Trippin' with Susan Straley

Greetings from the shade of my kitchen in Inverness, Florida, In two weeks Steve and I are flying to NY to watch the solar eclipse and visit his family.  This weekend they got seven inches of snow!   I can't remember if I purged my winter boots when I was cleaning out my storage or if they are stored up in Steve's attic.  I guess I will have to do some searching before I buy a pair.  We might even do some skiing or snow showing in the Adirondacs while we are there! As you can tell from the title of this post, we made it home from our bicycle ride.  I apologize to Steve, as I did not spend a lot of time planning this trip, I guess. And our motels turned out to be a lot further apart than I had expected.  We didn't always follow the Google path.  So we had three days in a row of higher than planned days.  50-ish.  And me on a new-to-me bike seat.  Let's just say, the pain made me wonder at times why I ever thought this would be fun. Steve was a great sport, though.  A rea

 Greeting from Lake Mary, Florida, Last night after I wrote to you, Steve and I walked the side walk and trail to the Honeysuckle.  There we ate dinner.  Bruce will be glad to know we broke our streak of bad luck picking places to dine.  This was yummy.  With spicey green beans, cornbread, black-eyed peas, steamed cabbage, and sweet potato tots for me and catfish and cheezy grits for Steve,   home style southern cooking. When we arrived back at the B&B it was all lit up.  Nice! I use Google maps with the bicycle level turned on to map our rides.  Most the time the routing is spot on.  But I had a hunch when we got to the end of the Spring To Spring Trail, that it was putting us on the road when it didn't need to.  But that was later in the day, let me start from the beginning.  We departed shortly after sunrise. It was a cold morning but by 9 am we were starting to peel off a layer. We encountered a group of cyclists doing another ride we want to do, the River to Sea Loop.  The

 Greetings from Mims, Florida. We got a late start on the drive over to Titusville.   I had Physical Therapy This morning ending after 10.  Then I had to go home, pack the last minute stuff and empty the trash and change clothes.  Then I drove through Inverness to go pick up Steve and his bike. Bruce was already at my place by the time we got back.  I had moved our meeting time to 12:30 and still it was tight.  But no matter, Bruce was relaxed and going with the flow. I had picked out a restaurant along the way to get lunch in Orlando.  It had outdoor seating and served breakfast all day.  But at two in the afternoon on a Wednesday they were packed.  We waited but didn't get waited on so we drove down the road a piece to Wendy's.  I ordered an apple pecan salad.  When it arrived it had chicken on it.  Lol.  They fixed it and told me they always put chicken on that salad.   We arrived in Titusville around 4:00.  Loaded up our bikes and went to the water front before heading to M

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... *** 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

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

I am at a park in Lockhaven, PA.  It's a gorgeous day, but I will have to move soon.  The playground/park where I am sitting doesn't have an electric plug in the shelter. I was going to write to you from the cafeteria at the University here.  After finding a place to park, I learned it was graduation day and now officially the summer season when the cafeteria is closed. So plan B was a stop at Wendy's for a breakfast sandwich and to a park with electricity.  Strike two. So much for that idea. I drove to town this morning because I have zero, zilch, nada cell service at (or anywhere near) the campground where I am staying. The good news is I am not a parent of young children right now.  As I write I am listening to and watching the parents of a two children, (three and four year old?) that are constantly fighting and having tantrums.  Thank goodness that stage of life is over, though I would have more patience at this age of my life than I did at 21... sorry Jeremy.  Now, I