Saturday, November 22, 2008

wimp walk

Ryan decided that he wanted to walk the big O for thanksgiving. He got the idea after he had hiked the Florida Trail this past winter. When he went around Lake Okeechobee in Florida, he went around the western side of the lake and missed the eastern side. He knew that every year at Thanksgiving, the Florida Trail association hosted a 9 day hike around the lake completing the full 100+ miles and he really wanted to do the whole thing! So of course, what can I say? Of course, honey! Walk the big O!

The Big O hike

We flew down to Tampa, Fl where I have relatives and spent one night then we drove on down to Lake Okeechobee so Ryan could begin his walk.

We couldn't help but stop for a couple of letterboxes along the way and we were also excited about the gasoline being less than $2 a gallon in Florida!! we stopped for lunch at Checkers fast food restaurant so we could be sure to get the best french fries ever!!!!



We stopped at the Clewiston Inn for drink, in the bar they have a wonderful mural that was painted in 1945 and I had not seen it before. After our drink, we walked across the road to the movie theater and took in the latest James Bond movie: Quantum of Solace!

Clewiston Inn
Clewiston Inn Mural

The next day bright and early, we showed up for the start of the big O walk. I was only doing the "wimp walk" of the first 4 miles. Then they would shuttle me back to my car at the beginning. So we started off together. It was a beautiful sunny day and we quickly hiked the first couple of miles of the Big O together, then I left Ryan to finish the hike and I flew off to San Francisco!

7 comments:

Kaaren said...

Hee, I love that he's "holding" that turtle.

Anonymous said...

When you get back here you'll be happy at the gas prices. I paid $1.89 in Bellingham today. :)

Gischer Gryffindors

Anonymous said...

Gas is $1.77 here in central KY. You need to do a hike here in KY... I probably missed that one, though!
I'm assuming that's lake Oke-whatever in the background? That's HUGE!
Smiles and safe trails!
Eeny Meany Miney Moe

Anonymous said...

Wow. Here in England people would kill for fuel prices like that! The news here is that petrol (gasoline) has dropped to about 90p per litre, I make that about $4.85 per US gallon.

Dilton Martian

Anonymous said...

Did Ryan make it safely through the night after "sleeping with the alligators" on the dike?

How appropriate that Green Tortuga should be photographed "holding" the turtle in the mural. No doubt you were well aware of that when you took the photograph.

God bless both of you!

hansenclan
in So. Calif.

Amanda from Seattle said...

Oh yes, Ryan survived the night. In fact, he overslept a bit and was awoken when the Big "O" hikers were marching past his tarp the next morning!!

Suzi - On the Go! said...

I finally have you on my desktop!
Now I won't miss anything :>)
Suzi