Yesterday morning I flew into Milwaukee after spending 3 days in St. Louis where I entertained the grandkids with Scrabble, swimming, Steak ‘n Shake (not the breakfast place I would pick) and movies.  We saw Shrek (3D, of course).  I thought it was cute and the kids were engrossed enough that it went in the winner column.  Then we saw Prince of Persia.  Now I just saw this last Friday and it was no great strain on my part to see it again.  The kids went nuts for it.  Think Indiana Jones meets Disney.  And I’ve got to tell you that Jake Gyllenhaal has reached that mystical place where you could watch him on the big screen without the sound.  Prince of Persia is a keeper.

Anyway, my plane landed at 7:10 a.m. and by 9 a.m. I was on the road again.  This time I was headed to Lori Foster’s Reader-Author Get-Together in Cincinnati.  Authors Amy Knupp and Larissa Ione picked me up and we made it to the hotel by 6:30 p.m.  If you’ve never taken a road trip with other women, do it.  It’s always an adventure.

We spent the time talking about books, authors, publishers, family, past lives and all the while Darth Vader encouraged us with “The force is strong with you,” “You have become powerful,” and “Take the next turn left…stay in formation.”  Yes, Darth was our GPS guide.  The only thing I can say about that is thank goodness it wasn’t the 3 Stooges.

John Dillinger Museum

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and Amy assured us that blueberries are brain food, so I went for the blueberry pancakes.  Next door was the John Dillinger Museum.  We didn’t go in, but I did manage to snap a picture of the ad.  Thanks to my Twittering our progress, author Marjorie Liu wanted to know where in Indiana we were, but alas, not close enough to her hometown.

The adventure continued with an incident at a gas station, a rest stop vending machine and torrential rain (where did that come from all of a sudden?).  Unfortunately, I can’t give out the juicy details because what’s said/done on the the trip…stays on the trip.  You’ll just have to experience your own.  And just as an aside, let me say…Put down the cell phones people when you’re driving!  Stop texting!  It was like when we used to ride the Dodge ‘Em cars at the State Fair.

Mmm...Margarita!

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Anyway, we finally made it to the hotel and went to Wild Wings (or something) for dinner.  It was all way too spicy for me, but thank goodness there were Margaritas to cool me off.  (And please ask Amy or Larissa about the firemen if you see them).

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Tasha Hacaga and Emily Becher

Back at the hotel we caught up with aspiring writers Tasha Hacaga and Emily Becher who were brave enough to try the Yellow Golden Monkey Surprise (I think that’s what it was called).  It must have been good because they ordered more than one.  Angela James stopped by and I love taking with the executive editor of Carina Press, Harlequin’s new digital-first press.  She knows about everything and handily defined steam punk to the confused group.

I finally gave in to exhaustion at about 9:30 p.m., but I consoled myself with the fact that the conference doesn’t really start until today, so I’d better be well rested because all this talking about books is hard work.

Bottom Line: After my crazy travel lately, I’m now looking at the movie “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” with new eyes.