Arizona-check!

When we arrived at Janette's house on Monday night, this room was clean. This is what it looked like after a few hours. We certainly made ourselves right at home, didn't we?

We left for Thatcher, thinking we--again--had lots of time. Wrong! The GPS routed us through Tucson, which added another 30+ miles to our trip. We are FOR SURE going to talk to the locals next time rather than rely solely on Dora to get us back and forth. We were half an hour late. Argh. We just felt horrible. BUT, the perk is that we had people waiting for us! Had we been on time they would have trickled in, but since we were late we got to feel like rockstars coming into a crowd. The Thatcher store was awesome--I have been so impressed with the independant bookstores we have come across in small areas. Thatcher was no exception. We sold quite a few books, signed stacks of books people brought in and had an all together great time at their store. AND they gave me chocolate covered cinnemon bears!

The store owners let us get a photo with their daughter Megan, who was such a sweetheart and kept coming back for hugs. Another 'rock star' moment for us. I swear we took a photo with the employees but I don't have it on my camera--I must have a black hole on there. Maybe they can send me a copy of the one they took.

After the signing, we headed for Phil and Alice Prey's house, where we were staying. They are our good friend Alison Palmer's parents and not only offered their home for us to stay in, but also got a book group together at their house. We had a fun meeting and fabulous refreshments, it was an impressive turn out and the Prey's were wonderful hosts, you'd have thought they were our own parents for how sweetly they treated us. I now know at least two reasons Alison is such a sweetheart herself; she had good teachers. We got to see some pictures of Alison when she was younger--big hair and all :-)  She's a doll and it was a great night, even if thier dog was scared to death of us.

We hit the road at 7:15--taking the RIGHT route this time and made it to Mimi's Cafe in time to have lunch with friends Marjean, Marsha and Connie. We haven't seen Marsha or Connie for awhile and it was fun to visit with them and have a great meal. After lunch/brunch/breakfast we went to the Deseret Book where Amy the imposter (also known as Kim) and the Craigs (manager and assistant manager are both named Craig) greeted us with big smiles and lots of compliments. Very fun store. We got to visit with a particular woman who was buying Christmas Presents for her nieces and chatted with us for awhile. Should she read this I hope she knows  how touched we were by her story and we wish her the best. Lisa P. came to this store as well--she had bought a copy of English Trifle for me a few months ago and I sent it off without signing it. We'd gotten it resolved back then, but I felt like an idiot anyway. She came all the way in to meet me and assure me it was not a big deal. Very fun. Marjean was there with us again, orchestrating all the details, which was wonderful, and we had a great time visiting with the emloyees and customers. Very fun store.

After that signing we hit the road for Nevada. Long drive. We can definitely feel the 3,800 miles catching up with us and the drive from Arizona to Nevada is just plain boring--unless you're driving with Julie Wright. Then it is fun. She makes everything fun. We got to Vegas in time to hit the Disney Outlet. All my razing aside, I have no particular dislike of Disney and I got my last two 'kid gifts' there which will be much enjoyed. We then headed for our final presentation of the trip, a book group in seven hills. Stefanie was the hostess, and the book group was awesome. We had some rather intensive discussions on  merits of books and authors. I was impressed with the depth of their questions and we had a really good time with these women. It's been really fun to have the sit-down meetings with these groups. We realize they aren't easy to put together, but have enjoyed each one of them so much.

After the bookgroup we realized--to abject horror--that a water bottle had leaked in the trunk--and our boxes of books had done thier best to absorb the water. Julie took the worst of it and we're both sick over the dozens of books that were ruined. Once again she amazes me with her 'scope' of dealing with tough things. But we had to skip Cheesecake Factory in favor of trying to save the rest of our stuff. Who knew a water bottle could be so disastrous. It kinda took the wind out of our sails and we got to the hotel very tired and more than a little bit frustrated. I dreamed all night that Julie and I got into a horrible fight, where she left the hotel and I had to find her in Vegas. Not fun at all.

This morning I got up to find Julie safe and sound at the hotel, reading a magazine through a slit of light coming through the bathroom door--she didn't want to wake me up. I got ready in a dash and came into work where I have a few things to deal with but, more importantly, have internet. We haven't had any since we left Janette's, which is why we're so behind on blogging. And because I changed our hotel last night to one closer to my office, we didn't get free internet like we'd have had if we'd stayed with the hotel Julie's husband had set up for us.  I bungled that one completely and feel like a heel (it doesn't help that I'm the one that put the water bottle in the trunk in the first place, but it's Julie's  books that got ruined). Currently I have unloaded the car and am letting the desert sun dry up the water in the trunk--I'm sure my employees are very impressed with having the sidewalk full of my luggage and such.

Anyway, we're heading for the Vegas signing in about an hour and then we'll drive into St. George. We get to stay with Julie's parents tonight--great people--and we get to see Julie's daughter, which will be a lot of fun as well. Another full day, that's for sure, but hopefully a good one.