December 19, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Thursday morning I drove down to Homestead Florida for the 32ND time since I bought my new home in Sebring Florida 22 months ago. Traffic was a bit heavier than normal for a Thursday morning with lots of truckers and tourists from the north.

I actually drove straight to Longhorn Steakhouse – where I met up with two former coworkers / supervisors for another one of our reunion lunches. We meet about every 3 months. It’s a great tradition that we’ve continued for many years now.

This will likely be my final monthly visit to Homestead. I’ve kept my longtime condo since moving away. I hope to put it on the market next month, and hopefully it will sell fast. I’ll still visit Homestead in 2025 – just not as often – maybe every 3 months or so.

It’s a nice 3½-hour drive between my new home and my old home. 99% of it is on just two highways – U.S. 27 and Florida State Road 997 (locally known as Krome Avenue in Miami-Dade County).

I drove back home this past Sunday afternoon after church and lunch in Homestead. My scenic (mostly rural) drive includes 6 Counties – Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, and Highlands.

Once I’ve reached U.S. 27 near the Miami-Dade / Broward line – I’m on the road that I live on. (My neighborhood’s entrance is directly on U.S. 27 just shy of 150 miles away.)

Once I’ve reached South Bay near the south end of Lake Okeechobee in far-western Palm Beach County – I’ve reached the halfway point. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped anywhere in South Bay. I’ve only driven through it. A new RaceTrac Travel Center is currently under construction. That holds promise for potential future stops.

Clewiston (in Hendry County) is next up on the trek. It’s actually the most populated city directly along the road between Homestead and Lake Placid (in Highlands County). Over 7,000 residents call Clewiston home. A longtime Sonny’s BBQ recently went out-of-business along U.S. 27 in Clewiston. I’ve stopped there a few times for a mid-trip meal. If only I were driving through the area before 1999 when Old South Bar-B-Q Ranch drew in the hungry locals and tourists along U.S. 27 for over 40 years.

I’ve written about Love’s here on my blog in the past. It’s just west of the small town of Moore Haven. It was built in 2016 and opened in March 2017. I remember driving by it a few times while it was under construction thinking that I’d very likely be a future customer there. I’ve stopped there many times – in fact – more times than not heading northward. Their employees are friendly. Their restrooms are wonderful – large and mostly clean. They have an Arby’s on-site, and lots of gas pumps. That Love’s stop is right at the two-thirds point of my trek back home.

And then there’s the ordinary (but beautiful to me) “ENTERING Highlands COUNTY” road sign at the slight rightward bend in the road. Once I reach that sign – I’m 40 miles / 45 minutes away from home. I used to dream of living in Highlands County every time I saw that sign during my road-trips northward. My dream came true 22 months ago. Now I’m glad to be back home again when I see that sign. (The whole County is my home.)

From the Highlands County line northward – it’s a slow ascent from elevations in the 60s (feet above sea level) to more than 3 times higher !

Although my visits to Homestead 3½ hours down the road will be fewer starting in 2025 – I can’t envision a time in the future when I stop driving southward to Homestead. As long as I have friends still living down there – I’ll be visiting them. That – and the scenic drive alone – is well worth the trip to and fro. The portion of U.S. 27 from I-75 northward is a trip along the main highway through rural and unspoiled South-Central Florida (“The Heartland”). I imagine that much of it looks mostly the same today as it has for the past 65 years.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my progress on Season 18 of my fitness walks around my neighborhood. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I usually post there on Mondays and Thursdays. I’m also the Social Media Director for the Sebring Historical Society. I post on our Facebook page 6 days a week – Mondays to Saturdays.