because they have time on their hands, or maybe because they share the interest, but nonetheless, this campground, like the one on Pine Island, teemed with neighborly folk.

What wasn't so nice was the 'biker friendly' atmosphere. Huh? Here's why:

Sunday morning we woke at four a.m. as intermittent Harleys rode past our site, and without mufflers. What in the world? Pickups drove by too, and the diesels rattled like tractors. Later a resident explained that they went to work at the nuke plant, doing refurbishing. This was really irritating. I'll give the trucks a bit of a break (although they could park them near the gate the night before!) since they need them to tow their trailers. But the Harleys? Put a muffler on them or push them to the front. That is called good manners. I met a guy in the restroom and he complained bitterly about the motorcycles and their noise. He counted the days until he left that campground. Harley riders, take note: You're alienating people while you make yourself deaf. I SAID YOU'RE... never mind.

Today we decided to ride inland and hit 'Lakeside Drive' along Lake Okeechobee. The street was misnamed. Should have been, 'Levee view,' as that's all we saw. We got one peek at the huge lake while crossing a bridge and that was it. Nonetheless, a beautiful 79 degree day, sunny and mild with farms everywhere.

We landed in Fort Pierce at the KOA, a step above, as the last campground was non KOA with, for example, no towels in the bathroom and the air drier on the fritz. This place, while small, features excellent bathrooms, a big deal for us tenters.

Time for a Musing: Tents are small. So I noticed we spend a lot of time looking at one another's butts. I mentioned it to QG and she disagreed until a few days later, and then admitted it just happens a lot. I'm just saying.

And now, fresh from a shower with tile, water pressure and privacy, Quilter Girl!

The GPS directed us to this route when we asked for no toll roads. Our first thought was to head north on US 1, scenic, right? I didn't think so and with all those beach cities between Homestead and Ft. Pierce with all the traffic lights, it didn't sound like fun. So inland we went. For anyone with a map of Florida, we started out on 997 N to 27 N to 70 E, then 1 North to the campground. 

There were farmlands galore with various different crops, some that us city folk couldn't recognize. There was even a u-pick strawberry farm doing a good business and lots of fruit and veggie stands. More palm farms and the nurseries were blooming with tree roses, I think. We even passed a couple of orchid farms. We did drive through some small towns with a traffic light or two, but they had lots of character and were fun to see. 

Along Lake Okeechobee the houses got nicer as is typical with houses near water, no view as Kevin said, but a canal that must lead to the lake somewhere. North of that there were more ranches with lots of cows munching happily on the plentiful vegetation in this state. I am not sure the grass doesn't grow faster than the cows can eat it.

And this KOA's bathroom gets an A from me. Great shower with lots of pressure and privacy. There is a reason we like them so well!

QG

Tomorrow Kennedy Space Center and as you can tell, we could use a little space.