Full hookups on the lake

We are at the South Bay RV Park, at the southern end of Lake Okeechobee in the town of South Bay, Florida (map). Despite the commercial-sounding name, this is actually a Palm Beach County Park; at just over $26 a night it is a bargain.

It's a bit early in the season, and the park is mostly empty. There are two loops, and we are the only rig in one of them; there are probably a dozen or so rigs in the other. When we arrived yesterday afternoon, the gate was locked and unattended; we had to call the manager, who gave us the gate code and told us to just pick any space. There are a mix of 50-amp and 30-amp spaces, but I don't think there is a price difference. We chose a 30-amp site for its location -- in this weather, we don't need much power.

That was enough to top up our batteries, though, and run the air conditioners most of the time we've been here. It's not really that hot, but the humidity is quite high now. We've been very comfortable with one unit running. We didn't really need the hookups at all, but overnight stopping options between Lake Placid and Fort Lauderdale along this route are scarce -- the lone Wal-Mart, in Clewiston, does not allow overnight parking, and there are really no boondocking options. We could have pressed on to the Fort Lauderdale last night, where there are more options, but really wanted a shorter day.

We pulled the scooters out when we arrived, and had a nice ride up to the top of the Herbert Hoover Dike that runs around the lake. At sunset we set out to find dinner, but no dice. Neither South Bay nor Belle Glade a bit further along the lake had even a single open restaurant, other than fast food, on a Sunday night. We ended up heating up whatever was in the fridge. Still, we enjoyed the ride into town.

In a few minutes, we will be on our way to the Ft. Lauderdale area. With the airport requirement off the table, we decided on the more direct route, rather then heading through Palm Beach and all the glotch in between.