Got up this morning and went to I Love A Mystery, a truly great mystery bookstore in Mission, KS (a suburb of Kansas City.) I was pretty sure there weren't going to be many people there. I was scheduled for a 10:30am "coffee with the author."
I counted 19 people over the course of my showing my slides and talking about my books. That is an excellent turnout. They asked good questions, were great to talk with. They bought plenty of books. What more could an author want?
After that, I hit Stroud's for lunch on my way out of town. The fried chicken's as good as ever. It ought to be, after all, their slogan is, "We choke our own chickens."
Then I lit out west across Kansas, across the Great Plains. A lot of people, when they hear I'm going to drive across Kansas and eastern Colorado, say they feel sorry for me. They make jokes about putting a brick on the gas, tying the wheel straight and napping. They seem to think it is a featureless, dull drive.
They're wrong.
In the Plains, the weather and the light become geographic features of the landscape. The feel of the air is remarkable. Snapping with electricity as storms approach, fresh like nothing else after the storms pass by.
I love driving across the plains. It's one of the things I most look forward to on my Drive-By Book Tours.
Here's the photographic evidence. All shot this afternoon and evening around Oakley, KS - as a storm front passed through. (I did not manipulate any of the color.)
7 comments:
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
AMAZING pictures, Eric, and a truly riveting tour odyssey. I read everything, envying your obvious ease and comfort on the road and dreading my own stretch, which begins at the end of August.
And you've given me lots of places to eat that will both taste good and also give my heart a workout.
Thanks for a great read.
A brilliant light show and strong incentive to actually go to the great plains.
wonderful pics. i miss that drive so much. you feel like you are at the edge of the universe out there.
Glad to see you enjoyed your drive across Kansas. :-)
Now I need to go to Strouds. Mmm...cinnamon rolls...
Hi E--
Yep, those of us in the 'fly-over' states are gifted with the most incredible skies, weightless air, colors that are pratically illegal--the whole ball of wax.
Thanks for taking the photos and posting them. The open road is the most healing place I know of. Enjoy.
Love and Kisses and great seeing you last month.
Mishy
I'm with you on Kansas. I've gone through it three times, either going to, or coming back from my brother's place in Colorado. There's something soothing about the plains.
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