Cold, a Medical Emergency and 30,000 Alligators

Snow in New Jersey, and near historic lows in many places.  We couldn't even fill up our boat's water tanks at our daughter's house because it was below freezing outside of Atlanta.  My conclusion? - trailering our boat south this time of year might not be the best decision.

Wonderful to spend Christmas through New Year's
.with our granddaughter and family

Cold and snow, however, were the least of our problems. It began when we stopped at a Georgia rest stop on 75,  and I got to use the bathroom first while Molly was walking our dog, Tory.  I returned to the truck to find Molly seemingly in a daze with blood dripping from below her chin.  She slowly said, “I fell over Tory.  I think my jaw may be broken.”  I quickly got out our first aid kit and helped Molly make her way to the Women’s Room.

Guilty!  But we love her.  We have since bought
a harness to better control her movements.

She came out of the restroom looking a little better, but in pain and likely in need of medical attention.  We got back in the truck and continued south on Route 75 while discussing the best place to stop.  Then our daughter Liz called, and after hearing what happened, insisted that we turn around and head back to her house that we had left 2 ½ hours earlier.  We weren’t quite ready to do that, but this sped up our search for an urgent care facility, which ended up being just another 20 miles down the road. Molly received good care there from a PA, who checked  her out and glued her deep gash in her chin together. 

While The PA felt her jaw was not broken, she did support getting a CAT scan and referred us to the nearby hospital.  There, we would spend the next 3 hours.  While waiting, we remembered the two other times that Molly had gotten medical attention in Florida, both on our boat trips.  The first time was after a fall from hitting her head on a metal bar while climbing the stairs to a boat on the hard. (See March 16, 2022 blog.)  The second time was after breaking her left wrist from a fall in the Bahamas while walking Tory. (See May 8, 2022 blog.)  There is a growing pattern here, boat trips and Tory may not be good for Molly’s health!

Finally, the CAT scan was completed and reviewed. Negative!  Molly was still bruised on much of her left side, but she was game to continue our travels south.

Our first RV night was at a horse farm
in Wellborn, FL.

We were racing the freeze line south, and a couple of hours after

Our second RV night was at a great 
restaurant in Sebring, FL.

sunset we arrived at our destination for the night, a horse farm through an organization we enjoy called Harvest Host.  For $100 annually, Harvest Host opens up over 5,000 nontraditional places in the USA to spend the night while trailering on our boat that we use as an RV on land.  We have stayed in restaurant parking lots, farms, adjacent to country stores and wineries.  We are asked to either spend $30 if there is a business or donate $20.  

Finally we arrived at our destination, Indiantown.  The community is so-named because it was largely settled by Seminoles fleeing from the U.S. Army during the First Seminole War.  Today, it is a favorite for boaters because of its relatively inexpensive marina and great location, right on the Okeechobee Waterway that crosses Florida from St. Lucie on the east coast to Fort Myers on the west coast.  .  

The lift tractor had to be used to raise
 our small motor off Salty Paws to give
access to replace the steering mechanism.

We launched Salty Paws, and all looked great until I tried to steer, but nothing would move.  It turned out that the large pin that moves in and out of our steering mechanism was bent.  

Peter and Claudia joined me
at the Stuart Boat Show.

The marina service was excellent, and we were back in the water in three days.  Our extra days gave us time with other boat owners including Jim and Allison from Canada and fellow Rossi owners Peter and Claudia.

Our cruising route so far.

At last, we departed Indiantown Marina and headed west through the Port Mayaca Lock into Lake Okeechobee, easily Florida's largest and roughly a 35-mile circle in the center of the state.  It is completely surrounded by a 35-foot tall and 100-foot side dike installed after two severe hurricanes in the 1920s caused the Lake's water to flood the adjacent countryside.

Lake Okeechobee is home to numerous recreational activities, including fishing, but swimming is definitely off the list given the 30,000 alligators in its waters (Molly researched this statistic, but, perhaps, because of the cold, we didn't see any.) The Lake is also increasingly polluted by agricultural runoff and ashes from the burning of the sugar cane fields.. 

Boaters can either cross the Lake directly or take the dredged channel along its southern rim.  Salty Paws took the rim route as we had crossed directly last year.  Our Waterway travels to Fort Meyers had us anchoring one night in South Bay, a 2nd night at a marina in Moore Haven and a 3rd night in LaBelle.  Here we met up with Jim and Mary Walker, whom we did part of the Great Loop with in 2019.  They are just about to complete their second Loop.  Mary took this great picture of us.

 Below are some more pictures.

This is the dike along with some extra rocks darkened by the annual burning of the sugar cane fields.

We saw multiple similar fires along the horizon, likely the burning of the sugar cane fields.

Anchored in South Bay.  The picture was taken from the top of the dike.

The inland side of the dike, which protects roads, fields, various structures and the Army Corp of Engineers system of dams,
canals and other elements of their flood control system. 

This RV park could not exist without the dike.

Molly captured this plane that was seemingly divebombing Tory and me in our dinghy.

Our first Pelican sighting of this trip.