Down on the Okeechobee Ocean

Well, today we pack up and leave great Lake Okeechobee.  There was more to see and do here than we anticipated, and we've gained a particular fondness for the life of birds, fishing and boats.  The spirit of this place may be captured in Burl Ives' rendition of the song, "Down on the Okeechobee Ocean":

Well I left my home in the Everglades

Down on the Okeechobee Ocean

My shoes were filled with a wonderin' dust

And my head full of silly notions

Oh I got me a job on an ol' shrimp boat

That took me out to sea

Where the shrimp were pink and they sure did stink

To an ole bean picker like me

Well I wanna go home where the wildcats roam

And the sugar cane grows real tall

I wanna go back where the land is black

And the little gals say you all (y'all)

Down on the Okeechobee Ocean

Down on the Okeechobee Ocean

Well I worked my way past the Chesapeake Bay

To a town called Caribou Maine

Where my nose got cold and I froze my toes

Ev'rybody said it was spring

I'm gonna pack my grip and take me a trip

As fast as I can thumb

Cause if they call that spring then the sunshine's rain

I'll be gone when the summer comes

Well I wanna go home where the wildcats roam...

Lawd I sure am homesick

I gotta get back to them Glades

And get me a hand full of them beans

Do you hear me

I gotta get outta here

Cause I can't stand it no longer