I posted this on the CHAPLINK RWA loop.  You may find it helpful, or not. My memory is not perfect, but what I’ve written here I believe to be true.  If really important to you double check with the hotel. I can’t be held responsible, I’m a fiction writer. I may have made it up, but I tried to be accurate here.

I’ve been to a couple of conferences at the Swan and Dolphin.  My recollection is that there is wireless in many of the public areas and wired in the guest rooms.  The RWA info said it was free.  I don’t recall paying for it when I attended the IBM Rational user conferences.

Incidentally it is a very big facility and very nice. Plan on more walking than you did in DC or San Francisco. I believe it is not a Disney property but they do everything they can to put on a Disney like “good show”.  I never had any complaints about the rooms, food, or other facilities.  It is however on the pricey side as you would expect.  They do a lot of large conventions in this facility.  It is about the distance of two city blocks between the Swan and Dolphin.  I believe most of the ballrooms are at the Dolphin but there are also smaller meeting rooms over at the Swan as well.  If you have mobility issues plan ahead and ask before you go for anything special you might need.

Parking was about $8.00 per day the last time I was down there with a car. It may have only been for conference center parking.  It is possible that they waive the fee for guests of the hotel, I wouldn’t know for sure. I drove down in 2006 I think.  I went again in 2008 but flew that time.  The rooms are very nice, and in general the facility is beautiful.  The skinks running around the outside of the conference area will amuse some of you.  They’re tiny little lizards and they eat bugs.  They are our friends.

The hotel is adjacent to the Boardwalk area of the Disney Resort and it has lots of restaurants and shops that are not inside the parks (in other words, no cover charge there.)

There may have been a kind of convenience store but no grocery store that I recall unless it was over at the wilderness Campground (where the RV Park is) where some small amount of groceries may have been available. Milk, beverages, liquor (beer and wine anyway), packaged meats etc.  Don’t expect much in the way of fruits or vegetables but you can probably find some cereal etc.

For those of you thinking about the parks that haven’t been there before, ground transportation is abundant between all the hotels and parks and I’m pretty sure it’s free for those staying at any of the resorts and Swan and Dolphin.  It may not always be easy to figure out.  It took me about two hours to get from wilderness campground to Swan and Dolphin the first time I tried.  But once you figure it out it’s pretty easy (that trip narrowed down to about 45 minutes once I had the hang of the bus system).  There are water taxis and buses that will take you point to point between parks.

If you are an RV’er or even tent camper and want to save some money the campground is probably the nicest campground I’ve ever stayed at.  It’s safe, clean and has great services. I would feel very comfortable being there alone in my camper at night. It is quite a distance from the Swan and Dolphin though.  Wilderness Lodge and Wilderness Campground are two different locations however.  There is only camping at the campground.

Ask questions and I’ll do what I can to answer them.  The comments require approval so be patient to see them appear.

This has been a week of getting things done. Yes I have indulged in a bit of self congratulatory behavior this week. I think I may have even strained my shoulder from patting myself on the back. Not really, but if I had it wouldn’t have been a surprise.

First I turned 29, well add twenty to that and you’re closer. Whether that’s an accomplishment I’m not sure, but it does say something about my endurance. I’m not 50 yet, but I can definitely hit it with a rock from here.

For my next feat of derring do, I completed the first draft of my manuscript. Lone Survivor. This is the second manuscript I’ve written. The first one went to live with the dust bunnies under my bed after I struggled with it for three years. Now to do cleanup and polishing and plot repair required to get it ready to sell and give it a shot. Every bit of work I do I learn from so if this one doesn’t sell, it just gives me more lessons to apply to my next one.

I started Lone Survivor in January 2009 after thinking about it all December and finished the draft November 25th. Just 11 months. Yea me!

My usual book gobbling habit is still working.  First reading Holiday in Death (Nora’s J.D. Robb Series) on my kindle. Eve Dallas and Roarke were fabulous as usual.

And I also read a terrific Shannon K. Butcher book today.

Burning Alive. It’s the first in a series - Paranormal Romance and I was hooked from the first page. Next one out is Finding the Lost by the way.

I had put off reading Burning Alive because I’m a snob about books I get for free and I got it at a book signing at Nationals in DC.

Stupid I know but I have so many free books around here, some even left over from the 2008 RWA Nationals. It’s hard for me to pick them up and get started. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’ve probably also got fifteen books on my Kindle lined up to read. {Sigh} Being a reader is such a burden.

Anyway Burning Alive really delivers on action, romance, and paranormal world building. The hero is a hunk the heroine courageous when it counts, the sex is hot, the supporting characters (mostly hot guys, one hot chick for a future installment no doubt, a couple martyrs, a crotchety yet loveable grandma schoolmarm, and a couple of magical women whose true natures shall be revealed in good time) and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I’ll be buying more in the series for sure. Doesn’t hurt that there’s a shiny hunky guy on the cover with a big sword.  He’s definitely do-able, but alas taken by a woman who would frighten me if met alone in a dark alley.

And finally I got to get my hands dirty today. If you follow the blog you probably know I have a camper.

A few weeks ago when we took it out for the last camping weekend of the season I had all kinds of problems with the water system. The filler hose for the tank was cracked in several places and it took a trip to the hardware store, several buy it by the foot lengths of tubing, hose clamps and a not insubstantial amount of packing tape to get the antifreeze into the tank so I could winterize it.

Here in Kansas City the winters can be very cold and water lines freeze and split if you don’t put propylene glycol in there. It’s the pink stuff and non-toxic not like what you put in your car. Today I swapped out the filler hose (obtained during a second trip to the hardware store and a visit down the buy it by the foot aisle), the filler cap assembly and fashioned a cushion out of tubing scrap to protect the hose from the sharp edges of the bracket that protects the hose from road grit (Fleetwoood’s marginal design). All in all a very satisfying repair. I also broke out the multi-meter and verified that my battery is charging from the 18 watt solar panel I have hooked up. I’ll connect it periodically over the winter to make certain it stays charged. I had to replace the battery at Winfield this year and I’d like to make this one last.

So this is the hand of a writer, a reader, an RV enthusiast and a woman. Dirt, grime and all…hmmm needs a manicure bad. Oh well, hear me roar.

When I wrote the last post I had no idea this would become a theme but it’s starting to look that way.

Mack Fire Truck

Over the weekend my fabulous friend Meg and I went on our annual Writers Weekend.  We planned to go to Council Grove Lake in Kansas.  Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate.  Saturday’s forecast called for 28 degrees for a low temperature and snow.  I’m pretty game for camping in cold weather but Meg was leery of spending the weekend camping in snow so we decided to alter our plans.  We headed to Missouri and Truman Lake whose forecast was ten degrees warmer for the low.

Southwest view from Talley Bend Campground

The camping was wonderful and Meg and I were actually very productive.  She worked on a short story idea that had been bumping around.  She cranked out about 2100 words, and I managed to get about 12 pages done.

Except for a few minor hitches with the trailer and water supply we were filled to the gills with carbohydrates, managed to stay warm and energized in spite of the cool fall weather.  There were very few people there except for the two of us and people fishing.  Lots and lots of fishing.  Apparently the catfish and - I don’t know what else -  was biting last weekend.

By now you’re probably wondering “What on earth does this have to do with firetrucks?”

Well, Sunday afternoon a cloud of black smoke settled down on our campsite from the hill behind us.  We were camping at the edge of a lake but all behind us was a forest of sorts. No doubt there was a fire, and though we were away from the trees by the water edge, it was worrisome and well frankly, I was curious.

We didn’t think twice before jumping in Big Bird and heading up the hill.

A quarter mile up the road we found a campsite where a two guys got more of a barbeque than they signed up for.

According to the people I talked to the two men came back from fishing, hung their catch up on the line outside, and went into the trailer.  The trailer they were in was about a 16 or 18 foot trailer - I’m guessing, and from all accounts they were extremely pleased having purchased it.  Apparently it made a nice little fishing cabin right up until the electrical fire started.  I didn’t see it, but these guys were good.  They had the sense to get the propane turned off, physically removed the tank(s) from the mounting on the front of the trailer, and then unplugged the trailer from the electrical outlet prior to running out of harms way.

RV fire at Talley Bend

The campground does not have hydrants at each campsite like some places, just electrical, so the water source was not really convenient to the site.  Not that pouring water on all that melting plastic and who knows what else is necessarily a good idea, I remember something about not putting water on oil fires don’t know how that might apply to fiberglass, plastic etc.

The fire was good and high when Meg and I showed up.  It doesn’t show very well here because it had already been burning for about half an hour by the time I took these photos.  Keep in mind the trailer would have been about a foot higher than the fireman’s head shown in these pics.

Shortly after that I took Meg back to the trailer.  I had to go back with the cell phone camera and take photos for the blog.

RV Fire view 2 Talley Bend Campground

I did give the guy my card so he could contact me for pictures if he wanted to.  I’m sure he thought I was a PITA busybody.  I was moderately embarassed with my behavior but I was interested in watching the firemen and looking at the firetrucks (there were two, the white Mack and a new red one from Iconia Fire District) and like any good gawker I rationalized my behavior and continued what I was doing.

So even though I never got the pictures posted from the car fire last week (it was just smoke over the trees), I was able to bring you these and the following short video.

RV Fire at Truman Lake, Talley Bend Campground 10-11-09 from Gretchen Jones on Vimeo.

If you’ve got the audio on you may hear a burst of laughter.  That’s me.  Apparently I surprised the volunteer firefighter with my cell phone and he gave a kind of startled look that was priceless, but not really captured in the video.  I was laughing at his expression, not the unfortunate situation that brought him to the park that day.  And that they were volunteers is speculation on my part.  These two were wearing jeans and the guys that showed up in the later fire truck had the full protective gear.

And just as before I imagine the guys went back to the fire station thinking it had been an interesting day. The fisherman took his catch and went home bummed.

Tomorrow I leave for a weekend camping trip that I’ve been waiting for.  Off to a campground in the flint hills of Kansas.  I’ll spend the weekend by the lake watching the waves, listening to the wind blow and doing some serious reading and writing.  I did this last year and had a ball.  Taking a weekend off for myself to relax and recharge my writers muse.  Hope it works.  

Meg is planning to join me on Saturday so I’ll have a day to myself and then Meg’s comfortable companionship Saturday evening through Monday.  I can’t imagine a better way to spend a weekend.I’ve got a lot of edits to catch up on and a new chapter to write.   I’m bringing a grocery sack of books to read and I have workshop material to catch up on.  I’m bringing more food than I’ll ever need and have all kinds of grand plans.  I’ll let you know how it goes. 

So I thought it was time I posted.  You know they say diamonds are a girl’s best friend.  Well, let me just tell you that the diamonds in Arkansas are not all that friendly.  In fact they’re downright snobbish if you ask me.  Sandra and I took a trip down to Diamond Crater state park near Murfreesboro Arkansas last weekend full of optimism and goodwill but alas.  No diamonds.

We did find these however…