A sweet surprise!

Go figure! "Tales of the Road-Highway 61" has its own official cookie! 

Cookies like this tasty little morsel were on hand when White Bear Lake kicked off their first ever city-wide reading program and "Tales" is the book that young and old will read and discuss. 

We began the discussion with a short talk by yours truly at the White Bear Library, which was rudely interrupted by a tickle in my throat that made me cough without relief for what seemed like a lifetime. Actually, as I write this, I'm sidelined with a cough and laryngitis. The White Bear event may have been the precursor to what has bloomed into quite an illness. Want to see more images from the event? Head to the Tales of the Road group site on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101915670064

As I sit, snuffling and hacking, I have had time to think about next steps. The original plan was to kick back and relax in 2010 but that ain't gonna happen!

We will interview three survivors of the 1918 Moose Lake Forest Fire the first weekend of March and at least get their stories on tape because each person is well into their nineties and let's face it: once these folks are gone, their stories are gone too. 

I'm a member of the Red Wing Pottery Collector's Society and their latest newsletter had a wonderful tidbit about a garage in Red Wing made up of clay bricks that has a tie to the pottery. The garage is supposed to be torn down soon so that means we have to hightail it to Red Wing to get that shot before the building is gone for good. 

Speaking of another endangered site--the Hastings Bridge is also set to be dismantled and we'll have to make sure this spring/summer that we have that "in the can" (as it were) so we can do a story about the original Hastings bridge. It was a marvel! A spiral bridge that people still talk about today. 

So you see, I can forget about resting on any laurels. Maybe that is part of the plan. The highway and time wait for no one. 

Here, there and everywhere!

It's been a long few weeks. Long but satisfying. 

These are photos from the Frozen River Film Festival in Winona, Minnesota. "Tales of the Road" was a featured film. 

I did a little presentation afterward to a very

responsive audience. There's no small amount of satisfaction when viewers laugh at the "right" times or let out a collective "huh!" when some key piece of information is revealed. 

Books were sold by Chris Livingston who owns the local bookstore. I'm pleased that so many people liked the movie and then wanted to read the book. Which is better---book or film? I'll leave it up to readers and viewers. I'm wondering if doing another book, an updated book, is worth it. There have been a lot of changes along the highway since the book was published in October of 2008. I'm smitten with the old road guides that include advertising from the twenties and thirties and wonder whether something like that would work today. Something else to ponder. 

A final note: Look at the below photo. Note the gentleman in the beret over my shoulder.  That is Coffee John. A fan of TOTR and quite a guy. A shout-out to John!