RV Havin Fun!

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, Okeechobee, Florida

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.  “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.  ~ Matthew 2:13-15a     This is the second of four dreams of Joseph that we’re told about.  Undoubtedly, you’re wondering, If God already knows what Herod is going to do, why didn’t He stop him?  Unfortunately, I cannot answer that.  But once again, we see the righteousness of Joseph who obeys immediately and takes his new family on an arduous international trek that took a minimum of four days.  We don’t know if the angel gave more specific instructions, but if Old Testament history serves, he most likely did not.  If an angel told you to take this journey, walking many miles in dust and heat and wind, with your wife and most likely a son who’s now a young toddler (not to mention the very Son of God!) who are both entrusted to your care, few provisions, and no set place to be, would you be so quick to go?  I think it took exceptional faith.  They remained in Egypt for one or two years until Joseph was called out by another dream to return home.

Several Master painters have done renditions of the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt. I’m sharing two today. : )

Throw up the shades and what to our wondering eyes should appear? 

No silly! Not Santa and his reindeer!

Five vultures in the dead tree, three turkeys, a lone sandhill crane and a deer!  All in full view just outside our window!  We put our breakfast aside for quite a while as we watched nature unfold before our eyes.  At one point, it seems the sandhill got too close for comfort and two of the turkeys ran after it, chasing it across the street to our right.  Eventually, it slowly made its way back to the field in front of us and the turkeys didn’t seem to mind anymore.  Everything was peaceful until the spell was broken for all of us, when a couple drove by in their small motorhome, pulling an empty trailer that rattled.  This is easily one of the most perfect sites we’ve ever stayed at! As long as we avoid gazing at our filthy, dirty Jeep.

Today was our moving day, sometime after 1:00pm.  We went all the way from site 23 to site 22.  Yes.  It’s the one right beside us.  It’s too bad we have to give up our near-perfect site!  But at least we’re not going far.  In three days, we have to move again – still within the Park.

Why?

It’s very difficult to reserve campsites in Florida, let alone for 12 nights.  We were fortunate to be able to get in at all.  Having to move isn’t really an issue.  And to make matters worse, there’s currently a bill up for vote to allow Florida residents to reserve sites a month before anyone else.  So, I get it that Florida residents should be able to camp in their own Parks, but how badly will that change their economy if tourists can’t get in?  Time will tell.  First it has to pass, and then we’ll have to see how much Florida residents really want to camp in their Parks.

So what else did we accomplish today?  Just a short bike ride.  The weather’s been the same every day for several weeks, not just here.  Days climbing rapidly into the upper 80’s, and nights cooling just as quickly into the mid 60’s.  No rain and no clouds to speak of.

We’ve come to the conclusion that every sunset just gets better and better!

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, Okeechobee, Florida

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their county by another route. ~ Matthew 2:12     Don’t you think pagans obeying God because of a dream is miraculous?  I do!  Maybe they all had the same dream?  I also wonder what would’ve happened if they’d gone back to Herod.  Would Herod have started his rampage too soon?  Would he have killed the Magi, who one would assume went home and shared their blessedly wonderful news?  God always has a perfect plan, and oftentimes it’s one we cannot see.  So, that is why, according to the apostle Paul, we are to live by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7).

The Jeep has been sitting idle for quiet some time, so we decided it was time to run it today.  Blaine planned a day in the town of Okeechobee.  It’s also where you can see a very small portion of the largest lake in the southeast.

First, we stopped at a couple of stores for odds and ends – like Dollar Tree.

Then we drove over to walk a few miles on a nature trail at the Taylor Creek Stormwater Treatment Area.  You can read all about it on the sign I took a picture of. 

He then took me to a State Park where we were anticipating learning about a battle that went on here between the Seminoles and the U.S. government under the direction of President Andrew Jackson.  People commenting on this place said it was interesting, but don’t go out of your way to see it.  Well, I’ll say!  There was nothing there except a public restroom, a single comment on a sign, and stone memorials that were in one place and surrounded by pretty deep grass.  We didn’t take a picture because we didn’t even know it was there until we were driving away.  Too bad we missed the reenactment last weekend!

Then it was off to see the grand lake – Okeechobee.  You know this lake, it’s the giant hole in the middle of Florida. Our vision standing on a pier is limited to the horizon.  There wasn’t any information here about whether you could or couldn’t fish or swim here, but no one was doing either.  It was just people (mostly gray-hairs) walking out to the end of the short pier like we did, looking around and leaving.  I did research some information to share though. 😊

Lake Okeechobee means “big water” in the Seminole Indian language, an appropriate name for a water body whose opposite shore can’t be seen from the water’s edge. With a surface area of 730 square miles, it is the largest lake in the southeastern United States. Despite its impressive size, the lake is shallow, with an average depth of only 9 feet. Lake Okeechobee and its wetlands are at the center of a much larger watershed, the Greater Everglades, that stretches from the Kissimmee River through the Everglades and finally into Florida Bay. Lake Okeechobee is also a key component of South Florida’s water supply and flood control systems.

Lake Okeechobee provides natural habitat for fish, wading birds and other wildlife, and it supplies essential water for people, farms and the environment. The lake provides flood protection and attracts boating and recreation enthusiasts from around the world. It is also home to sport and commercial fisheries. The lake’s health was threatened in recent decades by excessive nutrients from agricultural and urban activities in the lake’s watershed, by harmful high and low water levels and by the spread of exotic vegetation.

Despite these impacts, Lake Okeechobee continues to be a vital freshwater resource for South Florida, with irreplaceable natural and community values.

Lake Okeechobee restoration efforts are underway. The Florida Legislature enacted the 2000 Lake Okeechobee Protection Act and the subsequent Lake Okeechobee Protection Program to restore the lake and its watershed. The Lake Okeechobee Protection Program is a phased, comprehensive and innovative program. It is designed to restore and protect the lake by improving water quality and implementing long-term solutions through a variety of specific components. The Florida Legislature in 2007 expanded the Lake Okeechobee Protection Act to strengthen protection for the Northern Everglades by restoring and preserving the entire Lake Okeechobee watershed, including the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. ~ sfwmd.gov

‘Okeechobee’, comes from the Hitchiti words ‘Oki’ (meaning water) and ‘Chubi’ (meaning big). This combined made the Seminole word ‘big water’ in the language spoken by the Seminole Indians.

Lake Okeechobee, which covers about 450,000 square acres and has been polluted by decades of agricultural and stormwater runoff. The $23 billion Everglades restoration plan is intended to undo much of the damage caused by polluted water flowing out of the lake. But Florida has not yet been able to slow the amount of phosphorus flowing into the lake, which can feed algae blooms. ~ sfwmd.gov

Let’s just say . . .  they’re still working on it.  In the meantime, I spent a good amount of time trying to discern if it’s safe to eat fish caught in the Lake.  Some sites say yes, some say no.  We didn’t eat any fish while we were there, so I guess we’re okay.  😊

It was earlier than we’d planned, but we opted to go in search of food.  Blaine had planned on a mid-afternoon lunch/supper time, but since the first stop was the only one that took the planned amount of time, we ate at the #1 restaurant (according to TripAdvisor) at 1:00pm.  We had to ask our server how to pronounce the name.  It’s PO-gee’s.

Pogey’s was opened on Sept 18, 1990. When we first opened, we were open daily from 5am – 9pm, 7 days a week. Our goal was to close at 2pm after 10 years, well, it went a little longer than that, it was April 15, 2001 before that happened. My parents owned a restaurant named “Friendly’s” in Elwood, Indiana from when I was 10 yrs old (1970) until they sold it in 1980. I started out as dishwasher at a very young age and moved up to night time manager before they sold it. My parents would come to Okeechobee for the whole month of Feb every year to get away from the snow and do a lot of fishing. My parents offered me the business before they put it up for sale, but the whole family fell in love with Okeechobee and the Lake. So we moved down here in May of 1980. My parents started “Vest Concrete” to have something to do on the side, which later turned out to be a full-time business, which my brother Jeff now owns and runs. My blood and heart was definitely in the food business, so in 1989, I sold my construction company and started building Pogey’s in Jan of 1990, and to this day…..  I still enjoy getting up every morning and coming to work.

Excellent food!!!  The coleslaw tastes just like my grandma used to make, and their fries are sort of a cross between traditional fries and jo-jos.  The sandwich was amazing!  So glad we tried it!  And the prices were quite reasonable – $14 for each overflowing meal.

The owner’s name is Doug Vest.

With our bellies filled to the brim and then some, we scooted off to WalMart to walk the aisles and pick-up groceries.  We had to be careful though because the drive home is about an hour.

We were once again blessed to enjoy the gorgeous firmament painted by our Father!

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, Okeechobee, Florida

On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ~ Matthew 2:10-11    Can you just imagine what Joseph and Mary must have thought when these guys arrived at their door?  What about the neighbors?  The Jews have been taught their entire lives to hate anyone who isn’t Jewish (although they had no problem trading with them) and now these rich middle-eastern guys show up in unknown numbers?  It had to have caught them off guard to say the least!  Because of the use of the words ‘house’ and ‘child’ the best guess by scholars is that Jesus is now about two years old.  Each of these three gifts were expensive treasures in and of themselves and as you probably know, many scholars and teachers have sought to apply meaning to each one.  But here’s a new thought presented by our pastor – – These gifts were provided by God, through these wealthy pagans, to enable these very materially-poor-chosen-by-God-parents the means to flee to Egypt soon, live there for a while, and return home to Nazareth. When God has a plan for us, He always, always provides the means to accomplish it!

I got nuttin’ for the last day of February, other than a ‘Good morning’ picture, which I have no idea why I took.  And now it’s been so long, I can’t remember a single solitary thing we did that day.  Neither can Blaine.  Guess it wasn’t too exciting, whatever it was.

But on the first day of March??  Oh, yeah (with excited emphasis, as in, ‘Oh, ye-ah . . . It’s your birth-day!’  I hope you can hear that little rappy ditty in your head!) . . . .

It was spectacular!

When we got up this morning, it was to deep fog with very little visibility.  So amazing!!  We ate a very quick breakfast then headed out on our bikes.  Everything was so wet, the dusty road wasn’t dusty at all and our bikes rode quite.  In fact, everything was quiet, as we rode down to the dumpster, then on to where most of the gators seem to live. 

Once we were done there, we eased further down that road, through ranchland that’s leased from the Preserve, until we reached the gate.

We rode back towards home.  But not before we acknowledged how wet we were!  My hair was dripping!  Blaine’s arm hair was covered in water droplets!  Our clothes were quite damp!  All from riding through the fog.  How fun!

Since we weren’t quite ready to call it quits for today, we took another trail out through the saw palmetto prairie.

Here’s a list of some of the things we saw today, even though we don’t have pictures of all of them:  alligators, vultures, turkeys, egrets, herons, red-wing blackbirds, Bachman’s prairie sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks, a Zebra Swallowtail butterfly, crows and one squirrel. And no. We didn’t take the professional-looking pictures. 😊

Once we returned, we decided to sit outside.  Blaine put out the awning, we moved the picnic table and I brought out my laptop.  I got some work done, but not much because we were too busy watching four crows, a squirrel, and a turkey hang out around us.  The squirrel didn’t get too close, but the others were practically in our faces once Blaine started doling out peanuts.

And then a Park volunteer drove by and told us they may be looking for water, so we put some out, which is only proper if you’re gonna feed ‘em salty food.

This went on for hours!  At one point, two of the crows were exhibiting some strange behavior.  One fell over onto the ground, kinda like goats, only not as stiff, and then the other one did the same.  They did this several times – standing up and falling over. 

You wanna know why my posts are behind?  Wildlife.  Four crows, one turkey and a squirrel.  Who can work with all that going on?!?

On this date in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the world’s first national park.  Can you believe that it was the world’s first?!?  We were very surprised by that!

I was searching for a picture that typifies Yellowstone, but there really aren’t any because there’s so much there!  I guess I could’ve gone for ‘Old Faithful’, but the pictures I saw show soooo much more!  We really need to get there!!  And based on size alone, we better plan on being there for months!

The remainder of this post contains facts about Yellowstone that I cut and pasted from their website.  You can read it, or skip it as your heart desires. 😊

Yellowstone encompasses 3,472 square miles (2,221,766 acres) which makes it larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

There are more than 10,000 hydrothermal features in Yellowstone. The four types of thermal features are geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.

Yellowstone is home to more than 500 active geysers (more than half the world’s geysers).

• Yellowstone Lake has 131.7 sq. miles of surface area and 141 miles of shoreline. It is the largest high elevation lake in North America.  20 miles north to south (32 km),14 miles east to west (22 km)
• Average depth: 138 feet (42 m)
• Maximum depth: 430 feet (131 m)

 

Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states (67 species).

 

285 species of birds can be found in Yellowstone (150 nesting).

 

• There are more than 1,800 known archaeological sites within the park. 25 sites, landmarks, and districts on the National Register of Historic Places; many more eligible for listing
• One National Historic Trail (Nez Perce)

More than 900 historic buildings

Yellowstone houses more than 720,000 museum items, including 30 historic vehicles, millions of archived documents, and more than 20,000 books (many rare), manuscripts, periodicals.

About 290 waterfalls can be found throughout Yellowstone’s 2.2 million acres.  At 308 feet, the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the tallest waterfall in the park.

 

There are approximately 1,000 miles of hiking trails in Yellowstone.

• 63 air miles north to south (102 km)
• 54 air miles east to west (87 km)
• 96% in Wyoming, 3% in Montana, 1% in Idaho
• Highest Point: 11,358 feet (3,462 m; Eagle Peak)
• Lowest Point: 5,282 feet (1,610 m; Reese Creek)
• About 5% covered by water; 15% by grassland; and 80% by forests

Annual precipitation ranges from 10 inches (26 cm) at the north boundary to 80 inches (205 cm) in the southwest corner.

• The park sits on top of an active volcano.
• One of the world’s largest calderas at 45 x 30 miles (72 x 48 km)
• 1,000–3,000 earthquakes annually

National Park Service (January 2020)

• Permanent: 386 total
  • Full time, year-round: 170
  • Career seasonal: 213
  • Part-time: 3
• Term (variable duration): 4
• Seasonal: 348

Concessioners

About 3,200 people work for concessioners in Yellowstone at summer peak.

• Eleven visitor centers, museums, and contact stations
• Nine hotels/lodges (2,000+ hotel rooms/cabins)
• Seven NPS-operated campgrounds (450+ sites)
• Five concession-operated campgrounds (1,700+ sites)
• More than 1,500 buildings
• 52 picnic areas and one marina
• Five park entrances
• 466 miles (750 km) of roads (310 miles [499 km] paved)
• More than 15 miles (24 km) of boardwalk, including 13 self-guiding trails
•  

Budget:

Fiscal Year 2019 (in millions)
Total: $74.5
Federal Funding—
Congressional Annual Appropriations

• Operations and staff (base): $40.9
• Wildland Fire: $1.1
• Other Appropriations: $5.6

Other Funding:

• Donations and Grants: $1.7
• Fees: $19.2
• Utilities & Agreements (Reimbursable): $6.0

The Park has hosted 3.5 – 4 million visitors per year over the past 10 years.  While Yellowstone remains open 24/7, 365 per year, only one road is usually open year round.  The rest, plus all the Visitor Centers, campgrounds, etc. are only open for five months (May – October)

If you thought you were getting a short post today, I’m sorry.