Prologue

I'm about to embark on a great adventure. An adventure of epic proportions. Two weeks, ten towns, six states, one massive stack of trip mix CDs (thanks friends!),one car, one girl, one novel in the making (no cups). I feel a bit like that little cartoon mouse, Fievel, about to set off on a truly American tale, except I'm going East instead of West, although technically, it is still "West" enough to be called the Midwest. But it's all uncharted territory for this California gal.


For anyone who might be reading this who doesn't know the backstory (and I'm sure you are a very low to non-existent portion of my readership), let me explain. I am working on a novel. It began as my thesis for my M.F.A in Creative Writing at California College of Art and now continues to grow like some big, untamed, amorphous blob. Which doesn't sound that appealing, but hopefully will someday. Anyway, without divulging too much, it follows a traveling circus, and specifically a girl who has joined a lion taming act, around 1920s-1930s era America. Thus my reason for galavanting around the middle of this fair country. Although circuses did ping pong their way all over the United States and Canada (see below), I am concentrating my trip in the very middle of the middle.

Map I drew of four different circus routes followed by four different circuses during time periods similar to my novel's timeline.

Otherwise, as you can see, my trip would be pretty exhausting and overwhelming, and probably not that productive. Just looking at this map makes me exhausted! I can't imagine living that life, being constantly on the move, from one town to the next without ever stopping for longer than a day or two. Perhaps that's a project for next summer, but for now...


This is my route:

Another hand drawn map, showing my trip route. If this writing thing doesn't pan out, maybe I can try my hand at cartography (do people even do that anymore?). Also, gold star for anyone that noticed the town named Normal smack dab in the lower middle of Illinois. As you can see, I am skipping it. Insert joke here.

I fly into Chicago on the evening of the 30th, pick up my rental car, and drive to Peru, Indiana, my first stop. Then I head south, then west, then north, then east, then a little north again, then east again, back to Chicago, to complete this weird, polygon formation, that looks either like an ill-made log cabin, or perhaps a constellation recorded by some ancient drunken astrologer. The crouching hamster constellation perhaps? The submissive Scottie dog? Sure, I see it. 


Anyway, along the way, I will be stopping at old circus winter quarters, exotic cat sanctuaries, Pentecostal museums, and myriad small towns that may or may not prove to be settings for different scenes in my novel. And hey, while I'm at it, maybe I'll stop and see some of those crazy Midwestern corn mazes and largest ball of twine-style landmarks. 


Whatever comes my way, I'll write it down here, hopefully for your entertainment, but mostly so my family and loved ones know that I'm still alive and didn't fall victim to some lone traveler demise, à la "Deliverance."


Hope you enjoy!