Across the Continent by Automobile

Between the years 2006 and 2008 I drove with my husband Joe and my dog Finlay across the Unites States five times. The occasion for these trips was a gradual move (still incomplete) from Ithaca, NY to Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA. Each time we took a somewhat different route, drove through some states we hadn't yet been through, or through a different part of those states we had previously crossed, and saw different places, plants, and geological, historical and cultural sites. Sometimes we visited friends along the way. Once we camped. Already during our first trip across country, I knew I would want to use these travel experiences in a children's book on American geography, so, with this idea in mind, took many pictures along the way.

In November the story began to take shape. Using photographs from the first cross-country trip as a basis for the illustrations, and these illustrations as a guide for the text, the literary Finlay set off on his coast to coast adventure. Told from the viewpoint of my golden retriever, the story follows a travel route loosely equivalent to Route 70. As each state is traversed, Finlay tells tales of interesting things learned about that state. When I am not writing about groundhogs, I am telling Finlay's travel tales.

So far this story has taken Finlay from Central New York through Erie, Pennsylvania and across the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Through a series of letters home to his feline sister Pousette, Finlay tells about the formation of the Finger Lakes and the Great Lakes. He discusses Amish communities, hoosiers, and log cabins, as well as the botanical gardens in St. Louis, and the music of Chuck Berry. Clearly, Finlay is a well-educated dog with a wide variety of interests. He still has a long way to go, however - in fact, he still has two thirds of the country to cross before arriving in Southern California.