The Badlands -On the way to Yellowstone

After spending a long day driving from Lake Geneva to Sioux Falls SD, we took a leisurely drive through the Badlands National Park.


One of the more interesting signage along a trail described the fossils found of the dog's ancestors:

Dogs for millions of years...and with us today!

And along the road, Bighorn sheep:

Tomorrow, on to Cody Wyoming, where we're staying at a haunted hotel!

Finally! My author copies arrive!

My author copies of Bring Jade Home were scheduled to arrive on the 23rd of May. The UPS on line tracking said "Out for delivery." I waited. And waited. Nothing. The next morning, I started to panic. "No further information available."
The package had disappeared after going through 10 different arrival scans and departures, all the way from Helena MT to Sturtevant, WI. That's the usual UPS destination before arrival in Lake Geneva.
I contacted UPS via email. No response. As the day went on, I contacted the shipper, my publisher, Farcountry Press. They had to follow up on their end.
I talked to the local UPS shop in Lake Geneva. He said, "I've known packages to arrive at seven at night, but no later."
Farcountry's Vicki was wonderful, trying hard on her end to figure out what was going on. She spoke to Farcountry's UPS representative. "It was lost, somewhere in Illinois, and they are shipping it back to Wisconsin."
It reappeared in Sturtevant after a sojourn in the middle of Illinois. Now, would it arrive on Friday, the 25th arrive the following Tuesday? That would be too late to bring with me to Yellowstone. 
On Friday the 25th, I waited hopefully refreshing the tracking screen. "Out for delivery." Five o'clock came and went. My hope started to diminish with each passing minute.
The irony wasn't lost on me. My book is about a lost dog. Still, Jade was found.
Paul and I had dinner, watching the clock. "Do you think it'll come today?" he asked me  around six thirty. I replied,"No."
At a quarter to seven, the "witching hour," I refreshed the screen one more time.
"Delivered."
Was it really physically here?
 I sent Paul to the campground office and....you know the rest.
Thank you Vicki, thank you author book gods, thank Farcountry Press. I have my books and they are flippin' beautiful. 

I found out today Bring Jade Home is now on the shelves of gift shops at Yellowstone National Park!


Old Faithful Inn lobby. We will be there June 2 and 3. Can you imagine the history of this place?

More about Old Faithful Inn

From the Yellowstone National Park website:

About Old Faithful Inn

The Old Faithful Inn is one of the most popular lodging facilities at Yellowstone National Park. Ideally located within view of the world-famous Old Faithful Geyser, this lodge offers many highlights and advantages you won't find anywhere else. The inn has more than 300 rooms available, including newly renovated suites and premium rooms that combine old-fashioned and modern characteristics indicative of Yellowstone's history.

The grand lobby, known as the “Old House,” is one of the largest log structures in the world. It was completed in 1904, and has unique decorative features including etched glass panels, a large stone fireplace, and balcony porches overlooking the Old Faithful Geyser Basin. Timber columns, hickory furniture, and an antique, handcrafted clock add to the classic appeal of the Old Faithful Inn.

Signing Schedule

The entire team will be available signing books on June 2 and 3 Old Faithful Inn lobby 9:00 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Old Faithful Inn

2018 Dates

Opens: May 4, 2018
Closes: October 7, 2018

As a national historic landmark, Old Faithful Inn is the most requested lodging facility in the park. Built in 1903-1904 with local logs and stone, the Inn is considered the largest log structure in the world. The towering lobby features a massive stone fireplace and a hand-crafted clock made of copper, wood and wrought iron serving as focal points. With 327 rooms, the Old Faithful Inn is open from early May until mid-October and features a full-service restaurant, lounge, snack bar, gift shop and daily tours.

June 5 at 6 p.m. Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, MT.  Montana's largest independent bookstore. Team Jade will be there.

Country Bookshelf



Thursday June 28 6:30 p.m. Lake Geneva Public Library
Author presentation and signing Lake Geneva Public Library   

Please comment below if you think you'll be attending any of these events.

Let the countdown begin to Yellowstone

One week to until our road trip to Yellowstone. I'm still celebrating Farcountry Press as the publisher of Bring Jade Home second edition.

And no, that's not the "real" Jade. It's a life-size "Jadette" from Melissa & Doug.
She's wearing a collar Jade sent to her, and I'm holding a bottle of Michelle Champagne. It's now empty, but Jadette is coming with us on the trip.

I think she looks excited, don't you?

Updating the website BringJadeHome.com

Paul and I have been working on tying together the new blog with an updated Bring Jade Home website. We've gussied up the site to reflect the second edition of the book, and we're pleased with the result. We'd like to know what you think of it! Feel free to comment on this post; we love to hear from the Jade's fans anytime.

This is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and a close-up of Jade, the young Australian shepherd who was lost in the two million acres of wilderness.

When I had the opportunity to write a book about Jade's adventure, I just couldn't pass it up. This blog is the story of how the book came to be, and how we will be promoting her story.

All of us will be in at the Old Faithful Inn doing a book signing June 2 and June, 2018.

Jade will "paw-tograph" some books too. So you know the book has a happy ending.

The rest of us--Jade's humans David Sowers and Laura Gillice, and Jade's best buddy Laila--will be there too. My husband Paul Caffrey will be my chauffeur and official photographer.

Stay tuned and join us on our journey.