Small Changes

Here are some of the other small changes I made, in no particular order:  That sleazeball hitchhiker snake Matt’s (Day 37) real name was Rick, but I didn’t want people to confuse him with Rick Nelson. I never played beach volleyball with a 50-member church youth group as described on page 259. We started the trip on Monday, June 28, not Sunday, June 27, because I added a day at Hearst Castle but still wanted the numbers to add up 7-17-71 when I got struck by lightning (a true story). Bill’s ride in the camper across Wyoming, therefore, was not actually July 4 but July 5.  When Otto and I crossed the border into California on Day 11, I never made the suggestion to go to Lake Tahoe Village.  Neither of us were familiar with the lake at all; therefore the opportunity blew by us without even realizing it. I added it in later only because I’ve since been to Lake Tahoe and loved it, and figured readers would want to see the place at least mentioned. There are many small things like that, but honestly it’s too tough to remember them all. I’m just glad I had the sense to call this a novel and not a memoir.