Rhys Ford knows what it means too, considering she’s the one who’s orchestrated this spontaneous little venture in celebration of Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair, the latest book in Amy’s Granby Knitting Series. So, in celebration of Amy Lane’s miraculous survival of the treacherous San Diego roads, cliffs and driveways while in search of the elusive alpaca farm in the sage-laden desert hills, she’s offering the chance for TWO lucky readers to win a $25 gift card to the etailer of your choice!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Blurb: After three years of waiting for “rabbit” Jeremy to commit to a life in Granby—and a life together—Aiden Rhodes was appalled when Jeremy sustained a nearly fatal beating to keep a friend out of harm’s way. How could Aiden’s bunny put himself in danger like that?
Aiden needs to get over himself, because Jeremy has a long road to recovery, and he’s going to need Aiden’s promise of love every step of the way. Jeremy has new scars on his face and body to deal with, and his heart can’t afford any more wounds.
When their friend’s baby needs some special care, the two men find common ground to firm up their shaky union. With Aiden’s support and his boss’s inspiration, Jeremy comes up with a plan to make sure Ariadne’s little blackbird comes into this world with everything she needs. While Jeremy grows into his new role as protector, Aiden needs to ease back on his protectiveness over his once-timid lover. Aiden may be a wolf in student’s clothing and Jeremy may be a rabbit of a man, but that doesn’t mean they can’t walk the wilds of Granby together.
About Amy: Amy Lane is a mother of four and a compulsive knitter who writes because she can’t silence the voices in her head. She adores cats, Chi-who-whats, knitting socks, and hawt menz, and she dislikes moths, cat boxes, and knuckle-headed macspazzmatrons. She is rarely found cooking, cleaning, or doing domestic chores, but she has been known to knit up an emergency hat/blanket/pair of socks for any occasion whatsoever, or sometimes for no reason at all. She writes in the shower, while at the gym, while taxiing children to soccer/dance/gymnastics/band oh my! and has learned from necessity to type like the wind. She lives in a spider-infested, crumbling house in a shoddy suburb and counts on her beloved Mate to keep her tethered to reality—which he does, while keeping her cell phone charged as a bonus. She’s been married for twenty-plus years and still believes in Twu Wuv, with a capital Twu and a capital Wuv, and she doesn’t see any reason at all for that to change.
Website | Blog | E-mail | Facebook | Twitter: @amymaclane
The members of my family are roller coaster junkies. Early in our adventures my daughter wanted to ride a mega-coaster she wasn’t quite tall enough for. She was so disappointed I caved and let her wear sneakers with a platform sole. She met the height requirement but I spent the entire ride holding on to her because I was convinced she was going to fly out of the car. It was the worst 2 minutes of my life but the best 2 for her. Needless to say, we did not ride that coaster again that trip.
I drove through a snow storm and spun my car into a ditch about 2 hours into a 12 hour drive from Minneapolis to Detroit. There wasn’t much damage and I was determined to get there though, so I just hopped back into my car and kept on my way. =)
worst road trip….a simple 3 hour drive home turned into a nightmare 14 hour detour after a dam burst its banks and swept the road away….police diverted all the highway traffic along a very tight mountainous road, it was raining and we passed more than 15 accidents
What a fun series idea! I love the book covers. ;) We have a lot of knitters in our family but I am NOT one of them. Unless you are in need of a hopelessly tangled ball of yarn that is; and a really good laugh! Thanks for the chance to win. :D
I tried to get off a roller coaster once right as it was about to start because I was chickening out. I ended up having to ride it and survived it. I’m not a big roller coaster fan. Thanks for the giveaway.
Worst road trip…I’ve been on many road trips, but I think the worst was actually for work. My boss and I had to make what should have been about a 5 hour drive but of course we got stuck in traffic, making it much much longer, and to make it worse, as we sat there, we could see clearly that the people in the car in front of us were playing porn on their car’s DVD player. Not a good trip! I’m looking forward to Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair. Thanks for the chance to win!
I love all things fast, twisty and slightly dangerous so rollercoasters and I are best buddies. Road trips, not so much. The worst road trip I probably ever took was when I was about 14 and went to camp with my two best friends. Riding in the back facing seat of their station wagon (you remember the ones with the doors that opened sideways and the fake wood sides?) breathing in diesel fumes while traveling across two states and back. I think I would have rather walked!
Worst road trip – my codriver was TIRED. FELL ASLEEP, and so I had to drive 13 hours straight from Memphis to NYC, the worst stretch on that dull red rust nothing to see for miles I40 – the bible belt fraught with “Jesus will save you” and “porn shop the next exit over” billboards. Fast forward thirteen hours to the jelliest legs on earth and McDonald’s food. At least the music was good. :)
If you want all the nerve-grating factors of the never-ending horror movie: My oldest child’s genetic benefactor with the spinal integrity of snot returning his young children (both under the age of 4) to custodial parent (psycho beeyotch) in January in Texas. This time of the year is guaranteed to have weather swings that rival PMS, so the trip from Austin to Houston was beautiful and sunny and 60 degrees. The return trip AFTER the episode of placating the Bride of Satan with promises of self-immolation, began with a sleet storm packing straight line winds of 45 mph blowing the cars all around us into our lane. What should have been a simple 4 hour drive became a 13 hour nightmare and I believe, to this day that the only reason we didn’t get stuck is because he was driving my Volvo 240 – the car that never ran well – it just ran. Oh, did I mention I was pregnant at the time???
Best and worst road trip all rolled in one. 1996 family road trip from Dallas, Tx to New York. 36 hour drive straight stopping only for gas and potty breaks and arriving on July 2nd resting up for one week in New York.
Great giveaway. The worst road trip I ever took was on a trip from NY to Maine many years ago. I received two speeding tickets while driving up to Bar Harbor within a couple of hours! Additionly, we had bought a giant bag of gummie bears along the way that melted all inside the trunk of my car. Only the delicious lobsters made up for it!
I’m petrified of heights, but gamely got on a roller coaster because I was trying to impress a guy – hey, I was 17 what was I supposed to do?! I survived, was so shaky when I got off I wanted to pass out but we rode the rest of the coasters at the park.
I’ve had a lot of bad road trips, but the eeriest one has to be driving from Chicago O’Hare to Phoenix Sky Harbor right after the 9/11 attacks. I was in Chicago for business when the attacks happened and could not get home. I met a lady from Tucson and we decided to get a car and drive. We drove straight through only stopping for gasoline, food, and bathroom breaks. There were hardly any other cars on the road, no planes in the sky and we saw one train. One of the strangest drives of my life.
jen.f {at} mac {dot} com
Worst road trip? Back in ’92 my 2 eldest daughters were in their final year of Uni so to celebrate their graduation & youngest had just finished some school exams, we holiday’d in Los Angeles where I have distant cousins. I drove up the scenic/coast route (I 5??) to San Francisco and completely missed all the pretty/gorgeous views; then drove back 2 days later down the most boring straight road ever – nearly falling asleep (thank goodness for autodrive!) Memorable drives but “never again”!!!
BTW: I’m British, never driven on the ‘wrong’ side of the road before; and never driven 500+ miles in one go! Oh, another one: when we arrived at LAX and picked up our hire car, I had to drive through LA peak hour home-going traffic on a SIX LANE highway!! Talk about panic!! Again, NEVER again!!! :)
PS: Love Amy Lane to bits <3
Worst roller coaster ride was at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ . It was a loop that started w/ a fast drop (no problem there) but then went into a huge loop during which you were upside down (that’s a problem – I hate upside down). THEN the car comes out of the loop, climbs up the other side, pauses, and drops BACKWARD down the drop and again around the loop. I screamed in terror the entire time. Never, never again.
Here’s my stupid road trip tale of “what’s the dumbest thing you ever did for a guy?” I was 19 and a freshman at UNC Asheville and my boyfriend was home in Wilmington, NC. I was in the mountains and he was at the beach. I don’t even remember now what happened on the phone, but I had to get to him to apologize in person. I borrowed my friend’s Yugo and made this road trip in the middle of the night, trying to push extra speed out of this tiny little, not so safe, car.
I got pulled over TWICE in South Carolina and the 2nd time the cop actually laughed and said “damn, I didn’t know these could go that fast!”
Needless to say, I made it in one piece, but it was a dumb thing to do in the middle of the night, by myself.
worst road trip: having to drive from Tijuana back to So Cal with food poisoning because none of the passengers could drive stick shift. i had to pull over every few miles & throw up. surprised we all lived!
When I was a teenage my family went to Riverview Park in Chicago…my mom talked me into sitting in the first seat of the Silver Streak. Screamed my brains out the whole ride and as soon as we got off I turned around and punched her as hard as I could!
worst road trip: no disrespect intended Grandpa, but dear god, riding up the mountain and having to ride back down..no. We all had a hold of the whatever car part and each other we could as he proceeded to alternately floor it on the straights and slam on the brakes to ride around the curves. There were a few times it felt like we were gonna sail off the road through the guard rail. Scared the livin crap outta each one of us!
OMG– you guys, I love these stories– they’re amazing! But the last one, with Grandpa– my dad is the FREAKIEST driver you’ve ever met, and he always FORGETS what it’s like to be a passenger. He used to take us on the windy roads in a Volkswagen bus that had a fume leak and no seat belts, with three kids rattling around like pebbles in a shoe. He’d always get SO SURPRISED when I had to vomit halfway up HWY 1 to Ft. Bragg. Really. How would that make me sick?
My worst road trip was as a child when we were on a family vacation in Arizona and heading to the Petrified Forest. We drove for hours and when we got there it was just a barren, grey desert with a few stumps. The funny thing is that 15 years later I was back in the area again and realized we followed the signs wrong and never made it to the Petrified Forest.
Many years ago while still in high school, a friend and I were bored one night and decided to travel to a nearby town where basically the only thing to do was drive around and hang out at the local Sonic. During this trip it began to snow, which very rarely happens where we live. I managed to hit a huge pothole in the road and when I did my windshield wipers stuck together(who knew this could even happen). Needless to say it was rather difficult to see with blowing snow, no wipers, and my defroster not working very well. Driving back home was terrible and I ended up going off the side of the road and getting stuck. Luckily, a highway patrol officer spotted us and gave us a ride back to our hometown police department where we had to call our parents so they could pick us up(this was before we had cell phones). My parents were not very happy with me. Unfortunately, it was not the last time I did something dumb…LOL. My son has paid me back a few times too. :)
Worst road trip ever was with my sister to Canada. 10 hours to TO from our home just east of Chicago. We were visiting a friend there and then we were heading to Quebec City. This friend told us it was 5 hours. At the 5 hour mark we hadn’t even seen a sign for Quebec City. I worried we’d somehow gotten on the wrong highway, but really, there is only one. So we stopped in Montreal to call ahead to book a room realizing it was going to be WAAAAY late by the time we got there. Then we couldn’t find our way back to the highway and my sister refused to get out and ask someone directions. Now mind you, my sister has been fluent in French since she was 16. Had spent years in France. I speak NO French – only some really bad German. We ended up parked in my car on a side street in Montreal SCREAMING at each other. I did make the mistake of taking her and her son to FL – to DisneyWorld no less – like 10 years later or so. That was also a disaster that resulted in me crying at a Winnie the Pooh character breakfast at the Crystal Palace on my 35th birthday. My ex threatened to strangle me if I ever invited her to go with us anywhere ever again. And I never have ;)
Worst road trip was when my husband and I decided to go on vacation right after we were married. I booked a hotel in The Keys on one of those travel sites. The pictures on the site were beautiful. When we got their it definitely didn’t look like the pics. The place was in rough shape and the staff not so friendly. We were tempted to leave but decided to see the room first. When we got in and started looking around it wasn’t that bad so we thought to give it a try. I went to pull the covers off the bed and three giant roaches came flying at me. We hauled butt out of their and found a new place.
fsteph55(at)yahoo(dot)com
Ugh…before I was 16yo I hadn’t ever been on a roller coaster before. My family was going on it and I guess we can say I felt pressured to join them. Well..I’ve never been much of a screamer and the roller coaster I was on wasn’t very long. But as I said I was never a screamer and frankly I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I left my glasses and hat on (as did one of my sisters who had also never been on a roller coaster) and when the roller coaster went a lot of things started happening that was out of my control. My hat and glasses started slipping off my face and head. I had difficulty breathing..I’m not sure if it was because I didn’t scream but by the end of it I was terrified and had tears streaming down my face.
More like the scariest stop on a road trip. My husband, I and our two dogs pulled over late one night in Wyoming to sleep in our truck – the wind blowing sounded like screams and cries – had the dogs whimpering and growling the whole night. Couldn’t sleep a wink. Woke up to find we had parked at the Fetterman Massacre site where soldiers had been killed by Cheyenne and Lakota Indians. Spookiest thing ever!
lgrant1@san.rr.com
I hate roller coasters! We went to Disney when I was younger and of course we had to ride all the rides… I held on so tightly on one of the coasters that I sprained my wrist! Yeah no more coasters for me for the rest of the trip, darn, not!
aegger. echo @ yahoo .com
I think I block out the worst trips. However recently while in Sedona, hubby and I took a very rough drive up Snebley Road to see Snebley Hill. That was rough.
But I have to know, treacherous San Diego roads? I used to live in SD and I want to know where these roads are. That city is packed with freeways, lol.
penumbrareads(at)gmail(dot)com
It’s a toss up between the time we had all our luggage stolen, or the time we burnt out the engine on our car on the Jersey Turnpike. The luggage incident took place in New York City, when e checked out of our hotel and loaded our luggage into our car, my suitcase and my sister’s suitcase never made it in to the car. Later that day when we stopped to take something out of my luggage, we found it missing. Didn’t notice my sister’s stuff wasn’t there either, until we went looking for a diaper for my niece the luggage was never found, and we were tooling around central Jersey looking for diapers when we wanted to be at the history museum.
Another trip to NYC and we’re nearly to exit 9(New Brunswick, where I went to college), when the car makes some terrible noises and dies. For some reason at the time you couldn’t use AAA on the Turnpike, but had to be towed into New Brunswick, and rent a car. But first, we had to have the two truck guy stop at an ATM so we could pay him. Anyway, the car was just about totalled, the engine burnt out beyond saving, and had to have it towed back to Virginia so the engine could be replaced. You’d think we’d stop going to NYC after that, but we’re slow learners. :)
Also, we went one year to NYC and my sister lost her wallet the first day we were there.
Worst road trip ever…hmm…it was when I lived in Utah…my friends and I went rafting and camping on the Snake River…I got the stomach flu…and a family of moose ran through our camp and trampled all of our snacks (not that I was eating…but that included drinks…). :(
We have a family vacation the we refer to as “THE VACATION FROM HELL”.It was a 10 day road trip in a rented motor home. At one point on our trip the engine of the motor home, which was accessed from the “cab” area, CAUGHT ON FIRE! Believe it or not it still ran after the fire was put out by a fire extinguisher and we continued on our” merry road to hell………..”
When we lived in New Zealand as teens we used to go to the beach on holidays for the day. We had to go over the mountains from Tokoroa where we lived to get there though. The logging trucks used the same road as we had to…..my Mom who had only recently learned to drive on the “wrong ” side of the road, would start to pray as we reached the foothills. As we started up the very windy edge of the mountain road the prayers got louder and we got quieter. It never failed that we would have a truck in front of us and another one behind, so as we twisted and turned it often appeared that there was a set of logs ready to slide back onto us at the same time as the ones behind us were ready to come forwards. The beach was amazing, light surf, no undertows, very sheltered (foot of the mountain) and we would spend long days there…..I actually learnt to drive at 13 years old so that I could make the return trip as Mom liked to medicate away her nerves with a little wine in the sun as we all played and swam. We would stop to let off our friends and Mom would take over the driving so that Dad never found out as he would be waiting at home with supper ready for us all.
My husband and I were married in downtown San Diego. At the time we were living in Imperial County. We decided to drive home on the backroads as this would be “fun” and “romantic.” By the time we left San Diego it was dark. We didn’t get lost, nor did we crash. We did manage to find a road with a 12% grade. Of course my husband had to drive down that road. San Diego definitely has some crazy roads. Not all of them lead to alpacas.
My then thirteen-year-old half sister and her friend where visiting our father one school holiday and I decided to take them to a theme park that’s about 20min away from Dad’s place. Usually I go straight up the highway, but Dad said it’s quicker going over the back roads coming back because of peak traffic on the highway. So, coming back home, I follow his directions and was doing okay. Then it got dark, and the road seemed way windier than I remembered from having been that way before with Dad. I realised that I had missed a turn-off and we were actually heading up the mountain instead. I had to go a fair way up before I could find somewhere to turn around and head back down. By this time the road had become very windy and very steep and navigating it in the dark safely took a fair amount of focus. As there was traffic from people who lived on the mountain going home from work, I was constantly turning the high beams on my headlights off and on. That was all kind of scary enough (I’d only had my license for a couple of years at the time), so of course the headlights had to start playing up and not shifting properly. Then the lever broke off inside the steering column and I suddenly had no lights at all. So, here I was, trying to navigate down a very steep and windy road in the dark where there were no street lights with two teenage girls in the backseat doing what teenage girls do best – talking; loudly. Eventually I yelled at them, “if you didn’t want to end up in a ditch or off a cliff they might want to SHUT UP AND LET ME CONCENTRATE around about now!” I have never heard teenage girls be so quiet for so long before or since!
We were living north of San Francisco and the health of both fathers wasn’t good. So we decided to make the move back to San Diego. Money is tight, we are making the move by ourselves. HE’S driving the truck with the household goods, I’m following behind with the two kids. It’s about 10 to 12 hour drive, and it’s even longer when you’re pulling over every couple of hours because one of the kids has the flu and is heaving their guts up that often. Worst road trip ever!!!
Just as the first rollercoaster car was cresting the big hill, everything came to dead stop. So we’re what, 45 degrees vertical on the track, wayyy above ground. We were stuck for a good 15 minutes, altho it felt like a lifetime! Good thing I was only 12 at the time, so I was resiliant enough to get off and get right back in line!
These have been fun to read, thanks for the idea and the giveaway.
The worst trip I went on was a visit to my sisters house with me and my parents we got on the motorway and went about 5 miles then was it we were at a standstill for about hour and half then slow going for with next 7 hours we usually did the journey in two hours!!!
ShirleyAnn@speakman40.freeserve.co.uk
OK, my worst road trip. My partner and I were travelling from Ponca City OK to southern California by car. We decided to stop for the night in Kingman AZ since Gloria’s father had been there many times and loved it. We took the exit off the interstate to Kingman at dusk and found ourselves on a narrow, twisty, winding road up a mountain with a rock wall to the right and a canyon to the left. The width of the dusty two-lane road was the full amount of space I had to drive in. I was petrified: one wrong move and we’d be over the edge. By the time we got to the worst part of the road, it was full dark. I had my headlights on high and was driving at about 10MPH because the visibility. To make things even worse, local drivers kept coming up behind me and whizzing past at about 50MPH. My grip on the wheel was so tight I thought my fingers would fall off. I felt like an idiot every time someone passed me, and all I wanted to do was stop the car and weep. FINALLY, the road started going downhill and I crept the rest of the way into Kingman. This drive took place shortly after the bombing of the Murrow Building in OKC, and the first thing that happened when we got to Kingman (which you may recall was the home town of one of the bombers) was a local asked us if we had heard any good bombing jokes lately. That did it for us. We left Kingman and went to the next town over, Bullhead City, for the night. The next morning we took the long, FLAT road out of town and put Kingman on our list of never-going-to-go-there-again places.
Then there’s the day we were in Arkansas on vacation and decided to go up the Queen Wilhelmina road, up the mountain, and ran into a zero-visibility fog….
I went on Space Mountain with my family when I was about 6. It terrified me so bad that I still don’t like roller coasters to this day. I screamed bloody murder the whole time on the ride, and I lost my cool sunglasses :(
A few years ago when I was about 16/17 and on a roadtrip through the US with my parents, we were driving on a very narrow and curvy mountain road, when suddenly the sky broke and torrents of water fell down from the sky. It didn’t take long until the water was rushing down from the mountain and my mother was freaking out. With my naive trust in the BMW and my father’s driving ability, and very limited driving experience, I did not realize the extent of the danger and experienced the whole thing as an exciting thrill. In hindsight, I thank god that my dad was able to steer us out of the danger zone. He told me it felt like he barely had control over the river like rushing water that was trying to sweep us off the mountain. Certainly a rollercoaster roadtrip moment.
Driving to Texas… anytime now that I really think about it. But try it straight through (22 hours) with 8 people in a 7 seat minivan. Miserable.
My worst road trip was going home on a group bus trip last year: the driver got lost a couple of time, one of the gas station rest room stops was filthy, inconsiderate bus riders, some people got car sick, and it took forever to get home with traffic and delays.
Hmm my worst roller coaster ride was when I was still little enough to trust my older sister & cousin when they swore up & down that we were not going on the Giant Dipper but the milder less scarey Little Dipper @-0 Yes I was a trusting dork & spent the whole ride with my head in my cousins lap whilst they laughed hysterically , the rat bastids! lol
I once took a road trip, from Tampa, Florida to Chattanooga, Tennessee, over two days, with my grandparents. It took hours longer than needed because Papa drives going 55 on the highway. Yes, that old guy that is driving solo slow on the highway and refuses to change lanes so you can pass is my grandpa. It also took added time because Papa used a paper map, which he would have to pull over into a designated rest stop to look at. And of course they had to listen to talk radio (conservative) for the whole trip, hours upon hours at a high volume since Papa is hard of hearing!
Happy Hump Day, everyone! Thanks for stopping in to share all you roller coaster/road trip horror stories. Seriously, some of them made me shudder from my own road trip memories. ::shudders: Amy’s contest is now closed, and the winner’s have been drawn. The two lucky readers who’ll be getting their choice of $25 e-gift cards are:
Carly RuralMom and Marla
Congratulations to both of you! I’ve already emailed Rhys Ford with your contact information, so expect to hear from her soon. :)