A Snowbird in Paradise

We decided to take a day off today to play. We have been curious about Yee Haw Junction since our musician friends, Karen and Galen visited us. The Junction has a big Blue Grass Music Festival every year but we didn't know when.  Although I can't imagine telling folks back home your Florida Winter Getaway is in Yee Haw Junction, there are a lot of weird names down here.

Well...the place was a crossroads...Stuckys/gas station, little ticket hut (closed), and a "historic" motel / restaurant / bar...historic meaning pretty run down.

We turned right...nothing. Turned around and went back to the crossroads and went West. Oh, there is the big field with the "Music Festival Jan 28-30" sign and after that...nothing. We could go back the way we came (East) but we know there is nothing down that way. One way left...to Okeechobee 30 miles. Ok...and we will have lunch at Lightsey's.
For 30 miles there was never a light or any other reason to stop but it was interesting. Then we saw the sign announcing "McArthur's Cattle Ranch...growing with Florida for 75 years". For the next 3 miles we drove through the middle of an enormous ranch which stretched to the horizon on either side of the highway. As we drove away from the ranch we saw 3 Super-cab trucks full of cowboys each towing a livestock trailer full of horses all saddled and ready to go to work.
I thought about what my friend, Shawn,  told me about the women pulling alongside the road to watch the cowboys working the cattle. Mmmmm...I knew how hard I would be looking on the way home...and I did, but I never saw a working cowboy. Roman didn't know it, but he WOULD have pulled over. Well, we are going again in April for a class reunion at Lightsey's and I will be watching VERY closely.
Okeechobee is a no-nonsense, fisherman's town.  A lot of RV parks, and some not very fancy.  The first time we went to Okeechobee, oh, some 20 years ago, we had a few days to kill with a rental car, and figured we would go visit the next biggest freshwater lake to our beloved Great Lakes.  Well, if you think you are going to gaze at lovely lake scenes forget it. 

The lake is surrounded by a very high dike.  There are a couple of gates through the berm and a system of navigable (and fish-able) canals.

There is a large state park with a lovely marina and a well-known restaurant, Lightsey's.

The specialty of the house is, of course, FISH.

Seafood Salads, especially, are great.

Everyone has to get a photo taken with this "catch".