Boy, was I looking forward to this! Freedom! To travel anywhere and everywhere in the Paddy Wagon to promote The Memory of Cotton. We recently returned home from a 9-day book tour/road trip and I’m still tingly with excitement.
First stop: Philadelphia, PA
Chestnut Hill is a delightful neighborhood in northwest Philadelphia where we met my long time editor/literary consultant, Anne Dubuisson, for dinner on the evening before my event at Booked, the local bookshop. It was great to finally meet Anne in person and talk about writing, books, and life. The next day, Booked owner, Debbie Gress put out a wonderful spread of wine and cheese and welcomed patrons to hear me talk about The Memory of Cotton and what inspired me to write this story. Thank you, Debbie and Anne, for inviting me, spreading the word, and also allowing Maya to politely sit with Pat in the audience.
This was our first experience bookdocking on a city street. We checked all the local regulations to make sure we could park overnight across the street from Wissahickon Valley Park, which had some great hiking trails. The first night we parked on a busy street close to one of the trailheads. Since it was a little noisy, we scooted up a half block on a side street for the second night, which was much more quiet and peaceful.
Next stop: Lynchburg, VA
One of the biggest highlights of this trip was meeting my publisher, Susannah Smith, with Propertius Press. It was a treat to not only have lunch with her but she also gave us a personal tour of local Riverside Park, which has historic significance. We saw the remnants of the hull of the packet boat that carried Stonewall Jackson’s body back to Lexington, Virginia after his death by friendly fire in 1863. I’m also rooting for the old swimming pool site to be designated as a historic landmark that will tell the unflinching story of how a reminder of a segregated past can be transformed into a symbol of peace, hope, and acceptance.
The main branch of the Lynchburg Public Library, where my next event took place, is located in a building that used to be a Sears store, which makes it big and full of beautiful books. Many thanks to youth librarian, Berkley Simmons, for putting out drinks, snacks, and chairs for the library patrons who came, listened, and asked great questions about The Memory of Cotton.
We were in Lynchburg for three nights. The first night we stayed about 45 minutes north of Lynchburg at a dispersed camping site in the Washington and Jefferson National Forest, which was very close to the Appalachian Trail, where we were able to hike 5 miles up and back.
To be closer to the library, we camped the second night at a Harvest Host venue, Apocalypse Ale Works, where we sat outside on the patio with Maya, enjoyed some craft beer, and watched small children, who were part of a wedding party, play hide and seek among the tables, chairs and stairs.
After my library event, we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway and found another Appalachian Trail trailhead, so we got to go for another hike before it got dark. Then we went back to the same dirt road in the National Forest to camp for the night. This time, it was a Friday night so most of the informal campsites were already taken, but we found one off the road where we hunkered down for the night.
Next stop: Williamsburg, Virginia
Since we were in the vicinity, Pat and I wanted to spend a few days visiting Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, places that we had never seen before. Since Maya was with us, we weren’t allowed to go into any of the historic buildings on this trip, but we walked and learned a lot.
We had reservations at a Williamsburg hotel, courtesy of a timeshare company that paid for our stay (and for which we dutifully attended their 2-hour presentation) but when I had called the hotel ahead of time, I learned that it was not “dog-friendly.”
So, raise your hand if you have ever slept in your car in a hotel parking lot.
We have! We have!
I’m pretty sure they were onto us. The hotel groundskeeper looked askance, like he knew we were sleeping in the van at night. But hey! We still got a hot breakfast every morning and got to take a hot shower. Pat even mussed up the bed to make it look like we had slept in it. To be honest, we were perfectly comfortable hanging out all night in the hotel parking lot. And we truly enjoyed visiting these historic places.
After living in the van for over a week, we needed to head home in time for our next granddaughter babysitting gig (hooray!!) Driving back, we stopped for a break in Middletown, Virginia and discovered that we happened to be there on the 158th anniversary of the Cedar Creek Battle in 1864, which was the last Civil War battle in the Shenandoah Valley.
How cool is that?
We hiked around the battle field then spent a few hours taking the Auto Tour, for which the National Park Service provides a free audio. It was fascinating to visualize the battle where the shocked and greatly outnumbered Vermont regiment held off the Confederates for a half hour, which proved to be crucial for the Union’s General Sheridan, who was on his way to Washington DC for a war council and had to rush back to Middletown to save the day.
The 3 hours we spent at Cedar Creek was worth every minute of drama.
We are back home now after spending time with our baby granddaughter, so I am happy, grateful, and ready for another book tour. Next up… here is a picture of our gas tank lying on the ground beside the van before Pat installed an Espar heater, which meant he had to cut a hole in the bottom of the van and the gas tank. I couldn’t watch.
One Comment
Absolutely awesome and exciting for you!! A book tour!! Yippee and congratulations. I’ve had a few “gigs” but nothing out of town yet. So happy for you and once again enjoyed the van antics.