Bertram's Blog

Today I purchased a one-way Amtrak ticket to Eureka, CA. I’ll be leaving Wednesday morning to fulfill my New Year’s resolution to visit a dear online friend, who also happens to be my very first fan. I can hardly wait!

I used to worry about meeting people in person that I only knew online, but I have learned that there is barely a blip of uncomfortableness. If one is honest and tells their truth online, that truth translates to offline life, and this friend and I have always told our truth. (And anyway, she loves all my books. How can I not like her?)

Although I’d recently made a decision to head out via bus or train if my car wasn’t finished by the time I ran out of housesitting jobs, I didn’t think I’d be following through since a couple of opportunities for a place to stay seemed viable. But neither place worked out. So, here I am, ready to set out on an adventure. Truth be told, it’s not much of an adventure, more of a straightforward trip. I have a ride to the station here, and a ride to my friend’s place on the other end, but still, it’s a step into the unknown. I am so looking forward to finally heading out, to stop talking about doing something and actually . . . do something.

In case you’re wondering why the one-way ticket . . . I’m planning on coming back, of course, but since I have no place to stay around here while I’m waiting for my car, I won’t be buying a return ticket until a) the car is finished; b) my friend gets sick of me; or c) a different adventure calls.

I’ll be wearing my new hiking shoes and carrying my new backpack, just in case things don’t work out as planned and I have to hoof it. (As one of my mother’s sisters used to say, if things work out as planned, it’s an excursion. If things don’t work out, it’s an adventure.) I’d planned to take Jeff’s ashes with me when I went to visit this friend, but I thought I’d be driving. Carrying his ashes aboard a train is not the sort of memorial I had in mind. Amtrak is not exactly a sacred vessel, and besides, I’ll have enough stuff to carry. So saying my final goodbyes will have to wait.

I’ll have my phone with me as well as my backup battery pack to make sure I can blog occasionally and let you know how I’m doing.

Let the adventures begin!

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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.