Hard to believe I’ve been on the road for almost a month.
But I’ve landed now and will be in one place for at least a month, so it’s time
to catch up the blog and tell you about my trip.
Quinne still wasn’t completely convinced that I could drive
two or three hundred miles without needing help, so I gladly accepted her
suggestion that she ride with me to Spokane when I left on November 15th. We
had a good time and talked a lot as we drove across the state, even though the
fog for the last fifty miles was pretty intense.
Colleen and Doug welcomed me to their house with a glass of
wine and a special shopping trip to Cabela’s, then went with me out to camp to
get my trailer ready to roll. Don’t know what I’d do without friends like
these.
And after greeting many friends at Sun Meadow, I was finally
ready to leave late Sunday morning the 17th. It was the first time the trailer
had been hitched up in over six months! And yes, I remembered to put the handrail
in and didn’t drive off with it sticking out.
Five days later, I beat the storm front to Mt. Shasta and
made my way down into the California valley where it stayed nice and warm and
sunny for the duration of my time in California.
I guess this is what I missed a few days later. I-5 was
closed due to snow on the pass into Oregon. I was snug and warm in a camp near
Arizona.
The trip across the mountain passes on I-40 was no problem
as the weather hadn’t hit there yet. I understand that it’s difficult to
maintain roads, but seeing a sign that said “Rough road next 50 miles” really
made me think they’d just given up. That was west of Flagstaff. East of
Flagstaff was no big problem. I had to stop in Winslow, AZ to take it easy for a bit. I sailed right on into New Mexico. Leaving
Gallup, NM after the least satisfactory breakfast I’ve ever had at a Cracker
Barrel, I was hit by a gust of wind so strong that I thought I’d blown a tire.
The wind stayed gusty all the way across the state and on the 26th when I got
to Clovis, I just hunkered down in the trailer and waited.
The next day was bright and clear and I sailed the last 60
miles into Littlefield to spend Thanksgiving with sister Sharon and family. Of
course, that night we got hit by an ice storm and three days of fog, so we were
careful driving into Lubbock. That Julia can sure bake a pie! Got this snap of
Sharon with her daughters Julia and Kara. Too bad Jamie lives so far away.
Monday December 2nd, I was packed up and ready for the last
segment of this journey. I got into Amarillo and had a burger at the Big Texan,
then spent a couple of days at Oaklake Trails Resort in Depew, Oklahoma before
I pulled into Claremore on the 6th. Got here in good time to get a spot at the
KOA for a month and make it to the Holiday Book Fair at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center in Tulsa on Saturday.
Of course, selling a book at the fair wasn’t what made the
3,000-mile journey worthwhile. It was wrapping my arms around Amy that brought
a smile to my face. We’ll be celebrating the holiday together and that’s good
news. I’m ready for winter now!
I won’t go into a progress report on writing and editing.
Suffice it to say that I finished the first draft of American Royalty 1:
Coming of Age and am expecting a big edit and design job coming in
tomorrow. I’ll have a lot more to say about these projects next time. For today…
“That’s all folks!”
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