RV Hometown

At Northern Lights she retrieves her RV. The park is under new ownership. She ends up staying at the park for awhile and working for the owner, Paul Lauden, even though they get off to a rough start. One of her goals is to learn how to drive the motorhome as well as be able to set up and break down the RV for travel. That is her key to independence.

It is clear this storyteller knows about RV parks, motorhomes and small town life in Michigan. They provide the backdrop for an appealing romantic story. In fact, when I asked her what her RVing experience is, here is what she replied:

"As a girl my family camped all over the U.S. After I married, my husband and I and our 4 girls started out tent camping, then on to a pop up, converted vans, used or leased moror homes and we now have a new 25 foot B+ motor home. Our greatest adventures--a 5000-mile camping trip in an RV through Europe twice when our girls were little and last summer's 2000-plus-mile book signing trip cross-country. My husband and I were out in the middle of nowhere chasing down Native American ruins in northwestern New Mexico along the way and in the campgrounds at night I was wildly at work polishing In Transit. Watching all this, one day my husband laughed and said, "You want research? Here's the keys." I grinned and proceeded to drive us through a tough 17 miles in and out of Chaco Canyon National Park...boulders and sand that gave new meaning to "unimproved" roadway."

Pick up a copy for an enjoyable read. 260 pages.

With the arrival of an escaped slave, who offers to help plant and harvest the season’s crops in return for help finding his family, Tim’s life begins to change. He discovers that strength has less to do with strong muscles than with determination and maturity. Mr. Freeman and Tim’s sisters show him that love, sacrifice, and faith also lend strength to his journey to The Tree at the Top of the Hill. 80 pages. $12.95 for paperback. Purchase from Amazon (see below). To purchase e-book for $7.95 go to Booklocker.

Marcie Hoye Cumberland and her husband, Jim, are full-time RVers and storytellers. See their Web site and read a free excerpt.

Using the novel as a vehicle, Sam conveys what would happen when such a powerful quake rocks the New Madrid Fault. In 1811 and 1812, great quakes shook the fault but relatively few people lived in the area. Today, 55,000,000 people live in the nine states that shook the hardest nearly 200 years ago. The river itself has been reconstructed by man, with locks, dikes and huge dams, all of which could, and probably would, be destroyed by a major quake.

A disaster brings out both the best and worst in people. A collection of characters aid or prey on quake victims while the captains work their way down the river, now reformed by the quake.

We think of California as having the most devastating quakes, but a great quake along the Madrid Fault would have devastating effects on millions of people and the nation’s economy. And, according to Sam, there has been little preparation for a quake of this magnitude that the U.S. Geological Survey says the chance of its happening in the lifetime of the majority of the people in the U.S. is one in ten. Not only should you read Broken River—if you missed Memphis, 7.9, read that too!

Order from at RVHometown.com. $16.00

Memphis 7.9 (revised) : Book 1 of The 7.9 Scenario 

by Sam Penny

Sam Penny, Escapees member and full-timer, has combined his experience as a traveler, his background in physics and geology, and his amateur interest in seismology to produce Memphis 7.9, a fictional account of what might happen if an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude were to hit Memphis, Tennessee. It is not a pretty picture!

Sam uses his very ordinary characters, not unlike his readers, to set the stage for the disaster. As a result, when the shaking begins, the reader will be afflicted as well “Please,” I pleaded in my mind with the author, “Don’t let anything happen to Chris, even if he is planning to ride it out at the epicenter.” It’s all there: the initial rumbling, the jolts, the broken freeway interchanges and bridge supports, buildings collapsing on themselves, fires raging, the Mississippi River breaking through the levees. As a Californian who has experienced her share of earthquakes and still can’t drive under a freeway overpass without speeding (just in case . . . ), I appreciate the importance of this book.

Sam states that he wanted to combine his retirement goal of writing fiction with his desire to warn people who have become complacent about the potential dangers. One of his characters—you can almost see this villain twirling the ends of his mustache while the audience is hissing—abuses his government funds for retrofitting freeways and buildings, resulting in unsafe structures. Unfortunately, he is probably not alone. “Can’t happen here; this isn’t California,” seems to be the motto for some place as remote from the West Coast as Memphis, Tennessee. But it can, and Memphis 7.9 paints the scenario in glaring detail. 

I highly recommend this book. Sam has created a work of fiction that will spur his readers to action and certainly make them aware of what could happen if they don't prepare for a potential disaster. 

Order from from RVHometown.com  $16.00

The Serpents Trail: A Maxie and Stretch Mystery by Sue Henry

by Sue Henry

We first heard of writer Sue Henry when we stopped at Dawson Peaks Resort near Teslin in the Yukon on an RV trip from Anchorage to Seattle. The resort was the setting for the final scenes in Dead North, one of Henry’s Alaska mysteries. That novel introduced the character Maxie McNabb, traveling in her RV up the Alaska Highway with her mini-dachshund, Stretch.

Readers wanted Maxie to have her own book; The Serpents Trail is the result. Maxie, who travels most of the time in her Minnie Winnie Winnebago motorhome, is a character we RVers can relate to. She is a 63 year old widow, smart but cautious. She loves the freedom of RV travel. She isn’t a professional sleuth but has common sense, a deep sense of integrity, and encounters situations that need to be solved.

As the story opens, Maxie and Stretch are scooting south in her RV from Alaska to fulfill a promise to a longtime friend, terminally ill with a heart condition. Sarah has something important to tell her. Arriving in Colorado Junction, Colorado, Maxie finds Sarah in intensive care. All she can tell Maxie is, "He’s not right...." Sarah dies before explaining.

It is then up to Maxie, executrix of Sarah’s estate, to find the special instructions Sarah has hidden for Maxie in her Victorian house. Someone else has a key and is also searching.

As Maxie unravels the puzzle, she finds she doesn’t know her dear friend as well as she thought. And someone does not want her finding the instructions, leaving threats and attempting to run her off the road in nearby Colorado National Monument. As Maxie follows the clues, to Salt Lake City and back, we get caught up in this tale of intrigue and also get a glimpse in the life of a solo woman RVer.

Let’s hope this is the first of many in a series. Traveling in an RV will be a natural for a series of books about Maxie. I wonder where Maxie and Stretch’s next adventure will be!