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There’s no place in Florida to adequately train for a bicycle ride up a long mountain trail like the spectacular climb to the Hai Van Pass in Vietnam. The ride takes you up 1,627 feet from nearly sea level, through a lush forest, to a windy overlook with photo-inspiring views of the South China Sea. The abandoned bunkers at the pass are sober reminders that French and then American soldiers fought there in the mid 20th Century.
I’ve felt a bit like a proud parent as I’ve watched more businesses and organizations in Lakeland include the abbreviation Lkld in their names and online identities.
LkldNow, the news website I founded, wasn’t the first; I believe LkldTV gets that honor. But I was there when some early Twitter adopters decided more than eight years ago to formalize use of #lkld to identify posts about Lakeland.
In Lakeland, the revolution might not be televised, but it will play out in social media.
There’s a push to replace the city’s council-manager form of government with a strong mayor system, and the people promoting it are using Facebook as a listening post to get feedback before they even offer a formal proposal.
Prominent journalists who worked with Rose Allegato shared memories of the dynamo reporter and editor in Bill Rufty’s touching obituary this week.
A lot more stories have been shared since then, and I understand more will be in The Ledger tomorrow. One of the most succinct and accurate descriptions of Rose came from Mary Loftus in a Facebook comment: “She was a fireball!”
Cheryl Nichols and other Sierra Club members from Polk County paddle the upper reaches of the Suwannee River.
There’s no “Welcome to Florida” sign on the Suwannee River. No message from Gov. Rick Scott saying Florida is “Open for Business.” And that’s probably appropriate. We saw no signs of commerce and few signs of other people last weekend on a 42-mile kayak trip that started at the river’s source at the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia.
I enter the woods;
Creation reveals itself;
My whole being sighs.
Sunday morning walk at Circle B Bar Reserve
After I left The Ledger in July, I had time for a trip I’d been wanting to take for several years. It seems several other people wanted to take it, too, and told me they enjoyed following my journeys on Facebook. Here are some highlights:
I'm a digital journalist and recovering newspaper guy who lives in Lakeland, Fla. more...© 2025 Barry I. Friedman
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