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between a Chrysler Sebrise and Ford Mustang at the rental counter (for the same price, mind you) which would you choose?  Yeah, I thought so. Man, did this ride rock.  Realize, I spend most of my days behind the wheel of a minivan, with one kid with a penchant for car sickness.  I don’t care what Febreeze or the guy at the detail shop says, there are just some odors that you can’t get out of a car. So it was an extra treat that this rockin set of wheels even smelled new.  I was completely channeling my 70s vibe, the golden age when a hot Mustang was the car of choice.

And yes, I do believe that it can go upwards to 90 miles, not that I would have tested such a thing because that would have been wrong.  Very wrong.  At least it was until until the police lights came on behind me.  I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  And of course, Teresa Medeiros, who was riding shotgun, says very cooly, “Well, it isn’t like we have a body in the trunk.” Leave it to another writer to get the best line in.  So I slow down, and wait for the officer to pull in behind me and really ruin my day.  Because I wasn’t speeding.  Not at all.  But then he drove right by us because he was escorting a pick up truck pulling a bass boat.  We nearly died laughing then, because we couldn’t fathom the sort of bass emergency that required police escort.  (Of course later that day we discovered that the very officer and boat we saw were going out to drag a lake to find a missing woman–which sort of makes my dilemma look rather ridiculous.)

But onward from the rockin’ car and our near encounter with the police.  I can tell you that while we were testing how well a 2008 Mustang could corner and do donuts, (which came in very handy, ’cause Teresa turned out to be rather hopeless at navigating Knoxville–I finally learned to just go the opposite direction of where ever she pointed, unless it looked like a good place to spin a U)  Teresa and I managed to sign copious copies of our books at the Books A Million in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, and both Borders and the one Barnes & Noble in Knoxville.  So if you live in the area and want a signed copy, descend upon them and snatch them up while they are still available.  Go in and say “hi” to Tammy at the Oak Ridge store.  I thought we were going to be adopted and held in the store, she was so darn friendly.  In fact, the people of Knoxville on a whole were some of the friendliest and nicest people I’ve met in ages.

And here was the cool part of the weekend, the Food City Food Show at the convention center. We even met someone very famous, someone you wouldn’t have believed—yes, you are seeing who you think that is.  That international man of infamy, The Rug Doctor.  And yes, you are reading his nickname correctly.  And honestly, you never forgot the moment you first meet “Steamy.” Oh, yeah, he fit right in at our booth.

So what else was there at Food City Food Show, you might ask. There was, well, food everywhere.  You name it and it was there.  Teresa and I signed book after book after book.  It was too much fun.  And then when we weren’t signing we checked out the booths and compared notes on where the good samples were. They were even making cakes with pictures on them–and here is the one they did for Teresa with her cover on it.  I’d show you mine, but it met with an accident . . . believe it or not it got hit by a fork clocked at doing 90. . . And no, the police weren’t involved.