Riding Coast To Coast... Almost

This was written several days ago, but I just discovered on 3/23/24 that my email program wasnt notifying my friends and family and fans!  What a bummer!  

If you rely on the emails, and you want to know what has been going on since December, go to the archives at www.susanstraley.com and look up January and February posts.  I have been having some good times!

But this is about a few days ago when we were about to depart on a bicycle tour...

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3/20/2024

Greetings from Inverness, Florida

I am up early.  I can't sleep.  I wanted to write a short note to you and some other important stuff.

We will see if I can keep it short, LOL.

Today, a friend is driving my truck and Steve and I and our bicycles to Titusville, Florida over on the East Coast (east of Orlando).

Bruce (our triking friend) will drop us off and Steve and I will start riding back toward my Weeroll in Inverness via (mostly) the Coast to Coast Trail.  The Coast to Coast Trail isn't completed yet, so we will be riding a lot of trail, but in some places we will be riding some roads.   

This is a credit card tour.  That means we will stay in motels and B & B's instead of hauling out tents and sleeping bags.  It is more expensive, but easier and lighter than a camping style tour.  Plus, I don't like sleeping on the ground in Florida.  There are fire ants and snakes and oh my!

We are breaking a rule. I have a brand new bicycle!

The rule is, never start a tour with un-tried equipment.  I tried my new bicycle yesterday on a 32 mile ride.  That's it.  

It is a Trek FX2, an e-assist bicycle with step through.  This picture was taken just outside the Trek store yesterday.  I then rode it to Wallace Brooks park to start our group ride.  I rode it about 32 miles.  So I did try it.  

We were going to put a new rack on it last night for hauling stuff, but the installation is more complex than we anticipated, so I am using the factory rack with a limit of 50 lbs.  I should be ok, especially on a Credit Card Tour, no food, no tent, no air mattress, no sleeping bag.  Instead I packed a swim suit in case one of the motels has a pool.

Well, that's it.  I just wanted to let you know what I am up to.

Oh, one more wrench in the game.  Last week, my credit card was compromised.  I just got my new credit card yesterday and activated it.  This morning (at three a.m.) I was trying to update the card on different accounts that have auto-pay.  Frustrating but I logged into Georges old Sun pass account by mistake, and added money to it.  Stupid! I then got into my current E-Pass account and was able to add money to that.  

I will have to fix payment error when we get back.  Then after multiple attempts to log-in to Verizon, Verizon locked me out.  my phone seems to be working. You may or may not hear from me on our trip.  

Our trip will be short, we should be back in Inverness late on Friday... though it is supposed to rain and storm that day.  (Which reminds me I should pack something to protect the electronics on my bicycle from being drenched.

Who knows, we may decide to stay put a day.  We'll see.

Be well and prosper.