One of the biggest blows of all time was on its way. When dawn broke, and the hurricane had passed, his father and mother and brother were gone, dead by drowning. So were more than 1,800 other people. He and two brothers survived the storm by clinging to debris and floating two miles into the Everglades. After the storm In 1992, the lake is hidden behind the massive Hoover Dike, which means you never glimpse Okeechobee while you drive along U.S. 441 on a day so hot the air shimmers and shakes like a ghost dancing on a barbecue.
Love bugs pepper the windshield like shotgun pellets.
Turkey vultures, the sentinels of the Everglades, patrol the blue and gray skies. Possums and armadillos lie pancake flat on the road, vulture fast food. Down the highway from Blue-Gill RV Park and Bob's Big Bass Camp, I see the turnoff at Port Mayaca. I follow the pavement up the 40-foot Hoover Dike and stop at the top. Then I gasp.