Marilyn's Musings

This was supposed to have appeared on an earlier date, but didn't, so I've posted it now. Many of you know the outcome of this, but it's a prequel to the post for tomorrow. Hubby and I had made up our mind that we weren't going to fly anymore. Neither of us are up to running to catch a plane at the places we have to make changes. The seats are uncomfortable. The waiting is a pain. And the worst is to fly from the closest airport means getting on the road by 4 a.m. Which means getting up at 3. Ugh! Fitting everything into two carry-ons is what everyone is doing now because of the charge for check-in baggage. And you ought to see the sizes of some of those carry-ons. Not ours though, we've learned to pack well and still have plenty of changes of clothes. And of course, coming home means the same problem, getting up before the crack of dawn to catch the airplane. And there are always problems. Delays can mean missing your next flight and several times we've...

When I read about these authors who are on book tours traveling from city to city, state to state, I feel like a piker. I have been out of the state this year, New Orleans to be exact, to attend Epicon. The flying and changing planes and airlines about did us in. Never again. In fact it changed my mind about going to some out of state cons that require too many airplane changes. We're getting to old to do all that hustling and bustling to get to one place from another while hauling our carry-ons. I've done plenty in other places in California: author workshop in Morro Bay, author panel in Clovis, joint author signing in Morro Bay, book store signing in Porterville, a library author signing in Visalia, craft fairs in Oxnard and Fresno. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter have kept me busy too. Next up is Mayhem in the Midlands in Omaha. We've been to everyone of these except the very first one. This one is special, I'm on a panel, moderating a panel, and doing an author chat wit...

We live in the sticks. So many of the things I want to go to, mystery cons and the like are places where I have to fly. Because we're getting older, I'd like to do as many of these as possible while we can. I was checking on flights to New Orleans from Bakersfield--eek, the prices are horrendous. I don't have enough miles to help. I've already signed up for Epicon which is in New Orleans this year so guess I'll wait awhile and see if prices come down. Not likely, but I am going to wait. A group I belong to wants to meet in Ontario CA. To get there I'll have to either fly to Phoenix AZ first or to LAX and then Ontario. The price for that was almost as much as the one to New Orleans. When I went to Alaska, I had to fly out of Fresno, then to San Francisco, then to Seattle and on to Anchorage. Coming home it was Seattle to Portland, Portland to San Francisco, and then Fresno. That trip cost a fortune. We drive to a lot of places, Las Vegas, down to Southern Califor...