On the Road At Last!

The Great Mystery Bus Tour bus is awesome.  It’s got marble floor tiles, granite counters, plush leather seats, HD television, WIFI, and a well stocked larder.  But there’s a flaw.  A minor one, but flaw nonetheless.  The outside cover of the bus that so boldly displays our book covers also, for the most part, blocks our view out the windows.  Yesterday, as we sped out of New York, across Connecticut and Massachusetts, into Vermont, I had no idea of the nature of the country we traveled through.

We stayed last night in a hotel just outside Brattleboro, VT.  Determined to get a better sense of the landscape here, I got up at first light this morning and walked the two miles into town as the sun rose over the mountains of southwestern New Hampshire, just across the Connecticut River.  Lovely sunrise, gorgeous walk, quaint mountain town.  I’m partial to Minnesota, what can I say, but that love doesn’t blind me to the beauty of other places, or their unique nature.  Here are some facts about Brattleboro you may not be aware of:

Brattleboro is the oldest town in the state and also is the site of the first U.S. printing of the first Harry Potter book.

Brattleboro is mention repeatedly in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.

Rudyard Kipling built a home, which he called Naulakha, just outside Brattleboro where he lived with his wife, a native of Brattleboro, for several years.  Here’s a photo of the plaque commemorating Kipling and his home.

The next photo is of another plaque in one the town parks, affixed to an impressive monument erected in memory of the Vermont soldiers who fought in the Civil War.  The  monument was erected in 1887.  Check out the name that, in Vermont in 1887, they gave to the Civil War.  When I lived in Texas, it was referred to as the “War of Northern Aggression.”  All a matter of perspective.

On tap today, an event at Mystery on Main Street here in Brattleboro, then we shoot to Albany, New York, for an evening event.

See you on down the road!