A Letter to My Friend's Girlfriend

My friend from high school, Doug, who now lives in Las Vegas, has read my book (I think).  His girlfriend, Alison, hasn’t.  So I sent her the following letter, both as friendly couple-to-couple gesture (my wife and I, and her and Doug), and also as a way to promote the events in my book that happen in Las Vegas.  Here’s the letter:

Hi Alison, Doug better give you a copy of my book, We Picked Up, as a Mother’s Day present BECAUSE after seeing your rather generic street name Pinehurst Drive (sorry, I’m sure it’s anything but) from your thank you card, it brought back to mind several watershed events that occur in my book in Las Vegas. One, the guys arrive into town across the Mojave desert with a horse-faced driver with leukemia and his 300-pound mother who does nothing but berate him. To me, this is the funniest part of the book, especially after the guy’s car breaks down and the two hitchhikers have to push the dead car into a service area. When they arrive into Las Vegas, Roger (i.e. me) is stunned that a normal, everyday neighborhood exists in Las Vegas (“What’ll they think of next?” he says). On top of that, the two characters are fighting like cats and dogs but make up in Las Vegas and go up a few notches on the maturity scale. And on page 297, in North Las Vegas, the words “We picked up” are actually written as a three-word sentence. 
That’s where I got the title.  So there you have it! Thanks for your card . . . it was great hosting you guys (even though I won the Antiques Roadshow appraiser contest!), and I’m sure looking for an excuse (and time slot) for Wonza and me to come to Nevada!   Sincerely, Ken