Monday, October 31, 2011

Tour Day 37 10-19-11

On the 19th we had a short homeschool group meeting in Indiana before heading to Green Bay, WI.


The drive was rather long. So. I took pictures. :)



On the way through Illinois, we drove through Chicago. Unfortunately, our GPS went on the fritz and it took us a long time to get out of there again.



Rather crowdy with wind speeds of 70MPH


We finally made it to Wisconsin after a long, hard drive.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Tour Day 36 - 10-18-11

Day 36 we spoke at a school and a homeschool group.


We first spoke at Anderson Christian School. I think we talked three times, but since it was awhile ago now, I don't quite remember! When you're on the road as much as we are, the days tend to run together. Sorry



Once done at Anderson we drove over to our next event and set up there.

Just one talk at this homeschool group, so only four for the day. Not too bad.




Book table. :)

Another 48 Hour Contest! - Winner!

The winner of the copy of Bones of Makaidos is:

'Brianna :D '


She signed her name with the smiley face. :) So I don't know her last name or anything.

Her guess was

10,755.92


The real mileage was

10745.7 miles

So she was off by only 10.22 miles. Good job, Brianna!

To claim your prize, email me at

amanda(at)daviscrossing(dot)com



You need to email me before 9:15PM 11/1/11 to claim your prize, or I will pick the next closest guess as the winner.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tour Day 35 - 10-17-11

Day 35 was mostly spent driving to Indiana.


To reach Indiana from where we live in TN, we had to go through Kentucky (unless we wanted to go /around/ it, but that wouldn't make any sense. :) )



Nifty bridge


And finally, after many hours, Indiana


Once we reached Indiana we had a book talk in probably our most unusual location yet--a pediatric surgeon's building. We spoke in the waiting room (it was after hours).

And they had snacks

And a whole herd of cupcake dragons.

Would a group of dragons be called a herd? Or perhaps a flock.

I spoke first

And then my dad spoke


The surgeon who owns the place was gracious enough to let us stay at his house. :) All in all, a good day. The crowd was attentive and asked us questions. We like that.

Another 48 Hour Contest!

We have another contest for you!

And it's the same as a previous one, but you get a new chance to win a prize. :)


Guess our current mileage. How far have we driven?

Same rules apply as last time. You can post your guess here in the comments for this post. This contest is available for 48 hours. Guesses after 10/28/11 at 3PM will not be counted, even if you post them.

Whoever guesses the mileage closest to what we've really driven will win a prize.

What prize, you say?

A copy of The Bones of Makaidos.

This copy of 'Bones' is a little bit damaged, which is why we're giving it away and not selling it. ;) It has a dented corner and a small tear on the binding, nothing horrific. If you do not want this prize, just don't give a guess for the mileage! :)

Remember, you can give it away to friends or to the library, if they're missing it from their collection.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Underestimated!

We really underestimated our miles total for this tour!

As of last night (10/24/11) we reached 10,000 miles driven!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Contest Reminder

There are three books you can purchase during the tour contest that can count toward entries in the Kindle/Nook drawing. The three are Third Starlighter, Diviner, and Precisely Terminated. If you buy one or more of them at any time during the tour (September 13 through November 19), just send me proof of purchase, and you will get credit for three additional entries in the drawing for each book purchased. Even if you buy multiple copies of a book, you will get credit for each one.

Just scan or take a photo of the receipt and send it to me, or forward an email receipt to author (at) daviscrossing (dot) com.

Tour Days 31, 32, 33, and 34

We reached home on tour day 30, so you could argue that the 4 days we were home aren't tour days, but I would argue otherwise. :)

During the four days we were home, all we did was take inventory, pack the van again, and make sure all our financial info was in order, barely any time to rest at all.

So. They count as tour days. :)

No pictures taken, because it would be just more pictures of boxes.

I hope you all are having a good day and will continue to read our blog. I'm trying to get caught up on all of these back logged days, really!

Also, I hope to get another video up soon. We have no footage at the moment, but next time we have some, there will be a word for the contest.

On another note, if you are participating in the contest for the grand prize and come out to a book store and purchase one of the books, you must TELL us about that! You can't come out to the book store and just think we'll recognize you and put your name in the drawing that extra number of times. We're not that talented, sorry. :)

So if you've come out to a signing and/or have purchased the books that count for extra times in the drawing, make sure you let me know about it. (for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, go read this post )

Tour Day Thirty - 10/12/11

On Day thirty, we were heading home!

First we made a quick stop in Springfield, MO to speak to a school.



Then we were able to head home. :)


And I didn't bother getting a picture of the TN welcome sign because I already have one. :)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Tour Day Twenty-Nine 10/11/11

Twenty-Nine was mostly just a driving day. :)

We spoke at Deshler Lutheran school that morning. The kids there were especially excited about Precisely Terminated. :)

After the school we drove . . . and drove . . . and drove.

Nebraska was rather flat.


Then we entered Kansas

And finally stopped in Springfield, Missouri for the evening.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Tour Day Twenty - Eight 10-10-11 (I realize we're a few days behind!)

Day Twenty-eight we were in North Platte, Nebraska.

In North Platte, we spoke to a homeschool group, did a writing workshop with them, and then had a book signing at the Bible Supplies store.

We arrived in North Platte a little early so we stopped at the Bible Supplies and saw the fantastic setup the bookstore had for us. :)


They even had all of my dad's books, which is a first for any store on the tour so far. Usually the stores are missing one or two of his novels, but not Bible Supplies.


After going to the book store, we went to the homeschool group and spoke to them and did a short writing workshop as well.

Then we headed off to the book signing

One person sent over her very well loved books for my dad to sign, though she couldn't come because she had to work.


After the signing, the book store owners gave us some caramel popcorn from the popcorn store down the street which was much appreciated. Then we left for Deshler, NE for our event on the 11th.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Quick Update

We're on the road again!

I'm going to update this blog more fully as soon as I can, but it's 11:30, and while that's not all that late to some of you, keep in mind we spoke 6 times today and haven't really gotten enough sleep all month. :)

So good night!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Tour Day . . . What?

I have no idea what day it is in the tour count right now. Nor do I feel like looking it up. :)

Right now we're at home for a 4 day stay before heading off to Indiana. I hope to get caught up on all those back logged days in the mean time. Don't expect any updates of us being at home. It's kind of dull to the onlooker, really. Just us rushing around taking book inventory, doing laundry, writing thank you notes, and annoying the cats. The last part is just my doing. My dad just ignores the cats, but I like holding my cat Ferdi when I get home. And to those of you wondering, yes, I am allergic to cats, but not to Ferdi. She has a different hair type than most cats.

I could just turn this into a post about cats, but I doubt you guys would like that.


Good night!

A Catch Up of All Our Videos!

I got behind on all of the tour videos. And one of these has a word. For sure. Not kidding this time. :)











Tour Schedule Changes

Tour schedule changes:

Adding:

October 22, 2011 – 7 pm to 9 pm
Calvary Bible Church
855 S. Drake Road
Kalmazoo, MI

Confirming time:

November 8, 2011 – 1:45 pm to 3:00 pm (School students)
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm (open to public)
Grace Christian School
801 Buck Jones Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27606

Postponing:

October 28, 2011 – 9:00 am to 10:30 am
Jim C. Bailey Middle School
4110 Bauer Road
Pensacola, FL 32506
This event is tentatively moved to March 6

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Mileage Contest Winner!

The winner for the mileage guessing is . . .


Amy W!

Amy, I need your address and your choice of MP3 audio book emailed to me at
amanda (at) daviscrossing (dot) com within 48 hours.

Amy guessed 7,542.4 miles, and she was just 53.4 miles off!


Our total trip mileage on October 11th was 7,489 miles.

So email me within 48 hours Amy (by the evening of 10/15/11) or I'll pick the next closest guess. :)

Tour Day Twenty-Six - 10/9/11

Day Twenty-Six we drove from Colorado to Nebraska! Easy, short drive. When we arrived we spoke to a homeschool group for 2 hours or so, I think.

Funny thing about this event. We had it in a bank. :) The bank had a downstairs meeting room, and we spoke there. First time speaking in a bank!

And yet I forgot to take a picture!

At least I got one of the welcome sign. :)


And one of our wonderful host family. :) They put up with us for an evening before we had to drive to North Platte the next day. They have ponies. :)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

New Contest! Come Read About It!

You guys have another chance to win a copy of a Dragons in our Midst or Oracles of Fire book on Audio MP3 disk. Exciting, right? :)


We want you to try to guess the current mileage we've put under our wheels for this trip-in other words, how far we've gone. Remember, we've driven through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, so that's a lot of miles. Don't guess anything like '100' or something like that. Because I'm telling you now, that's not correct. :)

You may post 1 guess in the comments section beneath this post. Whoever guesses the number of miles the closest to the correct number will win an MP3 of their choice (one of the Dragons in our Midst or Oracles of Fire books except Circles of Seven)..

You may post your guesses for 48 hours, but once the 48 hours are up, I won't accept any new guesses, even if you post them. So it ends 10/13/11 at 10:33PM Central Time

Tour Day Twenty-Five 10/8/11

Day Twenty-Five, our second day in the Springs of Colorado. :)

We had only a book signing scheduled, so it was a pretty easy day.

When we arrived at the Mardel's where the signing was, it was snowing pretty hard and I got covered.

Have I mentioned I don't like the cold? Because I don't.



At least it's sort of pretty.

The signing went well. :) A lot of people came out to see us despite the snow, so that made us happy.


After the book signing I went to the nearby Panera again to meet with some other friends. Zoe, the daughter of our host family went with me, but I think she found my friends a little crazy. :)

We then headed back to our host family's house and played some games for awhile. We taught them the card game 'Scum' and had fun with that. :)

Tour Day Twenty - Four - 10-6-11

Day twenty-four was our first day in Colorado Springs, Colorado!

We had only two school talks our first day, but it was fun.

First we spoke to an assembly at the Colorado Springs Christian school.





We headed to a church to speak to a homeschool group outside of the Springs right after the talk at the school.



We arrived at the church a half hour early or so and waited in the car for the event coordinator to arrive. While in the car, the winds were gusting at about 70MPH. It shook the van something fierce. :)

We had to get our van looked at after the church. Remember we had to refill the coolant tank? It drained again, clearly it had a leak, so we took it in to the local dodge place and had to get a part replaced. Unfortunately, it was not a cheap repair. It cost quite a lot, actually.

Fortunately, we met some people at the repair place. They were getting their oil changed, and I talked to them for a bit and they ended up buying a copy of PT. :)

After the van repair, I scuttled back to a Panera to see some of my friends, and then we returned to our host family's house and hung out with them for awhile.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Tour Day Twenty-Three 10/5/11

Day Twenty- Three was mostly just a travel day. :)

We started out in Livingston, MT and drove and drove and . . . drove. For 12 hours on our way to Colorado Springs, Colorado.


First state on our way is of course, Wyoming.


Lots of pretty scenery.

Snow fences

Large rocks

And more large rocks


Nope, that's not a real person on a horse. It's a wood cutout
Unfortunately, in Cheyenne, WY, we smelled a burning smell in our van and discovered we were out of coolant. So we bought some more and filled up the tank.


Lovely green color, isn't it?

And we finally reached Colorado!


We stayed in Peyton while we were in Colorado.

Oops - Day 19 Video

I was just informed that the Day 19 video does not have a word of the day in it. I thought it did. I must have forgotten that it didn't over all these days ! Sorry. =)

I'll try to get a new word up soon.

Day 19 Video!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Tour Day Twenty-Two - 10/4/11

Day twenty-two.

Five more days of catch up to do. :)


I'm trying to get day 19 video uploaded. It has a word in it, but youtube isn't behaving!

We left Nine Mile Falls, WA pretty early in the morning to drive to Livingston, Montana. :)

It rained a lot of the time.





Of course to get to Montana from Washington we had to drive through Idaho :)

Lots of pretty scenery on the way through Idaho.


We weren't in ID very long before entering Montana.


When we arrived in Livingston, we spoke to a small but attentive group at a library. We spoke about how we became authors and that sort of thing. :)


We spent only one night in MT before heading on to Colorado on the 5th.