A new novel is out and a road trip being planned

   
   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - Last month my third novel finally was published, I say finally because it was more than two years in the writing, editing and eventually making it to print. Some of that was my fault, some blame can be attributed to a publisher in New York City.
      But The Devil's Pipeline is out there and I hope some of you pick it up and give it a look-see.
     The pre-publication reviews were all good. I'm waiting for people to start posting their comments on Amazon.com. Perhaps I should say nervously waiting?
     The book has a strong Kent State connection - specifically a connection to the shooting in May of 1970. That horrible incident is probably burned in your brains as firmly as it is into mine. 
     It wasn't until I was done with the book and was writing an author's note prior to publication that I realized I had fled Lakewood/Jamestown August 1970 in part because the toxic political climate where I was working that May became unbearable after the Kent State shootings.
     It was no accident I landed in California in 1970, or that the politics nearly 50 years later still seem a good fit. At least for me.
     But for the last three years I've criss-crossed the country three times, stopping often in small towns, out-of-the way spots and with a lot of touristy places on my itinerary. 
      Actually, to say I ever have a real itinerary is probably a stretch. I have a general idea when I travel but try not to let progress toward destination destroy the journey.
     

Possibly the only photo in existence of me holding a water bottle

The journey this summer, dragging The Red Writer travel trailer again, is planned (ouch, another word I rarely use!) to be a long looping trip across the Southwest, Deep South, then up the Eastern Seaboard into New England. 
     Possibly that will also include a sojourn into Nova Scotia and the Maritime provinces of Canada. Then in late August, after going to (and writing about!) Woodstock 50 in Watkins Glen, the balance of the trip is likely to be up across the Northern U.S. with stops Michigan, the Dakotas, Montana and, well, who knows.
     Somewhere in all these miles I hope to catch up with some of you. 
     Really.  I don't know about you, but I wonder how many of these cross-country jogs I have left in me. Best not to think that way.
     Last summer I had a great visit with Dan Sundquist at his lakeside home in New Hampshire. Then as I was skedaddling back across country I stopped and swapped lies, er tales, with Bud Hooper in Lakewood.
     Unbelievably, I forgot to take photos of us together.
     I'll try to do better this summer.

Stay safe and healthy, classmates.