Lake Okeechobee & Gators

By: Kevin

Heather’s grandparents invited us down to their RV, which was parked in a RV resort along Lake Okeechobee, for a visit. Instead of hauling our RV down there, Heather’s grandparents were nice enough to reserve us a rental unit, which was probably as big or bigger than our RV. It was also really nice because it had a laundry set, so we took the opportunity to do numerous loads of laundry while we were visiting. Since we do not have a washer/dryer in the RV, it is off to the laundromat on a regular basis for us, and being able to put in a load of laundry at our rental and come back a few hours later without wondering where our laundry had gone was a welcome luxury.

The morning after arrival we took a trip down the road to one of many places that offered air boat tours of the area. We saw quite a few gators, some small and some not-so-small. I was amazed at where all the air boat could travel. We drove across water, reeds, and occasionally solid ground for a few feet. I can see why they are the choice of vessel for the marshy area.Our tour guide even showed us the natural mesh matrix found inside cat-tail reeds that lead to the invention of medical gauze that is widely used in the medical field today. As a nurse, I found that particularly interesting.

After our morning air boat ride we traveled a little farther down the road to Gatorama in Palmdale, FL. They had quite a few gators, as one would expect, and we were all able to pick up and hold baby gators. In the afternoon they had a feeding show on the main wooden bridge, and the host was very good at entertaining the crowd. For an extra fee one can participate in the feeding, but we enjoyed someone else risk their fingers instead.

After our visit to Gatorama, it was back to the grandparents’ RV for dinner. Grandpa grilled pizza, which I had not thought of before, but if you have one of those tiny RV ovens you may want to give it a try. It actually turned out resembling a brick-oven pizza with a nice crispy bottom. I have tried it a few times at our RV now, and find that a griddle rack works best, but a regular grill grate turns out decent results as well. Just remember to get thin crust pizzas, otherwise the middle takes a while to get done.