They Be Ideas Fer Sure

Howdy, Pamela Tracy here, and I just got back from vacation.

My family and I went to California.  Our big adventure was a visit to Catalina Island where we did an underwater adventure - glass boat, lots of fishes - as well as a jeep tour of the more rugged part of the island.

First, I've been on three jeep tours.  One, yawn, I could have driven myself and read aloud from a guidebook.

The next one, in Colorado was amazing EXCEPT I'm afraid of heights and we went straight up a mountain on a road that was only wide enough for the jeep.  Yet, sometimes we had to pull to the side DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE EDGE so that other vehicles could pass.  Everything EXCEPT THE HEIGHT of that trip was amazing from the ghost town, to the port a potty, to the waterfall.


In Catalina Island, I never dreamed there'd be HEIGHT or I'd be sitting next to a crazy lady driver (great gal, loved her the few times I opened my eyes) who actually would turn around to talk while we were DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE EDGE.  Everything EXCEPT THE HEIGHT of this trip was amazing from the eagle sanctuary, to the Wringley's grape orchard, to the airport in the sky.


This was a four hour tour, so lots of talking went on and finally I shared that I wrote romances for Harlequin.  The jeep driver WHO DROVE DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE EDGE was impressed.  "How do you get your ideas?" she asked.

I asked her to share the funniest thing that had ever happened on a jeep tour.  "Oh," she said, "last week, I had a lady so afraid of heights that we went over one hill, she looked down, and started screaming."

I immediately pitched her a story about a twenty something undercover detective who was working for the jeep tour company while investigating (something to be decided later) when one of his passengers started screaming and wouldn't sstop.  She, of course, caused him to miss an opportunity while he calmed her down.  Later, he ran into her again on the beach, where she'd just stepped on a jellyfish.  Yup, she got in the way again. Turns out, she worked for the man the private investigator is tracking.

"Hmmm," said my jeep driver WHO DRIVES DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE EDGE.  "You know, I might write a book or two someday, but it would be stories about Catalina Island and all the people I drive and my family.



They be ideas fer sure, wouldn't you say?

Comments

  1. Too funny Pamela and how nice to start my week with a good laugh! I’m with you on the heights and winding road part. The rest is...well...out of a book.

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    1. Just the driver's luck that I wound up in the front seat next to her. I know she saw me clutching the door and closing my eyes a lot.

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  2. So funny--now that you're down. Like your idea!

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    1. It got another idea at the Airport in the Sky. I shared that with the driver, too. I used the lone air traffic controller. She didn't get that it was fiction and insisted he was married.

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  3. Now I want to know what happens to the screaming woman and the undercover investigator. I didn't even know that they were jeep tours! Reminds me of that show 'Ice Road Truckers'--I think it was called--and its follow-up where roads in India's mountains were featured, mountain roads with crumbling edges...stories there fer sure.

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    1. I do a lot to always be with my 13 year old and husband on their adventures, but I'd stay at the hotel reading should they sign up for ice road trucking. Yup.

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  4. When we lived in So. Cal, I loved the trips to Catalina island. It's probably changed a lot since then. A lot of years ago. Glad you didn't go over the edge. LOL

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    1. The first time I went to Catalina Island I was with my best friend Cathy McDavid. I'm so afraid of heights that I did a bus tour while she went ziplining. It's a beautiful Island, crowded, lots of tourists.

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  5. That is too funny! I have an aunt that is scared of heights too and she went on a trip to the Swiss Alps with a group of co-workers. The road was so narrow that there were times the tour bus had to back up down the road to get to a pullout so another tour bus could go by. In the Swiss Alps. She was terrified the entire time! Now, when can we expect to be reading the private investigator story????

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    1. Oh, ah, um, yup, I'd get on that bus. The Swiss Alps. Unfortunately, you have to get on a plane to get there first. Not sure it's going to happen. I have, however, been talking to my husband about the joys of cruises.

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  6. I love Catalina Island. Remember years ago when you and I went and had breakfast in the cafe. Some couple there asked us about Sheriff Joe. We got such a kick that people so far from Arizona would know about our county sheriff.

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    1. That Cafe is still there :) The little shop where I got a great shirt is gone, though. There's a video arcade in its place.

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  7. Now that's an adventure and the start of a very good story. It's funny how some people really don't like bridges and won't voluntarily go to the edge of anything. I wonder why some of us are drawn to heights--one of my favorite things was having a drink at the at bar om the top of the Hancock Building in Chicago--but other people I knew wouldn't go near the place, even with the glass wall and steel beams and everything else keeping them safe. Nothing like a jeep on a cliff--that would scare anyone!

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  8. LOL! You just prove that writers never actually take vacation from writing. :) Glad you had a good time.

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    1. I loved this post, Pam! I don't like heights, either, but that jeep tour sounds pretty entertaining.

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  9. Wow, I'm highly impressed you didn't jump out of the jeep and walk. I would have, or maybe I'd have been petrified with fear instead. Love the story ideas. I have to get to Catalina Island one of these days. It's on the list.

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    1. My husband is already talking about the seven hour tour. I've got a good grip, LOL.

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  10. Been there, except I was the one driving up to Mesa Verde in November with ice across a steep road and NO GUARDRAILS. Well, there might have been guardrails, but I was so nervous, all I could do was drive and pray.

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  11. I doubt you could get me on any of those tours! Glad you had fun!

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