After the book signing, a hotel banquet worker helped me transport my books to my room. He went above and beyond his job description and is one of the many reasons I loved The Hutton Hotel.
Rae Ann and I went to lunch with the lovely Jane Sevier. I loved my brats and sauerkraut.
Rae Ann and Jane were the most gracious hosts and showed me around the city all afternoon. We started at French’s Boots in downtown Nashville, where I ended up purchasing two gorgeous pairs of boots. And no I did not opt for the Pepto Bismo pink socks.
BTW, do not bother looking online and identifying which boots you want. The stores stock is not as complete and you have to shop aisle by aisle anyway.
Photo by Rae Ann Parker
We continued our adventures at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Rae Ann volunteers there so she got me in for free and gave me the insider’s tour. Beyond cool.
They had an entire room dedicated to Reba McEntire!
This was Elvis’ car with gold records in the ceiling and a phone to call the driver.
Photo by Rae Ann Parker
Me beside the second wall of gold records.
Wow. Just wow. Imagine wearing this.
Smokey and the Bandit II car.
Country Music Hall of Fame–where it’s good luck to rub Ms. Wells nose.
Entry way of Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Great giftshop. I dropped a pretty penny there.
Rae Ann and my last stop was the Loveless Cafe for dinner. Over biscuits and preserves, we commiserated over the difficulties of being indie authors.
My fried chicken, fried green tomatoes and mashed potatoes and gravy was worth every single calorie.
After Rae Ann dropped me back at the hotel, I had to get my books shipped back to CT. Unfortunately the hotel cannot do ground shipping. But the front desk made it completely possible for me. They got my books to the free shuttle, loaded them on the shuttle, and the shuttle driver brought me to Fed Ex and carried my books to the counter. All at 9:30 at night.
After my books were sent off, the shuttle driver drove me back to the hotel. We talked about my book and it turned out he knew a country singer from Butternut, WI.
Can you guess who? Yup. Hugh Bob and the Hustle. I laughed because I’d just been at Hugh’s show in Williamsburg a week ago. What a wonderful world it is when you have a Butternut connection.
The next morning, my cab driver requested a signed bookmark on the way to the airport. I got to listen to good country singers over lunch. And I made it to Laguardia in record time. My driver got me to Grand Central where I caught a train back to CT. Standing room only. Blared Hugh Bob and The Hustle and time passed quickly. Got a seat and gave out two bookmarks to fellow passengers on the train.
The next day, I packed a bag and set off for Madison, CT for my RJ Julia’s local author event.
I sold one book to a really lovely woman named Andrea. And I met several nice authors. And RJ Julia’s will stock my book for 3 months. So it was a very good night.
I met my best friend’s mom for dinner and crashed with her in Old Saybrook for the night.
Next morning we breakfasted at the Paperback Cafe. The Kielbasa Scramble was delightful.
Then I headed back home.
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