Trippin' with Susan Straley

 I got a bunch of firewood.  My camping neighbor, Judy was going to join me for chat by the fire this evening.  But... now the wood is covered with a blue tarp and I am sequestered inside my little camper as it rains and the day's light fades. Mother's Day, when I wrote you last, I also spent some hours writing for book three.  It is rough, I have lots more work, but I think it might be ready for some other eyes to read, mark up, make some suggestions for changes.   After a beta read through and re-hash, I will send to a professional editor.  It all takes time. If you would like to volunteer to be a Beta reader and provide constructive criticisms on content and flow and mark-ups on any punctuation or grammar mistakes, let me know.  I could print it out and send you a copy somewhere along my travels.     Later on Mother's Day I went for a drive and did some sightseeing.  It was too windy and rainy to go for a float on my new SUP. Only two miles from Davis Lake is the Owl Cre

 For those of you who have hooked up trailers to pull, you know that there are two satisfying sounds.   The first is when the cup receiver on the trailer slides down onto the ball of the hitch on your towing vehicle.  At first it was a scary sound for me, but after a few times the sound was cause for a mini-celebration, a pat on the back.   The second sound is when one pushes the latch into place.  There is a latch that slides under the ball to prevent the trailer cup from bouncing off the ball.  Sometimes I have gotten the first sound (the receiver engaged with the ball) but I couldn't get the latch to move into place. That has required me to wind the trailer back up off the ball in order to free the latch and try again. I am telling you all this technical stuff because this morning I thought I heard both good sounds.  I thought I saw that the ball and receiver were engaged.  I guess I was relying a bit more on the sounds because it was still dark out at 6:30 this morning when I w

Hello!   And greetings from the road! “In every walk with nature one receives much more than they seek” Two days before the launch of this trip I received a birthday card and gift from Bev.   We had met and became friends in Junior High School.   Bev makes jewelry and lots of other decorations.   She made me this necklace with the above saying on it.   What a wonderful launch to my trip! The night before launch I attended two COVID-Style Happy Hours.   I got and gave physical-distance hugs and well wishes.   I looked around for a good tree to hug, my body and heart yearning to give the comfort and connection that only comes from a good hug.   The only trees were too skinny to get a good hug. I was so glad to hear that Debra would have an experienced camper with her on her first night out in her Weeroll.  I was sad to be missing that experience with her.  She and I wanted to camp together but between COVID closings and her family visiting, it just never ha