[Carla Emery]

I've been working full-time on this new edition 6 years. TESTERS has existed about 5 months. I have a pile of volunteers who came, satisfied their curiosity, got their book or chapters, and then disappeared again. I have an even bigger pile of folders for folks who have come and stayed.
Those of you who come and stay soon feel like friends. Some of you feel like close friends. Maybe there'll come a day when I can meet some of you in person! I've already met Hank;narita who, it turns out, lives up the road from me!
If you're interested, let me know and we'll do detailed planning.
Gratefully,
Carla

 

[Kelle in MT]

Carla!
You NEED to visit relatives in Montana, don't you? If you ever get up here, please remember me and we'd love to have you and Don over for supper or something
Blessings,
Kelle in MT.

 

[Sharon in NY]

Hi Carla -

My MIL lives in NYC and we're only 2 1/2 hours north, so I'd love to meet you when you come visit. When are you going to be around?

Sharon

 

[MoBarger]

I forget where Sharon lives even though she told me. I live, hmmm, maybe 3-4 hours depending on the way you go and how you go from NYC in Tioga County.

 

[rewalston]

Gee, well if you ever happen to be near Buffalo We are roughly 2 hours from Buffalo. 45 minutes from Toronto.

 

[Carla Emery]

Oooooh, that's exciting! Thank you, all, for your invitations. I'd love to visit Montana, Kelle. My mother and father are buried at Livingston and I love to go look at the ranch where I grew up just north of there on the back road between Clyde Park and Bozeman. But I've no plans to go there right now.
I've been to Toronto once, Rusty. It's an awesome city, but it's not on the list right now either.
Sharon and Maureen, I'll be visiting children and grandchildren in Yonkers and Manhattan the week of Thanksgiving, actually from the weekend preceding to the weekend following. I would LOVE to get together with you. Ideas?
Another tester PMed me and I'll be meeting her in Omaha, NE. Somebody else wrote me that she has a relative in Madison who might like to meet me.
So it's / we're starting to come together!
Carla

 

[zookeeper16]

I'm about 2 hours north of Madison, so if you do get this way, let me know!

 

[beulahland]

Carla,
We're 65 miles north east of Dallas and would love to have you come to visit when you're in the area!! Please keep us updated.
Debbie & John Burns

 

[Carla Emery]

Okay, here are some dates! Don and I will be in Spokane May 12, 13, and 14, in Madison 15 and 16, in Omaho 17-19. We'll be in the Dallas area June 26-28. We'll be flying to all these places and would be grateful for your recommendation of a place to stay.
Carla

 

[Rebekah]

Hi Carla, I live about an hour from Spokane, in the Priest River area of Idaho's pandhandle. You are welcome to drop in anytime!

 

[Carla Emery]

Spokane is put off until later this summer or in the fall. But I'd LOVE to meet you Rebekah when we go there!
I definitely want to meet with EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has answered me here. John and Debbie, we're arriving in Dallas/Ft. Worth on Wednesday and thinking we could rent a car, come visit, and spend Wednesday night with you. Is that a possibility? If all of you who want to meet with me would e-mail me about it I'd appreciate that for working out the details. And please send me your phone numbers. I think it would be best of all if we talk on the phone.
Gratefully,
Carla

 

[DW]

I'm with Kelle, get yourself some boots & come WEST!!!! Dorothy

 

[beulahland]

Carla,
John and I would love to have you and Don spend the night 6/25. I'll email you privately for more details. How neat!
Thank you!
Debbie & John

 

[Carla Emery]

Okay, friends, we're slowly getting organized here. Arrangements to visit beulahland made. Have tried to contact Lisa regarding visiting...we will have LOTS of free time in Madison to get together. TESTER near Omaha, please e-mail me again. I've changed computers and lost track of your e-mail. I want to finish making plans to get together with you. Those of you in other cities, either gotta wait until I'm in town on other business...or you build it (a speaking event that pays for tickets) and I will come.
Gratefully,
Carla

 

[zookeeper16]

Hi, everybody! Here I am in Wisconsin, visiting Lisa/zookeeper16. Turns out she lives near where they have the world's biggest annual renewable energy fair so I'm hoping to come back next year for that. Lisa and her DH have a sophisticated pellet stove in which they burn dried CORN kernels, bought for $60 a ton from their corn-growing neighbor. They say that to burn corn you need a special feature on the called a "stirrer." By burning corn they save $1,000 a year! Friday, it's on to Omaha where I'm expecting to get together with mammascheets.
Gratefully,
Carla

 

[Raley Family]

I just now saw this, but I am also in this area. I live 40 miles south of Fort Worth, up interstate 35.
I would love to meet you, too!!

 

[mamma23boys]

Oh! I just saw this! I used to live in Omaha, and now we live on our homestead 130-some miles away. If it works out with DH's work schedule, I'd love to meet you. I have a new baby niece in Omaha to visit, too. Sending you an email...

Linda

 

[Carla Emery]

In Wisconsin, we had a great visit with zookeeper16 (stayed overnight in her spare room!). In Omaha, we got to spend an afternoon with Rena Scheets, mamascheets (something like that is her username) and that was great too.
Carla Raley, I didn't get your message about meeting in Omaha until I got back from the trip. But we'll be back in Omaha in May of next year for another grand-niece's highschool graduation. Want to get together then? We'll also be visiting the quad city area on that trip because Don is from Moline, IL. Any TESTERS from there?
We'll be on the road again soon: Dallas/Ft. Worth, Ashville, NC, in June; Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and a Barter Faire a couple hours north of Spokane the third weekend in October; NYC in November. Maybe more... I LOVE meeting TESTERS in particular and readers in general when I can.
Rena drove 150 miles to meet me in Omaha. I'm so grateful she was willing to do that. She has been a great help on TESTERS (looked up hundreds of ISBNs for us, among other things) and meeting her blessed me.
Mama23boys, we'll be in Dallas/Ft. Worth in late June. We'll be staying overnight at the Trails Inn at Winnsboro, TX on Highway 37, 903-629-7811, Rm. 12. That's June 26th and 27th. So we'd love to meet you or any other TESTER, or even just a reader of the book. We're in town to go to a wedding (a marriage that I arranged!!!)
Carla

 

[Lisa A]

We're 300 miles south of Portland on the California border,
which may be a little far but you are very welcome here...
I come up to Portland about once a month so I probably can
meet you there in any case, keep me posted!

Lisa in Ashland Oregon

 

[Carla Emery]

Lisa, I know that Portland is a long way from you. I would be thrilled if you could travel all that way so we could meet. I'll give you plenty of advance notice on when I will be there.
Gratefully,
Carla