Malhuer and the lost wagon train.

I researched all day, found some good specific detail for the lost Meek wagon train and the Blue Bucket Mine. 15 pages of notes.

Much of the story takes place at, well -- it's been in the news. Exactly there, where the geese and the ducks and cranes and looney's reign. Harney County.

The pioneers suffered from a lack of water. (no social media to call for supplies....)

I'm always amazed, though, that my imagination of Meek's Cutoff isn't really all that far off from the reality. Then again, I've spent my entire life on the High Desert of Central Oregon. Hell, I've been walking the Badlands every day for months.

This is the exact terrain the wagon train passed through.

That, along with just general knowledge and previous research about the Donner Party, and much of what I guessed actually turns out to be true.

Still, there's nothing like specific information to add to the reality of it all, so I'm glad to have it and I look forward to melding it with the existing manuscript.



Meanwhile, I wrote my two sisters and their husbands asking for help with Deep Sea Rising. Sue is a geologist and her husband Klaus a chemist, so I asked if they wouldn't look over some of the science ideas I put in the book. They are also academics, and the characters in the book are mostly academics, so would be nice to get a read on that.

Meanwhile, Betsy lives in Seattle, which is the location of the story, and her husband is also an academic, so again, would be nice to get some accurate detail.


It's extra work. I swear, I could make my writing life easier if I would just stick to stories that I simply make up.


Dreamed all night of my new book. None of it is usable this morning. Wild stuff. But it shows my subconscious really wants to get rolling on this new story. 

Somebody stop me.