Trippin' with Susan Straley

After dinner Joan wanted to visit the historic hotel.  While I pulled out my phone and tried to search, Joan zipped into a pet store and returned with answers much quicker than my internet search. I am learning a lot from her.  She just lights up when on a good tour day.  She meets lots of people on the trail and makes friends easily. Below is my letter to you.  But above it are some pictures out of place.  Sorry, iPhone editing issues. The first pictures below are supposed to be inserted where I talk about the Continental Divide.  See how the ride for Joan anI took a downhill turn a few miles before we arrived in Frostburg. Below I am looking down I one of the switchbacks I just rode up.  Dear Friends and Family, We have ridden by some lovely sites and arrived at campgrounds with wonderful surprises.   Ohiopyle to Frostburg was a long ride of 57 miles.  Though the sites were amazing I was pretty tired. The Great Allegheny Passage Rail Trail, GAP, in that area was a very gradual climb

Greetings! We went back in Ohiopyle.  This time by bike. And what an awesome ride!  Waterfalls and cliffs on the right, the Youghiogheny river down on the left.  Sometimes it was placid and sometimes the river was roaring.  And then it seemed all day perfect weather and a canopy of trees.  Across from the river was a busy train track.  If it came when I was in the right spot on a river bend, it sounded like it was roaring up behind me. I had a nice chat with a couple from Sacramento, California.   Along the trail was a memorial to the 239 men killed in a mining explosion.  As a result miners no longer wore open flames for light. A couple trees were down.! I was able to create ramps to rolle my heavy bike over them. We started on day one riding eight miles to the Pittsburgh mile marker about 150 mile.  Day 2 we passed mile marker 100. Painted tanks outside a cut glass shop. I was the first to roll out of the GAP Trail campground. I ride slower than Joan.  So sometime during the day she