Research trips this summer

As I've already mentioned in a previous post, I did a wee bit of research. The Internet is fine for the most basic of research but doesn't quite cut it for details. I'm a detail sort of writer or at least I want to be. I get frustrated when I can't find simple things like the layout of a historical location.

That said, my 85-year-old mother and I set out on a ten-day road trip. She doesn't amble as well as she used to and there were many things I didn't get to see but the trip was in part for her so I can't complain - much. We started from our home in central Texas and landed in Natchez, Louisiana our first night. While there we toured Sanford Hall and ate a lovely lunch at the Carriage Inn. The house was lovely but we weren't allowed to take photos so if and when I ever write a story with it as my setting, I'll just have to go back.

We headed for Florida to visit two of my friends and then to Athens to visit my mother's college roommate. After that we landed in Nashville, TN to visit my cousin. We did no touring for this leg of the trip as it was all about family and friends but our next destination via Kentucky was Kansas where I was able to visit the location of four forts.



Fort Larned, Kansas

We toured Fort Hays first which is where a good deal of my current story takes place. Already I have to change a scene I wrote to accommodate a more accurate setting but that's okay. It will give me my writing challenge for the day.

We then toured Fort Larned which was great as most of that fort is still intact. I made the drive to Fort Supply but there's nothing there, nothing to see. And then we spent time in Dodge City, Kansas where I got to see the location of Fort Dodge. It was a good, informative trip.