South Bay
Campground
South Bay RV Park
Nice, clean park right next to the path around Lake Okeechobee. Spacious spots and great people. There are a lot of sugarcane fields in the area. The only downfall is that it is quite far from the ocean and the towns around it are a little depressed.
Things to see
Peanut Island
There are inexpensive boats to take you over to the island. Nice beaches, lots of manatees, and a great walking path around the island. Highly recommend bringing a lunch and spending the day relaxing here. Dogs allowed.
Motorcycling
Around Lake Okeechobee
We went on a simple, but scenic, ride around Lake Okeechobee.
To make a long story short ...
Teresa and Jim
We met this very nice couple as we walked around the campground. They're from Ohio. They came over to our site for dinner, drinks, cornhole, and conversation. We thought we had said good-night to them when, all of a sudden, Jim comes knocking on our door.
"We're locked out of our camper".
They had left their keys in the camper when they came over and, somehow, the door got locked behind them. This wouldn't be an emergency except that they have a dog in the camper. Apparently, they hadn't taught the dog how to unlock the door yet. They had called a locksmith, who couldn't get out there until the next day, and considered breaking through a window.
Earlier in the evening, we had been talking about various camper upgrades and fixes and we told them that we had just recently replaced the locks on our camper with electronic ones and that we still had the old keys. We had already known that, surprisingly, most campers have identical dead-bolt keys. So, as Jim came running over, he asked if we still had our old keys. We sure did and proceeded to dig them out. Guess what? It worked. I got a huge man-hug from Jim after he used our keys to get into his camper.
We all talked about music at some point too and Jim asked if I played Chris Stapleton's "More of You". I hadn't heard of it and Jim said that I really should look it up because it is their absolute favorite song. Okay then! A few nights later, I set up my P.A. around a firepit in the campground and played a bunch of songs for a few that gathered around. Out of nowhere, I broke out "More of You". Jim and Teresa were blown away and so happy. They, and another couple that were sitting around, actually got up and slow-danced to it. That'll put a smile on my face every time.
Sugar cane harvesting
An aspect of agriculture that we had never been exposed to is the production of sugar cane. This area of Florida is a major producer. Fields as far as the eye can see.
Then we started seeing smoke everywhere. Fields were on fire. Yes, that's how they prepare for harvest! They burn most of the chaff off the cane stalks then come through with implements and take the cane stalks. We were shocked by the amount of pollution, if you want to call it that, by this practice. All we can guess is that this process is the most cost-effective method they've found.