Driving from New York to Lake Okeechobee is almost equivalent to the distance from Beijing to Guangzhou, although the road is a water highway, and the car is not as many as in China, the speed can be maintained at about 85 miles, and four people can take turns to drive, but when they arrive at the destination, it is already 1 o'clock in the middle of the night.

After all, people are not machines, and they can work at a constant speed when they are powered on until they are worn out or malfunction. Along the way, we not only have to eat and feed our heads, but also find a service area to solve the problem of refueling and releasing water. This is also the presence of Paul's uncle and nephew and Irene, they are worthy of being born on the wheels of the car, no one has been driving longer than Hong Tao, but after arriving at the hotel, no one is as tired as Hong Tao, and there is still the time to go to the hotel bar to sit.

Hong Tao and their arrival place is called Okeechobee, a small lakeside town located on the north shore of Okeechobee Lake, which is the starting point of the last round of the year in FLW, and the organizing committee of the competition is on the third floor of a Holiday Inn Express Hotel, but Hong Tao and they did not stay in this hotel, but chose a Best Western hotel closer to the lake.

Since it's the peak season and there are a lot of fishing fans coming to watch the game, the hotel price is twice as high as usual, and the price of a double room is $150 a night, which is almost the same as the mid-range hotel prices in New York. But don't be too expensive, if it weren't for Paul's reservation, you really can't afford to pay for it, almost all the hotels are full, and there are young people strolling around the streets in the middle of the night.

Lake Okeechobee, located in south-central Florida, is the third-largest freshwater lake in the United States, with Lake Michigan at the first place and Lake Eliamna in Alaska at the second place. Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Huron are all larger than Lake Okeechobee, but not all of them belong to the United States, and most of them are in Canada.

In fact, Hong Tao has come to Florida for the second time, and he and Erin got on the boat from Miami when they were on their honeymoon. Originally, Hong Tao thought that Miami was the largest city in Florida, because from the map. There are only two familiar place names in Florida, one is Miami and the other is Orlando, the former one was visited on the honeymoon, and the latter one was heard from the NBA game team, the Orlando Magic.

But Hong Tao was wrong, the largest city in Florida is not Miami, it can only be ranked second, and the first place is a city that Hong Tao has never heard of, called Jacksonville. He happened to be passing by there just over 3 hours ago, right on the border between Georgia and Florida.

Florida is about the same size as the entire Korean Peninsula, and it is a peninsula that stretches from the mainland to the ocean, surrounded by the sea on three sides, and is narrow from north to south. The terrain here is very flat, and Hong Tao has run more than 400 kilometers here anyway, and he has never seen a terrain that can barely be called a mountain.

When Americans talk about Florida, there are only three topics. One is sunshine, because the Florida Peninsula is located in the southernmost part of the United States, and the Gulf of Mexico is to the west. Just 200 kilometers to the south, the Caribbean resort of Cuba is about what Cuba looks like, and so does the southern coastal region of Florida.

The second is the beach, Florida is surrounded by the sea on three sides. With a lot of flat and delicate high-quality sandy beaches, the first place that comes to Americans' minds when they think of going to the beach for a vacation is definitely here.

The third is the hurricane. Due to the geographical location of the peninsula, tropical hurricanes are ushered in from June to September every year, and the entire southern part of Florida becomes a flooded country. It is not uncommon for houses to collapse. So if you want to go to Florida for a vacation, it's best not to come in summer, spring and autumn are the best seasons, and winter is okay.

Of course, there's more to Florida than just sun, beaches and hurricanes, it's home to Disney World in Orlando, the U.S. Space Terminal at Cape Canaveral, the Florida Everglades at Pantana, the world's largest wetland, and the University of Florida, founded in the 19th century.

It's a pity that Hong Tao doesn't have time to go shopping in these places for the time being, and now what he wants to do most is to sleep, although Erin hasn't come back from the bar yet, but he can't control his eyelids, and just after taking a shower, he fell on the bed.

The quality of the sleep was good, although he woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning, but the quality of the sleep is not how long you sleep, but how quickly you get up. When you wake up and don't want to lie in bed, it's a sign you've rested enough.

Hong Tao is currently in this state, feeling that he is full of strength, and he must find a place to vent. In fact, there is an excellent object for him to vent his strength, which is not only convenient, but also ensures quality and quantity, ensuring that Hong Tao will not have any strength left. However, Erin was sleeping soundly with a pillow in her arms, and Hong Tao considered that she might have to do some physical activity during the day, so she still resisted the urge and continued to go outside for a run.

The town is very quiet in the morning, there is some sogginess in the air, but the ground is dry. Standing on the front steps of the hotel, you can see a sea in the south from a distance, yes, it is the feeling of the sea, although Hong Tao knows that it is only an inland lake, but it looks really boundless.

Now that you see Lake Okeechobee, how can you not take a closer look, but fortunately, this hotel is not far from the lake, about 500 meters, and it is obviously the best idea to go for a jog around the lake.

At the end of the street leading to the lake, there is a very unique wharf, which is like a starfish, and the body is a quadrangular pavilion located in the water far from the shore, one of the tentacles becomes a plank road, connected to the lake shore, and the remaining three tentacles extend to the south, west, and east respectively, becoming a dock where boats can be moored on both sides.

There are now many boats moored on the docks to the east and west, including small sailboats and yachts, but the southernmost pier is empty, and not a single boat is parked. Hong Tao probably knows why, and that section of the pier is likely to be a dedicated pier for anglers participating in the FLW fishing tournament to start and return. Because two large billboards have been erected here at the pier, and the logos and names of FLW and Walmart are printed on them.

Instead of heading up the pier, Hong Tao stopped at the entrance of the pier and looked at the sign about Lake Okeechobee. According to the text on the sign, the lake is 64 kilometers long from north to south and 48 kilometers wide from east to west, which is almost equal to the area of ten Beijing city and eight districts.

"What a stupid one!" Hong Tao looked at this number, clicked his lips, and felt that the burden on his body was a little heavy, he had never fished in such a large water, except for sea fishing. And in addition to the large area of this lake, there is a very special place, that is, the water is very shallow, according to this introduction, the deepest part of the lake is only about 5 meters, which is simply a huge pan, will the fish living in this kind of water have any special habits? Hong Tao didn't know it at all.

After running along the shore of the lake for a while, Hong Tao returned to the hotel, Erin had already freshened up, was drying her hair in front of the mirror, and after seeing Hong Tao Hong Tao, she was still complaining about why he didn't ask her to go for a run with her.

"Hong Tao, Carl and I are going to meet a few old friends, they are also here to compete, do you want to go with us and talk to them?" After breakfast, Paul and Carl were ready to head out.

"I'm not going, I want to accompany Erin to Disney to have a look." Hong Tao doesn't want to have fun with those professional anglers, he can only be regarded as an amateur in the lure fishing method, and he doesn't have to talk to people when he goes, and he has to be asked if he can't get it.

"Okay, then I'll leave the car to you, you guys go play, but remember to come back before 5 o'clock, there is a lottery ceremony in the evening, don't delay." Paul took the car keys to Hong Tao, and then gave a word, and took Carl away, looking at Carl's reluctant appearance, it is estimated that he also wants to go to Disney and does not want to go to any old fishing friends, but it is a pity that he has such a strong uncle, Hong Tao can only secretly bless him.

It is only about 160 kilometers from Okeechobee to the south side of downtown Orlando, and it can be reached by car in just over an hour. This Disneyland is actually not just a theme park, there is also a Universal Studios next to it, a Harry Potter land, when Hong Tao followed the sign to the parking lot, he found that this road called Universal Studios Boulevard, on the right is the entrance to Universal Studios, on the left is called Adventure Island, there are high roller coaster tracks.

"Shall we go on a roller coaster ride first, or should we go to the studio first?" Hong Tao doesn't particularly love these games that are loved by children, nor does he particularly love them, anyway, he just plays, and he doesn't want to play them, and this time he came to accompany Erin to join in the fun, because when she passed by Orlando last night, Erin was still complaining that Sam never brought her here to play when she was a child.

"Let's go on the roller coaster first, but unfortunately Katie isn't here, she likes to ride this one the most." Although Erin was already a young woman, after seeing the huge roller coaster track in the distance, she was still very excited, and kept urging Hong Tao to speed up her pace.

Crossing the road to the door of Adventure Island, Hong Tao suddenly had a sense of home, the ticket area here is lined up in a long line, crowded, although not as good as the Beijing Railway Station during the Spring Festival, but not far away. Most of the people in line are foreign tourists, not without Chinese tour groups, but those familiar faces basically do not queue up, but enter the park directly under the guidance of the guide.

"Dude, it's from China, right?" Hong Tao casually found a line to line up, and there were exactly two Asian young men in front of him, and he tentatively asked in China. (To be continued......)

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