Hi Steve,
Great stories. My Grandmother had a home in St. Cloud. From 1960 when I was 9 years old I would have my father drive me to Lake X hoping to get in. Instead we would only have the guard at the gate take our picture. Every year I would drive buy but it was never open to the public. My uncle was fortunate enough to visit one year when it was open to the public. He said it was the only time it was ever open to the public. Good timing on his part. He took some movie pictures (8mm no sound) and they were great. When I went to college in 70-72 I was hoping to get a job on weekends at Lake X. My Grendmothers neighbor was a race driver for Carl. I got to check out the boat when he ran the race arount Long Island. He said he could get me a job just driving the lake but unfortunately just at that time a high school age driver fell asleep while driving on the lake and was killed so they stopped using students. That is what I was told anyway. I always hoped to get a view of Lake X.
This past April we visited St Could again. Had not been back to Fla for 10 years. Took a ride down Melbourne Hwy to see what Lake X looked like now but the road was blocked off before you could get to Lake X. I was told it was sold. Hated to hear that. I am 56 now.
Thanks,
Tom