Bill Schell's "BeachWeb" for January 2012
 

Well, we'd been away for a couple of weeks and some other family seem(s) to have moved in and taken-over.... - Here's just one member of that family - others were around, though and they took 'offense' at our occupation of what we thought was our house?

- On the other hand - since we didn't feed them, they seemed especially intent on the squirrels, but ignored the turkeys...???  We did not witness, first-hand, an 'encounter' but we did see these guys (maybe gals? (who knows)) basically ignore the two (wild) turkeys who wandered through...

This guy or gal is quite handsome and if you want a facial-close-up it's here...

While we were away, Ms. May managed to do some of the artistic thing, again!...

Well - a Wonderful way to start-out the new year - providing a warm, un-windy refuge to some BEAUTIFUL ORCHIDS... !

Refugees from the "Cold Snap" here in South Florida - yes we feel like WIMPs of the greatest kind - for us a 'cold-snap' is less than 50 F - we entertained these guys and gals inside for a couple of days until the temperature returned 'to normal'. (yes - as 'usual' you can click on the image for a larger version)

3 guys sitting in a campground in Mexico... (yes - as 'usual' you can click on the image for a larger version)

Various and sundry people sitting around at the same campground down in Mexico, waiting for the wind to blow (so we could go boardsailing)... We spent a LOT of TIME doing this (waiting for the wind to blow)  HOWEVER, MANY of the crowd just loved Corona (Mexican) beer, and there was a LOT of that drunk on these trips (which happened about 2-3 times a month)...

Please note a strange coincidence:  The neighborhood we now live in, here, near Stuart, Florida (USA) is called "Rocky Point".   The place where this campground was, in Mexico (and these pictures) is in the town of "Puerto Penasco" (Rocky Point in English)...  - some things come 'full-circle' after 20-30 years, huh?

Mr. Bill going VERY fast at the "Ponds" - which no longer exist... This picture is probably vintage 1986, taken very near Palm Springs, California, where the wind was AWESOME and the water was COLD COLD COLD, and these 'Wind Turbines' still are there creating a LOT of electric power.  These turbines were some of the first in the western USA.  I got a chance to climb-up one of them, one day, while they were doing maintenance.  The towers are about 300 feet tall.  It was a LONG and EXHAUSTING climb-up-there.   However the wind turbines are AWESOME HUGE and the view is astonishing from up there...

During one night sleeping in the back of my (then) Datsun Station Wagon I heard a horrendous noise and it was 20 and 40 foot shipping containers being blown over into the ponds...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We (Ms. May and myself) decided that (FINALLY) we would 'cycle' around the Lake (Okeechobee that is) - it's 'about' 125 miles.  The weather forecast 'appeared' favorable (it was NOT!), the MAIN thing we look at in the forecast is Wind Direction and Strength and though we RELY on the forecast - it was WRONG and so - well - whatever.

There are two 'rules' when riding the lake:

Rule 1: - no matter what direction you choose to ride in (including return-rides), the wind is ALWAYS in your face

Rule 2: - regardless of how much or how little you THINK you'll ride today - you almost always do MORE or LESS than your goal(s)

 (and ALLLL the way AROUND (admittedly in two days) - means roughly 1/2 of that 125 miles is on 'busy' roads like US-441, US-27 and less busy roads like State Road 78.

On the other hand - this is something we've been talking about for YEARS and so to finally DO IT was a real accomplishment for us both.  We spent Thursday night at the "Holiday Inn Express" in Clewiston (after 72.5 miles of cycling (about 3 miles of which was to get to the Holiday Inn) - because it's NOT near-by the 'dike'.

We LIKE to ride the Lake Okeechobee dike (Sometimes called the L.O.S.T. (Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail)) because it is SAFEer than "car & BIG-TRUCK-passing-you-at-high-speed-streets", AND because the paved surface on the top of the dike is VERY NICE for those of us that like nice-smooth-surfaces...!!!

ANYWAY - some pictures:

Mr. "Peek At You" - at the start - about 08:15 a.m. on Thursday morning, 29th, at "Lock Seven" - Lake Okeechobee.

Mr. Bill poses for a picture nearby to 'Paul Rardin Park' - just a few minutes after getting back onto the dike on Thursday afternoon, this is about 20 miles from our 'finish', and after about 27 miles of nerve-wracking high-traffic, heavy-trucks roads, we were VERY HAPPY to be back on the dike.

AND - as (almost always) Ms. May has done a very good job with a 'Blog-Entry' and her blog-site can be reached by clicking on this link.

Last but not least the track-log(s) for these two days (orange = Thursday (29th); red = Friday (30th)), overlain on a Google Earth background... - warning clicking on the above image loads a HUGE (like 18" across / 1.7 Megs) larger-version... - the above image with the blue-dots and other annotation is a co-operative project between Mr. Bill& Ms. May - each of us contributed something to this track-log image...

WHEN / IF the people who have been re-constructing - re-building the South-Eastern part of the L.O.S.T. dike (where the orange-line with yellow-dots is) in the SE area (and we had to ride surface streets) they 'claim' to be finishing-up this work in 'about' 6 months. They also 'claim' they will also be re-paving the dike where they have worked (from Port Mayaca to Paul Rardin Park).

IF all that happens - then the L.O.S.T. will end-up having the BEST in the Country - perhaps BEST in the world cycling-path.  There will be (near as we can tell) 'about' 55-75 MILES of paved, restricted access path that is flat and with exceedingly few interruptions (except a few gates here and there. (that our friend(s) from the town of Okeechobee seem to have had some problem with in the past).  

This will truly be a WORLD CLASS cycling path when and if it is complete to the desired specifications!

On the other hand - because it is 'Government Land' (Army Corps of Engineers) - there is no 'commercial' activity (like convenience stores) On The Dike.

THOUGH there are a number of places to get on and off and get the odd sandwich and bottle of water.

In GENERAL, though, the L.O.S.T. has:

• a.) no shade

• b.) no water

• c.) no curbs

• d.) no automotive (or truck) traffic

• e.) no traffic-lights

• f.) no place to 'hide' from the 'weather' (rain, wind, heat, etc.)

• f.) no support

Days before Christmas (Friday to be exact) we decided that we would 'do something new' with the Kayaking thing... - So we drove down to Jupiter Inlet, to this Brandy-New parking area / park (by Jupiter Inlet) and put-in our kayaks for a little 6 mile paddle.

 
Mr. Bill by the  mini-van; getting ready...

 
Mr. Bill in his kayak - kind of a special picture with a lot of color... - Notice the orange life-jacket I found floating
around in the river (luckily it did NOT have a 'dead body' associated with it.....




Ms. May getting ready - by the mini-van...



Ms. May showing off her fine-form in the kayak...


a "small" image of our route (courtesy of the (OLD) Garmin unit), and the surrounding area
(courtesy of "Google Earth"...

some pictures from today's ride: (Friday, 16th)...