Hello to all -- I'm getting a late start today because I have a bit of a cold, and Mike took the kids to school so I could sleep in. I've got a book reading tomorrow night with a book club - a group of cool ladies in South Boston - and I want to be sure I'm healthy and get my voice back.

Thank you all for your kind comments about this thread. I have to say, I have truly enjoyed it, and I'm sad to see it coming to an end. We've had such fun. Why, I even "met" Dianne's sister, an expat living in Paris and Provence, through this forum. It just took us in so many different, wonderful directions. I'm deeply honored that Dotsie invited me to share "Ribbons" with you and swap travel experiences. When women travel, they learn about the world, but they also discover much about themselves. Travel empowers.

I'm glad I've infected so many people with the travel bug. If you're gonna get a disease, this is the one to get! We'll have to keep each other posted on where our future travels take us. Any plans, Chicakdee?

Nancy, yes, we spent many marvelous days in West Virginia on our "Ribbons of Highway" journey, and I write quite a bit about it in the book. The kids got their first taste of camping at New River Gorge, and we made friends with the campground owner's dog, a crazy pup named Loca who kept barreling up the trunks of trees trying to catch squirrels. She'd fall backwards off the tree, smash to the ground, then do it again, with relish. A dog I think Trixie might like.

We followed the Midland Trail along the Kanawha River and drove through coal towns like Ury, Sophia, Tams , Smither, Boomer, Alloy. We went deep into the Beckley Mine with Jim, an oldtimer who'd spent 35 years working the Sewell seam. We took in Charleston's old cobbled sections and saw the mansions high on the bluff above the Kanawaha. West Virginia was a place that was hard to leave. (But Kentucky horse country was next, so Dana was wild with anticipation.)

Smile, we'll probably talk before you leave, but I've been thinking about your departure and wish you good luck and Godspeed. The same to Danita, as she prepares to take off for South Dakota for Memorial Day weekend. May you both have journeys that fill up your hearts, your minds, your souls. Tell us everything when you get back.

Smile, if you do order "Ribbons," you can certainly order from www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1591134536/ or www.booklocker.com/books/1451.html , but if you'd like a signed copy, remember the special "Boomer" offer I hid in an earlier post. A buck off the book's price, and I pay the shipping for anyone who finds me -- now or any time in the future -- through this thread. $13.95 total gets a signed copy on its way to you. Just put "boomer" somewhere on your check. Tell your friends! (40 Williams St., N. Easton, MA 02356).

(Also, I keep forgetting about this. If you're into e-books, you can download "Ribbons" from Booklocker, the publisher, for only $8.95. You don't get the pretty cover photo of Montana that Writer's Digest book contest judges loved so much, but you get the words cheap...)

Anyway, enough self-promotion. We need to find out whether Sherri's ever seen Oprah (the real lady, not the show). Decatur isn't close to Chicago, I know, but you never know where that connection to the big time might be. I saw Oprah once. Oprah's car, actually. I was riding into downtown Chicago in morning rush-hour traffic, and just ahead of me in the slothlike crawl was a big, gleaming Mercedes with the license plate "Harpo One." I figured it was Oprah. Or at least the person who has the office next to hers. I hadn't written "Ribbons" yet, or I would have propped the book on the dashboard and flung a copy out the window onto the hood of her car.