“Room with a view!”

  Ok, I’m  back at the computer…but only because it is cloudy today and suppose to rain!…We are happily set up at Ortona South Campground set on one the locks on the Okeechobee Waterway .  The day we arrived we took a walk around after we got all set up.  As we were strolling along, a voice said “Is your last name Cave?”..OMG, did someone already notify the cops we were here?? We turned around and a very nice gentleman said, “We follow your blog..We are Rick and Leslie Dorr…AHA!…Now I remember Rick commenting that he and Leslie would be here the same time we were… So far we haven’t gotten together for a good chat, but hope to catch up with them before they leave…They don’t have a blog, so I can’t give you a link…We are also going to hook up with Rick and Elaine, who are camped at an RV park just down the road..It’s a small RV world out here!

OK…. Get ready…here it comes…a small, but important history lesson!! The Okeechobee Waterway is located in central and southern Florida. 

“ The 451,000 acre lake and 154 mile long waterway extends from the Atlantic Ocean at Stuart, to the Gulf of Mexico at Ft. Meyers. The waterway runs through Lake Okeechobee and consists of the Caloosahatchee River to the west of the lake and the St. Lucie Canal east of the lake. Lake Okeechobee and the Okeechobee Waterway Project is part of the complex water management system known as the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project. The projects cover 16,000 square miles starting just south of Orlando and extending southward through the Kissimmee River Basin to the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay. It was built/finished in 1937 to provide a water route across Florida, allowing boats to pass east–west across the state rather than travelling the long route around the southern end of the state.”

There are 51 sites here in 2 loops, with water and electric…$12 a night with the “old fart’s” card..and they a small laundry. If you want to stay here in the Winter, get on your computer at exactly 6 months prior to the date at 9AM in the morning and grab your spot…it IS site specific, so if you want on the waterway side JUMP IN EARLY, the views are worth it!

MacGyver fixed us our breakfast outside this AM…at 65 degrees about 8:30.. We have a wonderful view of the pleasure boats locking through…and they open the gate daily so you can walk across and watch “close up and personal”.

The photo above was taken out of our back window…Talk about a “room with a view!  (FYI, that snowman wasn’t standing in the greenery, he lives on our back window!”)

You see lots of big money lock through this waterway!! I took a few photos when we walked across the dam to watch..

This above picture was taken as they were slowly raising the water level..Note the top level just beyond the gates…They raise and lower it about 8’ every time!

I spotted this Osprey sitting on one of the lights…and on the right is a Bald Eagle..He sits in this same tree across the waterway from our camper every morning and evening …a “sentry” watching for breakfast and dinner to swim by..I have waaay too many photos, so I am making a collage of some of the views here…

Our weather today is 80 degrees and cloudy.  We will be basking here until 2015.  Yep, New Year’s Day, we leave here and travel about 40 miles West on Rt 80 to Alva and W.P. Franklin Army Corp campground…That one is on the Caloosahatchee River at the lock and has 30 campsites, all water front…WOOT!WOOT!..

So far we haven’t had a campfire here , but you can definitely have one…We have just been having our cocktail hours outside watching the boats cruise by…I have managed to come up with a different outfit for the Christmas season..

Got my “Santa” on!! (along with Tweety pants, Maxine nightshirt, camo crocks and fabulous stripe socks…) The people next door are getting an eyefull…and this place will never let us come back here if they catch this blog and the REAL me!!! )