Trippin' with Susan Straley

Hi, It's been a full and relaxing couple of days since I last wrote to you. I was going to write to you yesterday morning, but the power was out.  Really, it was out for some tree-cutting work.  This is not one of those, "the dog ate my homework" excuses, really.  The power folks told us the power was going to come back on at 10 a.m.  Of course it was at least an hour later, by then I was hungry for lunch.  Then it was time to explore and then it was time to visit with folks.  So, let me fill you in on what I have been up to doing. As you recall I spent the night at Evergreen Club hosts in Greenville, North Carolina.  They had a nice place and they were interesting. Their profile said they were active in the church.  We talked about the devastation in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian.  They said they do mission work with their church going in after a disaster like this one, removing mud, removing wet dry-wall, helping with the c...

Saturday, September 7, 2019 Hi, What do you like about travel?  I have always loved coming across the unexpected.  Arriving by bicycle into a neighborhood that is having a funky festival with music and fun.  The joy I feel after a bear crosses the road in front of us, or we see a unique piece of folk-art. But I also like the little tidbits of learning.  That's also why I love podcasts.  I love learning a part of history I didn't know before, being blown away by the feat of a person or towns people.  I got a little bit of that today, I hope it is just a peek at the fun moments to come on this trip. I turned off the route to find a place to get coffee.  I haven't been making my coffee in the morning yet.  Just getting up and packing and heading out.  So I turned off the route and headed into Abbeville. I was first delighted to find a lovely town square surrounded by well-kept colorful old buildings.    The Courthou...

Friday and Saturday, September 6th and 7th, 2019 Hi, Friday night I had no reservations and didn’t know where I would land. Some people love that. Me, I was worried.  It was a Friday night,  a time of festivals, concerts,  fairs and sold out camping areas. I drove the back roads heading toward Greenville. I had stopped at a McDonalds to get access to Wifi and blog.  After that, I didn't get very far and I saw an Anytime Fitness and stopped in to work out. I was aiming for a state park just north of Greenville, South Carolina.  It was 5 hours away at least, according to Googlemaps.com When I stopped for lunch I gave the campground a call to see if there were any sites.  They had 7 tent sites available but they would not save let me reserve one. When I told them I would probably be there after 5, they said the sites would not still be available, there was music in the park this weekend, it was filling up. I looked for motels in t...

Good morning!   A few friends have posted some unbelievable photos of sunsets after the hurricane past.  Bright red, and they assure me the pictures are NOT enhanced. This is my sunrise this morning. I have met a few people who say they don't like to travel. They don't like the mess of getting there, the air flight, the packing, the checking in. And some don't like it because when they are gone they worry about their stuff or their people back home. So why go? This is my exploratory trip to see if I like travel.  I am doing three different kind of trips this fall. On this trip I will be traveling for a full month in my Chrysler Town and Country mini van.  Trying out camping, staying with family and friends, tasting how far I like driving in a day, eat out vs picnic. Day one I only went 200 miles.  But it took all day long! I left after 9:00 a.m.   I would have left earlier, but I had to wash the sheets.  I h...

Hi, That's what I want to know, does the sky look different when a hurricane is just a few hundred miles away? Earlier this week it seemed strange, a fog, it was above us... maybe you would call that low-hanging clouds. And now the glows seem to move fast and there is a wind, but that could be normal. We are the fortunate ones.  Just out of the danger range.  One county over, the schools are closed so they can remain open as storm shelters for those escaping Hurricane Dorian. Hurricanes are relatively new to me.  Born and raised in the Midwest, the tornadoes would come and go in a matter of minutes.  Here, we start watching the storms form over by Africa and talking about the chances of it coming our way.  And then Hurricane Dorian lost the push of high-pressure behind it so we were expecting it to hit on Sunday, then Monday, then Tuesday.  In the meantime I have hauled plants into the house outdoor furniture to keep if from flying around and da...