“Don’t die without embracing the daring adventure your life was meant to be”.
(Steve Pavlina)
My Walk into the Future has allowed me to experience some great adventures.
My adventures prior to COVID-19 took me to places that required a bit of planning. Planes, trains, and automobile (not really the train) got me from place to place so I could enjoy new places. We are slowly getting back to being able to travel again with more and more people getting vaccinated. I am excited about the possibilities of becoming a running tourist again. Please note, I signed up for the early bird special to run the 2022 New Orleans Rock n Roll Running Series Half Marathon next February. Yes, the Rock n Roll folks changed their name!
The newest adventure for me only took me 35 miles from Fort Pierce. I have traveled to the town of Okeechobee multiple times because we have a campus there. I drive over and take care of my work and then drive back to the main campus in Fort Pierce. A very routine process but realized I had never taken the time to go to Lake Okeechobee. Imagine being about 10 miles away from the largest freshwater lake in Florida but never visiting. Decided to fix this issue and get over to the lake for a little adventure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Okeechobee
My day started with the prospect of severe thunderstorms approaching the area. Luckily, I did not let this deter me from my adventure. The skies remained sunny and clear, so I took a chance (Walk into the Future) and packed a backpack and headed over to see the big lake. The drive over was around 40 minutes, so it did not take long to begin the adventure. There was not much traffic on the road, so the drive was easy. It is a farming community so not many sights to see on the drive except orange groves, farms, and cows.
I did not create a travel plan for my visit so just decided to make it up as I went. Parked at the Welcome Center and took in Lake Okeechobee from the walking bridge. This was my first view of the lake and it did not disappoint. The massiveness of Lake Okeechobee is probably the most impressive part of being there. I knew going over it was going to be a large body of water but being there and not seeing a bank on the other side was amazing. Finally got a chance to break out my new camera with my 80x zoom lens for this trip—it was needed to zoom in on objects in the distance.
I decided to go further down the road and see what other adventures Lake Okeechobee had for me. Pulled over when I saw a sign for the Lake Okeechobee Historic Trail—seemed like a great place to explore a bit more. The trail is paved so made my way east and took in the sights. There were several people at this point fishing, and they were pulling them in. Guess I will return to this spot IF I ever get into fishing—never been high on my list of hobbies to pick up. Got a 3 mile walk in on this portion of the trip and got more pictures of the lake and surrounding area. A couple riding their bikes shared they saw bald eagles a little further down the trail so decided to get back in the vehicle and drive down more to where they mentioned seeing eagles. Would love to get pictures of bald eagles in the wild! I was also racing time because the skies were getting dark—the rain was coming!
Drove another 5 miles or so down the road and pulled into another segment of the Lake Okeechobee Historic Trail. There were more people fishing here so the theme of the day is Lake Okeechobee is great if you like to fish. 😊 Again, walked on the trail heading east looking for perches eagles would populate—funny to read that last sentence—how would I know where eagles hang out???
Got a good walk in on this portion of the trail. I saw birds but nothing as interesting as bald eagle so took more pictures of the lake. I got lucky and spotted an alligator swimming in water close to Lake Okeechobee. This allowed me to utilize my zoom lens to get a good shot of a 6-foot alligator—my camera on my phone would not have allowed me to get this shot so happy to have the zoom available now. Cannot wait to take some pictures in Negril, Jamaica with a real zoom lens!
The skies got extremely dark because of the incoming bad weather so decided to cut my losses and get back on the road to head home. No need to get caught in a thunderstorm on Lake Okeechobee. This was a short trip but worth the time to drive over and explore Lake Okeechobee. May venture back over soon and experience the lake via an airboat ride. The adventures continue! 😊
“I thought it was an adventure but actually, it was life”.
Walk Into the Future 