I’m in the final stages of publishing my first novel, The Esau Emergence. It’s been a steep learning curve, but worth every minute. I’ve retired from teaching middle school English to teach yoga part-time, be a stay at home mom (who knew teenagers needed you as much as two-year olds) and write full-time. Sure money is going to be tight. I’ve given up my little luxuries…wine club, wine club and wine club. I’ve given up some necessities…house cleaner. There’s nothing like waking up to face a day filled with meetings, appointments and a To Do list a little longer thanks to The Beard’s electronic access to my task list. It’s all good. I’m working at my passion, writing, though I’ve been struggling to find time to write! Putting together a book is so much more than just writing it.

Cover design, final edits, formatting….and that’s just getting the book to being a book. Now it’s marketing, branding, promotion. I’ve three more books in progress, this blog to develop and a company to manage. I’m having a blast! My bathroom isn’t clean, my laundry isn’t progressing and I’m squeezing an hour of writing here and there, but this is exciting! We’ve got a great book and it’s going out in the world. 

Amid all of this hustle and bustle my daughter has decided to move to L.A. We support this 100%. I’m going for my dream. How can I possibly tell my daughter not to take her own risk? My hubby observed that one of us needs to drive out to Cali with her, by someone he means me. I am the most recently self-employed so it makes sense that I’m the one who should go. This isn’t exactly bad news, I’m the road trip gypsy. Between the two of us, I’m the drive six hours a day, meander, gawk and enjoy. He’s the pedal to the metal, blow through as fast as we can get there type. This has presented challenges when planning family trips.

I agreed to do it on one condition… road trip! My head was buzzing with possibilities. Rather than blowing through the desert, I would meander, wander and write! This announcement caused some head holding and sighing. That’s normal for my husband when I shake up his sense of normal. Believe me, this concrete, engineering, anchored man has survived more. You should have seen his face when I asked if we could move the dishwasher from one side of the sink to the other. Who knew it was so complicated? He did.

Darling hubby had to process for a bit, but he came around. Especially when I suggested my Walkabout become a book tour. First thing was first, I started looking for accommodations. I’ve come to dislike hotels. Oh, we’ve stayed at some great places, particularly when the hubby and I are traveling alone. That isn’t the flavor of this trip. Nope, I wanted to camp out. Not quite pitching the tent camping, but a step up from that would be grand. My dream is to one day have a vintage Scotty Serro pull behind restored to comfort and kitschy. Or when I’m selling 20,000 books a year, an Airstream Bambi. I’ll make the Walkabout an annual event choosing different routes and folks to visit. I may have to upgrade to a Wrangler or perhaps a Toyota FJ….hmmmmm.

Finding a camper was a challenge. First, convincing hubby/The Beard that 1500.00 was a good investment in our future. Thank goodness our accountant gave the thumbs up on business expenses….not that the money miraculously appeared, but that we could indeed deduct the book tour as a valid expense. After stonewall after missed opportunity after “you’re kidding me”, my father, James L, desperately needed a project after three weeks with both my madre and grandmother for company, found exactly what we needed. A Coleman Dutchman 800 model pop up trailer. He’s been cleaning, fixing and generally sprucing up the little Dutchman.

Away we’ll go. Me, the dotter and my two girls….oh yeah, we have two 60 lbs “Border Collie/Boxer mixes” named Oona and Ascha. We’re pretty certain they’re Pit Bull mixes, but the minute you say Pit Bull folks go a bit wonky.  We adopted them from my cousin Jeane, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Long story….we also have a little blockhead named Fintan, but he’s too young and wobbly to go Walkabout.

The second leg of the route, I’ll be traveling solo having deposited the dotter in L.A. Hubby said he’d feel better if I had company. He can’t take time off from his day job. Two large, black mutts with foot long tongues should be company enough.

Wait! We’ve added my niece, Savannah, to the first leg of our trip. She’s actually my third cousin, the daughter of my second cousin and graphic artist extraordinaire, David. His mother and my mother are cousins….see it’s easier to say niece. It should be quite the adventure….oh yeah, I’m hoping to sell a few books along the way!