Final day of the trip. Slept OK but the trucks were non-stop all night so they woke me up every now and then. I do love my tent though. It was my first time using it and the setup was fast and it’s very roomy. Back on the road by 8am. Found a gas station and grabbed some water and breakfast (junk food). You really do feel like a celebrity on a touring bike. Everyone stares at you–people driving, people standing in their yards and people in the stores. The funny part is when people ask where I’m riding from and I tell them Clewiston instead of California or somewhere far. It’s amazing how friendly everyone is though. The ride from Port Mayaca was along US-441 since I’d read they have construction on the dike from Port Mayaca all the way to Pahokee. Well, that was partially true. When I reached Pahokee a nice little hill led me back up onto the dike. While I was cranking away up the hill a rather large man was running up and down it for exercise and at the top this woman was freaking out on someone but I couldn’t see who.
Anyway, kept going for a mile until I reached some construction workers. They let me through so I kept going. 5 miles later I hit another construction site. The safety foreman also let me through but said to be careful. The only work they were doing was down near the lake so I wasn’t too worried. After another 5 miles I could see the access point down to Belle Glade and, presumably food because I was starving. Now I’m at construction site #3. This time it was almost a disaster. A “biologist†said I couldn’t go through. To turn back would have been a killer so I asked her if I could speak to the site foreman. I pleaded my case with him and he caved and let me walk behind him across the 100 yard area they were working. Just when I was across about 6 riders came up from the other direction. He wouldn’t let them through and according to one of the riders said they could be fined $1000 for just being up there. He only let me through because I’d already ridden through 10 miles of construction. Sorry guys.
Down in Belle Glade I grabbed some pizza and drank a lot of coke. Then 3 police cars showed up. Nothing happened though. 
 From there it was a smooth ride with the wind at my back all the to Clewiston. BTW, the people that work at the Clewiston Inn are the nicest I’ve ever run into. They let me check in at 1pm, offered to help bring my panniers in and held the door for me when I was carrying everything to my room Average speed for the day was 9.7 mph. The headwind and my sore butt didn‘t help. 2 pairs of shorts made a big difference though. Total distance around the lake: 126.5 miles.
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