Release of the 1st book of Gear Bear Adventures!

So I suppose you all think that I have been just slacking off and not doing a thing....WRONG!

Well, last November as many of you may remember I started the finishing touches or so I thought in having my first book published.  Not as easy as I thought it would be.  But, what a learning experience.  I had not clue what I was doing but, was relying on my publisher to tell me what the next steps were and that is what they did....I went one step at a time and each step brought a new person to guide me in the right direction.

As I have mentioned several times I am a story teller not a writer but, it appears that many people like to read about my adventures.  I, on the other hand just like to travel and if trouble likes to follow me, well,what can I do?

We sent out our first book orders today for people that aren't able to make it to our Book Signing/ Meet and Greet.

We sent several books already  to NM, AZ, CO, WI and our Chicago land friends.  If you follow along with my blogs and would like us to send you a copy just let us know.

Another exciting thing is that Gear Bear Adventure is now on the book shelves in Galena IL at the Book-World on Main street.  Just ask Heidi for your copy.  You can also find it on Barnes and Noble, Amazon and several other sites.  But, if you want my "paw print" on it, you'll have to contact me!

I am easy to find.  www.gearbearadventures.com or call our book line at 815-235-3811.  Remember you can meet me at:

                     Higher Grounds Oct 16th from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
    
                     Fireside Books in Monroe, WI  time TBA

                     Book World  Galena IL    time TBA
                  
                     Lincoln Mall  Freeport  IL November 9, 2013 from 10 AM to 4 PM


g/b

I have a lot of catching up to do!

How did the summer get away from me?  I have so much to share with you and I guess I had better get to it.

I think I will start where I left off and that is riding the Amtrak Empire Builder to Seattle WA.  If you have been following along you know we survived our first night, learned a few tricks and things to be sure and pack the next time we have a train adventure.

It sure seemed like it took a long time for day break to come.  I could see that several times during the night Paula would use her cell phone and check her Maps app to see where we were.  Those cell phones are the darnest things.  I can't believe what that little contraption is capable of.

When we finally had enough of the sleeping and resting situation, we were more than happy to put our little bedroom back together and had our comfortable seats for the duration of day 2.

During the nights ride we traveled through Minnesota and North Dakota.  I am pretty sure we didn't miss to much scenery.  Some of the towns we passed through were St Paul- Minneapolis, Fargo, Minot.  In Minot the train crosses the Gassman Coulee on a high level steel trestle.

Traveling West towards Montana passing Wolf Point, Ft. Peck Dam.   In Ft Peck we are only about 40 miles South of the Canadian boarder.  Glasgow was a short passenger stop.  I did notice that the train would stop, it seemed out in the middle of now where and passengers would board......it seems like a lot of folks still depend on rail transportation. Traveling thru the BearPaw Mountains the  into Shelby, Montana were we passed a huge slaughter house for horses....how sad.

There was a tour group on board and their tour guide pointed out the Continental Divide marker as we passed.  It seemed like our first full day on the train passed quickly, with breakfast, lunch and dinner served.  Visiting with fellow travelers and a few hands of cards, watching a movie, and of course writing a few stories along the way. I behaved myself and just sat back and enjoyed the ride.There wasn't much I could explore, since our train car had no exit to go forward to the 7 cars that were ahead of us....and now only have the dining car, and one coach car behind us.  It was fun to watch as we would turn left and could see the entire train in front of us making the curve!

We were told that during the night at our Spokane WA stop we will be losing about 13 cars.  They will be coupling on to the southern route to Portland.  We must really be getting use to the rocking and rolling of the train and the stops because neither one of us heard a thing.  We do know that both of us were really surprised to find out that we were about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, considering when we left Chicago 47 hours ago, we were several hours behind.

I do believe I am ready to go on  to my next adventure and start exploring Seattle and the San Juan Islands.  Let's see just how easy it's going to be to hail a taxi!