Road Trip!!

Road trip! I still enjoy getting into the car, putting on my favorite music, and driving someplace. Road trips for our family were impromptu adventures. We all could be sitting around reading or watching television and he’d tell us all to get in the car. There were the thirty minute rides to Coney Island for hot dogs or shrimp boats or the longer treks from Brooklyn into Manhattan to visit family friends.

I remember the time we were all in pajamas and getting ready for bed when Dad said to get dressed in fancy clothes we were going to a supper club in Manhattan. He wanted to listen to the music.

In the summer, we went to longer trips. The car’s glove box was filled with maps and notes. Mom made sure we had maps. Dad, on the other hand was more adventurous—point the car where you want to go and find your way. I think he did it to drive Mom crazy. She’d get out the map and the ‘discussion’ would start. It usually wound up with Mom stuffing the map back into the glove box and turning up the radio.

The paper maps were Mom’s responsibility. On the longer road trips she’d share them with my sister, brother and me to track our progress. We’d announce the upcoming town, gas station and motel.

Mom got tour books from AAA (American Automobile Association) that noted places of interest and Trip Tik Travel Planners that outlined your route.

Those were great trips. There is something about struggling with a paper map, pulling off at a rest stop and spreading the map on the car hood to confirm (or find) where you’re going. We’d get a snack, stretch our legs, and pile back into the car sure of our next weigh station.

As you can see, I loved the trips. To be honest, they weren’t all terrific. We cursed outdated maps, restaurants we left because there was no way we would eat in them and motels, well some Dad just drove by without stopping.

Today’s road trips are different. With our son living in Boston (we live in New Jersey) road trips are not unusual. Now we program our GPS (or Google Maps or Ways) and take to the highway. Electronic maps come with their own pitfalls.

I’ve learned to review the itinerary before we leave just in case the GPS loses its signal. Yes, that’s happened to me. Sometime I get aggravated with the system when the instructions are not clear and I’ve made a wrong turn. Extreme Maxine keeps telling me she’s recalculating our route. Then there are times when the route is wrong.

After a delicious dinner at a remote restaurant, our daughter and son-in-law found themselves in the Pennsylvania hills. It was after ten at night and they were eager to get back to their hotel. Low on gas, they used their GPS to find a gas station. They drove for quite a while with fuel the warning light flashing. They finally pulled up to the address the GPS gave them. It was a private house. No gas station in sight. Their GPS somehow directed them to the owner of the gas station’s home. Thank goodness he had a can of gas in his garage.

Fun fact… Did you know the Turin Papyrus is thought to be the oldest recorded road map? Believed to be created in 1160 BC

What can you tell me about your road trips?

Read a Road Map Day

Road trip! I still enjoy getting into the car, putting on my favorite music, and driving someplace. Road trips for our family were impromptu adventures. We all could be sitting around reading or watching television and he’d tell us all to get in the car. There were the thirty minute rides to Coney Island for hot dogs or shrimp boats or the longer treks from Brooklyn into Manhattan to visit family friends.

I remember the time we were all in pajamas and getting ready for bed when Dad said to get dressed in fancy clothes we were going to a supper club in Manhattan. He wanted to listen to the music.

In the summer, we went to longer trips. The car’s glove box was filled with maps and notes. Mom made sure we had maps. Dad, on the other hand was more adventurous—point the car where you want to go and find your way. I think he did it to drive Mom crazy. She’d get out the map and the ‘discussion’ would start. It usually wound up with Mom stuffing the map back into the glove box and turning up the radio.

The paper maps were Mom’s responsibility. On the longer road trips she’d share them with my sister, brother and me to track our progress. We’d announce the upcoming town, gas station and motel.

Mom got tour books from AAA (American Automobile Association) that noted places of interest and Trip Tik Travel Planners that outlined your route.  

Those were great trips. There is something about struggling with a paper map, pulling off at a rest stop and spreading the map on the car hood to confirm (or find) where you’re going. We’d get a snack, stretch our legs, and pile back into the car sure of our next weigh station.

As you can see, I loved the trips. To be honest, they weren’t all terrific. We cursed outdated maps, restaurants we left because there was no way we would eat in them and motels, well some Dad just drove by without stopping.

Today’s road trips are different. With our son living in Boston (we live in New Jersey) road trips are not unusual. Now we program our GPS (or Google Maps or Ways) and take to the highway. Electronic maps come with their own pitfalls.

I’ve learned to review the itinerary before we leave just in case the GPS loses its signal. Yes, that’s happened to me. Sometime I get aggravated with the system when the instructions are not clear and I’ve made a wrong turn. Extreme Maxine keeps telling me she’s recalculating our route. Then there are times when the route is wrong.

After a delicious dinner at a remote restaurant, our daughter and son-in-law found themselves in the Pennsylvania hills. It was after ten at night and they were eager to get back to their hotel. Low on gas, they used their GPS to find a gas station. They drove for quite a while with fuel the warning light flashing. They finally pulled up to the address the GPS gave them. It was a private house. No gas station in sight. Their GPS somehow directed them to the owner of the gas station’s home. Thank goodness he had a can of gas in his garage.

Fun fact… Did you know the Turin Papyrus is thought to be the oldest recorded road map? Believed to be created in 1160 BC

What can you tell me about your road trips

Postcards from Monster Haven

I can't believe I'm saying this already, but book four of the Monster Haven series, Golem in My Glovebox, came out earlier this week. Seriously. That's insane. It's all happened so fast. And developmental edits are coming in next week for book five, then the following week I start writing book six.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Most days, I feel like a big lazy slug who doesn't do any work. Then I look back at the last two years and I can't believe all that's happened.

Maybe that means I need to work even harder. Hmm.

Anyway. Book four, Golem in My Glovebox, is a road trip book. Zoey finally gets out of Northern California and sees something new. Over the past few weeks, I posted some postcards of her trip on my Facebook page. I thought it might be nice to put them all up together here to give you an idea of what's in store for our wardrobe-challenged heroine and her reaper boyfriend.

These are actual places from the story in the order they're visited. Zoey and Riley are in for a wild ride. (Click on the pictures to read the messages from Zoey.)

Center of the contiguous United States, home of the Hidden government. Of course you can't see it! It's disguised by a time-loop bubble. As you can see by the note, Zoey thinks she'll be home soon. Ha!

What's better than spray painting ten nose-deep Cadillacs in the middle of nowhere? Finding a dead body there. Just across town is the Bug ranch, where someone duplicated this marvel of modern art with five VW Beetles. Zoey still thinks she'll be home in a few days. Bless her heart.

Bright lights. Live entertainment. Kitschy museums. And the Leprechaun Mafia with a new scam. Those guys are so slimy. Poor Zoey doesn't even realize she's now driving away from home.

There are entire websites dedicated to the exploration of defunct amusement parks. When I watched a video of this place, made years after it was closed down, I knew Zoey needed to go. In the dark. With the bad guy laughing from inside concrete caves with peeling paint. Will Zoey even make it home?

For better or worse, this is where it all leads. If you've been reading the books so far, you might know what's so important about this location. Will Zoey get everything she's been longing for? Will she be in time? Will she be able to save anyone, including herself? 

Join us on the long trip. Misery loves company! Visit with old friends, meet a bunch of new ones, and see some of the stranger parts of America. Golem in My Glovebox is on sale now wherever digital books are sold.

Rachel's head is packed with an outrageous amount of useless Disney trivia. She is terrified of thunder, but not of lightning, and sometimes recites the Disneyland dedication speech during storms to keep herself calm. She finds it appalling that nobody from Disney has called yet with her castle move-in date.

Originally from Northern California, she has a tendency to move every few years, resulting in a total of seven different states and a six-year stint in England. Currently, she's living in the Heartland, planning her next grand adventure. Rachel has one heroic husband, two grown kids, a crazy-catlady starter kit, and an imaginary dog named Waffles.

She doesn't have time for a real dog.


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