2978 miles to summer

Posted on July 2, 2013 by is there any more pie?

We made it.  The Road Trip is officially over, having arrived here at the lake at 5:45 PM Pacific Time.

Everything is beautiful.  Nothing has changed.  Hello, Lake!  Every year I try not to cry when we arrive.  I feel so lucky to have been given another summer  here.  I am so lucky that such a place exists and we actually get to spend long, gorgeous days here with our family (Banjo Man’s siblings, niece, nephew and grandnephews are coming for the 4th of July weekend) and our friends.

I cannot wait to see my friends!    We decorate the 4th of July float on the 3rd, then have a brief band practice.  Hopefully the 4th will be a bit cooler than the heat-wave temps that have it the Northwest.

We started out from Livingstown at 8:15.  Stayed in a Super 8 last night that was surprisingly nice.  Then we drove through the Judith Basin on Highway 200 to Great Falls. We were amazed at how big Montana is.  We’d seen a lot of country we hadn’t seen from the interstate and it was impressive and beautiful.  Wheat fields, hay fields, cattle, horses…and a huge blue sky.

I’m going to be at 8:30 and plan to sleep 12 hours.  Good night!

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june 30, 2009

Posted on June 30, 2013 by is there any more pie?

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We’re still having fun on the road!

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620 miles, research included

Posted on June 30, 2013 by is there any more pie?

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We covered some miles today! We left South Dakota before 7 am and traveled through Wyoming and Montana, to Billings. Then the real fun started: researching the books! I’ve written two in a series of three (and maybe more) about a very small town in central Montana, a town that is dying and trying to save itself.

If this sounds like a serious subject, well, it’s not. It’s pure romantic comedy and has no basis in reality.

In order to get the right combination of roads, weather, ranches, etc. I found the town of Winifred, MT on a map and used it as a setting.

So late this afternoon, after getting a hotel room in Lewistown, we headed 35 miles north to see Winifred for ourselves.

This isn’t Winifred.  But I thought it was a cool photo.

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This is Winifred. The people here made us feel so welcome and were so friendly and kind. Turns out the town is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Winifred deserves its own blog post, so I’ll save it for a time when I’m not about to go to bed!

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speeding up, 588 miles further west

Posted on June 30, 2013 by is there any more pie?

We’re in South Dakota, in a Best Western filled with families.  Everyone looks like they’re having a good time with Mom and Dad on the Summer Road Trip.  Hurray for the pool!

It’s easy to remember those days.  “Are we there yet?” “When can we go swimming?”  “I have to go to the bathroom!”

Banjo Man and I have finally figured out how to travel together with minimum stress:

We don’t eat together.  Instead we each eat when we’re hungry, and we eat where we want.  We ate our first meal together today, which was lunch in a gift shop in Bancroft, Nebraska.

(The fact that we were from Rhode Island caused quite a stir in the little restaurant, which wasn’t advertised as a restaurant but was a gift shop.)

 I like to eat a protein bar in the car and not waste time in restaurants.  Banjo Man likes to stop, explore, eat the “daily special”, etc.  He also likes to go to the local grocery stores and buy fruit and snacks.   He enjoys the free breakfast in the hotel; I just want to take a cup of coffee on the road and get in the car.

We no longer make comments about each other’s strange eating habits.

First stop of the day:

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I think this was in Iowa.  But very close to Nebraska.  I bought a cup of coffee and a Nebraska football magazine.

Second stop of the day, in Bancroft, Nebraska:
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If you enjoy reading about the history of the North American Indians, then you’ll recognize the name. His most famous book was BLACK ELK SPEAKS.

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Downtown Bancroft.

2013-06-29 062South Dakota and a glimpse of the Badlands.

Wyoming and Montana tomorrow.

 

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490 miles, somewhere in iowa

Posted on June 28, 2013 by is there any more pie?

THE BOOK IS DONE!!!!

At least, for now.  It is too short (according to my editor’s email tonight) and will no doubt need revisions, but…it’s pretty much finished.  The worst is over.

I finished it at 10:22 AM.  We were on the road at 11:10 AM.

Here’s my Hampton Inn office.

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2013-06-28 001This is what a book looks like when it’s done. Check out the blank screen! I was so happy to turn off the computer.

Banjo Man did indeed buy a shirt at the outlet mall yesterday.  I knew he would.   While I can look at old vintage stuff all day long, put me in a shopping mall and I am immediately bored, overwhelmed and hyperventilating.

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Except for Kohl’s.  Kohl’s is good.

I wish I had interesting travel stories to tell you, but Iowa isn’t that exciting.  Neither are Indiana or Illinois.

This morning while I stood by the car waiting for Banjo Man at the hotel, I saw a pick up truck pull over on the side of the road.  A man got out, walked over to the grass, and picked up a huge turtle by its tail.  He then put it in the bed of his truck and drove away.   I think the turtle was dead.  The body was as big as my laptop screen.  I love turtles, always have, but that’s another story.  What I wonder…..

Is disposing of dead turtles a job in Indiana?

Or is it strictly a volunteer, roadside-clean-up kind of activity?

A hobby?  Dead Turtle Collector.

Lunch?

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318 miles and the butt hut

Posted on June 27, 2013 by is there any more pie?

We just drove past a store called “The Butt Hut”.  According to the giant sign on the roof, it’s a cigarette and beer outlet store.

I’ll bet it smells really good in there.

I would have stopped to take a picture, but we were a little lost and I was manning the GPS system, which decided to work again the second we crossed the border into Ohio.

That was a happy moment.

We set a new record today: we were on the road at 6:50 AM.

Does the phrase “torrential rain” ring a bell?

I was so glad Banjo Man was driving.

We ate lunch in a “barn” near a historic village touristy place.  It  was a buffet.

I am not a fan of buffets in restaurants.  And we sat right next to the buffet, so I saw a number of adults and children do things that would cause food poisoning.  It was not a fun lunch.  Banjo Man hustled me out of there before my head exploded.  I so do not need food poisoning on the last day of finishing my book before my contracts are torn up and my name is cursed by all of the Editor Gods and Goddesses.

Banjo Man thinks I am very odd.  He loves restaurant buffets, but I ruined this one for him.

We stopped at our hotel at 2 pm, another world record.  This time we have a cute suite, which sounds fancier than it is, but it has a separate little room with a table and a sofa bed and the microwave.  I am so happy.  I have ice water and little cookies from the vending machine.  I am writing the Last Chapter.

Banjo Man has gone to the outlet mall.

I know he will come back to the hotel with a new shirt.   If he does, I will take a picture of it.

In the meantime, I’m going back to the book…

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151 miles today but who’s counting

Posted on June 26, 2013 by is there any more pie?

Big day on the road.

Not.

If I don’t finish my book by Friday morning, I might as well retire again because my editor will have lost all patience and torn up my contracts.

So we stopped traveling early today, so I could work.  Last night’s 11 PM bedtime, after a dark and stormy night on the road, must not be repeated.  Because I will cry.

I wrote all morning.  Banjo Man had business meetings.

Fact:  Writing used to be a lot easier.

So tonight Banjo Man and I are thrilled to be in a beautiful Holiday Inn just off I-80.  We have a pretty little room with a door onto a huge indoor courtyard and a pool.  I’m getting a French Quarter/New Orleans vibe.

Banjo Man is getting a Subway sandwich.

Fact:  Banjo Man has more energy than I do.

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350 miles

Posted on June 25, 2013 by is there any more pie?

350 miles is how far we drove this afternoon and this evening.

We got a late start.

Brief recap:  Rhode Island, heat, humidity, sunshine, Connecticut, Wendy’s, New York, Pennsylvania, rain, dark, storm, Wendy’s, lightning, lightning, lightning, low on gas, dark roads, rainy night, GPS not working, happy happy happy in a Best Western.

Glad we missed stopping here:  Clyde Feelings’ REPTILAND.

Sorry we missed it???:  Serenity Massages.

Banjo Man has business meetings tomorrow morning.  I will hole up here in the hotel and write, write, write.  Who knows how many miles we’ll travel tomorrow!

 

 

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where or when

Posted on June 25, 2013 by is there any more pie?

I don’t know exactly when we’re leaving on our road trip.  I don’t know where we’ll spend the night tonight.

Banjo Man and I are incredibly busy with work.  We thought we would get on the road at 5 AM Sunday morning.  We would pack the car in an organized and methodical fashion the night before.  We had our AAA books, our GPS system charged up, our meals planned (fruit smoothies in the hotel room for dinner each night), our sightseeing routed.  Each bag would be color-coordinated.  We would sail down the road in a neat and organized manner.

Well, that didn’t work.

So we decided we would leave Sunday afternoon, what the heck.  Banjo Man returned to his office.  I returned to mine.

That didn’t work either.  Okay.   We’d leave early Monday!

Monday morning we were still not packed.  Not even close.  I still had pages to write to finish the book.  Banjo Man had to deal with the stock market.

Would we leave Monday afternoon maybe?  Nope.

Were we too busy to care?  Yep.

So now we will leave today, we hope.   The plan is to get in the car together, with all of our stuff, at some time in the afternoon.  Our “packing the car” plan is now reduced to a “shove it all in and we’ll repack it somewhere along the way” plan.

Those of you who know me well know that this is not my style.  I have maps.  I have schedules. I know where I am going.  I have lists and notes and Mapquest.

Well, I am a writer now.  I know nothing else but getting the book done.   I am on the last miles of the marathon to The End.  I am intently putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to fall down in a heap on the side of the road.  I don’t smell good.

I have not appeared in the kitchen, clapped my hands and announced, “Let’s get this show on the road!”

So…no sightseeing.  No Zane Grey museum.  No Chickie Williams grave.  No art museums or Diners, Drive Ins and Dives excursions.  But that’s fine, because if we ever get on the road we’re heading west and we’ll be damned happy about it!

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Posted in personal female whining, rhode island, road trip, writing | 2 Comments

baby love, oh baby love

Posted on June 24, 2013 by is there any more pie?

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I crawled out of my office Friday because I was invited to visit Sam the Man.  Once I held this sweet little baby the stress of the week drained away.  The world disappeared and there I sat, talking to little Sam and laughing at his cute facial expressions.  He ate and burped and spit up and napped and snored.

I may have napped and snored myself.  I know I closed my eyes for a…while.

Thanks, Jeff and Angela, for sharing!

 

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