Trippin' with Susan Straley

I am writing this from Starbucks in the Miami, Florida area on Monday, October 14, 2019. We are staying at the Midway Campground in the Everglades.  Located 1/2 way between Naples Florida and Miami.  The highway (highway 41) is called the Tamiami Trail.  It is named for the two cities it connects, Tampa and Miami. Jim McCrae said they are raising up Highway 41 in places so that the flat-flowing river that is the Everglades will be able to flow better.  So far the places being raised are on the Miami end.  I drove over them this morning. The campground has electric!  I am glad for that so I can cook my meals, make a morning coffee.  There is water at the bathroom.  The RV's don't have a sewer hookup or a dump station.  So their time here is limited. Also, being in the middle of a very large wilderness area, there is no cell service and no internet.  Once in a while my phone would ping and I would see a message come in.  Most ...

It is Saturday, October 12, 2019.  I am sitting in a... get this... two-story McDonalds in Fort Meyers. I don't think I have ever been in a multi-level McDonalds, except maybe in a big city like Chicago. I am here because... guess what... both my replacement cards arrived in the mail on Friday! I was greiving over the loss of my National Park pass and my State Park Pass that I was going to use on this trip.  When I was packing, I found them in  my purse!  Woo hoo! It was great to be home, but I am excited too to be taking this trip.  Camping in the Everglades has been on my bucket list.  As I am driving I am looking around for routes for biking this direction. This trip was meant to be.  When I contacted ATC hosts for the trip down and a different place back up, they both said, "Yes".  Easy peezy! I wasn't supposed to arrive until 7 p.m.  So when I got to Punta Gorda two hours early, I went to Anytime fitness, and ...

Hello, I am writing this on October 8, 2019.  It is a Tuesday and I am hoping to punch this out before I meet up with my bike group and ride on the wonderful Withlacoochee Trail today with friends. I left off the last post at Deep Creek Camp Ground near or on the edge of Smokey Mountains National Park.  Yesterday when I went by Dollywood in Tennessee I remembered driving through the area in 2017 when George and I were escaping Hurricane Irma.  This morning, after packing up in the dark, I drove toward Bryson.  We had stayed in Bryson a few nights as the storm blew through, following us all the way to Tennessee. I remembered going to a restaurant and getting a newspaper, but I was unable to sit and enjoy the newspaper because George couldn't sit still.  I wanted to return to that very restaurant, get a paper, and just sit for an hour or two because I can. I drove into town and passed the areas we had walked, the restaurant doesn't open until seven and i...