THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
Look out world, the RV Gals are coming through! The Cobles and the Hunts pulled out at exactly 8:30. We had to stop for a blended mocha (with whipped cream to celebrate!) at Char's Coffee Bar. Then a quick run to Burger King for breakfast. Then back to the Coble's for the hat Jim forgot in his car. Okay, so it was 9:20 by the time we REALLY got on the road, but the great RV tour has begun! By the time we hit Kentucky, I heard all kinds of stories about Di and Jim (aka Gordon), and I'm sure more secrets will be revealed before the tour is over.

Nine days of ceaseless brainstorming, enough caffeine to power the RV without fuel, and hobnobbing with the awesome bookstore employees who do so much to sell our books. Click the RV Tour link at the right to see our schedule for the coming days. And yes, we might be comatose by the time we pull back in the driveway, but what a ride! Our motorhome will be rocking with 60's music, laughter and fun!

The excitement started tonight when we had dinner with Elmo and Marcia (pronounced Marsa) Mercer. Elmo wrote the first song I ever performed in church ("The Way That He Loves")and if you look at your choir books, he will probably have written or arranged some of them. Elmo emailed me several years ago after he read the Rock Harbor books, and he and his wife are wonderful folks. We went to a restaurant called Santa Fe, and I gawked at the autographed pictures of singers I admire like Reba McEntyre and Terri Clark. No matter how hard I looked, I didn't see anyone famous at the tables though. Elmo wouldn't let us pay for dinner, and he and Marcia entertained us with stories of the music business.

Now we're back at the Residence Inn and nearly comatose, though I did find the strength to eat a few more chocolate covered macadamia nuts (sorry, Di), donated by Malia Spencer. I've been eying the DeBrand mocha truffles, but we are waiting to eat them when we get the RV in Orlando. We fly there tomorrow where our buddy and fellow WestBow author, Rachel Hauck, grabs us from the airport. We'll pick up the RV on Monday and hit the RV trail. But first, the highlight of the trip comes in the morning when we get to see some of our WestBow family--breakfast with Jennifer Deshler, awesome marketing director, and her daughter Jordie then lunch with our editor Ami McConnell and her family (my adopted grandkids).

It's going to be a trip to remember--if we don't drink so much coffee it damages our brain cells. And I can't promise we won't!