My OperaNo Rest For the Weary - The Best Way to Enjoy Life
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 6:01:40 AM
With submission of Book 1 in the A Pirate's Legacy series to eBook format, (http://oldguey.webs.com) I had a couple days to relax. That means going through all those unread emails. The problem is, once the list gets down to a remaining few, a whole bunch more drop in. Sometimes feel like "Itsy, Bitsy, Spider" climbing up the spout again. This was also time spent searching for a printing company to produce the page turner editions of my stories.
My first choice was in the Reno/Sparks area as that is the business office location of my publishing company, and adding distribution would be a good fit. So far, the one POD press I found, the owners didn't know how to use it for printing books. $120K machine and they don't know how to use it! Incredible! My son-in-law did give me another lead to follow, otherwise, the search shifts to California. Workable, but less convenient.
After a couple days, edit work began on Death by TOP SECRET, a police investigation series with a different slant. Even though this has been the Labor Day weekend, I still labored.
Of course, Labor Day weekend means the rib cook-off in Sparks, Nevada and vying with about 500,000 people for the chance to pig out on barbecued ribs, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and baked beans. My favorite has always been an outfit from Jamaica (Rastus). I like the touch of jerk seasoning. Most of the other vendors go for blowing your socks off with peppers and destroying the taste buds until next year. Anyway, it is one finger-smackin'event. That I enjoy it with my daughter's family and especially my grandson, is just the frosting.
The return trip from this event always coincides with traffic returning from the Burning Man hippie event in the alkali desert north of Reno, NV. You can always tell who they are. The vehicles are piled high with folding chairs, bikes, camping equipment, usually pulling a trailer, (they remind me of Jed Clampett moving his family to Beverly Hills) and covered with a thick, gray layer of alkali. Traffic from Reno over Donner Pass is a huge mess with stop & go, mostly stop because they can't handle the grade and break down. Of course, construction has the Interstate down to one lane backing traffic up nearly twenty miles.
To avoid that, we go south and over the Sierras west of Minden, NV. It is a beautiful drive and traffic isn't bad. This year, we decided to take a detour and not join up with CA 99 which is another traffic mess even on regular
days. Coming to Jackson, CA., we turned south, skirting along the western foothills of the Sierras. Slower and twisty as all get out, it was still a beautiful drive through Calaveras County and the historic gold camps. That beckons for a revisit if for no other reason than to gather writing material.
Unfortunately, we ran into a traffic jam out of Sonora heading west. That prompted me to get the GPS out and start plotting a detour. Well, we ditched the traffic and headed for known territory, but not after 40 miles of re-paved, but serpentine roads with sheer drop offs and no guard rails. The four hour drive ended up to be ten, but what the hey! It was gorgeous, the weather perfect, and we just weren't in any hurry. The best way to enjoy life.
My first choice was in the Reno/Sparks area as that is the business office location of my publishing company, and adding distribution would be a good fit. So far, the one POD press I found, the owners didn't know how to use it for printing books. $120K machine and they don't know how to use it! Incredible! My son-in-law did give me another lead to follow, otherwise, the search shifts to California. Workable, but less convenient.
After a couple days, edit work began on Death by TOP SECRET, a police investigation series with a different slant. Even though this has been the Labor Day weekend, I still labored.
Of course, Labor Day weekend means the rib cook-off in Sparks, Nevada and vying with about 500,000 people for the chance to pig out on barbecued ribs, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and baked beans. My favorite has always been an outfit from Jamaica (Rastus). I like the touch of jerk seasoning. Most of the other vendors go for blowing your socks off with peppers and destroying the taste buds until next year. Anyway, it is one finger-smackin'event. That I enjoy it with my daughter's family and especially my grandson, is just the frosting.
The return trip from this event always coincides with traffic returning from the Burning Man hippie event in the alkali desert north of Reno, NV. You can always tell who they are. The vehicles are piled high with folding chairs, bikes, camping equipment, usually pulling a trailer, (they remind me of Jed Clampett moving his family to Beverly Hills) and covered with a thick, gray layer of alkali. Traffic from Reno over Donner Pass is a huge mess with stop & go, mostly stop because they can't handle the grade and break down. Of course, construction has the Interstate down to one lane backing traffic up nearly twenty miles.
To avoid that, we go south and over the Sierras west of Minden, NV. It is a beautiful drive and traffic isn't bad. This year, we decided to take a detour and not join up with CA 99 which is another traffic mess even on regular
days. Coming to Jackson, CA., we turned south, skirting along the western foothills of the Sierras. Slower and twisty as all get out, it was still a beautiful drive through Calaveras County and the historic gold camps. That beckons for a revisit if for no other reason than to gather writing material.Unfortunately, we ran into a traffic jam out of Sonora heading west. That prompted me to get the GPS out and start plotting a detour. Well, we ditched the traffic and headed for known territory, but not after 40 miles of re-paved, but serpentine roads with sheer drop offs and no guard rails. The four hour drive ended up to be ten, but what the hey! It was gorgeous, the weather perfect, and we just weren't in any hurry. The best way to enjoy life.
