Road Trip!

No sooner did I return from Malice Domestic in Bethesda than I hit the road heading east again. This time it was a multi-stop trip. Four nights in four different beds. Sounds kinky, but trust me. It wasn't. I have a new appreciation for the term "living out of a suitcase."

I left on Thursday and headed to my friend Hilary Hauck's home in Ebensburg PA where I had time to catch my breath before she drove me to Duncansville where I presented a writing workshop to a love crowd at the Inkwell Writers Group.

It's always lovely to see earnest writers scribbling away during one of my writing exercises!

I spent the night in Hilary's guest room and we had a lovely visit Friday morning. This is Shadow and Hobbs. Shadow (the cat) is the boss. Hobbs is big enough that I was tempted to throw a saddle on him!

 Hobbs liked to nap under my feet.

Shadow took over my spot on the bed once I was done with it.

And Hilary is an incredible cook! Lunch was amazing! Risotto from scratch.

After lunch, I bid Hilary, Hobbs, and Shadow farewell and hit the road again.

Next stop: the home of my fellow Henery Press Hen Wendy Tyson and her lovely family. After supper at an Indian restaurant (YUM!) and a night in Wendy's spare room, I tagged along with Wendy and her twin sons for a train ride into Philadelphia.



I was a total tourist.

We returned to Wendy's house for some yoga, made interesting by the inclusion of her two dogs (gave a whole new meaning to DOG POSE).

And Driggs also seemed to nap under my feet. I sense a recurring theme here. "Black Dogs Underfoot." Perhaps a future photography exhibit?

Then we headed to the lovely, quaint town of New Hope to attend the world premier of the stage play CLUE.


 It was hysterical. Laugh-until-you-cry funny. Afterwards, I moved into an artsy house owned by the daughter of one of the Friends of the Library for Saturday night.


Sunday morning, I struck out to walk the town's streets. So many cute shops!




It was good that they were still closed that early or I might have spent a LOT of money.

Finally, I joined Wendy, Jon McGoran, Sherry Knowlton, and Dennis Tafoya at the Free Library of New Hope and Solebury for a mystery author panel.

We all had a blast and the audience was great!

From there, I headed west again for my final night on the road--a generic hotel room an hour down the PA Turnpike so I had a bit of a jump on the long cross-state trip.

I'm glad to be home...and I wouldn't want to live the vagabond's life too often...but I had a lot of fun, saw some new sights, made some new friends, and got to spend quality time with some old ones.

I also learned a whole new way to pack a suitcase. But that's a post for another time!

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