Hello All: For my weekly update it’s time to report on a recent trip to Colorado to have our BMW 1100RT motorcycle fixed. Many of our readers don’t realize that much of our book research and promotional tours are done on two wheels–our preferred means of travel. After 80,000 miles the ABS had ceased to function and in spite of not having time to take from writing, we just had to have reliable brakes, a new speedometer cable, and tires put on the Beemer. Mike rode south through Wyoming to Craig, Colorado, and wound around through the Rockies to I-70 and then into Denver. While the brakes were being attended to at Foothills BMW, Mike was able to spend a couple of hours at the PaleoResearch lab in Golden, Colorado. Fascinating research on paleoethnobotany is being conducted. Not only are Linda Cummings and her crew conducting cutting edge investigations into what prehistoric people were eating, burning, drinking, and defecating, but we spent a delightful lunch trying to figure out a neat plot twist on a new novel. The story deals with the Hernando de Soto expedition into Florida in 1539. Writing about European contact in North America isn’t new; we’ve dealt with it in Kathy’s This Widowed Land and touched on it in People of the Masks. This time, however, we’re taking the Indian view of the experience with Black Shell, a Chickasaw trader, and the woman of his dreams: the fascinating Pearl Hand. In what we hope will be a new series in the tradtion of the “People” books, Black Shell is going to fight the Spaniards through 16 states until the remnants of de Soto’s army flees. So far this is great fun and a charming and heroic story. Most modern folk don’t realize that Native peoples won the first rounds in North America. Brain storming with the Paleoreasearch crew was great. In the end, with the BMW tricked up like new, Mike rode back to Wyoming encountering hail, lots of rain, and stunning scenery. All the while, the new book was spinning out in his head. Now, if we can just get the world to leave us alone, we’ll put it all paper for our readers. The biggest regret on this last trip? Mike missed having his Kathy on the back. As hail the size of quarters rattled off his helmet, Mike missed Kathy’s running commentary on the experience. The last time we rode through hail like that was in Texas. The funny thing is, as time passes, those hailstones get bigger and bigger with the telling. According to her, they are now the size of tennis balls! Since Mike was the only recipient of the heavenly barrage, they’ll stay the size of quarters. The good news seems to be that hail knocks a lot of bugs off both fairing and windshield. All the Best!