Friday, June 29, 2007

Pounding the Pavement in the Adirondacks Part 6

On Thursday, June 28, I hit the road again to peddle books. It was a bit late in the day, about 2:00 p.m. or so, and I was determined to hit Raquette Lake, Indian Lake, Inlet, Blue Mountain Lake, Old Forge and Tupper Lake. Not necessarily in that order.



Well, I guess I haven't learned yet. I tend to get lost easily. I took I87 (The Adirondack Northway part) and got off at Exit 29. My husband assured me that was the right exit. Then I was to take a right then a left. Or was it a left then a right? OK, I got lost. I also got stuck in some pretty heavy duty construction which took a good 45 minutes off my time. The radio kept broadcasting severe thunderstorm warnings with winds up to 60 mph and hail and to get to a safe shelter, preferably one with few windows. Sigh.





When I made it to "undisclosed location", it was 4:00 p.m. I was bummed out and tired. I stopped at the first store I could find to ask for directions for a hotel or a cabin as I was going to stay the night and start over fresh in the morning. I went in, the place was empty, and was "greeted" by a man I assume was the owner. The place will remain anonymous because this turns out a bit creepy.

I asked for directions to a hotel/cabin and he said there were none in the area. He was very talkative, asking me a lot of questions. He kept talking. And asking. Finally, I got a bit abrupt and walked out, explaining I had to leave. He followed me out of the store and into the parking lot. Then I heard him say, "You fertile?" I heard it loud and clear but couldn't believe it so I turned to him and said, "What?!"

He was shaking all over, hadn't been before, and he had a big bugger coming out of his left nostril. I won't go into more detail but I became very scared. I closed the trunk of my car and he came toward me. I went to the driver's side, got in and locked the door. There he was, still shaking and his nose...eeewww.



I left (ok, I "peeled out") and found a place with a public phone. My cell phone had no service for quite some time. I was very upset and told Jim I was going to find a place to stay the night, get up early and start over. I told him what happened and that I'd call him when I found a place.

I did! After driving a bit I found the Squaw Brook Motel in Indian Lake. Indian Lake is such a wonderful place! Patty Eicher, the owner, greeted me warmly, gave me a room and let me use her phone to call Jim. I went in my room, it was so quaint and warm, and called Jim again. I started to cry. I was so tired and creeped out and hadn't sold one single book. He asked me if I wanted him to drive down. I said no, I'd be fine, I just needed to veg for a bit. I told him I'd call again in the morning.



I brought the phone back to Patty and she told me about her free continental breakfast and, after we talked a bit, she said she'd buy a book in the morning! I went back to my room, wrote for a bit, then drove down the road about a half a mile and had dinner and a glass of wine. I felt much better. I went back to my room and slept like a brick.

Patty's coffee and continental breakfast were perfect. She bought a book and told me to go up the street a ways to check out a store where her sister worked. I was on my way again, ready to tear up the road.

5 comments:

Dan said...

Yikes - what an adventure! Glad you got out of there!

Ida said...

Ewwwww.
But isn't it a wonderful sense of accomplishment to make it through such a creepy event???

Rebecca Leonard said...

Yes, ida, it is! Wait'll you read the follow-up blog! It was totally worth it! Thanks for the post.

Jan said...

Hey Becky,

Sounds like you are gathering good material for your next book!
Glad you made it to my sister.
I'm off to see my "Mr. Leonard" today.
Be well!
Jan

Rebecca Leonard said...

Hey Jan!
Your sister is so nice! I can't wait to see you guys on the 14th. We have a book signing in Inlet on the 15th, too.
Thanks for checking in :-)