TUESDAY UPDATE
Our day started off with a visit to DeBrand Chocolate (www.debrand.com). Tim and Cathy Beere obviously knew nothing about our addiction to truffles since they gave us each a whole box of them, fueling my obsession. If you've never had a DeBrand truffle, you've never lived. They have to be tasted to be believed. Heavier by ten pounds and sucking on a truffle stashed in each cheek, we lumbered to the RV and hauled ourselves into the seats again.

The battle of the heater continued again today. What is with our hot flash queen? I had reinforcements today with Denise along. Okay, so maybe I glimpsed steam rising from Di's head a time or two, but the moisture was good for my skin. And she deserved a little discomfort after last night.

Our next stop was Anchor Room. High on chocolate, they added to our giddiness with another espresso drink . They had TONS of our books in stock, and we were ready to bow at their feet. I got to meet Gordon who kept trying to get us to write a new story with a bookstore manager as the main character. He said he could give us all kinds of insight into a lone man working with twelve women. Laura hinted we might not want to go there.

We hit all the Ft Wayne stores, then drove to Bluffton where we spoke to the Foltz Literary Group. I met someone new there: Diann Hunt. This was a woman I'd never seen before--confident, relaxed and outspoken--a veritable Erma Bombeck. I know, I know, I couldn't believe it either. She had to be on drugs, or maybe it was all the chocolate. If that's the secret, I'm going to give her a truffle to eat every time before we speak. On second thought, maybe not. She might take my speaking gigs!