LaBelle

LaBelle, FL
No LL

Have a look at my pictures of LaBelle. Here are some interesting things about the photos.

• It is "old Florida" but somewhat spoiled by the intrusion of national chain stores and restaurants.
  
  
• At the laundromat, Libby found that all the customer except her were migrant field workers. She doesn't speak Spanish and felt uncomfortable.
  
  
• You can recieve final judgment at the First Baptist Church, but reservations are required. However, if you do have a reservation it is done in only 59 minutes, or 59 ministers; it isn't clear which. (See the picture)
  
  
• Car and truck traffic here is heavy. To be fair though, there are not many bridges over the river, so traffic from miles around is funneled here.
  
  
• Huge trucks full of oranges pass by here. One every 5 minutes.
  
  
• School buses (see the picture) transport the field workers. They have drinking water barrels on the back and bulletin boards with legal notices to employees on the sides. Sounds like the buses are a focal point of community for those workers.
  
  
• The abandoned boat is juicy local gossip. Note in the picture that the boat has two masts and that the front one is angled back at a strange angle. It seems that the owner of this boat decided to come through the draw bridge one night when the operator was not there to open it. He plowed through under full power until the mast bent enough to get him under. Then the owner left the boat here, disappeared, and hasn't been seen since.