Trippin' with Susan Straley

September 20, 2023 Today I noticed that the blog posts from our travels in August and September arrived in your inbox out of order.  Whoops! Hopefully you figured it out when the last two arrived out of order. I had wrote that you probably would not hear from me until we returned to Florida in November.  But, again as usual, things happen differently than we plan.   We decided once we got to Steve's house that it would be rushing ourselves to spend over 10 days riding the GAP trail and the C&O trail before we head to Florida.   We were ready to be in one place for a while.  So we canceled our bike trip! I don't have regrets.  I am hoping we will do at least the GAP trail in a couple years. In one place, we can attend to banking and washing our trucks and trailers and getting the yard ready for Steve's absence over the winter and next summer. And be here to visit his fun mother who is having health problems. We are planning on fun while we are here too.  Maybe a two day

Greetings from Virginia! First... we were in South Carolina. We stayed a few days at Hunting Island State Park campground. While there we drove about 25 miles to the Spanish Moss Trail.  Googlemaps directed us wrong, but we found the trailhead anyway. We biked the Spanish Moss trail through the low country where we could look out over tidal grass lands and estuaries.  The trail is about 11 miles long giving us a 22 mile ride or so. On our way back past this downed tree we met a man who told us he had just walked past that place the day before, when it was windy and rainy.  The tree came crashing down behind him just after he passed! The tree we identified using our phones as a sweet gum tree. We stood quite a while chatting with him.  He was quite interesting.   I asked if he was from the area.  He said he grew up in New York and his parents sent him down to his grandparents every summer to keep him out of trouble.   His grand parents had a little farm with chickens and goats.  He bega

 Greetings from Inverness, Florida. I have sooo many stories to tell.  So much fun to share.  But I will save you from yawns by telling you only two of  (what I think) are the best. Blessed If you have been reading these letters for over five years, you will remember this. These pictures are of George's trike when I had it for sale in 2017.  He won first prize at a Catrike Rally for the lovely paint job on his trike. He was active on the recumbent chats online.  His alias was Whitecat on Bentrideronline.com. His first Catrike was white.  But then he had this Catrike Expedition custom painted by a motorcycle painter in Tampa. In 2017, George's dementia had progressed and George could no longer ride it.  We were getting a tandem trike to ride.  (Which is another awesome miracle/blessing story.  I wrote about that in The Journey Continues: Alzheimer's Trippin' With George .). I sold George's trike to friends Kim and Bill.  They are Windemere neighbors and Kim is the da

 Hello, I am so so grateful to be healthy and feeling so so blessed with the wonderful people that surround me. The photo below was taken by John L. on my first ride back with the Withlacoochee Bicycle Riders.  I thought I looked pretty spiffy and happy.  So of course I am going to share it with you. Hurricane Ian Help Hey, it isn't too late if you want to join in the effort to clear some places for the people affected by Hurricane Ian.   I am leaving here on Saturday, Nov. 5th, to go to Fort Myers where I will camp for six or so days.  If you so inclined and want to join us for a day or two or all six, let me know!  You have to have your own lodging though, or a self-sufficient camper.  I have a place for you to park a camper while helping out. Steve is volunteering also,  He is bringing a couple chain saws and laupers and rakes.  I have never operated a chain saw, this should be interesting!  We will see what we are getting into when we get there. Whatever it takes.   I went to t