On the Road again

Why am I now at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier in March?  (Besides the fact that I love the place?) I'm attending a Writing Weekend Retreat here.

But true to the subtitle of this blog -- I had adventures on the way.

Firstly, about the time our plane should have been loading, we heard an announcement that Philadelphia (my next layover) had a backup and we probably wouldn't leave here for several hours. (a huge storm that missed Baltimore had slammed into Philadelphia and prevented planes from taking off.) Some people left the area to go to the food court, but I was among the ones who needed to change my connecting plane (I had only a 30 minute layover in Philly), so I got in the line for plane changes.  Good thing, too, because 10 minutes later they announced that Philadelphia's delay had cleared up and the plane would load soon.

Once in the Philly airport, I raced to my favorite Philadelphia cheesesteak sub place, only to find most of that area under construction and my option for lunch was a premade salad, sub, or wrap.  hmmmm. So I went on to the area where my connecting plane to Vermont was supposed to leave from.  Surprise.  That plane was delayed for an hour because it was flying from another airport hit by storms which had delayed their takeoff.  Whew!

Well, my plans to take a slow drive from Burlington (there is no airport in Montpelier) among the beautiful Vermont mountains, stopping to visit places -- like the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory -- didn't work out, because now it was 5 pm and I had to rush down I-89 to get to the college by dinner time. The drive was still lovely. Wisps of foggy clouds flowed down the mountainsides and wafted in the valleys between.  I had to keep the windshield wipers working because of the constant mist.

Once at Vermont College the weekend began with a lecture about laying a foundation -- important in YOGA as well as writing. (complete with Yoga instruction) Ouch. I knew that after toting my heavy bags through two airports, plus yoga, I was going to wake up in pain the next day.  And I did.
But it was worth it.  (more later)

School visits to remember

Since it's almost time for the kids to go back to school, I was reminded of some of the school visits I've made over the years. (In fact, I've mentioned a couple on my blog.)

I love visiting schools.
Every spring I visit the local schools wearing my librarian hat and representing the public library to tell the students (and teachers) about this year's Summer Reading Program. I also bring along a selection of neat books that I think the kids would enjoy reading for fun. I fully believe that summer reading should be FUN!

Do I ever talk about my own books at these school visits? Hardly ever. Wellllll, if I have a new book out I might show it to one of the classes if I think they'd enjoy it. But these are library visits, not me-me-me-the-author.

And then there are school visits that I make with my author hat on.
I love doing these, too. (I've come to the conclusion that I'm a ham. I'm basically shy, but when I do have something to talk about, I'm a ham.)
It so much fun to arrive at a school and find it is all decked out with student's interpretations of my books. One school a few years ago had adopted the slogan -- Fly High with Books -- and had plastered the school with it. They had no idea that that's what I put into every copy of TO FLY, THE STORY OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS when I sign them. Wow! Great minds with but a single thought. I was blown away.

And then there are the disasters.
Most memorable was year I took 3 to 4 hours driving through a blinding white-out snowstorm to travel to a school near Washington, DC -- a trip that should have taken an hour and a half at the most. When I realized that traffic on I-95 was stopped dead because no one could see, I began calling the school -- and nobody answered. For an hour, as traffic crept along, nobody answered. When they finally realized someone was trying to call them, I got the distinct impression that they didn't believe me. After all, the snowstorm had left their area, only leaving a dusting of snow.

From then on, whenever a school near DC asks me to come, I make sure I get the school secretary's phone number and I state over and over again that I really, really will try to get there on time, but you know how the traffic on the DC beltway often is a traffic jam....

Anywho, all this is leading up to Marc Tyler Nobleman recent blog entries where he has posted about his 10 most memorable school visit moments. Only a few are disasters. The rest are typical of some of the wonderful interactions we all get with students and teachers when we are the 'author' visiting their school.
-wendieO