Weekend Potpourri

Definition of potpourri – 1: a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent. 2: a miscellaneous collection. The second definition above pretty much describes today’s blog, a collection of miscellaneous thoughts and info that I’m sharing because I don’t have anything else to talk about today.

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Even though we have been off the road for five years now, I still hear from a lot of RVers and wannabe RVers asking questions about the lifestyle, types of RVs, and such. And occasionally, I hear from someone interested in a particular RV they have found for sale who wants my opinion on it. I always tell them that it’s impossible to evaluate a recreational vehicle long distance, and occasionally someone asks me to go look at one for them. These RVs have been anywhere from 50 to 500 or more miles away, and they can’t seem to understand why that would be an imposition. Just this week, someone asked if it was possible for me to drive to a dealer’s lot near Tallahassee, Florida to check out a motorhome he saw advertised online. From my house to the RV’s location is 285 miles. I’m not sure I would go that far to look at an RV for a friend, let alone someone who I’ve never spoken to who just contacts me out of the blue. Sorry, I just don’t have that much time on my hands.

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I also heard from someone last week who needs their fifth wheel transported from Elkhart, Indiana to the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, asking me if I knew anybody with a truck and 5th wheel receiver who would be willing to haul it down for them. He said he would pay all expenses down and half the expenses going home because he figured it wouldn’t take as much fuel on the return trip since it wouldn’t be pulling the trailer. Sure, I know a dozen people who will jump right on that.

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After reading about the tragedy on a movie set in New Mexico, in which actor Alec Baldwin killed one member of the crew and wondered another with a prop gun that apparently was loaded with a live round of ammunition, someone remarked to me that it reminded them of my book Big Lake Shootout, released in August of this year, and asked if I was now predicting future events in my books. This is actually the second time something like that has happened. The original Big Lake book is the story of an armored car robbery after they picked up cash from the Hon-Dah Casino in Arizona’s White Mountains. About a year after I released that book, someone did try to rob the armored car when it made its pick-up at the Hon-Dah Casino. The robber sprayed the guard with pepper spray and tried to take a money bag, but unlike in my book, she pulled her weapon and killed him. Keep buying my books, folks. One of these days I might post some winning lottery numbers. You never know. 😊

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And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs and things we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. It turns out there really is a rock bottom.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. Just in time for Halloween, this week’s prize is an audiobook of The Ghost of Halloween Past, Book 5 in my pal Bobbi Holmes’ excellent Haunting Danielle mystery series about a bed and breakfast on the Oregon coast that is haunted by the ghost of a former owner.  To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – To this day, the guy who bullied me at school still takes my lunch money. But he makes really good sandwiches at Subway.