Which way to go??

When we get started again after the holidays we had originally planned on crossing the Lake Okeechobee Waterway. You can access the waterway just west of at Stuart Fla. It cuts across the central part of the state and allows you to get to the west coast of Fla without going all the way down the east coast Florida through the Fla Keys and then head north. A bit of a short cut.

The lake is at the " iffy level" and we may not be able to go this way or at best it maybe a bit of a nail bitter with skinny water. Not our favorite thing. The current depth of route 1 is 7.6'. The lake and water levels are controlled by the US Arny Corps of Engineers.

  http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/h2o/reports/r-oke.html 

This is the beginning of the dry season so we may not see any significant rainfall in the watershed which is typically the northern part of the state. We may in fact continue to see modest declines.
If we are not able cross Lake Okeechobee, we will need to travel further south to Ft Lauderdale and Miami and then to Marathon Key, cutting north and up the west coast of Fla. This will add some time to the trip. Ultimately we are planning on going to Long Boat Key near Sarasota Fla.

We do not need to make this decision just yet but it is not looking good. This will affect our arrival plans and will require some adjustments. On the bright side of things we love the keys and if we go that way will certainly enjoy the warmer temperatures and tropical feel.