Howdy do! I have returned from my hiatus, or rather I should say my vacation, somewhat refreshed and recharged. For those of you who might have missed my response to Arlee Bird's comment on a post from three weeks ago, I was on vacation. I started prepping the week of June 26th and left on July 2nd.
The main stop on the road trip was Cooperstown, NY to check the Baseball Hall Of Fame. That was followed by the mother-in-law of all road trips, in which we drove 1967.2 miles round trip and visited in the following order: Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.
I'll talk more about the road trip in the coming weeks, but I want to leave you with a few impressions that were made onto me during my vaca:
- No matter what Golden Arches you may visit in these 50 States, you will always find a group of men above the age of 55 gossiping.
- Cigarettes are roughly 50% off the list price for cigs in Connecticut (roughly $10 per pack here).
- Shell gas stations are beyond a shadow of a doubt, the scuzziest, slimiest, filthiest places that I've ever had the misfortune of stopping at.
- Even when the speed limit is 75, people still sped.
About a week before I left, Kellie Dennis at Book Cover By Design, finished my book cover for my short story anthology What Is Life?. And I have to say that I am seriously impressed with it.
"What Is Life?" is the eternal question that we all seek an answer to. This four act play tries to answer that eternal question with stories that weave the common theme of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter.
If you click to enlarge the picture, you'll see how the four seasons are expertly woven into the tree. I'm shooting for a mid-to-late August release date.
And that my friends, is all that I can come up with for today. Except for this little item: I saw the movie The Secret Life Of Pets. Which means I sat in a movie theatre with little childrens. 'Nuff said. But, go see the movie. Seriously.
(c) 2016 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.
Our little town does not have a McDonalds but we do have a lovely quick stop with gasoline and deli delights as well as some groceries. They put in a couple of booths and that is where we find the over 55 men gossiping.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that sounds about right. Our McDonald's is pretty much retiree man central. The only other place that might match the gossip factor is Starbucks, but that's geared towards those under 40.
DeleteHoly moly, that's a killer road trip! Bet your bum's sore and your arms are numb from driving so much. Looking forward to hearing of your adventures though.
ReplyDeleteThat is a seriously awesome book cover! Beautifully done!
It was almost lethal. I haven't done that much driving since '08, and yeah, my buttocks are sore and my arms are toasty from the trip.
DeleteShe really did do a fantastic job on the cover.
The men used to sit in front of the general store and gossip. Guess times have changed.
ReplyDeleteJust a little bit. :D
DeleteShe did a great job on the cover!
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of driving. Now that you mention it, Shell stations are disgusting.
I need to find those 75 mph roads. That way my 85 mph speeding won't look so bad...
She did indeed.
DeleteDefinitely is a lot of driving, and honestly, I don't know why it's only the Shells that are disgusting. The others that I'd stopped at were really well maintained: Sunoco, BP, Citgo and Phillip 66.
The only time that the speed limit dropped was when we approached some major cities, then it dipped to 55, but soon went back up to 75. Most construction zones were 60-65.
Sounds like a good vacation, even with the nasty gas station bathrooms.
ReplyDeleteIt really was. And fortunately, those nasty bathrooms were just confined to the Shell stations. Everywhere else I'd stopped at, including the highway rest areas, were in very good shape.
DeleteThat's an awesome cover! The blending of the four seasons is really cool and so eye catching.
ReplyDeleteAround here, if you go 75 in a 75 then you're going to get run over. 100 is a pretty safe cruising speed, right...?
Thanks. It caught the theme very well.
DeleteWhy sure, 100 is a very safe cruising speed. Personally though, I think 120 is even better.
Yep these journeys can be an eye popper! McD's must have free wifi there also I guess? Why folks hang there in our town -Plus Friendlies closed.
ReplyDeleteWe did Friendly's here on the last two days, simply because we needed a serious break from fast food. Almost everyone has free WiFi these days. But most of the people who hang out at McD's are above my age and like to gab.
DeleteThe cover looks awesome!! Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteI'm shooting for an August release.
DeleteThat is truly an outstanding cover.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I was on a road trip (just a couple of weeks ago, albeit a short one), I was impressed by the sparkling clean bathroom at the one rest stop we visited. Not only was it hygienic, there were nice decorating touches, like believable fake flowers in stylish vases. This was at a strip-mall style stop, so the bathrooms belonged to the landlord, not to any of the individual retailers.
Thanks. She really did a good job on it.
DeleteMost of, if not all, of the places we stopped at to use the restroom, were state sponsored rest areas. And those were in surprisingly good condition. My beef is with those places that had very high traffic, simply due to them being the only place for miles around. Almost to a T, the Shells were the worst. Everyone else were actually nice and clean.
That's a fab book cover! Pinning it now.
ReplyDeleteDamyanti
Gracias. I'm shooting for an August release date.
Delete