Merry Christmas!

I hope you are spending this day, or weekend, with people you care about or how you wish to celebrate or not celebrate this time of year.

We are spending the day with our family who live down the road. We see them all the time, and we live rural. One of the perks of being rural. 😉

As always at the end of the year, I figure out what I’ve accomplished and where I want to go with my writing. I am ending a mystery series. The last book is written and will be published in early 2021. I’m starting a new murder mystery series that I’m nervous and excited about. It’s requiring a lot of research because it is set in a business I know nothing about- Indian run casinos. And the protagonist is female disable veteran. Lots to learn!

I’m excited to write the next Gabriel Hawke book which will deal with Missing and Murdered Indigenous women. I know that sounds bad to say I’m excited about writing it. But what I really mean, is I hope by using this as a premise in my book, I can shed more light on the problem. And 75% of the proceeds from this book will go to the MMIW organization.

If you haven’t had a chance to start the Shandra Higheagle murder mystery series, or have been putting off getting the 7th book in the series, Yuletide Slaying, it is available right now at all ebook venues for $0.99. It was picked by Books2Read for a special Christmas promotion. http://d2d.tips/diehardchristmas

The best part of Christmas to me is finding the perfect gift for each friend and family member. I love the search, wrapping the gift, and then the look on their faces when they open the gift. That and spending the day together, playing cards, visiting, and enjoying good food.

Wishing you a fabulous Christmas and a New Year that brings you all the joy and love you could ever wish for!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Rest of the Trip

I can’t believe how time got away from me! Here is how the return trip from Wisconsin went. I’ve had the photos downloaded to my computer since I arrived home and have been so busy with Christmas and writing things that I didn’t realize I’d missed writing about it. I really need to put the days I plan to blog here on my phone so it reminds me.

We picked up the 5 piglets. 4 gilts and one little boar. My daughter was excited because they all came from the original lines that started the whole IPP (Idaho Pasture Pig) breed.

On the way back we buzzed through Wisconsin but not before stopping at a small store and purchasing cheese curds. We’d heard so much about Wisconsin cheese we had to see if it stacked up to our beloved Tillmook cheese. While we enjoyed snacking on the cheese curds as we drove, I have to say, it is really hard to beat Tillamook medium cheddar cheese.

When also buzzed back through Minnesota stopping that night in Fargo, N.D. We woke up the following more to frosted inside windows. All the little piggies in the back of the van had made so much moisture that we had to scrape the inside of the windows before we could take off driving.

North Dakota was flat and would have been a blip if we hadn’t spotted Salem Sue. She was a very large cow on a hill outside of New Salem, North Dakota. We took a short break from sitting in the van to check her out.

Traveling through North Dakota we saw this unique and interesting metal sculpture alongside the road.

Pushing that second day, we made it to Butte, Montana. We crossed the Rockies in the dark so we didn’t get to see them very good, but enjoyed the drive through Montana. It has different terrains and vegetation. My daughter and I were both surprised at the size of Butte. I don’t know why I thought it would be smaller. And it sits down in a hole of sorts surrounded by mountains.

The third day we took off out of Butte, crossed Idaho, and returned home in eastern Oregon by 7 pm.

It was a quick trip which helped me check North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin off the list of states I’ve seen.

How about you? How many of the U.S. states have you been to?

Headed to Wisconsin

I have always said, my bucket list is seeing all 50 states. When my youngest daughter asked if I wanted to accompany her to Wisconsin to pick up pigs, I jumped at the opportunity.

First, I’ve not been to North Dakota, Minnesota, or Wisconsin. Three of the states we would drive through. Second, I didn’t want my daughter and her 16 month-old traveling that far by themselves.

We left home early Wednesday morning, traveling out of Oregon, into Idaho, across the potato state and into Montana. I’d traveled through this part of Idaho and into Montana several times before with my husband. It wasn’t new to me, but it was the first time I’d been there at this time of the year. We spent night number one at Bozeman. We had only a few slightly slick roads the closer we traveled to Bozeman. Of course, this was after dark, making the drive a bit slower. And, it was country that would have been pretty, if it hadn’t been dark. But the Freeway was clear.

Thursday morning we were on the road by seven and drove across Montana and all the way across North Dakota. What we saw of eastern Montana was unique rock formations and rolling hills. North Dakota was flat, herds of antelope, and well derricks. The unfortunate thing… all the places I really wanted to see each day, we drove through after dark. Going from west to east, we lost an hour each day in time zones and the darkness descended early. We spent the second night in Fargo, North Dakota. It was larger than I’d thought.

Friday, I was excited. I was to meet up with a writer I’d known online for 14 years but had never met in person. We had lunch with Lauri Robinson, a Harlequin author, at her home. It was fun to see she was just like I had envisioned she’d be. She made us a wonderful chicken and wild rice soup and bread for lunch. We visited a couple of hours and then moved on to Wisconsin. We spent the night in Crandon, Wisconsin about 10 miles before where we would pick up the pigs.