Trippin' with Susan Straley

Hello!  The weather is crazy, I hope you are safe and well. Before I get to telling you where we are and what is going in, I have to tell you a story that I forgot to share last time. The 3% grade up to the tunnels on the Elroy Sparta trail isnt steep but it can be long.  To avoid bordom, I pulled up one of my audio books on my phone and let it play.  The book I was listening to was Demon Copperhead .  It was recommended by a Sister on the Fly.  So far it is about a boy put into the foster care system. I don't have my headphones with me.  I just play the book. The trail wasn't busy.  Steve was riding well ahead of me most of the hill. Anyway, when I reach the Tunnel I dismount, turn on my bike lights, and start walking my bike through the tunnel.  I must have been deep into the tunnel because it was very dark when I noticed I had forgotten to turn off the book. You can imagine as I get into the tunnel how the narration is reverberating off the walls and seems quite loud.  But i

  We did the Elroy Spart Trail from Sparta to Elroy. After I wrote to you from Subway,  we continued on to Sparta where the LaCrosse Trail meets up with the Elroy Sparta Trail. There is a bicycle and space museum in Sparta.  We arrived at closing time.  The clerk let us look around the first floor, but didn't let us upstairs where all the bicycle and space stuff is. There were some neat displays though, like this wheel that you turn to see the rails turn to trails. We found a hispanic convenience store and got something cold amd something salty to share at our campsite. We camped at the DNR walk-in campground.  It had a lot of poison ivy, even in the mowed parts.  We kept our eyes open and had to move our tent once we noticed some right outside our door. We washed up at the water fountain/bubbler. It was still warm and humid when we ate supper in the dark. I didn't sleep well.   So the next morning, I struggled to keep my thoughts positive.  I got up early and biked into Sparta

 The early signs this morning were not boding well. i dropped my deoderant and it busted.  Fortu ately I had my full size one in the car that was still with us. I had my first biking-day outfit in a baggie.  I whipped out my pink shirt to discover it was a pink nighty, not a shirt!  Omg!  I debated about wearing it...  but it would not protect me from the sun. Fortunately a dig deep into my clothing stuff bag, I found I had packed a different pink shirt.  Perfect!   I woke with a decision on the shoes.  I am wearing my Chaco sandals.  Good for biking and the shower and walking.  Most days will be in the 90s.  So sandals will do nicely. We got all packed up and Steve was about to take a picture of our bikes when a woman walking by offered to take our picture! When you have your bikes fully loaded people are friendlier. We started to roll.  Happy happy!  A few stops to adjust gear.  I was thinking we'd have to take a hilly road to get to the trail, but the Great River Bicycle Trail i

Today we drove to Perrot State Park north of La Crosse, Wisconsin.  A bit ago, Steve got his first view of the Mississippi River.  Back in NY he took me kayaking on the Hudson River.  I had never seen the Hudson. It took us a while to set up camp.  The main reason was i couldnt decide what shoes to bring on the bike tour.  It is supposed to be in the 90s during the day, 60s at night. We are now at the Trempeleau Hotel getting dinner. Last night we had a nice dinner at CTs deli in Rhinelander with my sister and her husband.  When we got back to camp I was very tired and a bit drunk on one beer.  In bed before 10 I was wide awake at midnight.  A peek out the window showed we had a clear starry night. We got dressed and went out to watch the night.  We saw the milky way and a couple of meteors.  Lovely! Til next time, enjoy your moments.

 Today I am reminded of one of comedian George Carlin's skits.   He talks about all our stuff.   We have to have places to put our stuff and things to put our stuff on.  And when we go on a trip we have to decide which stuff to take with us.  We put that stuff in a smaller container and off we go.  But then when we get there we decide to take a short trip somewhere.  Maybe we are going for the day, or a few days.  Now we have to decide what items from our smaller array of stuff to take on this excursion. That is us today, as we begin packing for our first tent and bike tour together.  Currently we are near Rhinelander,WI, home of the Hodag. On Friday, we leave our trailers behind and drive one truck to Trempeleau, WI.   There we camp for one night and then off we go on our bicycles toward Madison.  It should be lots of fun with a little bit of misery mixed in.  It wouldn't be an adventure without some challenges. I hope to post often and short little snippets.  So watch for tha