Trippin' with Susan Straley

It is Thursday, October 17, 2019 and I am writing this from a McDonalds in Key Largo, Florida. I like going new places and being surprised by new sights. I last wrote from a Starbucks in Miami.  Then I thought I only had one more night at the Everglades campground.  I was mistaken.   I had two. Kamp-rite Tent Cot I like sleeping in my tent cot.  I am outside so much.  If I wake up in the middle of the night I can see the stars and listen for any sounds. I expected the Everglades campsite to be full of sounds.  I expected a shrill of frog calls and the rustling of bushes and the rumble of gators.   Crickets, I heard crickets and an occasional air boat in the distance.  In the early mornings I heard trucks that seemed to thunder across the Everglades on the Tamiami Trail in the early morning hours.  I didn't see a lot of trucks when driving that road. The one downside... or maybe two, to sleeping in my tent cot.   Sometimes I wake up and there is no breeze.  I am

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 often I could not reply because the service ju

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 then used googlemaps.com t